When at last inquiry was made whether all companions expected were
present, the red flag began to quiver and writhe most noticeably and
finally to unfurl, and there emerged from its depths the dirtiest and most
slovenly man I had ever seen, and the frouziest and most repulsive of
dogs. This man, if man I may call him, was bony and ill-built, and
appeared to consist largely of hands and feet. His arms were abnormally
long and his chest narrow and hollow, and altogether he seemed to hang
together by a mere fluke. His ill-assorted limbs were surmounted by a
sallow, yellowish face, large repulsive lips, and a shapeless nose, and to
him belonged the long, black greasy hair which I had already noted amid
the folds of the red banner. Large gristly ears emerged from his uncombed
mop of hair, and the only redeeming feature about the abject creature was
his large, brown, dog-like eyes. He crept forward, grinding his teeth and
rubbing his bony hands, and subsided into a waste-paper basket which was
the only available seat left unoccupied.

And now at last, after much talking and shifting about, and not before a
young German hairdresser had been stationed with one eye glued to a hole
in the outer wall of the shed, in order to make sure that no detective was
listening outside, the proceedings commenced.

Banter, the little man who had opened the door to me, rose to his feet,
cleared his throat, and said "_Com_rades" in a stentorian voice. Then
followed a long and rambling statement which he read out, from amid the
grammatical inaccuracies and continual digressions of which I was enabled
to gather that he had noticed of late something very peculiar about the
conduct of Jacob Myers, who had appeared to exercise undue influence and
power over his brother Augustin; that, moreover, Jacob had been seen by a
third party drinking a glass of rum in the "Nag and Beetle" in company