"
"No, he was not taken prisoner," said Arthur. Sometimes he lost patience
in a snappy, feminine way with his mother.
"Oh! tell me, tell me, Arthur dear! You are killing me!"
"I will, if you will let me. It appears that Jem had made himself a name
out there for knowing the country and the people, which is useful to the
Government, because Russia and England both want the country, or
something like that; I don't quite understand it."
"Oh, never mind! Go on!" interrupted Mrs. Agar, with characteristic
impatience.
"And at any rate the men on the other side--the Russians or some one, I
don't know who--were in the habit of watching Jem so as to prevent his
going up into this unexplored country. Well, when the report of his death
was put in the newspapers it was left uncontradicted, so that these men
should think he was dead, and not be on the look-out for him. Do you
understand?"
Mrs. Agar had raised her head, with listening, attentive eyes. It seemed
as if a voice had come to her across the years from the distant past.
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