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diff --git a/30482-h/30482-h.htm b/30482-h/30482-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c637aae --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/30482-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10075 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The International Spy, by Allen Upward. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both;} + + td {vertical-align: middle;} + + hr.large {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.tiny {width: 15%; margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.2em;} + hr.full {width: 100%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} + + div.centered {text-align:center;} /*work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:left;} /* work around for IE problem part 2 */ + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .n {text-indent:0%;} + + .bbox {border: double;} + .bbox2 {border: none;} + .bbox3 {border: solid 2px; padding: 0.5em;} + + .centerbox {width: 29em; /* heading box */ + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .double {display: block; /* fake hr for double rules */ + width: 100%; + height: 3px; + line-height: 3px; + color: black; + margin: 10px auto 10px auto; + padding: 0; + border-top: 1px solid black; + border-bottom: 1px solid black; } + + .cap {display: none;} + .adfont {font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold;} + .adfont2 {font-size: 200%; font-weight: bold;} + .adfont3 {font-size: 128%; font-weight: bold;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + .smallgap {margin-top: 0.05em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: + 0; margin-right: 2px; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30482 ***</div> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"> +<h1> The<br /> +International Spy</h1> + +<h4> BEING THE SECRET HISTORY<br /> +OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2>ALLEN UPWARD</h2> + +<p class="center">(“<i>Monsieur A. V.</i>”)</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Author of “Underground History,” etc.</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80px;"> +<img src="images/ititle.jpg" width="80" height="80" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h2> M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</h2> + +<h3> CHICAGO NEW YORK</h3></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1904, 1905, by</span></p> + +<p class="center">THE PEARSON PUBLISHING CO.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1905, by</span></p> + +<p class="center">G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY.</p> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<p class="center"><i>Entered at Stationers’ Hall.</i></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 7em;">The International Spy.</span></p> + +<p class="center">Made in U. S. A.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="right">CHAPTER</td> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Prologue—the Two Empresses</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#The_International_Spy">9</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Instructions of Monsieur V——</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">17</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Princess Y——’s Hint</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">24</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Head of the Manchurian Syndicate</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">36</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Czar’s Autograph</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">45</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Dinner With the Enemy</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">54</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Drugged and Kidnapped</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">63</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Race for Siberia</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">71</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Czar’s Message</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">76</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Betrothal of Delilah</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">87</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">X.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Answer of the Mikado</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">96</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Who Smoked the Gregorides Brand</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">107</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Secret Service of Japan</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">113</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">His Imperial Highness</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">123</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Submarine Mine</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">130</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Advisor of Nicholas II</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">139</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Strange Confession</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Supernatural Incident</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">159</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Mystery of a Woman</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">169</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Spirit of Madame Blavatsky</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">180</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Devil’s Auction</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">192</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Funeral</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">199</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Perilous Moment</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">210</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Resurrection and a Ghost</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">217</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Secret Execution</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">224</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Change of Identity</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">233</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXVI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Trapped</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXVII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Baltic Fleet</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">246</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXVIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">On the Track</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">256</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">An Imperial Fanatic</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">264</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Stolen Submarine</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">272</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXXI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Kiel Canal</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">279</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXXII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Dogger Bank</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">287</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXXIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Trafalgar Day</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">292</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXXIV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Family Statute</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">300</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Epilogue</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#EPILOGUE">308</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_International_Spy" id="The_International_Spy"></a>The International Spy</h2> + +<h2>PROLOGUE<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></h2> + +<h3>THE TWO EMPRESSES</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcl.jpg" title="L" height="70" width="70" alt="L" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">“L</span>ook!”</p> + +<p>A fair, delicately-molded hand, on which glittered gems worth a +raja’s loyalty, was extended in the direction of the sea.</p> + +<p>Half a mile out, where the light ripples melted away into a blue and +white haze upon the water, a small black smudge, like the back of a +porpoise, seemed to be sliding along the surface.</p> + +<p>But it was not a porpoise, for out of it there rose a thin, black +shaft, scarcely higher than a flag-staff, and from the top of this +thin shaft there trickled a faint wreathing line of smoke, just +visible against the background of sky and sea.</p> + +<p>“It is a submarine! What is it doing there?”</p> + +<p>The exclamation, followed by the question, came from the second, +perhaps the fairer, of two women of gracious and beautiful presence, +who were pacing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>arm linked in arm, along a marble terrace +overlooking a famous northern strait.</p> + +<p>The terrace on which they stood formed part of a stately palace, +built by a king of the North who loved to retire in the summer time +from his bustling capital, and gather his family around him in this +romantic home.</p> + +<p>From here, as from a watch-tower, could be seen the fleets of +empires, the crowded shipping of many a rich port and the humbler +craft of the fisherman, passing and repassing all day long between +the great inland sea of the North and the broad western ocean.</p> + +<p>Along this narrow channel had once swept the long ships of the +Vikings, setting forth on those terrible raids which devastated half +Europe and planted colonies in England and France and far-off Italy. +But to-day the scene was a scene of peace. The martial glory of the +Dane had departed. The royal castle that stood there as if to guard +the strait had become a rendezvous of emperors and queens and +princes, who took advantage of its quiet precincts to lay aside the +pomp of rule, and perhaps to bind closer those alliances of +sovereigns which serve to temper the fierce rivalries of their +peoples.</p> + +<p>The pair who stood gazing, one with curiosity and wonder, the other +with an interest of a more painful character, at the sinister object +on the horizon, were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>imperial sisters. Born in the tiny sea kingdom, +they had lived to wear the crowns of the greatest two realms the +world has ever seen, two empires which between them covered half the +surface of our planet, and included one-third of its inhabitants.</p> + +<p>But though sundered in interests they were not divided in affection. +As they stood side by side, still linked together, it was evident +that no common sympathy united them.</p> + +<p>The one who had been first to draw attention to the mysterious craft, +and whose dress showed somber touches which spoke of widowhood, +answered her sister’s question:</p> + +<p>“I never see one of those vessels without a shudder. I have an +instinct which warns me that they are destined to play a dangerous, +perhaps a fatal, part in the future. What is that boat doing here, in +Danish waters?—I do not know. But it can be here for no good. If a +war ever broke out in which we were concerned, the Sound would be our +first line of defense on the west. It would be mined, by us, perhaps; +if not, by our enemy. Who can tell whether that submarine has not +been sent out by some Power which is already plotting against peace, +to explore the bed of the strait, with a view to laying down mines +hereafter?”</p> + +<p>The other Empress listened with a grave countenance.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p><p>“I hope your fears are not well founded. I can think of no Power that +is ever likely to attack you. It is my nephew, or rather those who +surround him, from whom the signal for war is likely to come, if it +ever does come.”</p> + +<p>The widowed Empress bowed her head.</p> + +<p>“You know what my hopes and wishes are,” she answered. “If my son +listened to me there would be no fear of his departing from the +peaceful ways of my dear husband. But there are secret influences +always at work, as stealthy in their nature as that very craft——”</p> + +<p>The speaker paused as she glanced ’round in search of the black +streak and gray smoke-wreath which had attracted her notice a minute +before. But she looked in vain.</p> + +<p>Like a phantom the submarine had disappeared, leaving no trace of its +presence.</p> + +<p>The Empress uttered an ejaculation of dismay, which was echoed by her +sister.</p> + +<p>“Where is it now? Where did it go? Has it sunk, or has it gone back +to where it came from?”</p> + +<p>To these questions there could be no answer. The smooth waters +glistened in the sunlight as merrily as if no threatening craft was +gliding beneath the surface on some errand fraught with danger to the +world.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps they saw they were observed, and dived <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>under for +concealment,” suggested the second Empress.</p> + +<p>Her sister sighed gently.</p> + +<p>“I was telling you that that submarine was a type of the secret +dangers which beset us. I know, beyond all doubt, that there are men +in the innermost circle of the Court, men who have my son’s ear, and +can do almost what they like with him, who are at heart longing for a +great war, and are always working underground to bring it about. And +if they succeed, and we are taken unprepared by a stronger foe, there +will be a revolution which may cost my son his throne, if not his +life.”</p> + +<p>There was a brief silence. Then the Empress who had listened to this +declaration murmured in a low voice:</p> + +<p>“Heaven grant that the war is not one between you and us!”</p> + +<p>“Heaven grant it!” was the fervent reply. And then, after a moment’s +reflection, the widowed Empress added in an eager voice:</p> + +<p>“But we—cannot we do something to avert such a fearful calamity?”</p> + +<p>Her sister pressed her arm as though to assure her of sympathy.</p> + +<p>“Yes, yes,” the other continued. “We can do much if we will. Though +my son does not always take my advice, he has never yet refused to +listen to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>me. And in moments of grave stress he sometimes consults +me of his own accord. And I know that you, too, have influence. Your +people worship you. Your <span style="white-space: nowrap;">husband——”</span></p> + +<p>The Western Empress interrupted gently:</p> + +<p>“I cannot play the part that you play. I do not claim the right to be +consulted, or to give direct advice. Do not ask me to step outside my +sphere. I can give information; I can be a channel sometimes between +your Court and ours, a channel which you can trust as I fear you +cannot always trust your ministers and diplomatic agents. More than +that I should not like to promise.”</p> + +<p>“But that is very much,” was the grateful response. “That may be +quite enough. Provided we can arrange a code by which I can always +communicate with you safely and secretly, it may be possible to avert +war at any time.”</p> + +<p>“What do you propose?”</p> + +<p>“It is very simple. If any crisis comes about through no fault of my +son’s—if the party who are conspiring to make a war arrange some +unexpected <i>coup</i> which we could not foresee or prevent—and if I am +sure that my son sincerely desires peace, I can send you a +message—one word will be enough—which you can take as an assurance +that we mean to put ourselves right with you, and to thwart the +plotters.”</p> + +<p>The Western Empress bowed her head.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p><p>“I accept the mission. And the word—what shall it be?”</p> + +<p>The other glanced ’round the horizon once more, and then, bending her +lips to her imperial sister’s ear, whispered a single word.</p> + +<p>The two great women who had just exchanged a pledge for the peace of +the world were moving slowly along the terrace again, when the +Western sister said, thoughtfully,</p> + +<p>“I think I know another way to aid you.”</p> + +<p>The Eastern Empress halted, and gazed at her with eagerness.</p> + +<p>“I know the difficulties that surround you,” her sister pursued, “and +that the greatest of them all is having no one in your service whom +you can entirely and absolutely trust.”</p> + +<p>“That is so,” was the mournful admission.</p> + +<p>“Now I have heard of a man—I have never actually employed him +myself, but I have heard of him from those who have, and they tell me +he is incorruptible. In addition, he is a man who has never +experienced the sensation of fear, and his abilities are so great +that he has been called in to solve almost every problem of +international politics that has arisen in recent years.”</p> + +<p>“But this man—how can he be obtained?”</p> + +<p>“At present he is retained in our secret service. I must not conceal +from you that he is partly a Pole <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>by descent, and as such he has no +love for your Empire. But if it were made clear to him that in +serving you he was serving us, and defeating the designs of the +anti-popular and despotic clique at your Court, I feel sure he would +consent to place himself at your disposal.”</p> + +<p>The Eastern Empress listened intently to her sister’s words. At the +close she said,</p> + +<p>“Thank you. I will try this man, if you can prevail on him to come to +me. What is his name?”</p> + +<p>“I expect you must have heard of him already, It is——”</p> + +<p>“<i>Monsieur V——?</i>”</p> + +<p>The second Empress nodded.</p> + +<p>No more was said.</p> + +<p>The two imperial figures passed away along the terrace, silhouetted +against the red and stormy sunset sky, like two ministering spirits +of peace brooding over a battleground of blood.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE INSTRUCTIONS OF MONSIEUR V——</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dct.jpg" title="T" height="70" width="70" alt="T" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">T</span>he great monarch by whose gracious command I write this narrative +has given me his permission to preface it with the following +remarkable document:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Minute</i>: It is considered that it cannot but promote the +cause of peace and good understanding between the British +and Russian Governments if Monsieur V—— be authorized to +relate in the columns of some publication enjoying a wide +circulation, the steps by which he was enabled to throw +light on the occurrences in the North Sea.</p> + +<p class="right"><i>By the Cabinet.</i></p></div> + +<p>In addition, I desire to state for the benefit of those who profess +to see some impropriety in the introduction of real names into a +narrative of this kind, that objections precisely similar to theirs +were long ago raised, and long ago disposed of, in the case of +Parliamentary reports, newspaper articles, society papers, and comic +publications of all kinds; and, further, that I have never received +the slightest intimation that my literary methods were displeasing to +the illustrious personages whom my narratives are intended to honor.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p><p>With this apology I may be permitted to proceed.</p> + +<p>On a certain day in the winter which preceded the outbreak of war +between Russia and Japan, I received a summons to Buckingham Palace, +London, to interview the Marquis of Bedale.</p> + +<p>I am unable to fix the precise date, as I have forsworn the dangerous +practice of keeping a diary ever since the head of the French police +convinced me that he had deciphered a code telegram of mine to the +Emperor of Morocco.</p> + +<p>The Marquis and I were old friends, and, anticipating that I should +find myself required to start immediately on some mission which might +involve a long absence from my headquarters in Paris, I took my +confidential secretary with me as far as the British capital, +utilizing the time taken by the journey in instructing him how to +deal with the various affairs I had in hand.</p> + +<p>I had just finished explaining to him the delicate character of the +negotiation then pending between the new King of Servia and Prince +Ferdinand of Bulgaria, when the train rolled into Charing Cross.</p> + +<p>Not wishing any one, however high in my confidence, to know too much +of my movements, I ordered him to remain seated in the railway +carriage, while I slipped out of the station and into the closed +brougham for which I had telegraphed from Dover.</p> + +<p>I had said in the wire that I wished to be driven <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>to a hotel in +Piccadilly. It was not till I found myself in Cockspur Street that I +pulled the check-string, and ordered the coachman to take me to +Buckingham Palace.</p> + +<p>I mention these details in order to show that my precautions to +insure secrecy are always of the most thorough character, so that, in +fact, it would be quite impossible for any one to unveil my +proceedings unless I voluntarily opened my lips.</p> + +<p>The instructions which I received from Lord Bedale were brief and to +the point:</p> + +<p>“You are aware, of course, Monsieur V——, that there is a +possibility of war breaking out before long between Russia and +Japan.”</p> + +<p>“It is more than a possibility, I am afraid, my lord. Things have +gone so far that I do not believe it is any longer possible to avert +war.”</p> + +<p>His lordship appeared gravely concerned.</p> + +<p>“Do you tell me that it is too late for you to interfere with +effect?” he demanded anxiously.</p> + +<p>“Even for me,” I replied with firmness.</p> + +<p>Lord Bedale threw at me a glance almost imploring in its entreaty.</p> + +<p>“If you were to receive the most ample powers, the most liberal +funds; if you were to be placed in direct communication with one of +the most exalted personages in the Court of St Petersburg—would it +still be impossible?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p><p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>“Your lordship should have sent for me a fortnight ago. We have lost +twelve days, that is to say, twelve battles.”</p> + +<p>The Marquis of Bedale looked more and more distressed.</p> + +<p>“At least you can try?” he suggested.</p> + +<p>“I can try. But I am not omnipotent, my lord,” I reminded him.</p> + +<p>He breathed a sigh of relief before going on to say:</p> + +<p>“But that is only the preliminary. Great Britain is bound to come to +the assistance of Japan in certain contingencies.”</p> + +<p>“In the event of her being attacked by a second Power,” I observed.</p> + +<p>“Precisely. I rely on you to prevent that contingency arising.”</p> + +<p>“That is a much easier matter, I confess.”</p> + +<p>“Then you undertake to keep the war from extending to us?”</p> + +<p>“I undertake to keep a second Power from attacking Japan,” I answered +cautiously.</p> + +<p>Lord Bedale was quick to perceive my reservation.</p> + +<p>“But in that case we cannot be involved, surely?” he objected.</p> + +<p>“I cannot undertake to keep you from attacking Russia,” I explained +grimly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p><p>“But we should not dream of attacking her—without provocation,” he +returned, bewildered.</p> + +<p>“I fancy you will have a good deal of provocation,” I retorted.</p> + +<p>“Why? What makes you think that?” he demanded.</p> + +<p>I suspected that Lord Bedale was either sounding me, or else that he +had not been taken into the full confidence of those for whom he was +acting.</p> + +<p>I responded evasively:</p> + +<p>“There are two personages in Europe, neither of whom will leave one +stone unturned in the effort to involve you in war with Russia.”</p> + +<p>“And they are?”</p> + +<p>Even as he put the question, Lord Bedale, as though acting +unconsciously, raised one hand to his mustache, and gave it a +pronounced upward twirl.</p> + +<p>“I see your lordship knows one of them,” I remarked. “The other——”</p> + +<p>He bent forward eagerly.</p> + +<p>“Yes? The other?”</p> + +<p>“The other is a woman.”</p> + +<p>“A woman?”</p> + +<p>He fell back in his chair in sheer surprise.</p> + +<p>“The other,” I repeated in my most serious tone, “is a woman, perhaps +the most formidable woman now living, not even excepting the Dowager +Empress of China.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p><p>“And her name?”</p> + +<p>“Her name would tell you nothing.”</p> + +<p>“Still——”</p> + +<p>“If you really wish to hear it——”</p> + +<p>“I more than wish. I urge you.”</p> + +<p>“Her name is the Princess Y——.”</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the name of this dangerous and desperate woman passed my +lips than I regretted having uttered it.</p> + +<p>Had I foreseen the perils to which I exposed myself by that single +slip I might have hesitated in going on with my enterprise.</p> + +<p>As it was I determined to tell the Marquis of Bedale nothing more.</p> + +<p>“This business is too urgent to admit of a moment’s unnecessary +delay,” I declared, rising to my feet. “If your lordship has no +further instructions to give me, I will leave you.”</p> + +<p>“One instant!” cried Lord Bedale. “On arriving in Petersburg you will +go straight to report yourself to her majesty the Empress Dagmar.”</p> + +<p>I bowed my head to conceal the expression which might have told his +lordship that I intended to do nothing of the kind.</p> + +<p>“Your credentials,” he added with a touch of theatricality, “will +consist of a single word.”</p> + +<p>“And that word?” I inquired.</p> + +<p>He handed me a sealed envelope.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p><p>“I do not myself know it. It is written on a piece of paper inside +that envelope, and I have to ask you to open the envelope, read the +word, and then destroy the paper in my presence.”</p> + +<p>I shrugged my shoulders as I proceeded to break the seal. But no +sooner did my eyes fall on the word within, and above all on the +handwriting in which that word was written, than I experienced a +sensation of admiring pleasure.</p> + +<p>“Tell the writer, if you please, my lord, that I am grateful for this +mark of confidence, which I shall endeavor to deserve.”</p> + +<p>I rolled up the paper into a tiny pellet, swallowed it, and left the +room and the Palace without uttering another word.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE PRINCESS Y——’S HINT</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>  never use the same stratagem more than once. It is to this rule +that I attribute my success.</p> + +<p>On previous missions to Russia I assumed the disguises of a French +banker, of the private secretary to Prince Napoleon, of an emissary +from an Indian Maharaja, and of an Abyssinian Maduga.</p> + +<p>I now decided to go thither as an Englishman, or rather—for there is +a distinction between the two—as a Little Englander.</p> + +<p>It appeared to me that no character could be more calculated to gain +me the confidence of the Anglophobes of the Russian Court. I +anticipated that they would smother me with attentions, and that from +their hypocritical professions I should stand a good chance of +learning what was actually in their minds.</p> + +<p>No sooner had I taken this decision, which was while the brougham was +being driven along the Mall, than I gave the order “—— House.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p><p>I was driven to the office of a well known review conducted by a +journalist of boundless philanthropy and credulity. Mr. Place—as I +will call him—was within, and I at once came to business.</p> + +<p>“I am a Peace Crusader,” I announced. “I have devoted myself to the +sacred cause of which you are the foremost champion. At present war +is threatened in the Far East. I am going to Russia to persuade the +war party to abandon their designs. I have come here to ask you for +your aid and countenance in this pious enterprise.”</p> + +<p>The editor gave me a doubtful glance.</p> + +<p>“If it is a question of financial aid,” he said not very +encouragingly, “I must refer you to the treasurer of the World’s +Peace League. I am afraid our friends——”</p> + +<p>“No, no,” I interrupted him. “It is not a question of funds. I am a +wealthy man, and if you need a subscription at any time you have only +to apply to me. What I desire is your moral support, your valuable +advice, and perhaps a few introductions to the friends of peace in +the Russian capital.”</p> + +<p>The editor’s face brightened.</p> + +<p>“Of course!” he exclaimed in cordial tones. “I will support you with +all my heart. I will write up your mission in the <i>Review</i>, and I +will give you as many introductions as you need. What is your name, +again?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p><p>“Sterling. Mr. Melchisadek Sterling.”</p> + +<p>The philanthropist nodded and touched a bell on his table.</p> + +<p>“I will give you a letter,” he said, as his secretary came in and +seated herself at the typewriter, “to the noblest creature I have +ever met, a woman of high birth and immense fortune who has devoted +herself to the cause.”</p> + +<p>And turning ’round in his chair he dictated to the attentive +secretary:</p> + +<p>“<i>My dear Princess Y</i>——”</p> + +<p>It needed all that command over my features which it has taken me +twenty years to acquire to conceal the emotion with which I heard +this name. Less than half an hour had passed since I had warned Lord +Bedale that the Princess would be the most formidable enemy in my +path, and now, on the very threshold of my enterprise, her name +confronted me like an omen.</p> + +<p>I need not repeat the highly colored phrases in which the +unsuspecting philanthropist commended me to this artful and +formidable woman as a fellow-worker in the holy cause of human +brotherhood.</p> + +<p>Not content with this service, the editor wanted to arrange a meeting +of his league or brotherhood, or whatever it was, to give me a public +send-off. As I understood that the meeting would partake of a +religious character I could not bring myself to accept the offer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p><p>In addition to the letter to the Princess Y——, he gave me another +to a member of the staff of the Russian Embassy in London, a M. +Gudonov. He also urged me to call upon a member of Parliament, a +rising politician who is not unlikely to have a ministerial post in +the next government, and who has made himself known as an apologist +of the Czar’s. But as I had good reason to know that this gentleman +was by no means a disinterested dupe, like Mr. Place, I prudently +left him alone.</p> + +<p>On going to the Russian Embassy to have my passport viséd I inquired +for M. Gudonov.</p> + +<p>The moment he entered the room I recognized him as one of the most +unscrupulous agents of the notorious Third Section, one of the gang +who drugged and kidnapped poor Alexander of Bulgaria. My own +disguise, it is hardly necessary to say, was impenetrable.</p> + +<p>This precious apostle of peace greeted me with unction, on the +editor’s introduction.</p> + +<p>“You are going to our country on a truly noble errand,” he declared, +with tears in his eyes. “We Russians have reason to feel grateful to +worthy Englishmen like you, who can rise above national prejudices +and do justice to the benevolent designs of the Czar and his +advisers.”</p> + +<p>“I hope that I may be instrumental in averting a great catastrophe,” +I said piously.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p><p>“Even if you fail in preventing war,” the Russian replied, “you will +be able to tell your countrymen when you return, that it was due to +the insane ambition of the heathen Japanese. It is the ‘Yellow +Peril,’ my friend, to which that good Emperor William has drawn +attention, from which we are trying to save Europe.”</p> + +<p>I nodded my head as if well satisfied.</p> + +<p>“Whatever you and your friends in Petersburg tell me, I shall +believe,” I assured him. “I am convinced of the good intention of +your Government.”</p> + +<p>The Russian fairly grinned at this simplicity.</p> + +<p>“You cannot find a more trustworthy informant than the Princess +Y——,” he said gravely. “And just now she is in a position to know a +very great deal.”</p> + +<p>“How so?” I asked naturally—not that I doubted the statement.</p> + +<p>“The Princess has just been appointed a lady-in-waiting to her +imperial majesty the Dowager Empress Dagmar.”</p> + +<p>This was a serious blow. Knowing what I did of the past of Princess +Y——, I felt that no ordinary pressure must have been brought to +bear to secure her admission into the household of the Czaritza. And +with what motive? It was a question to which there could be only one +answer. The War Party had guessed or suspected that the Czar’s mother +was opposed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> to them, and they had resolved to place a spy on her +actions.</p> + +<p>Inwardly thankful to Mr. Place for having been the means of procuring +me this important information in advance, I received my passport and +quitted the Embassy with the heartfelt congratulations of the +ex-kidnapper.</p> + +<p>Forty-eight hours later I had crossed the Russian frontier, and my +life was in the hands of the Princess.</p> + +<p>My first step on arriving in the capital of the North was to put up +at the favorite hotel of English visitors. The coupons of a +celebrated tourist agency were credentials in themselves, and I had +not forgotten to provide myself with the three articles indispensable +to the outfit of every traveling Briton—a guide book, a prayer book, +and a bath sponge.</p> + +<p>At the risk of incurring the suspicions of the police agent stationed +in the hotel, I mingled some hot water in the bath which I took on +the first morning after my arrival. Then, having made my toilet and +eaten the heavy breakfast provided for English visitors, I set out, +suffering sadly from indigestion, to present my letter of +introduction to the Princess.</p> + +<p>As this woman, the most brilliant recruit ever received into the +Russian secret service, and a foe of whom I am not ashamed to confess +that I felt some fear, has never been heard of by the public of Great +Britain, I shall say a word concerning her.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p><p>The Princess, whose Christian name was Sophia, was the daughter of a +boyar of Little Russia. Her extraordinary beauty, while she was still +a very young girl, attracted the attention of the governor of the +province, Prince Y——, who was one of the wealthiest nobles in the +Empire, and a widower. He made proposals for her hand which were +accepted by her father, without the girl herself being asked to +express an opinion in the matter, and at the age when an English girl +would be leaving home for a convent or “high-school,” Sophia became +the Governor’s wife.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately the Prince resigned his government and went to +live in his splendid palace on the Nevsky Prospect, in Petersburg. +Before very long, society in the Russian capital was startled to hear +of the sudden deaths in rapid succession of both the Prince’s +children by his former wife, a son and a daughter. Then, after a +brief interval, followed the tragic death of the Prince himself, who +was found in bed one morning by his valet, with his throat cut.</p> + +<p>The almost satanic beauty and fascination of the youthful Princess +had made her from the very first one of the most conspicuous +personages at the Imperial Court. These three deaths, following on +the heels of one another, roused the most dreadful suspicions, and +the Czar Alexander III. personally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>charged his minister of justice +to see that the law was carried out.</p> + +<p>Accordingly the police took possession of the palace while the corpse +of its late owner still lay where it had been found. The most +searching investigations were made, the servants were questioned and +threatened, and it was rumored that the widow herself was for a short +time under arrest.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a great change took place. The police withdrew, professing +themselves satisfied that no crime had been committed. The deaths of +the son and daughter were put down to natural causes, and that of the +Prince was pronounced a suicide, due to grief at the loss of his +children. Some of the servants disappeared—it was said into +Siberia—and in due course the Princess resumed her place in society +and at Court, as though nothing were amiss.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, from that hour, as I have every reason to know, her +life was really that of a slave to the head of the secret police. She +appeared to go about unfettered, and to revel in the enjoyment of +every luxury; but her time, her actions, and the vast wealth +bequeathed to her by her husband, were all at the disposal of her +tyrant.</p> + +<p>Time after time, in half the capitals of Europe, but more especially, +of course, in that of Russia, I had come on traces of this terrible +woman, not less terrible <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>if it were true that she was herself the +most miserable victim of the system of which she formed part.</p> + +<p>But singularly enough, though I had heard so much of the Princess I +had never actually found myself pitted against her. And, more +singularly still, I had never met her.</p> + +<p>From this it will be gathered that I experienced a sensation of more +than ordinary curiosity and even apprehension as I presented myself +at the house in the Nevsky Prospect, and asked to be admitted to the +presence of its mistress.</p> + +<p>“Her highness is on duty at the Palace to-day,” I was told by the +chamberlain who received me in the inner hall. “Her carriage is just +ordered to take her there. However, I will take up your letter, and +inquire when her highness can see you.”</p> + +<p>I sat down in the hall, outwardly a calm, stolid Briton, but inwardly +a wrestler, wound up to the highest pitch of excitement and impatient +for the sight of his antagonist.</p> + +<p>To pass the time suitably, I took my guide-book out of my pocket and +began to read. The book opened at Herr Baedaker’s description of the +gloomy fortress of the Schlüsselburg, the dreaded prison of the foes +of the Czar.</p> + +<p>The description did not tend to soothe my nerves, conscious as I was +that the woman I was about to meet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>could consign me to the most +noisome dungeon in the fortress by merely lifting her little finger.</p> + +<p>I was just closing the book with an involuntary shudder when I heard +a light, almost girlish, laugh from above. I looked hastily, and saw +the woman I had come to measure myself against standing poised like a +bird on the top of the grand staircase.</p> + +<p>As I rose hurriedly to my feet, taking in every detail of her superb +yet delicate figure, her complexion like a blush-rose, her lustrous +eyes—they were dark violet on a closer view—and the cloud of +rippling gold that framed her brow, I was moved, yes, positively +carried away for a moment, by a sentiment such as few women have been +able to inspire in me.</p> + +<p>Perceiving, no doubt, that she had produced the desired impression, +the Princess ran lightly down the stairs and came toward me holding +out two tiny hands, the fingers of which were literally gloved in +diamonds.</p> + +<p>“My friend! My noble Englishman!” she exclaimed in the purest French. +“And since when have you known that dear Monsieur Place?”</p> + +<p>I checked myself on the point of replying, pretended to falter, and +then muttered in the worst French I could devise on the spur of the +moment:</p> + +<p>“<i>Parlez-vous Anglais, s’il vous plaît, Madame?</i>”</p> + +<p>The Princess shook her head reproachfully.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p><p>“You speak French too well not to understand it, I suspect,” she +retorted in the same language. Then dropping it for English, marred +only by a slight Slavonic accent, she repeated:</p> + +<p>“But tell me,—dear Mr. Place, he is a great friend of yours, I +suppose?”</p> + +<p>“I can hardly claim the honor of his personal friendship,” I replied, +rather lamely. “But I have always known and admired him as a public +man.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! He is so good, is he not? So generous, so confiding, so great a +friend of our dear Russia. You know Mr. ——?”</p> + +<p>The name she uttered was that of the politician referred to above. +She slipped it out swiftly, with the action of a cat pouncing.</p> + +<p>I shook my head with an air of distress.</p> + +<p>“I am afraid I am not important enough to know such a great man as +that,” I said with affected humility.</p> + +<p>The Princess hastened to relieve my embarrassment.</p> + +<p>“What is that to us!” she exclaimed. “You are an Englishman, you are +benevolent, upright, truthful, and you esteem our country. Such men +are always welcome in Russia. The Czaritza is waiting for me; but you +will come back and dine with me, if not to-night, then to-morrow, or +the next day. I will send an invitation to your hotel. My friends +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>shall call on you. You are staying at the——?”</p> + +<p>I mentioned the name of the hotel, murmuring my thanks.</p> + +<p>“That is nothing,” the beautiful woman went on in the same eager +strain. “I shall have good news for you when we meet again, believe +me. Yes—” she lowered her voice almost to a whisper—“our dear Czar +is going to take the negotiations into his own hands. So it is said. +His majesty is determined to preserve peace. The odious intrigues of +the War group will be defeated, I can assure you. You will not be +disappointed, my dear Mr.——” she snatched the editor’s letter from +her muff and glanced at it—“Mr. Sterling, if I tell you that you are +going to have your journey for nothing. You will have a good time in +Petersburg, all the same. But believe me when I tell you so, your +journey will fortunately be for nothing!”</p> + +<p>And with the repetition of these words, and another bright bow and +look which dazzled my senses, the wonderful creature swept past me to +where the chamberlain stood ready to hand her into her carriage.</p> + +<p>For nothing?</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE HEAD OF THE MANCHURIAN SYNDICATE</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcn.jpg" title="N" height="70" width="72" alt="N" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">N</span>o reader can have failed to notice one remarkable point in the +interview between the Princess Y—— and myself. I refer of course to +her invitation to me to dine with her in the course of a day or two.</p> + +<p>Unless the etiquette of the Russian Court differed greatly from that +of most others in Europe, it would be most indecorous for a +lady-in-waiting, during her turn of service, to give entertainments +at her private house.</p> + +<p>I felt certain that this invitation concealed some trap, but I +puzzled myself uselessly in trying to guess what it could be.</p> + +<p>In the meantime I did not neglect certain other friends of mine in +the city on the Neva, from whom I had some hope of receiving +assistance.</p> + +<p>Although I have never gone so far as to enroll myself as an active +Nihilist, I am what is known as an Auxiliary. In other words, without +being under <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>the orders of the great secret committee which wages +underground war with the Russian Government, I have sometimes +rendered it voluntary services, and I have at all times the privilege +of communicating with it, and exchanging information.</p> + +<p>While waiting for the next move on the part of the Princess, +therefore, I decided to get in touch with the revolutionists.</p> + +<p>I made my way on foot to a certain tavern situated near the port, and +chiefly patronized by German and Scandinavian sailors.</p> + +<p>The host of the Angel Gabriel, as the house was called, was a +Nihilist of old standing, and one of their most useful agents for +introducing forbidden literature into the empire.</p> + +<p>Printed mostly in London, in a suburb called Walworth, the +revolutionary tracts are shipped to Bergen or Lubeck, and brought +thence by these sailors concealed in their bedding. At night, after +the customs officers have departed, a boat with a false keel puts off +from a quay higher up the Neva, and passes down the river to where +the newly arrived ship is lying; the packages are dropped overboard +as it drifts past the side and hidden under the bottom boards; and +then the boat returns up the river, where its cargo is transferred to +the cellars of the tavern.</p> + +<p>The host, a namesake of the Viceroy of Manchuria, was serving in the +bar when I came in. I called <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>for a glass of vodka, and in doing so +made the sign announcing myself as an Auxiliary.</p> + +<p>Alexieff said nothing in reply, but the sailors lounging in the bar +began to finish off their drinks and saunter out one by one, till in +a short time the place was empty.</p> + +<p>“Well?” said the tavern-keeper, as soon as we were alone.</p> + +<p>It was not my first visit to the Angel Gabriel, and I lost no time in +convincing Alexieff of my identity. As soon as he recognized me, I +said:—</p> + +<p>“You know the Princess Y——?”</p> + +<p>The expression of rage and fear which convulsed his features was a +sufficient answer.</p> + +<p>“You know, moreover, that she is at present working her hardest to +bring about a war between Russia and Japan, with the hope of +ultimately involving Great Britain?”</p> + +<p>He nodded sullenly.</p> + +<p>“How does that affect your friends?” I asked cautiously. Something in +the man’s face warned me not to show my own hand just then.</p> + +<p>“We hate her, of course,” he said grudgingly, “but just now we have +received orders that she is not to be interfered with.”</p> + +<p>I drew a deep breath.</p> + +<p>“Then you regard this war——?”</p> + +<p>“We regard it as the beginning of the revolution,” <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>he answered. “We +know that the Empire is utterly unprepared. The Viceroy Alexieff is a +vain boaster. Port Arthur is not provisioned. The Navy is rotten. The +Army cannot be recruited except by force. The taxes are already +excessive and cannot be increased. In short, we look forward to see +the autocracy humiliated. The moment its prestige is gone, and the +moujik feels the pinch of famine, our chance will come.”</p> + +<p>I saw that I had come to the wrong quarter for assistance.</p> + +<p>“Then you will do nothing against this woman at present?” I remarked, +anxious to leave the impression that she was the only object of my +concern.</p> + +<p>“No. At least not until war is definitely declared. After that I +cannot say.”</p> + +<p>“And you think the war sure to come?”</p> + +<p>“We are certain of it. One of our most trusted members is on the +board of the Manchurian Syndicate.”</p> + +<p>“The Syndicate which has obtained the concessions in Korea?”</p> + +<p>“Against which Japan has protested, yes.”</p> + +<p>I felt the full force of this announcement, having watched the +proceedings of the Syndicate for some months for reasons of my own.</p> + +<p>Every student of modern history has remarked the fact that all recent +wars have been promoted by great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>combinations of capitalists. The +causes which formerly led to war between nation and nation have +ceased to operate. Causes, or at least pretexts, for war continue to +occur, but whether they are followed up depends mainly on commercial +considerations. A distant Government is oppressing its subjects, it +may be in Turkey, it may be in Cuba, it may be in Africa. No matter, +some great Power suddenly discovers it is interested; the drums are +beaten, the flag is unfurled, and armies are launched on their path. +The next year, perhaps, the same Power sees its own subjects +massacred wantonly off its own coasts by a foreign fleet. Nothing +happens; a few speeches are made, and the whole incident is referred +to arbitration, and forgotten.</p> + +<p>It is the consideration of money which decides between peace and war.</p> + +<p>Perceiving it was useless to ask any assistance of the Nihilists in +my forlorn enterprise, I returned sadly to my hotel.</p> + +<p>Hardly had I finished the immense lunch on which I was compelled to +gorge myself, when a waiter brought me a card, the name on which gave +me an electric shock.</p> + +<p>“<i>M. Petrovitch.</i>”</p> + +<p>Every one has heard of this man, the promoter of the Manchurian +Syndicate, and, if report spoke truly, the possessor of an influence +over the young Czar <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>which could be attributed only to some occult +art.</p> + +<p>I could not doubt that this powerful personage had been instigated to +call on me by the Princess Y——.</p> + +<p>What then? Was it likely that she would have sent the most +influential man in the imperial circle to wait upon a traveling +fanatic, a visionary humanitarian from Exeter Hall?</p> + +<p>Impossible! Somehow something must have leaked out to rouse the +suspicions of this astute plotter, and make her guess that I was not +what I seemed.</p> + +<p>It was with the sensations of a man struggling in the meshes of an +invisible net that I saw M. Petrovitch enter the room.</p> + +<p>The celebrated wire-puller, whose name was familiar to every +statesman and stock-broker in Europe, had an appearance very unlike +his reputation.</p> + +<p>He was the court dandy personified. Every detail of his dress was +elaborated to the point of effeminacy. His hands were like a girl’s, +his long hair was curled and scented, he walked with a limp and spoke +with a lisp, removing a gold-tipped cigarette from his well-displayed +teeth.</p> + +<p>As the smoke of the cigarette drifted toward me, I was conscious of +an acute, but imperfect, twinge of memory. The sense of smell, though +the most neglected, is the most reliable sense with which we are +furnished. I could not be mistaken in thinking I had smelt tobacco +like that before.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p><p>“I have come to see you without losing a moment, Mr. Sterling,” he +said in very good English. “My good friend Madame Y—— sent me a +note from the Palace to beg me to show you every attention. It is too +bad that an ambassador of peace—a friend of that great and good man, +Place, should be staying in a hotel, while hundreds of Russians would +be delighted to welcome him as their guest. My house is a poor one, +it is true, and I am hardly of high enough rank, still——”</p> + +<p>The intriguer was asking me to transfer myself to his roof, to become +his prisoner, in effect.</p> + +<p>“I cannot thank you enough,” I responded, “but I am not going to +stay. The Princess has convinced me that the war-cloud will blow +over, and I think of going on to Constantinople to intercede with the +Sultan on behalf of the Armenians.”</p> + +<p>“A noble idea,” M. Petrovitch responded warmly. “What would the world +do without such men as you? But at all events you will dine with me +before you go?”</p> + +<p>It was the second invitation to dinner I had received that day. But, +after all, I could hardly suspect a trap in everything.</p> + +<p>“Do you share the hopes of the Princess?” I asked M. Petrovitch, +after thanking him for his hospitality.</p> + +<p>The syndicate-monger nodded.</p> + +<p>“I have been working night and day for peace,” <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>he declared +impudently, “and I think I may claim that I have done some good. The +Japanese are seeking for an excuse to attack us, but they will not +get it.”</p> + +<p>“The Manchurian Syndicate?” I ventured to hint, rising to go to the +bell.</p> + +<p>“The Syndicate is wholly in favor of peace,” he assured me, watching +my movement with evident curiosity. “We require it, in fact, to +develop our mines, our timber concessions, our——”</p> + +<p>A waiter entered in response to my ring.</p> + +<p>“Bring me some cigarettes—your best,” I ordered him.</p> + +<p>As the man retreated it was borne in on my guest that he had been +guilty of smoking in my room without offering me his case.</p> + +<p>“A thousand pardons!” he exclaimed. “Won’t you try one of mine?”</p> + +<p>I took a cigarette from the case he held out, turned it between my +fingers, and lit it from the end farthest from the maker’s imprint.</p> + +<p>“If I am satisfied that all danger is removed I should be inclined to +apply for some shares in your undertaking,” I said, giving the +promoter a meaning look.</p> + +<p>From the expression in his eyes it was evident that this precious +scoundrel was ready to sell Czar, Russia and fellow-promoters all +together.</p> + +<p>While he was struggling between his natural greed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>and his suspicion +the waiter reentered with some boxes of cigarettes.</p> + +<p>I smelt the tobacco of each and made my choice, at the same time +pitching the half-smoked cigarette given to me by M. Petrovitch into +the fireplace, among the ashes.</p> + +<p>“Your tobacco is a little too strong for me,” I remarked by way of +excuse.</p> + +<p>But the Russian was wrapped up in the thought of the bribe at which I +had just hinted.</p> + +<p>“I shall bear in mind what you say,” he declared, as he rose.</p> + +<p>“Depend upon it, if it is possible for me to meet your wishes, I +shall be happy to do so.”</p> + +<p>I saw him go off, like a fish with the bait in its mouth. Directly +the door closed behind him I sprang to the fireplace, rescued the +still burning cigarette and quenched it, and then, carefully brushing +away the dust, read the maker’s brand once more.</p> + +<p>An hour later simultaneous messages were speeding over the wires to +my correspondents in London, Amsterdam and Hamburg:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Ascertain what becomes of all cigarettes made by +Gregorides; brand, Crown Aa.</p></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>THE CZAR’S AUTOGRAPH</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dct.jpg" title="T" height="70" width="70" alt="T" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">T</span>he next morning at breakfast I found the two invitations already +promised. That of the head of the Manchurian Syndicate was for the +same night.</p> + +<p>Resolved not to remain in the dark any longer as to the reason for +this apparent breach of etiquette, I decided to do what the Marquis +of Bedale had suggested, namely, approach the Dowager Empress in +person.</p> + +<p>Well accustomed to the obstacles which beset access to royalty, I +drove to the Palace in a richly appointed carriage from the best +livery stable in Petersburg, and sent in my card to the chamberlain +by an equerry.</p> + +<p>“I have a message to the Czaritza which I am instructed to give to +her majesty in person,” I told him. “Be good enough to let her know +that the messenger from the Queen of England has arrived.”</p> + +<p>He went out of the room, and at the end of ten minutes the door +opened again and admitted—the Princess <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Y——!</span></p> + +<p>Overpowered by this unlucky accident, as I at first <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>supposed it to +be, I rose to my feet, muttering some vague phrase of courtesy.</p> + +<p>But the Princess soon showed me that the meeting did not take her by +surprise.</p> + +<p>“So you have a message for my dear mistress?” she cried in an accent +of gay reproach. “And you never breathed a word of it to me. Mr. +Sterling, I shall begin to think you are a conspirator. <i>How</i> long +did you say you had known that good Mr. Place? But I am talking while +her majesty is waiting. Have you any password by which the Czaritza +will know whom you come from?”</p> + +<p>“I can tell that only to her majesty, I am afraid,” I answered +guardedly.</p> + +<p>“I am in her majesty’s confidence.”</p> + +<p>And bringing her exquisite face so near to mine that I was oppressed +by the scent of the tuberoses in her bosom, she whispered three +syllables in my ear.</p> + +<p>Dismayed by this proof of the fatal progress the dangerous police +agent had already made, I could only admit by a silent bow that the +password was correct.</p> + +<p>“Then come with me, Mr. Sterling,” the Princess said with what +sounded like a malicious accent on the name.</p> + +<p>The reception which I met from the Dowager Empress was gracious in +the extreme. I need not recount all that passed. Her imperial majesty +repeated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>with evident sincerity the assurances which had already +been given me in a different spirit by the two arch-intriguers.</p> + +<p>“There will be no war. The Czar has personally intervened. He has +taken the negotiations out of the hands of Count Lamsdorff, and +written an autograph letter to the Mikado which will put an end to +the crisis.”</p> + +<p>I listened with a distrust which I could not wholly conceal.</p> + +<p>“I trust his majesty has not intervened too late,” I said +respectfully, my mind bent on framing some excuse to get rid of the +listener. “According to the newspapers the patience of the Japanese +is nearly exhausted.”</p> + +<p>“No more time will be lost,” the Czaritza responded. “The messenger +leaves Petersburg to-night with the Czar’s letter.”</p> + +<p>I stole a cautious glance in the direction of the Princess Y——. She +was breathing deeply, her eyes fixed on the Czaritza’s lips, and her +hands tightly clenched.</p> + +<p>I put on an air of great relief.</p> + +<p>“In that case, your majesty, I have no more to do in Petersburg. I +will wire the good news to Lord Bedale, and return to England +to-morrow or the next day. I beg your pardon, Princess!” I pretended +to exclaim by a sudden afterthought, “<i>after</i> the next <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>day.” And +turning once more to the mother of the Czar, I explained:</p> + +<p>“The Princess has honored me with an invitation to dinner.”</p> + +<p>The Dowager Empress glanced at her attendant in evident surprise.</p> + +<p>“I must implore your pardon, Madam,” the Princess stammered, in real +confusion. “I am aware I ought to have solicited your leave in the +first place, but knowing that this gentleman came from——”</p> + +<p>She broke off, fairly unable to meet the questioning gaze of her +imperial mistress.</p> + +<p>I pretended to come to her relief.</p> + +<p>“I have a private message,” I said to the Empress.</p> + +<p>“You may leave us, Princess,” the Empress said coldly.</p> + +<p>As soon as the door had closed on her, I gave a warning look at the +Czaritza.</p> + +<p>“That woman, Madam, is the most dangerous agent in the secret service +of your Empire.”</p> + +<p>I trusted to the little scene I had just contrived to prepare the +mind of the Czaritza for this intimation. But she received it as a +matter of course.</p> + +<p>“Sophia Y—— has been all that you say, Monsieur V——. I am well +acquainted with her history. The poor thing has been a victim of the +most fiendish cruelty on the part of the Minister of Police, for +years. At last, unable to bear her position <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>any longer, she appealed +to me. She told me her harrowing story, and implored me to receive +her, and secure her admission to a convent. I investigated the case +thoroughly.”</p> + +<p>“Your majesty will pardon me, I am sure, if I say that as a man with +some experience of intrigue, I thoroughly distrust that woman’s +sincerity. She is intimate with M. Petrovitch, to my knowledge.”</p> + +<p>“But M. Petrovitch is also on the side of peace, so I am assured.”</p> + +<p>I began to despair.</p> + +<p>“You will believe me, or disbelieve me as your majesty pleases. But I +am accustomed to work for those who honor me with their entire +confidence. If the Princess Y—— is to be taken into the secret of +my work on your majesty’s behalf, I must respectfully ask to be +released.”</p> + +<p>As I offered her majesty this alternative in a firm voice, I was +inwardly trembling. On the reply hung, perhaps, the fate of two +continents.</p> + +<p>But the Dowager Empress did not hesitate.</p> + +<p>“What you stipulate for shall be done, Monsieur V——. I am too well +aware of the value of your services, and the claims you have on the +confidence of your employers, to dispute your conditions.”</p> + +<p>“The messenger who is starting to-night—does the Princess know who +he is?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p><p>“I believe so. It is no secret. The messenger is Colonel Menken.”</p> + +<p>“In that case he will never reach Tokio.”</p> + +<p>Her majesty could not suppress a look of horror.</p> + +<p>“What do you advise?” she demanded tremulously.</p> + +<p>“His majesty the Czar must at once write a duplicate of the despatch, +unknown to any living soul but your majesty, and that despatch must +be placed by you in my hands.”</p> + +<p>The Dowager Empress gazed at me for a moment in consternation.</p> + +<p>But the soundness of the plan I had proposed quickly made itself +manifest to her.</p> + +<p>“You are right, Monsieur V——,” her majesty said approvingly. “I +will communicate with the Czar without delay. By what time do you +want the despatch?”</p> + +<p>“In time to catch the Siberian express to-night, if your majesty +pleases. I purpose to travel by the same train as Colonel Menken—it +is possible I may be able to avert a tragedy.</p> + +<p>“And since your majesty has told me that the Princess Y—— is aware +of the Colonel’s errand, let me venture to urge you most strongly not +to let her out of your sight on any pretense until he is safely on +his way.”</p> + +<p>I need not go into the details of the further arrangements<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> made with +a view to my receiving the duplicate despatch in secrecy.</p> + +<p>I came away from the Palace fully realizing the serious nature of my +undertaking. I understood now all that had worried me in the +proceedings of the Princess. It was clear to me that Lord Bedale, or +the personage on whose behalf he instructed me, had wired to the +Dowager Empress, notifying her majesty of my coming, and that she had +shown the message to her lady-in-waiting.</p> + +<p>Blaming myself bitterly for not having impressed the necessity for +caution on the Marquis, I at once set about providing myself with a +more effectual disguise.</p> + +<p>It is a proverb on the lips of every moujik in Petersburg that all +Russia obeys the Czar, and the Czar obeys the Tchin. Ever since the +bureaucracy deliberately allowed Alexander II. to be assassinated by +the Nihilists out of anger at his reforming tendencies, the Russian +monarchs have felt more real dread of their own police than of the +revolutionists. The <i>Tchin</i>, the universally-pervading body of +officials, who run the autocracy to fill their pockets, and indulge +their vile propensities at the expense of the governed, is as +omnipotent as it is corrupt. Everywhere in that vast Empire the word +of the Tchinovink is law—and there is no other law except his word.</p> + +<p>Taking the bull by the horns, I went straight to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>the Central Police +Bureau of the capital, and asked to see a certain superintendent +named Rostoy.</p> + +<p>To this man, with whom I had had some dealings on a previous +occasion, and whose character was well understood by me, I explained +that I had accepted a mission from a friendly Power to travel along +the Siberian Railway and report on its capacity to keep the Army of +Manchuria supplied with food and ammunition in the event of war.</p> + +<p>He expressed no surprise when I told him it was essential that I +should leave Petersburg that night, and accordingly it did not take +us long to come to terms.</p> + +<p>The service which I required of him was, of course, a fresh passport, +with a complete disguise which would enable me to pass anywhere along +the railway or in Manchuria without being detected or interfered with +by the agents of the Government.</p> + +<p>After some discussion we decided that the safest plan would be for me +to travel in the character of a Russian police officer charged with +the detection of the train thieves and card-sharpers who abound on +every great route of travel. I could think of no part which would +serve better to enable me to watch over the safety of the Czar’s +envoy without exciting suspicion.</p> + +<p>I placed in Rostoy’s hands the first instalment of a heavy bribe, and +arranged to return an hour before <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>the departure of the Moscow +express to carry out my transformation.</p> + +<p>It was only as I left his office that I remembered my unlucky +engagement to dine that very night with the head of the Manchurian +Syndicate.</p> + +<p>I perceived that these hospitalities were well devised checks on my +movements, and it was with something of a shock that I realized that +when I went to dinner that evening with the most active promoter of +the war I should be carrying the Czar’s peace despatch in my pocket!</p> + +<p>If the enemies of peace had foreseen every step that I was to take in +the discharge of my mission, their measures could not have been more +skilfully arranged.</p> + +<p>And as this reflection occurred to me I turned my head nervously, and +remarked a man dressed like a hotel porter lounging carelessly in my +track.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>A DINNER WITH THE ENEMY</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcr.jpg" title="R" height="70" width="72" alt="R" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">R</span>eaders of that prince of romancers, Poe, will recollect a celebrated +story in which he describes the device employed by a man of uncommon +shrewdness to conceal a stolen letter from the perquisitions of the +police, and the elaborate argument by which the writer proves that +the highest art of concealment is to thrust the object to be hidden +under the very nose of the searcher.</p> + +<p>But that argument is one of the many mystifications in which the +weird genius of Poe delighted. It is easy to see, in short, that the +theory was invented to suit the story, and not the story to suit the +theory. I now had before me the practical problem of concealing a +document of surpassing importance, from enemies who were already on +my scent, and keeping it concealed during a journey of some thousands +of miles.</p> + +<p>The ordinary hiding-places of valuable papers, such as the lining of +clothes, or a false bottom to a trunk, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>I dismissed without serious +consideration. My luggage would probably be stolen, and I might be +drugged long before I reached Dalny.</p> + +<p>The problem was all the more difficult for me because I have +generally made it a rule to avoid charging myself with written +instructions. I am sufficiently well known by reputation to most +European sovereigns to be able to dispense with ordinary credentials. +But in approaching the Mikado of Japan, a ruler to whom I was +personally unknown, it was clearly necessary for me to have something +in writing from the Russian Emperor.</p> + +<p>All at once an idea flashed on my mind, so simple, and yet so +incapable of detection (as it seemed to me), that I almost smiled in +the face of the man who was dogging my steps along the street, no +doubt under instructions from the War Syndicate.</p> + +<p>That afternoon I was closeted with the Emperor of All the Russias in +his private cabinet for nearly an hour.</p> + +<p>It is not my habit to repeat details of private conversations, when +they are not required to illustrate the progress of public events, +and therefore I will say merely that the Czar was evidently in +earnest in his desire to avoid war, but greatly hampered and +bewildered by the difficult representations made to him by, or on +behalf of, those to whose interests war was essential.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p><p>It was melancholy to see the destinies of half Europe and Asia, and +the lives of scores of thousands of brave men, hanging on the will of +an irresolute young man, depressed by the consciousness of his own +infirmity, and desperately seeking for some stronger mind on which to +lean. Had I not been placed by my Polish sentiment in a position of +antagonism to the Czardom, perhaps—but it is useless to indulge in +these reflections.</p> + +<p>One thing in the course of the interview struck me as having great +significance for the future. I found that his majesty, who had +entertained at one time a strong dislike of the German Emperor, a +dislike not untinged with jealousy, had now completely altered his +opinion. He spoke to me of Wilhelm II. in terms of highest praise, +declared that he was under the greatest obligations to him for useful +warnings and advice, said that he believed he had no truer or more +zealous friend.</p> + +<p>When I drove to the house of M. Petrovitch that evening I carried, +carefully sewn between the inner and outer folds of my well-starched +shirt-front, where no sound of crackling would excite remark, a sheet +of thin note-paper covered in a very small handwriting with the text +of the Czar’s letter to the ruler of Japan.</p> + +<p>M. Petrovitch was not alone. Around his hospitable board he had +gathered some of the highest and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>proudest personages of the Russian +Court, including the Grand Duke Staniolanus, generally believed to be +the heart and soul of the War Party. His imperial highness was +well-known to be a desperate gambler, up to the neck in debts +contracted at the card-table, and bent on recouping himself out of +the wealth of Korea and Manchuria.</p> + +<p>I was duly presented to this royal personage (whom I had met once +before under widely different circumstances) in the character of a +Peace Crusader, an emissary of the philanthropists of Great Britain.</p> + +<p>At the dinner-table, where I found myself placed on my host’s left +hand, while the Grand Duke was on his right, the conversation +continued to be in the same strain. That Petrovitch believed me to be +an English peace fanatic I did not believe any longer, but I could +not tell if any, or how many, of the others were in his confidence.</p> + +<p>As soon as the solid part of the feast was disposed of, Petrovitch +rose to his feet, and after a bow to the Grand Duke, launched out +into a formal speech proposing my health.</p> + +<p>He commenced with the usual professions in favor of peace, spoke of +the desire felt by all Russians to preserve the friendship of +England, eulogized the work done by my friend the editor, and by +other less disinterested friends of Russia in London, and wound up by +asking all the company to give me a cordial <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>welcome, and to send a +message of congratulation and good-will to the British public.</p> + +<p>Knowing as I did, that the man was a consummate rogue, who had +probably invited me to his house in order to keep me under +observation, and possibly to prevent my getting scent of the +intrigues pursued by his friend and ally, Princess Y——, I was still +at a loss to understand the reason for this performance.</p> + +<p>I have learned since that an account of the proceedings, with +abstracts from this hypocritical speech, was telegraphed to England, +and actually found its way into some of the newspapers under the +heading, “Peace Demonstration in St. Petersburg: No Russian Wants +War.”</p> + +<p>There was one of the guests, however, who made no pretense of +listening with pleasure to the smooth speech of M. Petrovitch. This +was a dark young man of about thirty, in a naval uniform. He sat +scowling while his host spoke, and barely lifted his glass from the +table at the conclusion.</p> + +<p>A minute or two later I took an opportunity to ask the promoter the +name of this ungracious officer.</p> + +<p>“That?” my host exclaimed, looking ’round the table, “Oh, that is +Captain Vassileffsky, one of our most distinguished sailors. He is a +naval aide-de-camp to the Czar.”</p> + +<p>I made a note of his name and face, being warned <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>by a presentiment +which I could not resist that I should come across him again.</p> + +<p>The champagne now began to flow freely, and as it flowed the tongues +of many of the company were unloosed by degrees. From the subject of +peace the conversation passed rapidly to the possibilities of war, +and the Japanese were spoken of in a way that plainly showed me how +little those present understood the resolution and resources of the +Island Empire.</p> + +<p>“The Japanese dare not fire the first shot and, since we will not, +there will be no war,” declared my left-hand neighbor.</p> + +<p>“The war will be fought in Japan, not in Manchuria,” affirmed the +Grand Duke with a condescending air. “It will be a case of the Boers +over again. They may give us some trouble, but we shall annex their +country.”</p> + +<p>M. Petrovitch gave me a glance of alarm.</p> + +<p>“Russia does not wish to add to her territory,” he put in; “but we +may find it necessary to leave a few troops in Tokio to maintain +order, while we pursue our civilizing mission.”</p> + +<p>I need not recount the other remarks, equally arrogant.</p> + +<p>Abstemious by habit, I had a particular reason for refraining from +taking much wine on this night. It was already past nine o’clock, the +train for Moscow, which connected there with the Siberian express, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>started at midnight, and I had to be at the police bureau by eleven +at the latest to make the changes necessary for my disguise.</p> + +<p>I therefore allowed my glass to remain full, merely touching it with +my lips occasionally when my host pressed me to drink. M. Petrovitch +did not openly notice my abstinence, but presently I heard him give +an order to the butler who waited behind his chair.</p> + +<p>The butler turned to the sideboard for a moment, and then came +forward bearing a silver tray on which stood a flagon of cut-glass +and silver with a number of exquisite little silver cups like +egg-shells.</p> + +<p>“You will not refuse to taste our Russian national beverage, Mr. +Sterling,” the head of the War Syndicate said persuasively, as the +butler began filling the tiny cups.</p> + +<p>It was a challenge which I could not refuse without rudeness, though +it struck me as rather out of place that the vodka should be offered +to me before to the imperial guest on my host’s right.</p> + +<p>The butler filled two cups, M. Petrovitch taking the second from the +tray as I lifted the first to my lips.</p> + +<p>“You know our custom,” the financier exclaimed smilingly. “No +heeltaps!”</p> + +<p>He lifted his own cup with a brave air, and I tossed off the contents +of my own without stopping.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p><p>As the fiery liquor ran down my throat I was conscious of something +in its taste which was unlike the flavor of any vodka I had ever +drunk before. But this circumstance aroused no suspicion in my mind. +I confess that it never occurred to me that any one could be daring +enough to employ so crude and dangerous a device as a drugged draft +at a quasi-public banquet, given to an English peace emissary, with a +member of the imperial family sitting at the board.</p> + +<p>I was undeceived the next moment. Petrovitch, as soon as he saw that +my cup had been emptied, sat down his own untasted, and, with a +well-acted movement of surprise and regret, turned to the Grand Duke.</p> + +<p>“I implore your pardon, sir. I did not ask if you would not honor me +by taking the first cup!”</p> + +<p>The Grand Duke, whom I readily acquitted of any share in the other’s +design, shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent air.</p> + +<p>“If you wish your friends to drink vodka, you should not put +champagne like this before us,” he said laughing.</p> + +<p>Petrovitch said something in reply; he turned and scolded the butler +as well, I fancy. But my brain was becoming confused. I had just +sufficient command of my faculties left to feign ignorance of the +true situation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p><p>“I am feeling a little faint. That <i>pâté</i>”—I contrived to murmur.</p> + +<p>And then I heard Captain Vassileffsky cry out in an alarm that was +unmistakably genuine—“Look out for the Englishman! He is +swooning”—and I knew no more.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>DRUGGED AND KIDNAPPED</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcm.jpg" title="M" height="70" width="71" alt="M" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">M</span>y first thought, as my senses began to come back to me, was of the +train which was due to leave Petersburg for Moscow at midnight.</p> + +<p>I clutched at my watch, and drew it forth. The hands marked the time +as 9.25. Apparently I had not been unconscious for more than a few +seconds.</p> + +<p>My second glance assured me that my clothes were not disarranged. My +shirt-front, concealing the Czar’s autograph letter, was exactly as +when I sat down to the table.</p> + +<p>Only after satisfying myself on these two points did I begin to take +in the rest of my surroundings.</p> + +<p>I was resting on a couch against the wall in the room where we had +dined. My host, the head of the Manchuria Syndicate, was standing +beside me, watching my recovery with a friendly and relieved +expression, as though honestly glad to see me myself again. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>A +servant, holding in his hand a bottle which appeared to contain sal +volatile, was looking on from the foot of the bed, in an attitude of +sympathetic attention. The other guests had left the room, and the +state of the table, covered with half-filled glasses and hastily +thrown down napkins, made it evident that they had cleared out of the +way to give me a chance to come to.</p> + +<p>The cold air blowing over my forehead told me that a window had been +opened. A Russian January is not favorable to much ventilation. As a +rule the houses of the well-to-do are provided with double windows, +which are kept hermetically sealed while the rooms are in use. The +fact that the dining-room was still warm was sufficient proof that +the window could not have been opened for more than the briefest +time.</p> + +<p>It was a singular thing that, in spite of these assurances that my +swoon had been an affair of moments only, I was seized by an +overmastering desire to get away from the house immediately.</p> + +<p>I heard M. Petrovitch exclaim—</p> + +<p>“Thank Heaven—you are better! I began to be afraid that your seizure +was going to last. I must go and reassure my guests. The Grand Duke +will be delighted to hear your are recovering. He was most distressed +at the attack.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p><p>I sat upright with an effort, and staggered to my feet.</p> + +<p>“I am ashamed to have given you so much trouble,” I said. “I can’t +remember ever fainting like this before. Please make my excuses to +his imperial highness and the rest of the company.”</p> + +<p>“But what are you doing?” cried M. Petrovitch in dismay. “You must +not attempt to move yet.”</p> + +<p>“I shall be better in bed,” I answered in a voice which I purposely +strove to render as faint as possible. “If you will excuse me, I will +go straight to my hotel.”</p> + +<p>The promoter’s brow wrinkled. I saw that he was trying to devise some +pretext to detain me, and my anxiety to find myself clear of his +house redoubled.</p> + +<p>“If you will do me a favor, I should be glad if you would let one of +your servants come with me as far as the hotel,” I said. “I am +feeling rather giddy and weak.”</p> + +<p>The secret chief of the War Party caught eagerly at the suggestion. +It was no doubt exactly what he desired.</p> + +<p>“Mishka,” he said, turning to the servant, and speaking in Russian, +“this gentleman asks you to accompany him to his hotel, as he has not +yet recovered. Take great care of him, and do not leave him until he +is safe in his own bed.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p><p>The man nodded, giving his master a look which said—I understand +what you want me to do.</p> + +<p>Thanks to this request on my part, M. Petrovitch raised no further +objection to my departure. I stumbled out of the room, pretending to +cling to the servant’s arm for support, and let him help me on with +my furs, while the porter was summoning a sleigh.</p> + +<p>There was a hurried consultation in low tones between my host and the +porter. Rather to my surprise the carriage, when it appeared, was a +closed one, being a species of brougham on runners instead of wheels. +I allowed myself to be carried down the steps like a child, and +placed inside; the door was closed, with the windows carefully drawn +up, and the jailer—for such he was to all intents and purposes—got +on the box.</p> + +<p>The sleigh swept out of the courtyard and across the city. Directly +it was in the street, I very softly lowered one of the windows and +peered out. The streets seemed to me more deserted than usual at such +an hour. I was idly wondering whether the imminence of war could +account for this when I heard a church clock beginning to strike.</p> + +<p>Once—twice—the chimes rang out. And then, as I was preparing to +close the window, they went on a third time—a fourth!</p> + +<p>I held my breath, and listened with straining ears, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>as the great +notes boomed forth from the distant town across the silent streets +and houses.</p> + +<p>One—two—three—four—five—six—seven—eight—nine—ten—<span class="smcap">ELEVEN</span>!</p> + +<p>I understood at last. That drugged sleep had lasted an hour and a +half, and before I came to myself my watch had been deliberately set +back to the minute at which I lost consciousness, in order to prevent +me from suspecting that I had been searched, or that there was +anything wrong about the affair.</p> + +<p>Had I taken time for reflection I should probably have made up my +mind to lose the Moscow express. In order to lull the suspicions of +the conspirators, by making them believe I was their dupe, I should +have let myself be taken to the hotel and put to bed in accordance +with the kind instructions of my late host. In that case, no doubt, +my watch would have been secretly put right again while I was asleep.</p> + +<p>But I could not bear the idea of all my carefully planned +arrangements being upset. Above all things, I desired to keep up my +prestige with the superintendent of police, Rostoy, who regarded me +as an invincible being possessed of almost magical powers. At the +moment when the clock was striking I ought to have been walking into +his room in the bureau of the Third Section.</p> + +<p>Grinding my teeth with vexation, I very gently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>opened the door of +the carriage, which was traveling noiselessly over the snow, and +slipped out.</p> + +<p>I had taken care to ascertain that no onlooker was near. As soon as +the sleigh was ’round the corner of the street I hailed a public +conveyance and directed the driver to take me to the police office.</p> + +<p>I was only five minutes late in keeping my appointment. Detecting a +look of slight surprise on the face of the superintendent, I +apologized for keeping him waiting.</p> + +<p>“It is my habit to be punctual, even in trifling matters like this,” +I remarked carelessly. “But the fact is I have been drugged and +kidnapped since I saw you, and it took me five minutes to dispose of +the rascals.”</p> + +<p>Rostoy stared at me with stupid incredulity.</p> + +<p>“You are joking, Monsieur V——, I suppose,” he muttered. “But, +however, since you have arrived, there is your disguise. You will +find everything in the pockets complete, including a handkerchief +marked with the initials of the name you have chosen.”</p> + +<p>“Monsieur Rostoy, you are an able man, with whom it is pleasure to do +business,” I responded heartily.</p> + +<p>The Russian swelled with pride at this compliment. I hastily changed +clothes, shifting nothing from my discarded costume except a +cigarette case which I had filled with the hotel cigarettes. My +inquiry as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>to the Gregorides brand smoked by M. Petrovitch had not +yet been answered.</p> + +<p>“Surely you are not going to wear that linen shirt of yours right +across Siberia!” exclaimed Rostoy, who never took his eyes off me.</p> + +<p>I shrugged my shoulders.</p> + +<p>“It is a whim of mine always to wear linen,” I responded. “I am not a +rheumatic subject. And, besides, I have no time to lose.”</p> + +<p>The superintendent threw a regretful look at the flannel shirt he had +provided for me.</p> + +<p>As soon as I had finished my preparations I handed a thick bundle of +ruble notes to the superintendent.</p> + +<p>“As much more when I come back safe,” was all I said.</p> + +<p>Rostoy snatched at his pay, his eyes sparkling with greed.</p> + +<p>“Good-by and a good journey!” he cried as I strode out.</p> + +<p>Once in the street, I had no difficulty in finding a sleigh, this +time an open one, to convey me to the railway station. I glanced at +my watch, which I had set by the church clock, and calculated that I +should have a few minutes to spare.</p> + +<p>But I had not allowed for Russian ideas as to time. As the sleigh +drew up at the great terminus, and I came in view of the station +clock, I saw that it was on the stroke of midnight.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p><p>Flinging the driver his fare I rushed toward the barrier.</p> + +<p>“Moscow!” I shouted to the railway official in charge.</p> + +<p>“The train has just left,” was the crushing reply.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE RACE FOR SIBERIA</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dct.jpg" title="T" height="70" width="70" alt="T" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">T</span>he unnatural strain I had put on my strength, undermined as it had +been by the drugged vodka, gave way under this depressing failure, +and for an instant I seriously thought of abandoning my effort to +catch the Czar’s messenger.</p> + +<p>I could leave Colonel Menken to pursue his journey, taking care of +himself as best he could, while I followed by a later train. But I +had little thought of that, as to adopt such a course would be to +abandon the gallant officer to his fate. Whatever the War Syndicate +might or might not know or suspect about myself, there could be no +doubt that they knew all there was to know about Menken, and that the +Colonel would never be allowed to reach Dalny with his despatch, +alive.</p> + +<p>“Show me the passenger list,” I demanded sternly, determined to use +to the full the advantages conferred on me by my uniform.</p> + +<p>The station inspector hastened to obey. He took me into the booking +office, opened a volume, and there I read the name and destination of +every passenger who had left for Moscow that night. It is by such +precautions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> that the Russian police are enabled to control the +Russian nation as the warders control the convicts in an English +prison.</p> + +<p>At the very head of the list I read the name of Colonel Menken, +passenger to Dalny, on his imperial majesty’s service.</p> + +<p>It was incredible folly thus publicly to proclaim himself as an +object of suspicion to the powerful clique engaged in thwarting the +policy of their nominal ruler.</p> + +<p>I glanced my eye down the list in search of some name likely to be +that of an emissary of the Syndicate. It was with something like a +shock that I came upon the conspicuous entry—</p> + +<p>“The Princess Y——, lady-in-waiting to H. I. M. the Dowager Empress, +passenger to Port Arthur, on a visit to her uncle, commanding one of +the forts.”</p> + +<p>Stamping my foot angrily, in order to impress the railway official, I +said—</p> + +<p>“Order a pilot engine immediately to take me to Moscow. Tell the +driver he is to overtake the express, and enter the Moscow station +behind it.”</p> + +<p>There was some demur, of course, and some delay. But I wore the +livery of the dreaded Third Section, and my words were more powerful +than if I had been the young man who wears the Russian crown.</p> + +<p>By dint of curses, threats, blows and an occasional ruble note, I got +my way. Indeed, I managed things <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>so well that the railway officials +did not even ask me for my name. I showed them my official badge; but +when they made their report in the morning they would only be able to +say that an inspector of the Secret Police had ordered a pilot engine +to take him to Moscow in pursuit of the midnight express.</p> + +<p>The impression which I was careful to convey, without putting it into +words, was that I was on the track of an absconding Nihilist.</p> + +<p>Within half an hour of my arrival at the terminus a light but +powerful locomotive drew up on the main line of rails, with +everything in readiness for an immediate start.</p> + +<p>I leaped into the driver’s cab, where I found the driver himself and +two stokers hard at work increasing the head of steam, and gave the +order to go.</p> + +<p>The driver touched the tap, the whistle rang out once, and the wheels +began to revolve. Ten seconds later we were beyond the station lights +and facing the four hundred miles of frozen plain that lay between us +and Moscow.</p> + +<p>Every one has heard the story of this famous piece of road. The +engineers of the line, accustomed to map out their routes in other +countries with reference to the natural obstacles and the convenience +of commerce, waited upon the great autocrat, Nicholas I., a very +different man from his descendant, and asked him for instructions as +to laying out the first railway in the Russian Empire.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p><p>The Czar called for a map of his dominions, and then, taking a ruler +in his hand, drew a straight line between the old and new capitals.</p> + +<p>And so the line has been made, a symbol to all who travel on it of +the irresponsible might of the Russian Czardom.</p> + +<p>It was not till we were fairly on our way, and the speed had risen to +something like fifty miles an hour, that I realized what I had done +in entering on this furious race.</p> + +<p>I had never traveled on a detached engine before, and the sensation +at first was quite unnerving.</p> + +<p>Unlike a motor car, in which the hand of the driver has to be +perpetually on the steering-gear, and his eye perpetually on the +alert, the pilot engine seemed to be flung forward like a missile, +guided by its own velocity, and clinging to the endless rails with +its wheels as with iron claws. With the rush as of wind, with the +roar as of a cataract, with the rocking as of an earthquake, the +throbbing thing of iron sprang and fled through the night.</p> + +<p>Hour after hour we rushed across the blinding desert of snow, in +which nothing showed except the flying disk of light cast by the +engine lamps, and the red and white balls of fire that seemed to +start, alight, and go out again as we frantically dashed past some +wayside station.</p> + +<p>As the speed increased the light pilot engine, not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>steadied by a +long train of coaches, almost rose from the rails as it raced along. +Over and over again I thanked my stars that there were no curves to +be taken, and I blessed the memory of that famous ruler wielded by +the hand of Nicholas I. Here and there, at some slight rise in the +ground, the engine literally did leave the rails and skim through the +air for a few yards, alighting with a jar that brought my teeth +together like castanets, and rushing forward again.</p> + +<p>I clung to a small brass hand-rail, and strained my eyes through the +darkness. I could not have sat down, even had there been a seat +provided for me—the pace was too tremendous. I was tired and unwell, +and a slight feeling of headache and sickness began to gain on me, +engendered by the vibration of the engine, the smell of oil, and the +fearful heat of the furnace.</p> + +<p>It was some hours since we had started, but it was still pitch dark, +with the wintry blackness of a northern night. I leaned and gazed +forward with dull eyes, when I was aware of two red sparks that did +not grow and rush toward us as I expected.</p> + +<p>Were we slackening speed by any chance? I turned to the engine +driver, and pointed with my hand.</p> + +<p>The grimy toiler nodded. Then making a trumpet of his hands he +shouted above the rattle of the wheels—</p> + +<p>“The rear-lights of the express!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE CZAR’S MESSENGER</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>  drew out my watch and glanced at it by the light of the flaring +stoke-hole. It was just half-past eight.</p> + +<p>The time taken up on the journey between Petersburg and Moscow varies +greatly according to the state of the weather and the amount of snow +on the line. But even in the summer the best trains are allowed +twelve hours, while the slow ones take nearly twenty-four. The +special Siberian express was timed to reach the ancient capital of +the czars at ten o’clock in the morning, and we had overtaken it with +rather more than an hour to spare.</p> + +<p>I ordered the driver to creep up gradually, but not to approach too +near the hindmost coach of the train in front until Moscow was in +sight.</p> + +<p>Obedient to my instructions, he slackened speed by degrees, till we +were rolling along at the same rate as the express, with a space of +three or four hundred yards between us.</p> + +<p>Presently a red flag was thrust out from a side window<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> at the rear +of the last coach and waved furiously. The driver of my engine +responded with first a green and then a white signal, indication that +there was no danger though caution was desirable.</p> + +<p>The express perceptibly quickened its speed, but of course without +our allowing it to get farther ahead. At last the spires of the +Kremlin, and the green copper domes gleamed out across the waste, and +I nodded to the driver to close up.</p> + +<p>He managed the maneuver with the skill of an artist. Inch by inch we +neared the guard’s van in front, and our buffers were actually +touching as the engine in front blew off steam and we slowed +alongside the Moscow station.</p> + +<p>Before the wheels of the express had ceased to move I was out on the +platform, and running up to the guard of the express.</p> + +<p>“I have come on the pilot engine from Petersburg,” I told him +hurriedly. “Tell no one of my arrival. Do not report the chase. If +you are questioned, say that you have orders to say nothing. And now +tell me which is the train for Dalny and Port Arthur, and when does +it leave?”</p> + +<p>The guard, thoroughly cowed, promised implicit obedience. He showed +me a long corridor train with handsome sleeping cars and dining +saloons, which was drawn up ready at another platform.</p> + +<p>“That is the train which goes to Baikal,” he told <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>me. “If the ice on +the lake will bear, rails may be laid right across it; if not, there +will be sleighs to transport the passengers to a train on the other +side. The train leaves at noon.”</p> + +<p>I thanked him and strolled off down the platform, glancing into the +carriages of the newly-arrived train as I passed in search of the +Czar’s messenger.</p> + +<p>I did not anticipate that any harm could have happened to him so soon +after leaving Petersburg. The object of the conspirators would be +defeated if Nicholas II. learned of any accident to his messenger in +time to send another despatch. It was more likely, at least so I +argued, that the Princess Y—— would accompany her victim across +Siberia, gradually worming her way into his confidence, and that only +at the last moment would she show her hand.</p> + +<p>It was with a slight start that I encountered the face of the fair +emissary of M. Petrovitch, as she came to the door of her sleeping +compartment and looked out.</p> + +<p>I was delighted to observe that this time she did not suspect me. In +fact, she evidently mistook me for one of the ordinary station +officials, for she gave me a haughty command:</p> + +<p>“Go and see if there is a telegram for the Princess Y——.”</p> + +<p>Making a respectful salute I hastened off in the direction of the +telegraph office. On the way I interrupted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> a man in uniform carrying +an envelope in his hand.</p> + +<p>“For the Princess Y——?” I demanded.</p> + +<p>The man scowled at me and made as if to conceal the telegram. I saw +that it was a case for a tip and handed him a ruble note, on which he +promptly parted with his trust.</p> + +<p>I turned around, and as soon as the messenger had moved off, I tore +open the envelope and read the message. Fortunately, it was not in +cipher, the rules against any such use of the wires, except by the +Government, being too strict.</p> + +<p>This is what I read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Our friend, who is now an inspector, will join you at Moscow. Look +out for him. He has left his luggage with us, but does not know it.”</p></div> + +<p>Accident, which had hitherto opposed my designs, was favoring them at +last. It was clear that Rostoy had betrayed me, and that Petrovitch +had sent this wire to the Princess to put her on her guard. But what +was the “luggage” which I was described as having left in the hands +of M. Petrovitch?</p> + +<p>I thought I knew.</p> + +<p>Crumpling up the tell-tale message in my pocket, I darted into the +telegraph office, and beckoned to the clerk in charge.</p> + +<p>“On his majesty’s secret service,” I breathed in his ear, drawing him +on one side. I showed him my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>police badge, and added, “An envelope +and telegram form, quick!”</p> + +<p>Overwhelmed by my imperative manner, he handed me the required +articles. I hastily scribbled:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Our friend has parted with his luggage, though he does not know it. +He has been unwell, but may follow you next week. To save trouble do +not wire to us till you return.”</p></div> + +<p>Slipping this into the envelope, I addressed it to the Princess, and +hastened back to the carriage where I had left her.</p> + +<p>I found her fuming with impatience and scolding her maid, who looked +on half awake. I handed her the bogus telegram with a cringing +gesture. She snatched at it, tore off the cover and read, while I +watched her furtively from under my lowered eyelashes.</p> + +<p>The first part of the message evidently gave her the greatest +pleasure. The second part, it was equally evident, puzzled and +annoyed her.</p> + +<p>“Fool! What is he afraid of now?” she muttered beneath her breath.</p> + +<p>She stood gnawing her rose-red lips for a moment—even a night passed +in the train could not make her look less charming—and then turned +to me.</p> + +<p>“That will do. No answer. Here, Marie, give this man a couple of +rubles.”</p> + +<p>I received the gratuity with a look of satisfaction <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>which must have +surprised the tired waiting maid. In reality I had scored a most +important point. Thanks to my suppression of the first message and my +addition to the second, I had completely cut off communication +between the agent of the Syndicate and its head in Petersburg, for a +time; while I had lulled the beautiful plotter into a false security, +by which I was likely to benefit.</p> + +<p>My anxieties considerably lightened for the time being, I now renewed +my search for Colonel Menken.</p> + +<p>The train from Petersburg had emptied by this time, so I moved across +the station to where the luxurious Manchurian express was being +boarded by its passengers.</p> + +<p>I got in at one end, and made my way slowly along the corridors, +stepping over innumerable bags and other light articles. In a corner +of the smoking car I came at last upon the man I sought.</p> + +<p>Colonel Menken was a young man for his rank, not over thirty, with a +fine, soldierly figure, handsome face and rather dandified air. He +wore a brilliant uniform, which looked like that of some crack +regiment of Guards. A cigar was in his mouth, and he was making a +little nest for himself with rugs and books and papers, and a box of +choice Havanas. A superb despatch box, with silver mounts, was +plainly marked with his initials, also in silver.</p> + +<p>I did not dare to choose a seat for myself in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>same part of the +train as the man whom I was anxious to guard. The oppressive powers +wielded by the police of Russia are tolerated only on one condition, +namely, that they are never abused to the disparagement of the social +importance of the aristocracy.</p> + +<p>Bearing this in mind, I proceeded to the coach set aside for the +servants of the rich passengers, and contrived to secure a place +close to that occupied in the day-time by the maid of the Princess.</p> + +<p>Having more than an hour to spare, I now laid in a large stock of +Turkish tobacco and cigarette papers, so as to have some means of +beguiling the time on the long, wearisome run across Asia. I also +bought a second-hand valise, and stocked it modestly with clothes. +Finally I made a hearty breakfast in the station restaurant, and +boarded the train a few minutes before it rolled out of Moscow.</p> + +<p>Needless to say, I had introduced myself to the superintendent of the +train, an official of great dignity and importance. As a police +agent, of course I traveled free on the Government lines. The +superintendent was good enough to offer me a spare bed in his private +cabin at the end of the train, and during the run we became the best +of friends.</p> + +<p>But I must be excused from dwelling on the details of the journey, +not the first I had taken on the great transasiatic line. My whole +energies were absorbed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> in two tasks. In the first place, I had to +gain the confidence of the maid, Marie, and in the second to prevent +her mistress gaining the confidence of the messenger of the Czar.</p> + +<p>“I hope that message I brought to the Princess did not contain any +bad news?” I said to Marie as soon as I got a chance of addressing +her.</p> + +<p>This was when we were fairly on the way.</p> + +<p>After first attending to her mistress, and seeing that she was +comfortably settled, the maid was at liberty to look after herself, +and I had seized the opportunity to render her a few trifling +services with her luggage.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know, I’m sure,” was the answer to my question. “The +Princess tells me nothing of her secrets.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps the Princess Y——”</p> + +<p>“Oh, let’s call her Sophy,” the maid interrupted crossly.</p> + +<p>Needless to say I welcomed these symptoms that Marie was no great +friend of her employer.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps she has no secrets,” I continued. “Have you been with her +long?”</p> + +<p>“Only six months,” was the answer. “And I don’t think I shall stay +much longer. But you’re quite mistaken if you think Sophy is one of +the innocent ones. She’s always up to some mischief or other, though +what it is, I don’t know.”</p> + +<p>“If you stay with her a little longer, you may find <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>out. And then, +if it is anything political, you may make a good deal of money out of +her.”</p> + +<p>The girl’s eyes brightened.</p> + +<p>“Keep your eyes open,” I said. “Look out for any scraps of paper you +see lying about. Keep a diary of the places Sophy goes to, and the +people she sees. And when you have anything to tell, let me know. I +will give you my address in Petersburg. And you may trust me to see +that you come off well.”</p> + +<p>Marie readily agreed to all I asked of her. The understanding thus +arrived at was destined to be of the greatest assistance to me. +Indeed, it is not too much to say that to this young Russian girl it +is due that the two greatest Powers in the Old World are not at this +moment battling on the Afghan frontier.</p> + +<p>We had hardly been an hour under way before I saw the two objects of +my watchfulness seated side by side in the drawing-room car, +apparently on the friendliest terms.</p> + +<p>Dismayed by this rapid progress, as it seemed, on the part of the +Princess, I reproached myself for not having warned Colonel Menken +before we started.</p> + +<p>I resolved to put him on his guard at the earliest possible moment, +and with that view I hung about the smoking-car, waiting till I saw +him return to his corner.</p> + +<p>This was not for some hours. Fortunately, owing to the universal +expectation of war, there were not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>many passengers proceeding to the +Far East. The train was practically empty, and so when Colonel Menken +had seated himself once more in the snug corner he had prepared for +himself, I was able to approach him without fear of being overheard.</p> + +<p>He was just lighting a cigar as I came up, and took no notice of my +respectful salute till he had inhaled the tobacco smoke two or three +times and expelled it through his nostrils to test the flavor.</p> + +<p>At last he turned to me.</p> + +<p>“Well?” he said with some sharpness. “What is the matter?”</p> + +<p>“I have seen in the passenger list that you are traveling on the +service of the Czar,” I answered, “and I venture to place myself at +your orders.”</p> + +<p>Colonel Menken scowled at me haughtily.</p> + +<p>“Does that mean that you want a tip?” he sneered. “Or has some fool +ordered you to shadow me?”</p> + +<p>“Neither, Colonel,” I replied. “I am a servant of the Czar, like +yourself, as you may see from my uniform, and as I have reason to +fear that there is an enemy of his majesty on the train, I wish to +put you on your guard.”</p> + +<p>Menken gave a self-confident smile.</p> + +<p>“I am pretty well able to take care of myself, I believe,” he said +boastfully. “As for the Nihilists, I no longer believe in their +existence. You may point out the man you suspect, if you like, of +course.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p>“It is not a man, Colonel, it is a woman.”</p> + +<p>“In that case the adventure promises to be interesting. I do not know +any of the women on board except the Princess <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Y——.”</span></p> + +<p>“You know her!” I allowed a note of surprise to appear in my voice.</p> + +<p>“The Princess is related to me,” the Czar’s messenger declared, with +a rebuking frown. “I presume she is not the object of your +suspicions?”</p> + +<p>“And if she were?”</p> + +<p>“If she were, I should tell you that you had made a very absurd +mistake, my good fellow. The Princess is in the confidence of the +Dowager Empress; she is perfectly aware of the object of my mission, +and she has just promised me that if I carry it out successfully she +will become my wife.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>THE BETROTHAL OF DELILAH</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcc.jpg" title="C" height="70" width="70" alt="C" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">C</span>olonel Menken regarded me with ironical contempt as I tried to +apologize for my hinted distrust of his betrothed.</p> + +<p>“That will do, my man. I shall tell the Princess of your blunder, and +I can assure you she will be heartily amused by it.”</p> + +<p>“At least you will remember that I wear his imperial majesty’s +uniform,” I ventured. “And, however much I have been misled as to the +intentions of her highness, I submit that I am entitled to secrecy on +your part.”</p> + +<p>“Am I to understand that some one has given you orders referring to +the Princess? I thought this was simply some idle suspicion of your +own?”</p> + +<p>“My instructions were to watch over your safety, without letting you +perceive it, and to take particular note of any one who seemed to be +trying to form your acquaintance on the journey. If you now denounce +me to her highness, she will be annoyed, and in any case I shall be +of no further use to you.”</p> + +<p>“So much the better,” the Colonel said rudely. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>“I consider your +being here at all as an act of impertinence. If I engage to say +nothing to the Princess—who, as you say, might be annoyed—will you +undertake to leave me alone for the future?”</p> + +<p>“I will undertake to leave the train at Tomsk,” I replied.</p> + +<p>Colonel Menken closed with this offer, which was meant as a delusive +one. I had selected the first important stopping-place at which the +train waited sufficiently long for me to procure the materials of a +fresh disguise.</p> + +<p>I took the train superintendent into my confidence, as far as to say +that I wished to assume a false character for the remainder of the +journey in order to be better able to play the spy on the object of +my suspicion. We agreed that one of the train attendants should be +put off at Tomsk, and that I should take his place.</p> + +<p>After my scene with the Colonel, I could not venture to do much in +the way of overlooking them. But I made the best use of my friendship +with Marie, and she reported to me regularly what she observed of the +doings of her mistress.</p> + +<p>“It is my belief that Sophy is going to marry that stupid Colonel,” +she informed me, not long after I had heard of the engagement. “Why? +I can’t think. He has no brains, not much money, and I am certain she +is not in love with him.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p><p>“There has been a quarrel of some kind between those two,” she +reported later on. “Colonel Menken has been questioning Sophy about +her reason for going to Port Arthur just now, when it may be attacked +by the Japanese.”</p> + +<p>All this time the Princess had made no move to possess herself of the +despatch which Menken was carrying—the real object of her presence +on board the train.</p> + +<p>When Tomsk was reached, I went off into the town and procured +different hair and beard so as to effect a complete change in my +appearance. The disguise was clumsy enough, but, after all, neither +the Colonel nor his companion had had many opportunities of studying +my personal appearance.</p> + +<p>In the little cabin of my friend the superintendent I carried out the +transformation, and finished by donning the livery of the railway +restaurant service.</p> + +<p>Thus equipped, I proceeded to lay the table at which the betrothed +pair usually took their meals together.</p> + +<p>As soon as the next meal, which happened to be dinner, was ready, I +proceeded to wait upon them. They noticed the change of waiters, and +asked me what had become of my predecessor.</p> + +<p>“He got off at Tomsk,” I told them. This was true—the getting rid of +the waiter whose place I wished to take had been a simple matter. It +must be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>remembered that I found myself everywhere received as an +inspector attached to the secret police, the dreaded Third Section, +and, in consequence, my word was law to those I had to deal with.</p> + +<p>I added with an assumed air of mysterious consequence, “The Inspector +of Police also left the train at Tomsk. It is asserted that he is +going to make an important arrest.”</p> + +<p>Colonel Menken laughed. Then turning to the beautiful woman who sat +facing him across the small table, he said smilingly,</p> + +<p>“It is lucky the inspector did not arrest you, my dear.”</p> + +<p>“Why, what do you mean?” she demanded.</p> + +<p>“Simply that this officer, according to his own account, was charged +to watch over and protect your devoted servant, and in the exercise +of his functions he was good enough to hint to me that you were a +suspicious character, of whom I should do well to be on my guard.”</p> + +<p>“Infamous! The wretch! Why didn’t you tell me this before?”</p> + +<p>“I promised the fellow not to. He was afraid of getting into trouble, +and as he had only blundered out of zeal, I let him off.”</p> + +<p>“And he has left the train. Why, I wonder?”</p> + +<p>“I ordered him to.”</p> + +<p>The Princess Y—— looked less and less pleased. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>A minute later, I +caught her stealthily glancing in my direction, and realized that her +keen wits were already at work, connecting my appearance on the scene +with the disappearance of the inspector.</p> + +<p>The next day, Colonel Menken and his betrothed took their seats at a +different table in the restaurant of the train.</p> + +<p>I saw the meaning of this maneuver. It was of course a test by which +the Princess Y—— sought to learn if I was a spy, appointed to +replace the inspector. I took care not to assist her by following +them to the new table; on the contrary, I refused the offer of my +brother waiter, who was honest enough not to wish to take my tips +from me.</p> + +<p>When we reached Irkutsk, I had another proof that the Princess was +beginning to feel uneasy. Marie informed me that her mistress had +ordered her to go into the town and send off a telegram, as she would +not trust the railway officials.</p> + +<p>The message, which my ally faithfully reported to me, was addressed +to Petrovitch himself and ran as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Received wire from you at Moscow reporting our friend ill, +and telling me not to wire you again till my return. I now +fear some mistake. All going well otherwise.</p></div> + +<p>We were carried across the frozen Baikal amid a furious snowstorm. +Huddled up in thick furs, and fighting to keep our blood circulating +under the leaden <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>pressure of the cruel frost, there was no time to +think of conspiracies.</p> + +<p>But on resuming the journey on the other side of the lake, I saw that +the cunning agent of the War Party was maturing some decisive attempt +on the messenger of peace. The talks of the lovers became closer and +more confidential, the manner of Colonel Menken grew daily more +devoted and absorbed, and Marie described her mistress as laboring +under an extraordinary excitement.</p> + +<p>At last, on the very day the train crossed the Chinese frontier on +the way to Mukden, Marie came to me with a decisive report.</p> + +<p>“Sophy has won!” she declared. “I overheard them talking again last +night. Ever since they left Tomsk they have been having a dispute, +Sophy declaring that the Colonel did not love her, because he +suspected her, and he, the stupid creature, swearing that he trusted +her entirely. It appears she had got out of him that he was carrying +a paper of some kind, and so she said that unless he gave her this +paper to keep till they reached Dalny or Port Arthur, she would not +believe in him, nor have anything more to say to him.</p> + +<p>“In the end, she was too many for him. Last night he gave her the +paper in a sealed envelope, and I saw her take it from her breast +before she undressed last night.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p><p>“Where is it? What has she done with it?” I demanded anxiously.</p> + +<p>“I can’t tell you that. She had it in her hand when she dismissed me +for the night. It looked to me as though she meant to break the seal +and read it.”</p> + +<p>Full of the gravest forebodings, I hurried to the rear of the train, +got out my inspector’s uniform, though without effecting any change +in my facial appearance, and made my way to the smoking-car.</p> + +<p>Colonel Menken, who had just finished breakfast, was settling himself +down to a cigar and an illustrated magazine.</p> + +<p>He gazed up at me in astonishment, as he perceived the change in my +costume.</p> + +<p>“So the Princess was right!” he exclaimed angrily. “You are another +policeman.”</p> + +<p>I bowed.</p> + +<p>“And charged, like the last, to protect me from my cousin and future +wife!”</p> + +<p>“From the person who has robbed you of the Czar’s autograph letter to +the Emperor of Japan, yes!”</p> + +<p>Menken recoiled, thunderstruck.</p> + +<p>“You knew what I was carrying?”</p> + +<p>“As well as I know the contents of the telegram which the Princess +sent from Irkutsk to the head of the Manchurian Syndicate—the man +who has sworn that the Czar’s letter shall never be delivered.”</p> + +<p>Colonel Menken staggered to his feet, bewildered, angry, half induced +to threaten, and half to yield.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p><p>“You must be lying! Sophy never left my sight while we were at +Irkutsk!”</p> + +<p>“We can discuss that later. Will you, or will you not, reclaim his +majesty’s letter—the letter entrusted to your honor?”</p> + +<p>Menken turned white.</p> + +<p>“I—I will approach the Princess,” he stammered, obviously divided +between fear of losing her, and dread of myself and any action I +might take.</p> + +<p>“That will not do for me,” I said sternly. “I can only make you this +offer: Come with me at once to this lady’s sleeping berth and regain +the despatch, and I will agree to say no more about it; refuse, and I +shall report the whole affair to his majesty personally.”</p> + +<p>“Who are you?” inquired the dismayed man.</p> + +<p>“That is of no consequence. You see my uniform—let that be enough +for you.”</p> + +<p>He staggered down the car. I followed, and we reached the car where +the Princess was at the moment engaged, with Marie’s aid, in putting +the last touches to her toilet.</p> + +<p>She looked up at our appearance, gave an interrogative glance first +at Menken and then, at me, and evidently made up her mind.</p> + +<p>“What is it, gentlemen?”</p> + +<p>“The—the paper I gave—that you offered to—that—in short, I want +it immediately,” faltered my companion.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p><p>“I have no paper of yours, and I do not know what you are talking +about, my friend,” said the Princess <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Y——</span> with the calmest air in +the world.</p> + +<p>Menken uttered a cry of despair.</p> + +<p>“The letter, the letter I gave you last night—it was a letter from +the Czar,” he exclaimed feebly.</p> + +<p>“I think you must have dreamed it,” said the Princess with extreme +composure. “Marie, have you seen any letter about?”</p> + +<p>“No, your highness,” returned the servant submissively.</p> + +<p>“If you think there is anything here, you are welcome to look,” her +mistress added with a pleasant smile. “As for me, I never keep +letters, my own or anybody else’s. <i>I always tear them up.</i>”</p> + +<p>And with these words, and another smile and a nod, she stepped +gracefully past us, and went to take her seat in the part of the +train reserved for ladies.</p> + +<p>Somewhere, doubtless, on the white Manchurian plain we had crossed in +the night, the fragments of the imperial peacemaker’s letter were +being scattered by the wind.</p> + +<p>Menken’s face had changed utterly in the last minute. He resembled an +elderly man.</p> + +<p>“Tell the Czar that I alone am to blame,” were his last words.</p> + +<p>Before I could prevent him, he had drawn a revolver from his pocket, +and put two bullets through his head.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE ANSWER OF THE MIKADO</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dca.jpg" title="A" height="70" width="69" alt="A" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">A</span>  week later, that is to say, on the 8th of February, 1904, I was in +Tokio.</p> + +<p>The behavior of the Princess Y—— on hearing of the death of her +victim had been a strange mixture of heartlessness and hysterical +remorse.</p> + +<p>At the first sound of the fatal shots, she came rushing to the scene +of the tragedy, and cast herself on the floor of the corridor beside +the dead man, seizing his hands, crying his name aloud, and weeping +frantically.</p> + +<p>When I tried to raise her, so that the body might be removed, she +turned on me fiercely.</p> + +<p>“This is your fault!” she cried. “Who are you, and how dared you +interfere with me?”</p> + +<p>“As you see by my uniform, I am an inspector of police attached to +the Third Section.”</p> + +<p>She gazed at me searchingly for a moment, and then, lowering her +voice, and bringing her lips to my ear, she said with intense energy:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p><p>“It is a lie. I am here by the orders of the Minister himself, as you +must know well. You are acting against us, whoever you are.”</p> + +<p>“I am acting by order of the Czar,” I responded.</p> + +<p>She smiled scornfully.</p> + +<p>“I expect that is another lie. You could not have got so far as you +have unless you had some one else behind you. Poor Nicholas!—Every +one knows what he is, and that he has less power than any other man +in Russia. Are you Witte’s man, I wonder?”</p> + +<p>“You are a bold woman to question me,” I said. “How do you know that +I am not going to arrest you for stealing and destroying the Czar’s +letter?”</p> + +<p>“I should not remain long under arrest,” was the significant answer. +She gave me another searching look, and muttered to herself, “If +I did not know that he was safe in the hands of my friends in +Petersburg I should think you must be a certain Monsieur ——”</p> + +<p>She broke off without pronouncing my name, and turned away.</p> + +<p>At Mukden, the next stopping place, the Princess Y—— left the +train, no doubt intending to travel back to Russia and report her +success.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, I had reason to think she had notified her friends +in Manchuria to keep an eye on me.</p> + +<p>All the way to Dalny I felt by that instinct which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>becomes second +nature to a man of my profession that I was under surveillance. +I detected a change in the manner of my friend the train +superintendent. My trifling luggage was carefully searched. In the +night when I was asleep some one went through my pockets. I was able +to see that even the contents of my cigarette case, which I had not +opened since leaving Petersburg, had been turned out and put back +again.</p> + +<p>As the train neared Dalny I began to feel a little nervous. I had a +dread of being stopped on my way to embark on board the steampacket +which was still running to Tokio.</p> + +<p>The train drew up at last, at the end of its five-thousand-mile-run, +and I stepped off it to the platform, carrying my valise in my hand.</p> + +<p>The platform was literally swarming with spies, as it was easy for a +man of my experience to detect. I walked calmly through them to the +cab-stand, and hailed a droshky.</p> + +<p>The driver, before starting off, exchanged a signal almost openly +with a stout man in plain clothes, who dogged me from the railway +carriage.</p> + +<p>Presently I sighted the steamer, alongside the principal wharf, with +the smoke pouring out of its funnel, all ready to start.</p> + +<p>The cabman whipped his horse and drove straight past the steamer.</p> + +<p>“Where are you going?” I shouted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p><p>“To the Custom House first; it is the regulation,” was the answer.</p> + +<p>Taking out my long neglected case, I placed a cigarette between my +lips, and asked the driver for some matches.</p> + +<p>He passed me a wooden box. I struck several, but each went out in the +high wind before igniting the tobacco.</p> + +<p>I was making another attempt as the droshky drew up outside the steps +of the Custom House. I dismounted negligently, while one of the +officials came and clutched my luggage. Then I walked slowly up the +steps, pausing in the porch to strike a fresh match.</p> + +<p>A porter snatched the box from my hand. “Smoking is forbidden,” he +said roughly. “Wait till you are out again.”</p> + +<p>I shrugged my shoulders, pinched the burning end of the cigarette, +which I retained in my mouth, and sauntered with an air of supreme +indifference after the man who was carrying my bag.</p> + +<p>He led me into a room in which a severe-looking official was seated +at a desk.</p> + +<p>“Your papers,” he demanded.</p> + +<p>I produced the papers with which I had been furnished by Rostoy.</p> + +<p>The customs official scrutinized them, evidently in the hope of +discovering some flaw.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p><p>“On what business are you going to Tokio?” he demanded.</p> + +<p>I smiled.</p> + +<p>“Since when have the police of the Third Section been obliged to +render an account of themselves to the officers of the customs?” I +asked defiantly.</p> + +<p>“How do I know that you are not a Japanese spy?”</p> + +<p>I laughed heartily.</p> + +<p>“You must be mad. How do I know that you are not a Nihilist?” I +retorted.</p> + +<p>The customs officer turned pale. I saw that my chance shot had gone +home. The Russian imperial services are honeycombed by revolutionary +intrigues.</p> + +<p>“Well, I shall detain your luggage for examination,” he declared.</p> + +<p>This time I pretended the greatest agitation. Of course, the more I +resisted the more he insisted. In the end he allowed me to depart +without my person being searched. The fact is I had convinced him +that he held an important prize in my worthless valise.</p> + +<p>I was just in time to catch the steamer. As I crossed the gangway, a +man dressed like a coal-trimmer turned on me a last careful scrutiny, +and remarked,</p> + +<p>“Your cigarette has gone out, Mister.”</p> + +<p>“Can you give me a light? Thank you!” I struck a match, drew a puff +of smoke, and handed him back <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>the box. Then I walked on board, the +gangway was drawn in, and the Japanese steamer headed out to the open +sea.</p> + +<p>On reaching Tokio I experienced some difficulty in obtaining an +audience of the Japanese ruler.</p> + +<p>I was obliged to announce my name. It will hardly be believed, but +the chamberlain whom I had entrusted with the important secret, +brought back the answer that the Mikado had never heard of me!</p> + +<p>“Tell his imperial majesty that there is no monarch of Europe, and +only two of Asia, who could say the same. I am here as the +confidential plenipotentiary of the Czar, with an autograph letter +addressed to the Mikado, and I respectfully ask leave to present it +in person.”</p> + +<p>Such a demand of course could not be refused. But even now the +haughty Japanese did not receive me in the privacy of his own +cabinet. On the contrary, I found myself introduced into the State +Council-Room, in which his majesty was seated at a table surrounded +by his chief advisers.</p> + +<p>In particular I remarked the venerable Yamagata, conqueror of China, +and the round bullet-head of Oyama, the future overthrower of +Kuropatkin.</p> + +<p>On the table was spread out a large map, or rather plan, of the +entire theater of war, including Manchuria, Korea, Japan and the seas +between. A man in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>naval uniform was standing beside the imperial +chair, with an expectant look on his face.</p> + +<p>All eyes were turned upon me at my entrance. The Mikado beckoned to +me to approach him.</p> + +<p>“Is it true that you bring me a letter from the Russian Emperor?” he +asked abruptly. “We have received information that such a letter was +on its way, but that the bearer was murdered on the Manchurian +railway four days ago.”</p> + +<p>“Your majesty’s information is substantially correct,” I answered. +“The messenger, a Colonel Menken, was seduced into parting with his +despatch, and committed suicide in consequence.”</p> + +<p>“Well, and what about yourself?”</p> + +<p>“Foreseeing that the unscrupulous men who have been trying to force +on a war between his Russian majesty and your majesty would leave no +stone unturned to intercept this despatch, the Czar wrote a duplicate +with his own hand, which he entrusted to me, in the hope that I might +baffle the conspirators.”</p> + +<p>“Where is it?”</p> + +<p>“I endeavored to conceal it by unstitching the front of the shirt I +am wearing, and sewing it up between the folds.</p> + +<p>“Unfortunately I was drugged at a dinner party in Petersburg just +before starting. I was unconscious for an hour and a half, and I fear +that the opponents of peace have taken advantage of the opportunity +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>to find and rob me of the letter. But I will see, with your majesty’s +permission.”</p> + +<p>The Mikado made no answer. Amid a breathless silence, with all the +room watching my movements, I tore open my shirt-front and extracted +a paper.</p> + +<p>It was blank.</p> + +<p>“So,” commented the Japanese Emperor, sternly, “you have no such +credentials as you boasted of having.”</p> + +<p>“Pardon me, sire. Anticipating that the War Party would suspect the +object of my mission, and would resort to some such step to defeat +it, I purposely provided them with a document to steal, believing +that when they had robbed me of it they would allow me to proceed +unmolested. My real credentials are here.”</p> + +<p>I drew out my cigarette case, found the partially smoked cigarette I +had had in my mouth when I ran the gauntlet of the spies at Dalny, +and proceeded to cut off the paper. On the inner surface these words +were written in the hand of the Czar:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The bearer of this, M. V——, has my full confidence, and +is authorized to settle conditions of peace.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Nicholas</span>.</p></div> + +<p>As I respectfully placed the scrap of paper, with its charred edges, +in the Mikado’s hand, I was conscious of a profound sensation in the +room. Aged statesmen and brilliant commanders bent eagerly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>across +the table to learn the character of the message thus strangely +brought to its destination.</p> + +<p>His majesty read the brief note aloud. It was received with a murmur, +not entirely of satisfaction I was surprised to note.</p> + +<p>Seeing that the Mikado made no remark, I ventured to say:</p> + +<p>“I hope that the extreme character of the measures adopted by the +Czar to assure your majesty of his peaceful sentiments will have the +effect of convincing you that they are genuine.”</p> + +<p>The Emperor of Japan glanced around his council board as if to +satisfy himself that he and his advisers were of one mind before +replying:</p> + +<p>“I appreciate the zeal and the extraordinary skill with which you +have carried out your mission. I regret that I cannot give you a +favorable answer to take back to your nation.”</p> + +<p>I was thunderstruck at this exordium. Slightly raising his voice, the +Mikado went on:</p> + +<p>“Tell the Emperor of Russia that I do not distrust his sincerity, but +I distrust his power. The monarch who cannot send a letter through +his dominions in safety; who has to resort to stratagems and +precautions like these to overcome the opposition of his own +subjects, is not the ruler of his empire.</p> + +<p>“Why, sir, do you suppose that if I had a message to send to my +brother in St. Petersburg I should have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>to stoop to arts like these? +That any subject of mine would dare to plot against me, to seduce my +messengers, to drug and rob them? Incredible! The tale you have told +me completely confirms everything I and my advisers have already +heard with regard to the Russian Government. It is a ship without a +captain, on which the helm is fought for and seized by different +hands in turn. To-day the real rulers of Russia are the men who are +bent on war—and who, while we are talking, have actually begun the +war!”</p> + +<p>I gazed around the Council-Room, unable to believe my ears.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” the stern sovereign continued, “while you, sir, were entering +the Inland Sea, charged with this offer of peace”—his majesty tossed +the precious piece of paper on the table with a look of disdain—“a +Russian gunboat, the <i>Korietz</i>, was firing the first shot of the war +at one of my squadrons off Chemulpo.”</p> + +<p>The glances directed by those present at the naval officer behind the +imperial chair convinced me that he had just brought the fatal news +to the Council.</p> + +<p>“And now,” added the Mikado, “I will give my reply to the real +masters of Russia—to the directors of the <i>Korietz</i>.”</p> + +<p>He nodded to the naval officer, who walked across the floor to a box +on the wall like a telephone receiver, and pressed a button.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p><p>“That,” his majesty explained, “is the signal for a flotilla of +torpedo boats to enter the harbor of Port Arthur and blow up the +Russian fleet.”</p> + +<p>I think a faint cry of remonstrance or misgiving must have escaped +me. The Japanese monarch frowned, and his voice took a still sterner +ring.</p> + +<p>“Go back to your unfortunate master, and tell him that when he can +send me a public envoy, in the light of day, to ask for peace, and to +undertake the fulfilment of the pledges which his Ministers have +broken, I will grant his request.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>WHO SMOKED THE GREGORIDES BRAND</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>  left the presence of the Japanese Emperor deeply disheartened.</p> + +<p>It is true I had myself foretold this failure, and that his Japanese +majesty and his advisers had been good enough to compliment me in +almost extravagant terms on the energy and resourcefulness I had +shown in baffling the enemies of peace.</p> + +<p>But I am unaccustomed to defeat, no matter what are the odds against +me, and I felt that the first point in the game had been scored +against by the formidable woman whose beauty and strangely composite +character had fascinated me, even while I was countermining her.</p> + +<p>For my work was not yet over. Indeed, it had but just begun.</p> + +<p>I had not succeeded in averting war between the two great Powers of +Asia. But I hoped to thwart the efforts which I feared would be made +to extend the conflagration to Europe.</p> + +<p>As soon as I had found myself once more on civilized <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>ground, I had +despatched a cable to my Paris office, announcing my whereabouts and +asking for information.</p> + +<p>The reader may be excused if he has forgotten a little episode which +marked my stay in Petersburg. I had noticed something peculiar and at +the same time familiar in the scent of the tobacco smoked by +Petrovitch, the financial adventurer whose scheme to enrich himself +and a corrupt clique of courtiers out of the spoils of Korea and +China was the true cause of the war.</p> + +<p>By a ruse I had secured one of the cigarettes, smoked by this +dangerous plotter, and having ascertained that it bore the mark +<i>Gregorides, Crown Aa</i>, had instructed my staff to ascertain the +history of this particular make of cigarettes.</p> + +<p>While I was resting in my hotel in Tokio, waiting for the reply to my +cable, I was honored by a visit from no less a personage than Privy +Councillor Katahashi, President of the Imperial Bank of Japan.</p> + +<p>“I have come,” the Privy Councillor explained as soon as the door was +closed, “to express the high sense of your ability and devotion which +we all possess, and to ask if it is possible for Japan to secure your +services.”</p> + +<p>Deeply gratified by this proposal, I was obliged to explain that I +was already retained in the interest of Russia.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p><p>“But what interest?” Mr. Katahashi persisted. “It is clear that you +are not acting on behalf of that group which has just succeeded in +its purpose of forcing a war.”</p> + +<p>“That is so,” I admitted. “It is no breach of confidence—in fact, I +serve my employers by assuring you that my efforts are directed +toward peace.”</p> + +<p>“In that case there can be no antagonism between us, surely. Is it +not possible for you and me—I say nothing about our respective +Governments—to co-operate for certain purposes?</p> + +<p>“I know enough of the conditions which prevail in the Russian Court +to feel pretty sure that it was not Nicholas II. who originally +sought you out, and entrusted you with this mission,” the Japanese +statesman added.</p> + +<p>“At the close of the last war in this part of the world,” the Privy +Councillor went on, “Japan was robbed of the fruit of her victories +by an alliance of three Powers, Russia, Germany, and France. This +time we know that England will support us against any such +combination. Thanks to King Edward VII. we have nothing to fear. His +diplomacy, moreover, has secured the powerful influence of France on +the side of peace. Although nominally allied with the Czar, we know +that the French Government is determined to limit the area of the +war, and to take no part against us, except in one event.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p><p>“You mean,” I put in, “in the event of an attack by England on +Russia.”</p> + +<p>“Exactly. And therefore we know that King Edward is making it his +particular care that no cause of conflict shall arise.”</p> + +<p>He paused, and glanced at me as though he considered that he had +sufficiently indicated the source from which my instructions were +received.</p> + +<p>I contented myself with bowing.</p> + +<p>“We know, also, that the most restless and ambitious of living +monarchs has been bending his whole thoughts and schemes, ever since +he ascended the throne, to one supreme end—the overthrow of the +British Empire by a grand combination of all the other Powers of the +world. If that monarch can force on a general strife in which England +will be involved on the side of Japan, while practically every other +European Power is leagued against her, M. Petrovitch and his timber +concessions will have done their work.”</p> + +<p>I drew a deep breath as I looked at the Japanese statesman with a +questioning gaze.</p> + +<p>As if in answer to my unspoken query, a waiter of the hotel knocked +at the door in the same moment, and brought me the long-expected +cable from my agent in Europe.</p> + +<p>I tore it open and read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Cigarettes Gregorides Crown Aa special brand manufactured +to order of Marx, Berlin, tobacconist to German Emperor.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p><p>I looked up from reading the telegram to see the eyes of the Japanese +Privy Councillor fixed upon me with the inscrutable, penetrating gaze +of the Oriental.</p> + +<p>“The message you have just received bears on the subject of our +conversation, does it not?” he inquired, but in the tone of one who +does not doubt what the answer will be.</p> + +<p>With the caution which has become a habit with me, I read the cable +through carefully for the second time, and then placed it on the +fire, where it was instantly consumed.</p> + +<p>The Japanese statesman smiled.</p> + +<p>“You forget, I think, M. V——, that you have come here as the +emissary of a sovereign with whom we are at war, and that, +consequently, we cannot afford to respect your privacy.</p> + +<p>“I have a copy in my pocket,” he went on urbanely. “You have felt +some curiosity about a particular brand of cigarettes, and your +friends have just informed you that they are those supplied to the +German Emperor.”</p> + +<p>I looked at Mr. Katahashi with new respect.</p> + +<p>“Your secret service is well managed, sir,” I observed.</p> + +<p>“Such a compliment from such a quarter is an ample reward for what +little pains I may have taken.”</p> + +<p>“Then it is you who are——?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p><p>“The organizer of our secret service during the war?—I am.”</p> + +<p>“But you are a banker?” I turned my eyes to the card by which Mr. +Katahashi had announced his visit.</p> + +<p>The Japanese gave another of his subtle smiles—those peculiar smiles +of the Oriental which make the keenest-witted man of the West feel +that he is little better than a blunderer.</p> + +<p>“I came here prepared to take you into my confidence,” he said +gravely. “I am well aware that it is the only safe course in dealing +with the Bismarck of underground diplomacy.</p> + +<p>“I am equally well aware,” the Privy Councillor added, “that a secret +confided to Monsieur V—— is as safe as if it had been told in +confidence to a priest of Buddha, for whom the penalty of betrayal is +to be flayed alive.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>THE SECRET SERVICE OF JAPAN</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dct.jpg" title="T" height="70" width="70" alt="T" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">“T</span>hree years ago,” Mr. Katahashi proceeded, “when we first recognized +that Japan would be obliged to fight Russia for her existence as a +free and independent country, his imperial majesty the Mikado +appointed me head of the intelligence department.</p> + +<p>“I perceived that it would be necessary for me to establish centers +in the chief European capitals, and to have at my command a corps of +agents whose comings and goings would not attract the attention that +is usually given to the movements of persons connected with the staff +of an embassy.</p> + +<p>“In our case precautions were necessary which would not have been +recognized in the case of another country.</p> + +<p>“On the one hand, our Government has laid to heart the profound +advice of Herbert Spencer, that whatever is done for Japan should be +done by Japanese.</p> + +<p>“On the other hand, our people have characteristic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>racial features +which make it practically impossible for a Japanese to disguise +himself as a Western European, so as to deceive European eyes.</p> + +<p>“It was therefore necessary to provide an excuse for distributing +Japanese agents over the West without the true reason of their +presence being known.</p> + +<p>“I solved this problem by founding the Imperial Bank of Japan.”</p> + +<p>“But, surely!” I exclaimed, “the Imperial Bank of Japan is a <i>bona +fide</i> concern? Its shares are regularly quoted on the stock +exchanges. It negotiates loans, and carries on the ordinary business +of a bank?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly. Why not? You forget that Japan is not a rich country. +What we lack in gold, we are obliged to make up in ingenuity and +devotion. Thanks to this idea of mine, the secret service of Japan +pays for itself, and even earns a small profit.”</p> + +<p>It gave me something like a cold shock to comprehend the character of +this people whom the Russians had so recklessly provoked to draw the +sword.</p> + +<p>I thought of the intelligence departments of some Western Powers, of +the rank corruption that reigned on the Neva, where every secret had +its price; of the insane conceit of Berlin, which had forgotten +nothing and learned nothing since the days of Moltke; of the +luxurious laziness of Pall Mall, where superannuated soldiers dozed +in front of their dusty pigeon-holes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>after apoplectic lunches, and +exercised their wits chiefly in framing evasive answers suited to the +intelligence of the House of Commons.</p> + +<p>And beside these pictures I placed this of the prosperous commercial +house, founded by the man before me, a man whose salary would +probably be sniffed at by a deputy-assistant controller in the +British War Office.</p> + +<p>A bank, paying its way, and adding to the revenues of Japan, and yet +every member of its staff a tireless spy, ready to go anywhere and +risk everything on behalf of his native country!</p> + +<p>Mr. Katahashi seemed to ignore the effect produced on my mind by his +modest explanation.</p> + +<p>“I have told you this,” he resumed, “because if I can succeed in +satisfying you that we are both working for the same ends, or at +least against the same enemy, I hope it will be agreeable to you to +co-operate with me.”</p> + +<p>I drew my brows together in anxious thought. In spite of the flattery +and deference of the Privy Councillor I could not but feel that I +should be the junior partner in any such combination as he proposed, +or, rather, I should find myself an instrument in the hands of one +whose methods were strange to me.</p> + +<p>“Although his imperial majesty was not familiar with your name, you +must not suppose that your reputation is not known in the right +quarters. I have a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>very full report on your work in my office. I had +intended from the first to engage your services if we required any +Western aid; and, as a matter of fact, I was on the eve of sending +you a retainer, when I heard I had been anticipated <span style="white-space: nowrap;">by——”</span></p> + +<p>“By Lord Bedale,” I put in swiftly.</p> + +<p>“By Lord Bedale, certainly,” the Japanese acquiesced with a polite +bow and smile.</p> + +<p>“After your interview with him, I lost sight of you,” my +extraordinary companion went on. “Your wonderful transformation into +a Little Englander of the Peace-at-any-Price school threw my agents +off the scent. But I heard of your interview with Nicholas II.”</p> + +<p>“You did!”</p> + +<p>Mr. Katahashi nodded.</p> + +<p>“I recognized you in that transaction. I even guessed that you might +make an attempt to carry through a message from the Czar. But, +knowing the influences arrayed against you, I never expected you to +succeed. Your appearance in our Council-Room was a triumph on which I +congratulate you warmly.</p> + +<p>“And now,” the Mikado’s Privy Councillor continued, “there remain two +questions:</p> + +<p>“Supposing you are satisfied that the real author of this war is not +any one in Russia, but a certain monarch who smokes cigarettes made +by the house of <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Gregorides—</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><p>“And that the same ambitious ruler is now weaving his snares to +entangle Great Britain, in short your own employer, <span style="white-space: nowrap;">the——”</span></p> + +<p>“Marquis of Bedale,” I again slipped in.</p> + +<p>Again the same polite but incredulous bow and smile from the Japanese +statesman.</p> + +<p>“Would you be willing to accept a retainer from us?”</p> + +<p>I sat upright, frowning.</p> + +<p>The somewhat haughty attitude of the Emperor of Japan still rankled +within me.</p> + +<p>“I will accept a retainer from his majesty the Mikado,” I announced +stiffly. “From no one else.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Katahashi looked thoughtful.</p> + +<p>“I will see what can be done,” he murmured. “The second question——”</p> + +<p>There was a momentary hesitation in his manner.</p> + +<p>“I have just spoken to you of the precept of the great English +philosopher.”</p> + +<p>“It was, if I remember rightly, that you should employ only Japanese +in the service of Japan?”</p> + +<p>The Privy Councillor bowed.</p> + +<p>“Therefore, you will see, we are obliged to make a proposal which may +seem to you unusual—perhaps unreasonable.”</p> + +<p>“And this proposal is?” I asked, with undisguised curiosity.</p> + +<p>“That you should become a Japanese.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p><p>I threw myself back in my chair, amazed.</p> + +<p>“Your Excellency, I am an American citizen.”</p> + +<p>“So I have understood.”</p> + +<p>“An American citizen is on a level with royalty.”</p> + +<p>“That is admitted.”</p> + +<p>“Even the Dowager Empress of China, when engaging me in her service, +though she raised my ancestors to the rank of marquises, did not ask +me to forego my citizenship of the United States.”</p> + +<p>“That is not necessary,” the Privy Councillor protested.</p> + +<p>“Explain yourself, if you will be so good.”</p> + +<p>“A man may be an American citizen, although by birth he is a +Frenchman, a German, or even a negro. You yourself are a Pole, I +believe.”</p> + +<p>I could only bow.</p> + +<p>“Now I do not propose that you should relinquish your political +allegiance, but only that you should exchange your Polish nationality +for a Japanese one.”</p> + +<p>“But how, sir?”</p> + +<p>“It is very simple. By being adopted into a Japanese family.”</p> + +<p>I sat and stared at the Japanese statesman, with his mask-like face +and impenetrable eyes. I seemed to be in some strange dream.</p> + +<p>Who shall judge the ways of the Asiatic! This daring organizer, a +match for the most astute minds of the West, believed that he could +only make sure of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>fidelity by persuading me to go through what +seemed the comedy of a mock adoption, a ceremony like the blood +brotherhood of an African tribe.</p> + +<p>“And suppose I consent, into what family do you purpose to introduce +me?”</p> + +<p>The Privy Councillor’s look became positively affectionate as he +responded:</p> + +<p>“If you would honor me by becoming my kinsman?”</p> + +<p>I rose to my feet, shaking my head slowly.</p> + +<p>“I appreciate the compliment your Excellency pays me. But, as we have +just now agreed, an American citizen has no equals except royalty. +Let us return to the German Emperor and his designs. If I cannot +serve you directly I may be able to do so indirectly.”</p> + +<p>The Japanese made no attempt to press his proposal.</p> + +<p>Instead he plunged into a discussion of the intrigues which radiated +from Berlin.</p> + +<p>“In nearly all the international difficulties and disagreements of +the last twenty years,” he said, “it is possible to trace the evil +influence of Germany.</p> + +<p>“To German sympathy, a secret encouragement, was due the wanton +invasion of Cape Colony by the Boers. To the Kaiser, and his promises +of support, was due the hopeless defiance of the United States by +Spain. The same Power tried to drag Great Britain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>into collision +with your Republic over the miserable concerns of Venezuela. For +years, Germany has been secretly egging on the French to raise +troubles against the English in Egypt. In the same spirit, the Sultan +has been abetted, first against England and next against Russia.</p> + +<p>“All these schemes have been spoiled by the action of King Edward +VII. in establishing cordial relations with France, and even to a +certain extent with Russia.</p> + +<p>“Now Wilhelm II. has taken advantage of the attraction of France to +England, to draw nearer to Russia. He has secured in his interest +some of the most influential personages at the Russian Court. The +Anglophobe grand dukes, the fire-eaters of the Admiralty, are all his +sworn allies.</p> + +<p>“But that is not the worst.</p> + +<p>“By some means which I have not yet been able to trace, the Kaiser +seems to have acquired a peculiar hold over Nicholas II.</p> + +<p>“The whole policy of Russia seems to be tinged by this influence. +Even where the instigation of Germany is not directly apparent, yet +in a hundred ways it is clear that the Russian Government is playing +the German game. The cause of all this is a riddle, a riddle which it +is for you to solve.”</p> + +<p>“For me?”</p> + +<p>The words escaped me involuntarily. I had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>listened with growing +uneasiness to the Privy Councillor’s revelations.</p> + +<p>“Undoubtedly. You have facilities which no one else possesses. You +enjoy the confidence of the Czar. You cannot be suspected of any +selfish designs, still less of any hostile feeling against Wilhelm +II., who is understood to be almost your personal friend.”</p> + +<p>“I never allow personal friendships to influence me in the discharge +of my duty.”</p> + +<p>“It is because I believe that, that I am talking to you like this,” +Mr. Katahashi responded quickly.</p> + +<p>“Well!” he added after a short silence, “what do you say?”</p> + +<p>“I must have the night to decide.”</p> + +<p>The Japanese Privy Councillor rose to say good-by.</p> + +<p>After he had gone I sat up late into the night considering how far I +could serve my employer in England by entering into the projects of +the secret service of Japan.</p> + +<p>In the morning, I was still undecided, but on the whole it seemed to +me that it would be better to act independently.</p> + +<p>I was considering how to convey this decision to the Mikado’s +minister, when he again presented himself before me.</p> + +<p>His manner was deeply agitated. It was evident that he came to make a +communication of the highest importance.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p><p>Instead of taking the chair I offered him, he stood regarding me with +an expression that seemed one of awe.</p> + +<p>“Monsieur V——,” he said at length, “your conditions are accepted by +his imperial majesty.”</p> + +<p>“What conditions?” I asked, bewildered for the moment.</p> + +<p>“Last night you informed me that an American citizen occupied the +same rank as royalty.”</p> + +<p>“Well?”</p> + +<p>“The Mikado offers to make you a member of the imperial family by +adoption, and one of his majesty’s cousins has consented to make you +his son!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>n these days, when princes resign their rank to marry commoners, and +queens elope with tutors, it is probable that most Western minds will +see nothing out of the way in the condescension of the Japanese ruler +in admitting a diplomatic agent to the honor of the imperial +cousinship.</p> + +<p>But the dynasty of Japan is the most illustrious in the world, +excepting only that of Great Britain. Like Edward VII., the Mikado +traces his lineage back to pagan gods. From the days of the famous +Empress Jimmu, an unbroken line of sacred sovereigns has filled the +throne of the Realm of the Rising Sun during more than two thousand +years.</p> + +<p>Mr. Katahashi was evidently pleased to see that I appreciated to the +full the tremendous honor accorded to me.</p> + +<p>“An imperial carriage is waiting to convey you to the Palace,” he +said. “But it will not be becoming for you to wear that uniform. I +have brought you a Japanese dress.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p><p>An attendant came into the room bearing a gorgeous robe of green silk +embroidered with golden chrysanthemums.</p> + +<p>I put it on like one in a dream. The Privy Councillor with his own +hands girt around my waist the two weapons, sacred from time +immemorial to the use of the Japanese noble, the sword with which to +behead his friend, and the dagger with which to disembowel himself.</p> + +<p>Needless to say, I had no expectation that I should ever have +occasion to regard these magnificently embellished weapons in any +other light than as ornamental badges of rank.</p> + +<p>As we rode to the Palace, I could not forbear contrasting this +splendid treatment with that which I had been accustomed to receive +from some of the European sovereigns to whom I had rendered important +services.</p> + +<p>Even the German Kaiser, who trusted me more than the head of his own +police, who talked to me almost on the footing of an intimate friend, +had never offered me so much as the coveted “von” before my name—had +not given me even the pretty Red Eagle which is lavished on +second-rate generals and lords-in-waiting.</p> + +<p>I became well-nigh appalled as I contrasted the sluggish +conversation, the hide-bound officialism, the stereotyped and sleepy +methods of the Western Powers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> with the sleepless energy, the daring +initiative, the desperate industry and courage of this rejuvenated +Eastern race.</p> + +<p>What could any of these obsolete European Governments effect against +a nation which was really a vast secret society of forty-five +millions, directed by a sacred chief, and wielding all the mechanical +resources of the West with the almost inhuman subtlety and +ruthlessness of the Orient?</p> + +<p>“Anything can be done for money.” This maxim, which is forever on the +lips of Russian statesmen, no longer sounded true in the meridian of +Tokio.</p> + +<p>The ruler of Japan had not offered me so much as a yen. Nay, it was +clearly expected and intended that I should devote myself to the +service of my new country without pay, and with the same +single-hearted devotion as Mr. Katahashi himself. The Mikado was +going to enroll in his services as an unpaid volunteer the most +highly-paid, in other words, the most trusted and feared, secret +service agent of two hemispheres.</p> + +<p>And it was to cost him? An embroidered garment and two sentences +spoken in a private audience!</p> + +<p>Such are the methods of Japan!</p> + +<p>On our arrival at the Palace we were received by a chamberlain, who +conducted us by the private staircase to the Hall of the Imperial +Family.</p> + +<p>The Hall is an imposing room, hung with portraits <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>of deceased +mikados. A single chair, decorated with the emblem of the Rising Sun, +stood at the upper end.</p> + +<p>Almost as soon as we had taken our places, a door behind the chair +was thrown up, and a number of the officers of the household, all +wearing the ancient national costume, filed in, and grouped +themselves around the imperial chair.</p> + +<p>Then a silver bell sounded, and his imperial and sacred majesty, +Mutsuhito CXXI., Mikado, walked slowly forward into the Hall, +accompanied by his son and heir, the Crown Prince Yoshihito, and an +elderly man, attired with great richness, who was, as my guide +whispered to me, his imperial highness Prince Yorimo, second cousin +to the Emperor, and the man who had consented to be my titular +father.</p> + +<p>The ceremony was brief but impressive. I could not but be struck by +the contrast between the two Mikados—the one whom I had seen +yesterday, an alert statesman, wearing Western clothes, and speaking +French with hardly a trace of accent, and the one before me now, a +solemn, pontifical figure, in his immemorial robes, moving, speaking +with the etiquette of a bygone age.</p> + +<p>Everything passed in the Japanese language, of which I did not then +know a single word.</p> + +<p>Mr. Katahashi did his best to provide a running translation, +whispering in my ear, and prompting me <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>with the Japanese words which +it was necessary for me to pronounce.</p> + +<p>As far as I could understand, Prince Yorimo asked permission of the +Emperor to adopt a son, as he was childless and desired to have some +one who would sacrifice to his own spirit and those of his father and +grandfather after he was dead.</p> + +<p>The Mikado graciously consenting, I was brought forward, and made to +renounce my own family and ancestors, and promise to sacrifice +exclusively to those of my new father.</p> + +<p>Prince Yorimo next brought forward a robe embroidered with the +imperial emblems, the most prominent of which was the Rising Sun. I +was divested of the dress lent me by Katahashi, and my adoptive +father flung the imperial garment over my shoulders.</p> + +<p>The girding on of the samurai weapon followed, and my father +addressed me a short exhortation, bidding me hold myself ready at all +times to obey the will of the Divine Emperor, even to the point of +committing <i>seppuku</i> at his command.</p> + +<p><i>Seppuku</i> is the correct name of the rite known in the West by the +vulgar name of <i>hara-kiri</i>, or the “happy despatch.” It is a form of +voluntary execution permitted by the ancient laws of Japan to men of +noble rank, much as European nobles were allowed to be beheaded +instead of being hanged.</p> + +<p>I was then permitted to kiss the hand of Prince <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>Yorimo, who formally +presented me to the Mikado, whose hand also I had to kiss, kneeling.</p> + +<p>That was the whole of the ceremony, at the close of which Mr. +Katahashi bade me a temporary farewell, and my princely father +carried me off to a banquet in his own mansion.</p> + +<p>Tedious and uninteresting as I fear these details must seem to the +reader, I have thought it right to record them as an illustration of +the spirit of Japan, of that country of which I am proud to be an +adopted son.</p> + +<p>The moment we had quitted the Hall of the Imperial Family, Prince +Yorimo began to talk to me in French.</p> + +<p>He proved to be a most fascinating companion. Old enough to remember +the feudal age, which was still in full vigor in Japan forty years +ago, he had since mastered most of the knowledge of the West.</p> + +<p>I soon found that the Prince was by no means disposed to treat the +adoption as a mere form. It was evident that the old gentleman had +taken a strong fancy to me. He gave me a most affectionate welcome on +the threshold of his house, and immediately calling his servants +around him, introduced me to them as their future master, and bade +them obey me as himself.</p> + +<p>I was more touched than I care to say by this kind treatment. My own +parents have long been dead; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>I know nothing of any other relations, +if I have any; I have long been a wanderer and an adventurer on the +face of the earth, and now, at last, I felt as though I had found a +home.</p> + +<p>Something of this I tried to convey to his imperial highness.</p> + +<p>“My son,” he replied with deep tenderness, “I feel that to me you +will be a son indeed. You shall learn the language of our beautiful +country, you shall grow used to our national ways. Before long you +will let me provide you with a daughter of the Chrysanthemum to be +your wife, and my grandchildren shall be Japanese indeed.”</p> + +<p>A sound of bells was heard outside.</p> + +<p>“My friends are coming to pay the customary congratulation,” the aged +prince explained. “As it is necessary that you should have a name +suited to your new rank, I ask you to take that of my father, +Matsukata.”</p> + +<p>A few words of direction were spoken to the steward of the chambers, +who went out. Immediately afterward he returned, throwing open the +doors widely, and announced:</p> + +<p>“The Marquis Yamagata to congratulate his imperial highness Prince +Matsukata!”</p> + +<p>And the Prime Minister of Japan came toward me.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE SUBMARINE MINE</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dch.jpg" title="H" height="70" width="68" alt="H" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">H</span>aving told the reader as much as was necessary to enable him to +understand my subsequent proceedings, and the real forces at work in +the underground struggle which produced the tragedy of the Dogger +Bank, I will suppress the remainder of my adventures in Tokio.</p> + +<p>When I left the capital of my new country I wore around my neck, +under the light shirt of chain mail without which I have never +traveled for the last twenty years, a golden locket containing the +miniature portrait of the loveliest maiden in the East or in the +West.</p> + +<p>It was a pledge. When little, tender fingers had fastened it in its +place, little moving lips had whispered in my ear, “Till peace is +signed!”</p> + +<p>I had decided to return to the capital of what was now the country of +my enemies, by much the same route as I had left it.</p> + +<p>To do so, it was necessary to run the blockade of Port Arthur, or +rather to feign to do so, for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>Japanese Minister of Marine had +been asked by my friend Katahashi to give secret instructions to +Admiral Togo on my behalf.</p> + +<p>In order to ensure a welcome from the Russian commander, and to +dispel any suspicions, I planned to take in a cargo of Welsh steam +coal.</p> + +<p>Through an agent at Yokohama I chartered a British collier lying at +Chi-fu, with a cargo for disposal. Leaving the Japanese port on a +steamer bound for Shanghai, I met the collier in mid-ocean, and +transferred myself on board her.</p> + +<p>As soon as I had taken command, I ordered the skipper to head for +Port Arthur.</p> + +<p>This was the first intimation to him that he was expected to run the +blockade, and at first he refused.</p> + +<p>“I’m not afraid—myself,” the sturdy Briton declared, “but I’ve got a +mixed crew on board, Germans and Norwegians and Lascars, and all +sorts, and I can’t rely on them if we get in a tight place.”</p> + +<p>I glanced around at the collection of foreign faces and drew the +captain aside. He, at least, was an Englishman, and I therefore +trusted him.</p> + +<p>“There is no danger, really,” I said. “Admiral Togo has had secret +orders to let me through. This cargo is merely a pretext.”</p> + +<p>The rough sailor scratched his head.</p> + +<p>“Well, maybe you’re telling the truth,” he grunted. “But, dang me, if +I can get the hang of it. You <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>might belong to any country almost by +the cut of your jib; you say you’ve fixed things up with the blessed +Japs, and you’re running a cargo of coal for the blessed Rooshians. +It’s queer, mortal queer, that’s all I can say. <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Howsomdever——”</span></p> + +<p>I took out a flask of three-star brandy, and passed it to the +doubting mariner.</p> + +<p>He put it first to his nose, then to his lips.</p> + +<p>“Ah! Nothing wrong about that, Mister,” he pronounced, as he handed +back the flask.</p> + +<p>“It’s a fifty-pound job for yourself, no matter what becomes of the +cargo,” I insinuated.</p> + +<p>The worthy seaman’s manner underwent a magic change.</p> + +<p>“Port your helm!” he yelled out suddenly and sharply to the man at +the wheel. “Keep her steady nor’-east by nor’, and a point nor’. Full +steam ahead! All lights out! And if one of you lubbers so much as +winks an eyelid, by George, I’ll heave him overboard!”</p> + +<p>The crew, who had shown a good many signs of uneasiness since my +coming over the side, seemed to think this last hint worth attending +to. They slunk forward to their duties, leaving the captain and +myself to pace the quarter-deck alone.</p> + +<p>We steamed swiftly through the darkness till we began to see the +search-lights of the Japanese fleet like small white feathers +fluttering on the horizon.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p><p>“Come up on the bridge,” the skipper advised. “Got a revolver handy?”</p> + +<p>I showed him my loaded weapon.</p> + +<p>“Right! I ain’t much afraid of the Japs, but we may have trouble with +some of that all-sorts crew I’ve got below.”</p> + +<p>By and by the white plumes became bigger. All at once a ship lying +dark on the water, scarcely a mile away on the weather-bow, spat out +a long ribbon of light like an ant-eater’s tongue, and we found +ourselves standing in a glare of light as if we were actors in the +middle of a stage.</p> + +<p>There was a howl from below, and a mixed body of Lascars, headed by +one of the Germans, rushed toward the helm.</p> + +<p>“Back, you milk-drinking swabs!” the skipper roared. “As I’m a living +man, the first one of you that lays a hand on the wheel, I’ll fire +into the crowd.</p> + +<p>“Hark ye here!” their commander said with rough eloquence. “In the +first place, it don’t follow that because you can see a flashlight +the chap at t’other end can see you. Second place, no ship that does +see us is going to sink us without giving us a round of blank first, +by way of notice to heave to. Third place, if we do get a notice, I’m +going to stop this ship. And, fourth place, you’ve got five seconds +to decide whether you’d rather be taken into Yokohama by a prize crew +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>of Japs, or be shot where you stand by me and this gentleman.”</p> + +<p>The crew turned tail. Before five seconds had elapsed, not a head was +to be seen above decks, except that of the man at the helm, who +happened to be a Dane, to be first mate, and to be more than +three-parts drunk.</p> + +<p>Needless to say the warning shot was not fired.</p> + +<p>We steamed steadily on through the fleet, every vessel of which was +probably by this time aware of our presence. The search-lights +flashed and fell all around us, but not once did we have to face +again that blinking glare which tells the blockade runner that the +game is up.</p> + +<p>But there was another peril in store on which we had not reckoned. +The sea all around Port Arthur had been strewn with Russian mines!</p> + +<p>Unconscious of what was coming, we steamed gaily past the last +outlying torpedo-boat of Admiral Togo’s squadron.</p> + +<p>“Through!” cried my friend the skipper, pointing with a grin of +delight at the Port Arthur lights as they came into view around the +edge of a dark cliff.</p> + +<p>And even as he looked and pointed, there was a terrific wave, a rush, +a flare and a report, and I felt myself lifted off my feet into +mid-air.</p> + +<p>I fancy I must have been unconscious for a second or two while in the +air, for the splash of the sea as I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>struck it in falling seemed to +wake me up like a cold douche.</p> + +<p>My first movement, on coming to the surface again, was to put my hand +to my neck to make sure of the safety of the precious locket which +had been placed there by my dear little countrywoman.</p> + +<p>My second was to strike out for a big spar which I saw floating amid +a mass of tangled cordage and splinters a few yards in front of me.</p> + +<p>Strange as it may seem, only when my arms were resting safely on the +spar, and I had time to look about me and take stock of the +situation, did I realize the extreme peril I had been in.</p> + +<p>Most dangers and disasters are worse to read about than to go +through. Had any one warned me beforehand that I was going to be +blown up by a mine, I should probably have felt the keenest dread, +and conjured up all sorts of horrors. As it was, the whole adventure +was over in a twinkling, and by the greatest good luck I had escaped +without a scratch.</p> + +<p>By this time the forts at the entrance to Port Arthur, attracted, no +doubt, by the noise of the explosion, were busily searching the spot +with their lights.</p> + +<p>The effect was truly magnificent.</p> + +<p>From the blackness of the heights surrounding the famous basin, fiery +sword after fiery sword seemed to leap forth and stab the sea. The +wondrous blades <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>of light met and crossed one another as if some +great archangels were doing battle for the key of Asia.</p> + +<p>The whole sea was lit up with a brightness greater than that of the +sun. Every floating piece of wreckage, every rope, every nail stood +out with unnatural clearness. I was obliged to close my eyes, and +protect them with my dripping hand.</p> + +<p>Presently I heard a hail from behind me. I turned my head, and to my +delight saw the brave skipper of the lost ship swimming toward me.</p> + +<p>In another dozen strokes he was alongside and clinging with me to the +same piece of wood, which he said was the main gaff.</p> + +<p>He was rather badly gashed about the head, but not enough to threaten +serious consequences. So far as we could ascertain, the whole of the +crew had perished.</p> + +<p>I confess that their fate did not cost me any very great pang, after +the first natural shock of horror had passed. They owed their death +to their own lack of courage, which had caused them to take refuge in +the lowest part of the ship, where the full force of the explosion +came. The captain and I, thanks to our position on the bridge, had +escaped with a comparatively mild shaking.</p> + +<p>The steersman would have escaped also, in all probability, had he +been sober.</p> + +<p>In a very short time after the captain had joined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>me, our eyes were +gladdened by the sight of a launch issuing from the fort to our +assistance.</p> + +<p>The officer in charge had thoughtfully provided blankets and a flask +of wine. Thus comforted, I was not long in fully recovering my +strength, and by the time the launch had set us on shore my comrade +in misfortune was also able to walk without difficulty.</p> + +<p>The lieutenant who had picked us up showed the greatest consideration +on learning that we had been blown up in an attempt to run a cargo of +coal for the benefit of the Russian fleet. On landing we were taken +before Admiral Makharoff, the brave man whom fate had marked out to +perish two months later by a closely similar catastrophe.</p> + +<p>The story which I told to the Admiral was very nearly true, though of +course I suppressed the incidents which had taken place in Tokio.</p> + +<p>I said that I had been charged to deliver a private communication +from the Czar to the Mikado, sent in the hope of averting war, that I +had arrived too late, and that, having to make my way back to +Petersburg, I had meant to do a stroke of business on the way on +behalf of his excellency.</p> + +<p>My inspector’s uniform, which I had resumed on leaving Yokohama, +confirmed my words, and Admiral Makharoff, after thanking me on +behalf of the navy for my zeal, dismissed me with a present of a +thousand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> rubles, and a permit to travel inland from Port Arthur.</p> + +<p>Needless to say I did not forget to say good-by to my brave +Englishman, to whom I handed over the Russian Admiral’s reward, thus +doubling the amount I had promised him for his plucky stand against +the mutineers.</p> + +<p>I have hurried over these transactions, interesting as they were, in +order to come to the great struggle which lay before me in the +capital of Russia.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>THE ADVISER OF NICHOLAS II</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcb.jpg" title="B" height="70" width="71" alt="B" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">B</span>y the second week in March I was back in Petersburg.</p> + +<p>On the long journey across Asia, I had had time to mature my plans, +with the advantage of knowing that the real enemy I had to fight was +neither M. Petrovitch nor the witching Princess Y——, but the Power +which was using them both as its tools.</p> + +<p>It was a frightful thing to know that two mighty peoples, the +Japanese and Russians, neither of which really wished to fight each +other, had been locked in strife in order to promote the sinister and +tortuous policy of Germany.</p> + +<p>So far, the German Kaiser had accomplished one-half of his program. +The second, and more important, step would be to bring about a +collision between the Russians and the English.</p> + +<p>Thus the situation resolved itself into an underground duel between +Wilhelm II. and myself, a duel in which the whole future history of +the world, and possibly the very existence of the British Empire, +hung in the balance.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p><p>And the arbiter was the melancholy young man who wandered through the +vast apartments of his palace at Tsarskoe-Selo like some distracted +ghost, wishing that any lot in life had been bestowed on him rather +than that of autocrat of half Europe and Asia.</p> + +<p>It was to Nicholas that I first repaired, on my return, to report the +result of my mission.</p> + +<p>I obtained a private audience without difficulty, and found his +majesty busily engaged in going through some papers relating to the +affairs of the Navy.</p> + +<p>“So they have not killed you, like poor Menken,” he said with a +mixture of sympathy and sadness.</p> + +<p>“Colonel Menken killed!” I could not forbear exclaiming.</p> + +<p>“Yes. Did you not hear of it? A Japanese spy succeeded in +assassinating him, and stealing the despatch, just before Mukden. A +lady-in-waiting attached to the Dowager Czaritza happened to be on +the train, and brought me the whole story.”</p> + +<p>I shook my head gravely.</p> + +<p>“I fear your majesty has been misinformed. Colonel Menken committed +suicide. I saw him put the pistol to his head and shoot himself. His +last words were a message to your majesty.”</p> + +<p>The Czar raised his hand to his head with a despairing gesture.</p> + +<p>“Will these contradictions never end!” he exclaimed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> “Really, sir, I +hope you have made a mistake. Whom <i>can</i> I trust!”</p> + +<p>I drew myself up.</p> + +<p>“I have no desire to press my version on you, sire,” I said coldly. +“It is sufficient that the Colonel was robbed, and that he is dead. +Perhaps Princess Y—— has also given you an account of my own +adventures?”</p> + +<p>Nicholas II. looked at me distrustfully.</p> + +<p>“Let us leave the name of the Princess on one side,” he said in a +tone of rebuke. “I have every reason to feel satisfied with her +loyalty and zeal.”</p> + +<p>I bowed, and remained silent.</p> + +<p>“You failed to get through, I suppose,” the Czar continued, after +waiting in vain for me to speak.</p> + +<p>“I beg pardon, sire, I safely delivered to the Emperor of Japan your +majesty’s autograph on the cigarette paper. I was robbed of the more +formal letter in the house of M. Petrovitch, before starting.”</p> + +<p>Nicholas frowned.</p> + +<p>“Petrovitch again! Another of the few men whom I know to be my real +friends.” He fidgeted impatiently.</p> + +<p>“Well, what did the Mikado say?”</p> + +<p>I had intended to soften the reply of the Japanese Emperor, but now, +being irritated, I gave it bluntly:</p> + +<p>“His majesty professed to disbelieve in your power to control your +people. He declared that he could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>not treat a letter from you +seriously unless you were able to send it openly, without your +messengers being robbed or murdered on the way across your own +dominions.”</p> + +<p>The young Emperor flushed darkly.</p> + +<p>“Insolent barbarian!” he cried hotly. “The next letter I send him +shall be delivered by the commander of my army on the soil of Japan.”</p> + +<p>I was secretly pleased by this flash of spirit, which raised my +respect for the Russian monarch.</p> + +<p>A recollection seemed to strike him.</p> + +<p>“I hear that you were blown up in attempting to bring some coal into +Port Arthur,” he said in a more friendly tone. “I thank you, <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Monsieur +V——.”</span></p> + +<p>I bowed low.</p> + +<p>“Some of my admirals seem to have been caught napping,” Nicholas II. +added. “I have here a very serious report about Admiral Stark at +Vladivostok.”</p> + +<p>“You surprise me, sire,” I observed incautiously. “Out in Manchuria I +heard the Admiral praised on all hands for his carefulness and good +conduct.”</p> + +<p>“Carefulness! It is possible to be too careful,” the Czar complained. +“Admiral Stark is too much afraid of responsibility. We have +information that the English are taking all kinds of contraband into +the Japanese ports, and he does nothing to stop them, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>for fear of +committing some breach of international law.”</p> + +<p>I began to see what was coming. The Emperor, who seemed anxious to +justify himself, proceeded:</p> + +<p>“The rights of neutrals have never been regarded by the British navy, +when they were at war. However, I have not been satisfied with taking +the opinion of our own jurists. I have here an opinion from Professor +Heldenberg of Berlin, who of course represents a neutral Power, and +he says distinctly that we are entitled to declare anything we please +contraband, and to seize English ships—I mean, ships of +neutrals—anywhere, even in the English Channel itself, and sink them +if it is inconvenient to bring them into a Russian port.”</p> + +<p>The insidious character of this advice was so glaring that I wondered +how the unfortunate young monarch could be deceived by it.</p> + +<p>But I saw that comment would be useless just then. I must seek some +other means of opening his eyes to the pitfalls which were being +prepared for him.</p> + +<p>I came from the Palace with a heavy heart. The next day, Petersburg +was startled by the publication of a ukase recalling Vice-Admiral +Stark and Rear-Admiral Molas, his second in command, from the +Pacific.</p> + +<p>Immediately on hearing this news I sent a telegram in cipher to Lord +Bedale. For obvious reasons <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>I never take copies of my secret +correspondence, but to the best of my recollection the wire ran as +follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Germany instigating Russian Navy to raid your shipping on +the pretext of contraband. Object to provoke reprisals +leading to war.</p></div> + +<p>As the reader is aware, this warning succeeded in defeating the +Kaiser’s main design, the British Government steadily refusing to be +provoked.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately this attitude of theirs played into German hands in +another way, as English shippers were practically obliged to refuse +goods for the Far East, and this important and lucrative trade passed +to Hamburg, to the serious injury of the British ports.</p> + +<p>But before this development had been reached, I found myself on the +track of a far more deadly and dangerous intrigue, one which is +destined to live in history as the most audacious plot ever devised +by one great Power against another with which it proposed to be on +terms of perfect friendship.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>A STRANGE CONFESSION</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>  had last seen the strange, beautiful, wicked woman known as the +Princess Y—— bending in a passion of hysterical remorse over the +body of the man she had driven to death, on the snow-clad train +outside Mukden.</p> + +<p>I have had some experience of women, and especially of the class +which mixes in the secret politics of the European Courts. But Sophia +Y—— was an enigma to me. There was nothing about her which +suggested the adventuress. And there was much which tended to support +the story which had won the belief of her august mistress—that she +was an involuntary agent, who had been victimized by an unscrupulous +minister of police, by means of a false charge, and who genuinely +loathed the tasks she was too feeble to refuse.</p> + +<p>I had not been back in Petersburg very long when one afternoon the +hotel waiter came to tell me that a lady desired to see me privately. +The lady, he added, declined to give her name, but declared that she +was well known to me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p><p>I had come back to the hotel, I should mention, in the character of +Mr. Sterling, the self-appointed agent of the fraternity of British +peace-makers. It was necessary for me to have some excuse for +residing in Petersburg during the war, and under this convenient +shelter I could from time to time prepare more effectual disguises.</p> + +<p>I was not altogether surprised when my mysterious visitor raised her +veil and disclosed the features of the Princess herself.</p> + +<p>But I was both surprised and shocked by the frightened, +grief-stricken look on the face of this woman whom I had come to +dread as my most formidable opponent in the Russian Court.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Sterling!—Monsieur V——?” she cried in an agitated voice that +seemed ready to break down into a sob. “Can you forgive me for +intruding on you? I dare not speak to you freely in my own house. I +am beset by spies.”</p> + +<p>“Sit down, Princess,” I said soothingly, as I rolled forward a +comfortable chair. “Of course I am both charmed and flattered by your +visit, whatever be its cause.”</p> + +<p>With feminine intuition she marked the reserve in my response to her +appeal.</p> + +<p>“Ah! You distrust me, and you are quite right!” she exclaimed, +casting herself into the chair.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p><p>She fixed her luminous eyes on me in a deep look, half-imploring, +half-reproachful.</p> + +<p>“It is true, then, what they have been telling me? You were the man, +dressed as an inspector of the Third Section who traveled on the +train with me? And you saw the death”—her words were interrupted by +a shudder—“of that unhappy man?”</p> + +<p>It was not very easy to preserve my composure in the face of her +emotion. Nevertheless, at the risk of appearing callous, I replied:</p> + +<p>“I cannot pretend to understand your question. However, even if I did +it would make no difference.</p> + +<p>“Since you know my name is A. V——, you must know also that I never +allow myself to talk about my work.”</p> + +<p>The Princess winced under these cold words almost as though she had +been physically rebuffed. She clasped her delicately-gloved hands +together, and murmured as though to herself:</p> + +<p>“He will not believe in me! He will not be convinced!”</p> + +<p>I felt myself in a very difficult position. Either this woman was +thoroughly repentant, and sincerely anxious to make some genuine +communication to me, or else she was an actress whose powers might +have excited envy in the Bernhardt herself.</p> + +<p>I concluded that I could lose nothing by encouraging her to speak.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p><p>“You must pardon me if I seem distrustful,” I said with a wholly +sympathetic expression. “I have my principles, and cannot depart from +them. But I have every wish to convince you of my personal +friendship.”</p> + +<p>She interrupted me with a terrible glance.</p> + +<p>“Personal friendship! Monsieur, do you know what I have come here to +tell you?”</p> + +<p>And rising wildly to her feet, she spread out her hands in a gesture +of utter despair:</p> + +<p>“They have ordered me to take your life!”</p> + +<p>I am not a man who is easily surprised.</p> + +<p>The adventures I have passed through, some of them far more +extraordinary than anything I have recorded in my public revelations, +have accustomed me to meet almost any situation with diplomatic +presence of mind.</p> + +<p>But on this occasion I am obliged to admit that I was fairly taken +aback.</p> + +<p>As the lovely but dangerous woman whom I had cause to regard as the +most formidable instrument in the hands of the conspirators, avowed +to my face that she had been charged with the mission to assassinate +me, I sprang from my chair and confronted her.</p> + +<p>She stood, swaying slightly, as though the intensity of her emotion +was about to overpower her.</p> + +<p>“Do you mean what you say? Do you know what you have said?” I +demanded.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><p>The Princess Y—— made no answer, but she lifted her violet eyes to +mine, and I saw the big tears welling up and beginning to overflow.</p> + +<p>I was dismayed. My strength of mind seemed to desert me. I have +looked on without a tear when men have fallen dead at my feet, but I +have never been able to remain calm before a woman in tears.</p> + +<p>“Madame! Princess!” I was on the point of addressing her by a yet +more familiar name. “At least, sit down and recover yourself.”</p> + +<p>Like one dazed, I led her to a chair. Like one dazed, she sank into +it in obedience to my authoritative pressure.</p> + +<p>“Come,” I said in a tone which I strove to render at once firm and +soothing, “it is clear that we must understand each other. You have +come here to tell me this, I suppose?”</p> + +<p>“At the risk of my life,” she breathed. “What must you think of me!”</p> + +<p>I recalled the fate of poor Menken, whom the woman before me had led +to his doom, though she had not struck the blow.</p> + +<p>In spite of myself, a momentary shudder went through me.</p> + +<p>The sensitive woman saw or felt it, and shook in her turn.</p> + +<p>“Believe me or not, as you will,” she exclaimed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>desperately. “I +swear to you that I have never knowingly been guilty of taking life.</p> + +<p>“Never for one moment did I anticipate that that poor man would do +what he did,” the Princess went on with passionate earnestness. “I +tempted him to give me the Czar’s letter, and I destroyed it—I +confess that. Are not such things done every day in secret politics? +Have you never intercepted a despatch?”</p> + +<p>It was a suggestive question. I thought of more than one incident in +my own career which might be harshly received by a strict moralist. +It is true that I have always been engaged on what I believed was a +lawful task; but the due execution of that task had sometimes +involved actions which I should have shrunk from in private life.</p> + +<p>“I will not excuse myself, Madame,” I answered slowly. “Neither have +I accused you.”</p> + +<p>“Your tone is an accusation,” she returned with a touch of +bitterness. “Oh, I know well that men are ready to pardon many things +in one another which they will not pardon in us.”</p> + +<p>“I am sorry if I have wounded you,” I said with real compunction. +“Let us say no more about the tragedy that is past. Am I right in +thinking that you have come to me for aid?”</p> + +<p>“I do not know. I do not know why I am here. Perhaps it is because I +am mad.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p><p>I gazed at her flushed face and trembling hands, unable to resist the +feeling of compassion which was creeping over me.</p> + +<p>What was I to think? What was this woman’s real purpose in coming to +me?</p> + +<p>Had her employers, had the unscrupulous Petrovitch, or the ruthless +Minister of Police, indeed charged her to remove me from their path; +and had her courage broken down under the hideous burden?</p> + +<p>Or was this merely a ruse to win my confidence; or, perhaps, to +frighten me into resigning my task and leaving the Russian capital?</p> + +<p>Did she wish to save my life, or her own?</p> + +<p>I sat regarding her, bewildered by these conjectures.</p> + +<p>I saw that I must get her to say more.</p> + +<p>“At least you have come to aid me,” I protested. “You have given me a +warning for which I cannot be sufficiently grateful.”</p> + +<p>“If you believe it is a genuine one,” she retorted. Already she had +divined my difficulties and doubts.</p> + +<p>“I do not doubt that you mean it genuinely,” I hastened to respond. +“There is, of course, the possibility that you yourself have been +deceived.”</p> + +<p>“Ah!”</p> + +<p>She looked up at me in what I could not think was other than real +surprise.</p> + +<p>“You think so?” she cried eagerly. The next moment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> her head drooped +again. “No, no. I have known them too long. They have never trifled +with me before. Believe me, Monsieur, when they told me that you were +to be murdered they were not joking with me.”</p> + +<p>“But they might have meant to use you for the purpose of terrifying +me.”</p> + +<p>She stared at me in unaffected astonishment.</p> + +<p>“Terrify—<i>you</i>!” She pronounced the words with an emphasis not +altogether unflattering. “You are better known in Russia than you +imagine, M. <span style="white-space: nowrap;">V——.”</span></p> + +<p>I passed over the remark.</p> + +<p>“Still they must have foreseen the possibility that you would shrink +from such a task; that your womanly instincts would prove too much +for you. At least they have never required such work of you before?”</p> + +<p>Against my will the last words became a question. I was anxious to be +assured that the hands of the Princess were free from the stain of +blood.</p> + +<p>“Never! They dared not! They <i>could</i> not!” she cried indignantly. +“You do not know my history. Perhaps you do not care to know it?”</p> + +<p>Whatever I knew or suspected, I could make only one answer to such an +appeal. Indeed, I was desirous to understand the meaning of one word +which the Princess Y—— had just used.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p><p>“Listen,” she said, speaking with an energy and dignity which I could +not but respect, “while I tell you what I am. I am a condemned +murderess!”</p> + +<p>“Impossible!”</p> + +<p>“Impossible in any other country, I grant you, but very possible in +Russia. You have heard, I suppose, everybody has heard, of the deaths +of my husband and his children. The first two deaths were natural, I +swear it. I, at all events, had no more to do with them than if they +had occurred in the planet Saturn. Prince Y—— committed suicide. +And he did so because of me; I do not deny it. But it was not because +he suspected me of any hand in the deaths of his children. It was +because he knew I hated him!</p> + +<p>“The story is almost too terrible to be told. That old man had bought +me. He bought me from my father, who was head over ears in debt, and +on the brink of ruin. I was sold—the only portion of his property +that remained to be sold. And from the first hour of the purchase I +hated, oh, how I loathed and hated that old man!”</p> + +<p>There was a wild note in her voice that hinted at unutterable things.</p> + +<p>“And he,” she continued with a shiver, “he loved me, loved me with a +passion that was like madness. He could hardly bear me out of his +sight.</p> + +<p>“I killed him, yes, morally, I have no doubt I killed him. He +lavished everything on me, jewels, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>wealth, all the forms of luxury. +He made a will leaving me the whole of his great fortune. But I could +not endure him, and that killed him. I think,” she hesitated and +lowered her voice to a whisper, “I think he killed himself to please +me.”</p> + +<p>Hardened as I am, I felt a thrill of horror. The Princess was right; +the story was too terrible to be told.</p> + +<p>“Then the police came on the scene. From the first they knew well +enough that I was innocent. But they were determined to make me +guilty. The head of the secret service at that time was Baron Kratz. +He had had his eye on me for some time. The Czar, believing in my +guilt, had ordered him not to spare me, and that fatal order gave him +a free hand.</p> + +<p>“How he managed it all, I hardly know. The servants were bullied or +bribed into giving false evidence against me. But one part of their +evidence was true enough; even I could not deny that I had hated +Prince Y——, and that his death came as a welcome relief.</p> + +<p>“There was a secret trial, and I was condemned. They read out my +sentence. And then, when it was all over, Kratz came to me, and +offered me life and liberty in return for my services as an agent of +the Third Section.”</p> + +<p>“And to save your life you consented. Well, I do not judge you,” I +said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p><p>The Princess glanced at me with a strange smile.</p> + +<p>“To save my life! I see you do not yet know our Holy Russia. Shall I +tell you what my sentence was?”</p> + +<p>“Was it not death, then?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, death—by the knout!”</p> + +<p>“My God!”</p> + +<p>I gazed at her stupified. Her whole beauty seemed to be focussed in +one passionate protest. Knouted to death! I saw the form before me +stripped, and lashed to the triangles, while the knotted thong, +wielded by the hangman’s hands, buried itself in the soft flesh.</p> + +<p>I no longer disbelieved. I no longer even doubted. The very horror of +the story had the strength of truth.</p> + +<p>For some time neither of us spoke.</p> + +<p>“But now, surely, you have made up your mind to break lose from this +thraldom?” I demanded. “And, if so, and you will trust me, I will +undertake to save you.”</p> + +<p>“You forget, do you not, that you yourself are not free? You surely +do not mean that you would lay aside your work for my sake?”</p> + +<p>It was a question which disconcerted me in more ways than one. In a +secret service agent, suspicion becomes second nature. I caught +myself asking whether all that had gone before was not merely +intended<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> to lead up to this one question, and I cursed myself for +the doubt.</p> + +<p>“My duty to my present employer comes first, of course,” I admitted. +“But as soon as I am free <span style="white-space: nowrap;">again——”</span></p> + +<p>“If you are still alive,” she put in significantly.</p> + +<p>“Ah! You mean?”</p> + +<p>“I mean that when they find out that I am not to be depended on, they +will not have far to look for others.”</p> + +<p>“It is strange that they should have chosen you in the first place,” +I said thoughtfully. “You said they <i>could</i> not ask you.”</p> + +<p>“They did not offer me this mission. I volunteered.”</p> + +<p>“You volunteered!”</p> + +<p>She shook herself impatiently.</p> + +<p>“Surely you understand? I heard them deciding on your death. And so I +undertook the task.”</p> + +<p>“Because?”</p> + +<p>“Because I wished to save you. I had great difficulty. At first they +were inclined to refuse me—to suspect my motives. I had to convince +them that I hated you for having outwitted me. And I persuaded them +that none of their ordinary instruments were capable of dealing with +you.”</p> + +<p>“And you meant to give me this warning all along?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p><p>“I meant to save you from them. Do you not see, as long as we are +together, as long as you are visiting me, and I am seen to be +following you up, they will not interfere. If I manage the affair +skilfully it may be weeks before they suspect that I am playing them +false. I shall have my excuse ready. It is no disgrace to be foiled +by A. V.”</p> + +<p>Again there was an interval of silence. The Princess prepared to go.</p> + +<p>“Stay!” I protested. “I have not thanked you. Indeed, I do not seem +to have heard all. You had some reason, surely, for wishing to +preserve my life.”</p> + +<p>“And what does my reason matter?”</p> + +<p>“It matters very much to me. Perhaps,” I gave her a searching look, +“perhaps the Dowager Czaritza has enlisted you on our side?”</p> + +<p>The beautiful woman rose to her feet, and turned her face from me.</p> + +<p>“Think so, if you will. I tell you it does not matter.”</p> + +<p>“And I tell you it does matter. Princess!”</p> + +<p>“Don’t! Don’t speak to me, please! Let me go home. I am not well.”</p> + +<p>Trembling violently in every limb, she was making her way toward the +door, when it was suddenly flung open, and the voice of the hotel +servant announced:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p><p>“M. Petrovitch!”</p> + +<p>The head of the Manchurian Syndicate walked in with a smile on his +face, saw the Princess Y—— coming toward him, and stopped short, the +smile changing to a dark frown.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>A SUPERNATURAL INCIDENT</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcw.jpg" title="W" height="70" width="70" alt="W" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">W</span>hether because he saw that I was watching him, or because he placed +his own interpretation on the circumstances, the war plotter changed +his frown into a smile.</p> + +<p>“I am glad to see, Princess,” he said to the trembling woman, “that +you have so soon found our good friend Mr. Sterling again.”</p> + +<p>The Princess Y—— gave him a glance which seemed to enjoin silence, +bowed with grace, and left the room in charge of the servant who had +announced M. Petrovitch.</p> + +<p>The latter now advanced to greet me with every appearance of +cordiality.</p> + +<p>The last time I had met this well-dressed, delicate scamp, he had +drugged and robbed me. Now I had just been told that he was setting +assassins on my track.</p> + +<p>But it is my rule always to cultivate friendly intercourse with my +opponents. Few men can talk for long without exposing something of +their inner thoughts. I wanted M. Petrovitch to talk.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>Therefore I returned his greeting with equal cordiality, and made him +sit down in the chair from which the Princess Y—— had just risen.</p> + +<p>“You will be surprised to hear, no doubt, Mr. Sterling, that I have +brought you an invitation from the Emperor.”</p> + +<p>“From what Emperor?” was the retort on the tip of my tongue. +Fortunately I suppressed it; there is no accomplishment so fatal to +success in life as wit, except kindness.</p> + +<p>I simply answered,</p> + +<p>“I am not readily surprised, M. Petrovitch. Neither, I imagine, are +you.”</p> + +<p>The financier smiled.</p> + +<p>“May I call you M. V——?” he asked. “His majesty has told me who you +are.”</p> + +<p>“Were you surprised by that?” I returned with sarcasm.</p> + +<p>Petrovitch fairly laughed.</p> + +<p>“I hear you have been denouncing me to Nicholas,” he said lightly. +“Can’t I persuade you to let our poor little Czar alone. I assure you +it is a waste of breath on your part, and you will only worry a +well-meaning young man who has no head for business.”</p> + +<p>This was plain speaking. It argued no ordinary confidence on the part +of the intriguer to speak in such a fashion of the Autocrat of All +the Russias.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p><p>Already the interview was telling me something. Petrovitch must have +some strong, secret hold on Nicholas II.</p> + +<p>I shrugged my shoulders as I answered in my friendliest manner,</p> + +<p>“I have no personal feeling against you, my dear Petrovitch. But to +use drugs—come, you must admit that that was a strong measure!”</p> + +<p>“I apologize!” laughed the Russian. “All the more as I find you were +too many for us after all. I would give something to know how you +managed to hide the letter you got through.”</p> + +<p>It was my turn to laugh. I had reason to feel satisfied. Weak as the +Russian Emperor might be, it was evident that he had not betrayed my +secret.</p> + +<p>“Well, now,” the promoter resumed, “all that being over, is there any +reason why we should not be friends? Be frank with me. What end have +you in view that is likely to bring us into collision?”</p> + +<p>“There is no reason why I should not be frank with you,” I answered, +racking my brain for some story which the man before me might be +likely to believe, “especially as I do not suppose that either of us +is likely to report this conversation quite faithfully to his +imperial majesty. I am a Japanese spy.”</p> + +<p>Petrovitch gave me a glance in which I thought I detected a mingling +of incredulity and admiration.</p> + +<p>“Really, you are a cool hand, my dear V——!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p><p>“Why, is there anything in that to make us enemies? You are not going +to pose as the zealous patriot, I hope. I thought we had agreed to be +frank.”</p> + +<p>The financier bit his lip.</p> + +<p>“Well, I do not deny that I am before all things a man of business,” +he returned. “If your friends the Japanese can make me any better +offer than the one I have had from another quarter, I do not say.”</p> + +<p>“I will see what I can arrange for you,” I answered, not wholly +insincerely. “In the meantime, I think you said something about an +invitation?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes, from Nicholas. He wants to see you. He has some scheme or +other in which he thinks that you and I can work together, and he +wants us to be friends, accordingly.”</p> + +<p>“But we are friends, after to-day, I understand?”</p> + +<p>“It is as you please, my dear V——,” replied the conspirator with a +slightly baffled air. “You have made a good beginning, apparently, +with the Princess <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Y——.”</span></p> + +<p>I put on the self-satisfied air of the man who is a favorite with +women.</p> + +<p>“The Princess has been extremely kind,” I said. “She has pressed me +to visit her frequently. Oh, yes, I think I may say we are good +friends.”</p> + +<p>Petrovitch nodded. I had purposely prepared his mind for the story +which I anticipated he would hear <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>from my beautiful protector. +Evidently it would be necessary for her to tell the Syndicate that +she was feigning affection for me in order to draw me into a trap.</p> + +<p>“Then, as my carriage is outside, may I take you to the Winter +Palace?”</p> + +<p>“That seems the best plan,” I acquiesced. “It will convince the Czar +that we are on good terms.”</p> + +<p>We drove off together, sitting side by side like two sworn friends. I +do not know what thoughts passed through his mind; but I know that +all the way I kept my right hand on the stock of my revolver, and +once, when one of the horses stumbled, M. Petrovitch was within an +instant of death.</p> + +<p>At the Palace he put me down and drove off. I was admitted to the +Czar’s presence without difficulty, and found him, as usual, +surrounded by piles of state papers.</p> + +<p>Nicholas II. looked up at my entrance with evident pleasure.</p> + +<p>“Ah, that is right, M. V——. I hope that, since you have come so +promptly in response to the message I gave that worthy M. Petrovitch, +you and he are now good friends.”</p> + +<p>I could only bow silently. I was a Japanese, related to the sovereign +with whom he was at war, and I was acting in the service of Great +Britain. Petrovitch had just forced on the war which Nicholas had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>wished to avert, and he was still acting secretly in the interests +of Germany. And the Czar was congratulating himself that we were +friends. It was useless to try to undeceive him.</p> + +<p>“Sit down, if you please, M. V——. I have something of the greatest +importance to tell you. Stay—Perhaps you will be good enough to see +first that the doors are all secured. I dislike interruptions.”</p> + +<p>I went to the various entrances of the room, of which there were +three, and turned the keys in the doors.</p> + +<p>“Even M. Petrovitch does not know what I am going to tell you,” +Nicholas said impressively as I returned to my seat.</p> + +<p>“Your majesty does not trust him entirely, then?” I exclaimed, much +pleased.</p> + +<p>“You mistake me. I do not distrust M. Petrovitch; but this is a +matter of foreign politics, with which he is not familiar. He admits +frankly that he knows nothing about diplomacy.”</p> + +<p>I gazed at the benevolent young monarch in consternation. It was the +spy of Wilhelm II., the agent of the most active diplomatist in the +world, of whom he had just spoken!</p> + +<p>There was no more to be said.</p> + +<p>The Emperor proceeded to put a most unexpected question.</p> + +<p>“Are you a believer in spirits, M. V——?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p><p>“I am a Roman Catholic, sire. Whatever my Church teaches on this +subject, I believe. I am rather neglectful of my religious duties, +however, and do not know its attitude on this subject.”</p> + +<p>“I honor your loyalty to your communion, M. V——. But as long as you +do not know what is the attitude of your Church on this subject, you +cannot feel it wrong to listen to me.”</p> + +<p>I perceived that if his majesty was no politician, he was at least +something of a theologian.</p> + +<p>The Czar proceeded:</p> + +<p>“There is in Petersburg one of the most marvelous mediums and +clairvoyants who has ever lived. He is a Frenchman named Auguste. He +came here nearly a year ago—just when the difficulty with Japan was +beginning, in fact; and he has given me the most valuable information +about the progress of events. Everything he has foretold has come +true, so far. He warned me from the first that the Japanese would +force me into war, just as they have done. In short, I feel I can +rely on him absolutely.”</p> + +<p>This was not the first time I had heard of the spiritualist who had +established such an extraordinary hold on the Russian ruler’s mind. +The common impression was that he was a mystic, a sort of Madame +Krüdener. At the worst he was regarded as a charlatan of the ordinary +spirit-rapping type, cultivating the occult as a means of making +money.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p><p>But now, as I listened to the credulous monarch, it suddenly struck +me what an invaluable tool such a man might prove in the hands of a +political faction, or even of a foreign Power astute enough to +corrupt him and inspire the oracles delivered by the spirits.</p> + +<p>I listened anxiously for more.</p> + +<p>The Emperor, evidently pleased with the serious expression on my +face, went on to enlighten me.</p> + +<p>“Last night M. Auguste was here, in this room, and we held a private +<i>séance</i>. He succeeded in getting his favorite spirit to respond.”</p> + +<p>“Is it permissible to ask the spirit’s name?” I ventured +respectfully.</p> + +<p>“It is Madame Blavatsky,” he answered. “You must have heard of her, +of course. She was practically the founder of rational psychical +knowledge, though she died a victim to persecution.”</p> + +<p>I nodded. I had heard of this celebrated woman, who still numbers +many followers in different parts of the world.</p> + +<p>“Last night, as soon as we found that the spirit of Madame Blavatsky +was present, I asked Auguste to question it about the Baltic fleet.</p> + +<p>“I had been holding a preliminary review of the fleet in the morning, +as you may have seen from the papers. The officers and men seemed +thoroughly nervous, and very doubtful whether it would ever be in a +condition to sail. Even the Admiral, Rojestvensky,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> did not seem +quite happy, and he found great fault with the stores and equipments.</p> + +<p>“I had to authorize a delay of another month, and the Marine +Department would not promise to have the fleet ready even then.</p> + +<p>“Naturally, I wished to know what would become of the fleet when it +did sail. Auguste questioned the spirit.”</p> + +<p>His majesty broke off to feel in his pocket for a small slip of +paper.</p> + +<p>“I took down the answer myself, as the spirit rapped it out.” And he +read aloud:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Baltic Fleet threatened. Japanese and English plotting to +destroy it on the way to Port Arthur.</p></div> + +<p>I started indignantly.</p> + +<p>“And you believe that, sire! You believe that the British Government, +which has been straining every nerve to maintain peace, is capable of +planning some secret outrage against your Navy?”</p> + +<p>“It does not say the Government,” he announced with satisfaction. +“The spirit only warns me against the English. Private Englishmen are +capable of anything. At this very moment, two Englishmen are +arranging to run a torpedo boat secretly out of the Thames, disguised +as a yacht, and to bring her to Libau for us.”</p> + +<p>This piece of information silenced me. It was no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>doubt possible that +there might be Englishmen daring enough to assist the Japanese in +some secret enterprise against a Russian fleet. But I felt I should +like to have some better authority for the fact than the word of +Madame Blavatsky’s spirit.</p> + +<p>“The warning is a very vague one, sire,” I hinted.</p> + +<p>“True. But I hope to receive a more definite message to-morrow night. +I was going to ask you if you would have any objection to be present. +You might then be able to put pressure on the British Government to +prevent this crime.”</p> + +<p>Needless to say I accepted the imperial invitation with eagerness.</p> + +<p>And I retired to send the following despatch to Lord Bedale:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>When Baltic Fleet starts prepare for trouble. Have all +ports watched. It is believed here that attack on it is +preparing in England.</p></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE MYSTERY OF A WOMAN</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcw.jpg" title="W" height="70" width="70" alt="W" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">W</span>ho was M. Auguste?</p> + +<p>This was the question that kept my mind busy after my singular +interview with the Russian Emperor.</p> + +<p>In accordance with my rule to avoid as much as possible mentioning +the names of the humbler actors in the international drama, I have +given the notorious medium a name which conceals his true one.</p> + +<p>He appeared to be a foreigner, and the Czar’s weakness in this +direction was too well known for his patronage of the quack to excite +much attention; apparently it had occurred to no one but myself that +such a man might be capable of meddling in politics.</p> + +<p>In his more public performances, so far as I could learn, the +revelations of the spirits were confined to more harmless topics, +such as the nature of the future state, or the prospect of an heir +being born to the Russian crown.</p> + +<p>In my quest for further light on this remarkable personage, my +thoughts naturally turned to the Princess <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Y——.</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p><p>I have not concealed that at our first meeting the charming +collaborator of M. Petrovitch had made a very strong impression on +me. Her subsequent conduct had made me set a guard on myself, and the +memory of the Japanese maiden whose portrait had become my cherished +“mascot,” of course insured that my regard for the Princess could +never pass the bounds of platonic friendship.</p> + +<p>But the strange scene of the day before had moved me profoundly. +Vanity is not a failing of which I am ever likely to be accused by my +worst detractor, yet it was impossible for me to shut my eyes or ears +to the confession which had been made with equal eloquence by the +looks, the blushes and even the words of the beautiful Russian.</p> + +<p>Was ever situation more stupid in all the elements of tragedy! This +unhappy woman, spurred to all kinds of desperate deeds by the awful +fear of the knout, had been overcome by that fatal power which has +wrecked so many careers.</p> + +<p>In the full tide of success, in the very midst of a life and death +combat with the man it was her business to outwit and defeat, she had +succumbed to love for him.</p> + +<p>And now, to render her painful situation tenfold more painful, she +was holding the dagger at his breast as the only means of keeping it +out of the clutch of some more murderous hand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p><p>Had I the pen of a romancer I might enlarge on this sensational +theme. But I am a man of action, whose business it is to record +facts, not to comment on them.</p> + +<p>I sought the mansion on the Nevsky Prospect, and asked to see its +mistress.</p> + +<p>Evidently the visit was expected. The groom of the chambers—if that +was his proper description—led me up-stairs, and into a charming +boudoir.</p> + +<p>A fire replenished by logs of sandalwood was burning in a malachite +stove, and diffusing a dream-like fragrance through the chamber. The +walls of the room were panelled in ivory, and the curtains that hung +across the window frames were of embroidered silk and gold. Each +separate chair and toy-like table was a work of art—ebony, cinnamon, +and other rare and curious woods having been employed.</p> + +<p>But the rarest treasure there was the mistress of all this luxury. +The inmate of the sumptuous prison, for such it truly was, lay back +on a leopard-skin couch, set in the frame of a great silver +sea-shell.</p> + +<p>She had dressed for my coming in the quaint but gorgeous costume of +ancient Russia, the costume worn by imperial usage at high State +functions like coronations, weddings and christenings.</p> + +<p>The high coif above her forehead flamed with jewels, and big, sleepy +pearls slid and fell over her neck and bosom.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p><p>At my entrance she gave a soft cry, and raised herself on one white +arm. I stepped forward as though I were a courtier saluting a queen, +and pressed my lips to her extended hand.</p> + +<p>“I expected you, Andreas.”</p> + +<p>Only two women in my life have I ever allowed to call me by my +Christian name. One was the ill-starred lady who perished in the +Konak in Belgrade. The other—but of her I may not speak.</p> + +<p>But it was not for me to stand on ceremony with the woman who had +interposed herself as a shield between me and the enemies who sought +my death.</p> + +<p>“You knew that I should come to thank you,” I said.</p> + +<p>“I do not wish for thanks,” she answered, with a look that was more +expressive than words. “I wish only that you should regard me as a +friend.”</p> + +<p>“And in what other light is it possible for me to regard you, dear +Princess?” I returned. “Only this friendship must not be all on one +side. You, too, must consent to think of me as something more than a +stranger whose life you have saved.”</p> + +<p>“Can you doubt that I have done so for a long time?”</p> + +<p>It needed the pressure of the locket against my neck to keep me from +replying to this tenderly-spoken sentiment in a way which might have +led to consequences, for the Russian Empire as well as for the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>Princess and myself, very different to those which have actually +flowed from our conjunction.</p> + +<p>Conquering my impulses as I best could, I sought for a reply which +would not wear the appearance of a repulse.</p> + +<p>“You misunderstand me,” I said, putting on an expression of pride. +“You little know the character of Andreas V—— if you think he can +accept the humiliating position of the man who is under obligation to +a woman—an obligation which he has done nothing to discharge. Not +until I can tell myself that I have done something to place me on a +higher level in your eyes, can my thoughts concerning you be happy +ones.”</p> + +<p>A shade of disappointment passed over Sophia’s face. She made a +pettish gesture.</p> + +<p>“Does not—friendship do away with all sense of obligation?” she +complained.</p> + +<p>“Not with me,” I answered firmly. “No, Sophia, if you really care for +me—for my friendship—you must let me do what I have sworn to do +ever since I first saw you and heard some rumors of your tragic +story.”</p> + +<p>“You mean?”</p> + +<p>“You must let me break your odious bondage. I can deliver you, if you +will only trust me, from the power of the Russian police, or any +other power, and set you free to live the life of fascination and +happiness which ought to be yours.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p><p>The Princess seemed plunged in meditation. At length she looked +up——</p> + +<p>“You would undertake a hopeless task, my dear Andreas. Not even you +can fathom all the ramifications of the intrigues in which I find +myself an indispensable puppet. Those who control my movements will +never let go the strings by which they hold me, and least of all, +just now.”</p> + +<p>I was distressed to see that the Princess was disposed to evade my +appeal for confidence. I answered with a slightly wounded air:</p> + +<p>“I may know more than you think, more even than you know yourself on +certain points. But of course you are not willing to confide in me +<span style="white-space: nowrap;">fully——”</span></p> + +<p>“There can be no perfect trust without perfect”—The Princess, who +spoke this sentence in Russian, concluded it with a word which may +mean either friendship or love according to circumstances. As she +pronounced it, it seemed like love.</p> + +<p>“There can be no perfect love without perfect trust,” I responded +quickly, striving to assume the manner of an exacting lover.</p> + +<p>And then, a happy thought striking me, I added in an aggrieved voice,</p> + +<p>“Do you think it is nothing to me that you should be associated with +other men in the most secret enterprises, holding private conferences +with them, receiving them in your house, perhaps visiting them in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>theirs; that you should appear to be on intimate terms with the +Grand Duke Staniolanus, with M. Petrovitch, with a man like this M. +<span style="white-space: nowrap;">Auguste——”</span></p> + +<p>At the sound of this last name, to which I had artfully led up, +Sophia sprang into a sitting posture and gave me a look of anger and +fear.</p> + +<p>“Who told you anything about M. Auguste?” she demanded in hoarse +tones. “What has he to do with me?”</p> + +<p>“Nay, it is not you who ought to ask me that,” I returned. “You may +be a believer in his conjuring tricks, for aught I know. He may be +more to you than a comrade, or even a prophet—more to you than I.”</p> + +<p>“Who told you that he was my comrade, as you call it?” the Princess +insisted, refusing to be diverted from her point.</p> + +<p>“No one,” I said quite truthfully. “I should be glad to know that he +was only that. But it is natural for me to feel some jealousy of all +your friends.”</p> + +<p>The Princess appeared relieved by this admission. But this relief +confirmed all my suspicions. I now felt certain that the medium was +an important figure in the plot which I was trying to defeat. I saw, +moreover, that however genuine my beautiful friend might be in her +love for me and her desire to save my life, she had no intention of +betraying the secrets of her fellow conspirators.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p><p>Her character presented an enigma almost impossible to solve. Perhaps +it is not the part of a wise man ever to try to understand a woman. +Her motives must always be mysterious, even to herself. It is +sufficient if one can learn to forecast her actions, and even that is +seldom possible.</p> + +<p>“Then you refuse my help?” I asked reproachfully.</p> + +<p>“You cannot help me,” was the answer. “At least, that is, unless you +possess some power I have no idea of at present.”</p> + +<p>It was an ingenious turning of the tables. Instead of my questioning +the Princess, she was questioning me, in effect.</p> + +<p>I made what was perhaps a rash admission.</p> + +<p>“I am not wholly powerless, at all events. There are few sovereigns +in Europe whom I have not obliged at some time or other. Even the +German Emperor, though I have more than once crossed his path in +public matters, is my personal friend. In spite of his occasional +political errors, he is a stainless gentleman in private life, and I +am sure he would hear with horror of your position and the means by +which you had been forced into it.”</p> + +<p>Sophia looked at me with an expression of innocent bewilderment which +I could scarcely believe to be real.</p> + +<p>“The German Emperor! But what has he to do with me?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p><p>“He is said to have some influence with the Czar,” I said drily.</p> + +<p>My companion bit her lip.</p> + +<p>“Oh, the Czar!” Her tone was scathing in its mixture of pity and +indifference. “Every one has some influence with the Czar. But is +there any one with whom Nicholas has influence?”</p> + +<p>It was the severest thing I had ever heard said of the man whom an +ironical fate has made master of the Old World.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the manner of the Princess underwent a sudden change.</p> + +<p>She rose to her feet and gave me a penetrating glance, a glance which +revealed for the first time something of that commanding personality +which had made this slight, exquisite creature for years one of the +most able and successful of secret negotiators, and a person to be +reckoned with by every foreign minister.</p> + +<p>“You do not trust me, Andreas V——. It is natural. You do not love +me. It is possible that it is my fault. But I have sworn to save your +life, and I will do it in your own despite. In order that I may +succeed, I will forget that I am a woman, and I will forget that you +regard me as a criminal. Come here! I will show you into my oratory, +into which not even my confidential maid is ever allowed to +penetrate. Perhaps what you will see there may convince <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>you that I +am neither a traitor nor a Delilah.”</p> + +<p>With the proud step of an empress, she led the way into the adjoining +room, which was a bedroom sumptuously enriched with everything that +could allure the senses. The very curtains of the bed seemed to +breathe out languorous odors, the walls were hung with ravishing +groups of figures that might have come from a Pompeiian temple, the +dressing-table was rich with gold and gems.</p> + +<p>Without pausing for an instant the mistress of the chamber walked +straight across it to a narrow door let into the farther wall, and +secured by a tiny lock like that of a safe.</p> + +<p>Drawing a small key from her bosom, the Princess inserted it in the +lock, leaving me to follow in a state of the most intense +expectation.</p> + +<p>The apartment in which I found myself was a narrow, white-washed cell +like a prison, lit only by the flames of two tall wax candles which +stood on a table, or rather an altar, at the far end.</p> + +<p>Besides the altar, the sole object in the room was a wooden step in +front of it. Over the altar, in accordance with the rule of the Greek +Church, there hung a sacred picture. And below, between the two +candlesticks, there rested two objects, the sight of which fairly +took away my breath.</p> + +<p>One was a photograph frame containing a portrait of myself—how +obtained I shall never know. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>portrait was framed with +immortelles, the emblems of death, and the artist had given my face +the ghastly pallor and rigidity of the face of a corpse.</p> + +<p>The other object on the altar was a small whip of knotted leather +thongs.</p> + +<p>Without uttering a word, without even turning her head to see if I +had followed, the Princess Y—— knelt down on the step, stripped her +shoulders with a singular determined gesture, and then, taking the +knout in one hand, began to scourge the bare flesh.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>THE SPIRIT OF MADAME BLAVATSKY</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dca.jpg" title="A" height="70" width="69" alt="A" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">A</span>t the hour appointed by the Czar I presented myself at the Winter +Palace to assist at the spiritualist experiments of M. Auguste.</p> + +<p>I shall not attempt to describe the impression left by the weird +scene in the Princess Y——’s oratory.</p> + +<p>To those who do not know the Slav temperament, with its strange +mixture of sensuality and devotion, of barbarous cruelty and +over-civilized cunning, seldom far removed from the brink of +insanity, the incident I have recorded will appear incredible. I have +narrated it, simply because I have undertaken to narrate everything +bearing on the business in which I was engaged. I am well aware that +truth is stranger than fiction, and I should have little difficulty, +if I were so disposed, in framing a story, full of plausible, +commonplace incidents, which no one could doubt or dispute.</p> + +<p>I have preferred to take a bolder course, knowing that although I may +be discredited for a time, yet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>when historians in the future come to +sift the secret records of the age, I shall be amply vindicated.</p> + +<p>I shall only add that I did not linger a moment after the unhappy +woman had begun her penance, if such it was, but withdrew from her +presence and from the house without speaking a word.</p> + +<p>The feelings with which I anticipated my encounter with the medium +were very different. Whatever might be my doubts with regard to the +unfortunate Sophia—and I honestly began to think that the suicide of +Menken had affected her brain—I had no doubt whatever that M. +Auguste was a thoroughly unscrupulous man.</p> + +<p>The imperial servant to whom I was handed over at the entrance to the +Czar’s private apartments conducted me to what I imagine to have been +the boudoir of the Czaritza, or at all events the family sitting +room.</p> + +<p>It was comfortably but plainly furnished in the English style, and +was just such a room as one might find in the house of a London +citizen, or a small country squire. I noticed that the wall-paper was +faded, and the hearth-rug really worn out.</p> + +<p>The Emperor of All the Russias was not alone. Seated beside him in +front of the English grate was the beautiful young Empress, in whose +society he finds a refuge from his greedy courtiers and often +unscrupulous ministers, and who, I may add, has skilfully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> and +successfully kept out of any entanglement in politics.</p> + +<p>Rising at my entrance, Nicholas II. advanced and shook me by the +hand.</p> + +<p>“In this room,” he told me, “there are no emperors and no empresses, +only Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas.”</p> + +<p>He presented me to the Czaritza, who received me in the same style of +simple friendliness, and then, pointing to a money-box which formed a +conspicuous object on the mantel-shelf, he added:</p> + +<p>“For every time the word ‘majesty’ is used in this room there is a +fine of one ruble, which goes to our sick and wounded. So be careful, +M. <span style="white-space: nowrap;">V——.”</span></p> + +<p>In spite of this warning I did not fail to make a good many +contributions to the money-box in the course of the evening. In my +intercourse with royalty I model myself on the British Premier +Beaconsfield, and I regard my rubles as well spent.</p> + +<p>We all three spoke in English till the arrival of M. Auguste, who +knew only French and a few words of Russian. I remarked afterward +that the spirit of Madame Blavatsky, a Russian by birth, who had +spent half her life in England, appeared to have lost the use of both +languages in the other world, and communicated with us exclusively in +French.</p> + +<p>The appearance of M. Auguste did not help to overcome<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> my prejudice +against him. He had too evidently made up for the part of the mystic.</p> + +<p>The hair of M. Auguste was black and long, his eyes rolled much in +their sockets, and his costume was a compromise between the frock +coat and the cassock.</p> + +<p>But it was above all his manner that impressed me disagreeably. He +affected to be continually falling into fits of abstraction, as if +his communings with the spirits were diverting his attention from the +affairs of earth. Even on his entrance he went through the forms of +greeting his host and hostess as though scarcely conscious of their +presence. I caught a sly look turned on myself, however, and when I +was presented to him as “Mr. Sterling” his reception of the name made +me think that he had expected something else.</p> + +<p>The Czar having explained that I was a friend interested in +spiritualism, in whose presence he wished to hear again from Madame +Blavatsky, M. Auguste rolled his eyes formidably, and agreed to +summon the departed theosophist.</p> + +<p>A small round table was cleared of the Czaritza’s work-basket—she +had been knitting a soldier’s comforter—and we took our seats around +it. The electric light was switched off, so that we were in perfect +darkness, except for the red glow of the coal fire.</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour or so passed in a solemn <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>silence, broken only +by occasional whispers from “Mr. Nicholas” or the medium.</p> + +<p>“It is a long time answering,” the Czar whispered at last.</p> + +<p>“I fear there is a hostile influence,” M. Auguste responded in the +jargon of his craft.</p> + +<p>Hardly had the words left his lips when a perfect shower of raps +seemed to descend on all parts of the table at once.</p> + +<p>Let me say here, once for all, that I am not prepared to offer any +explanation of what happened on this occasion. I have read of some of +the devices by which such illusions are produced, and I have no doubt +a practised conjurer could have very easily fathomed the secrets of +M. Auguste. But I had not come there with any intention of detecting +or exposing him.</p> + +<p>The medium pretended to address the author of the raps.</p> + +<p>“If there is any hostile influence which prevents your communicating +with us, rap twice.”</p> + +<p>Two tremendous raps nearly drowned the last word. The spirit seemed +to be quick-tempered.</p> + +<p>“If it is a woman, rap once——”</p> + +<p>No response. This was decidedly clever.</p> + +<p>“If it is myself, rap.”</p> + +<p>This time, instead of silence, there was a faint scratching under the +surface of the table.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p><p>“The negative sign,” M. Auguste explained blandly, for our benefit.</p> + +<p>Then, addressing himself once more to the invisible member of the +party, he inquired:</p> + +<p>“If it is Mr. Nicholas, rap.”</p> + +<p>Silence.</p> + +<p>“You must excuse me,” the medium said, turning his face in my +direction. “If it is Mr. <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Sterling——”</span></p> + +<p>A shower of raps. I really thought the table would have given way.</p> + +<p>This was discouraging. The Czar came to my rescue, however.</p> + +<p>“I particularly wish Mr. Sterling to be present,” he observed with a +touch of displeasure—whether intended for M. Auguste or the +spiritual visitant I could not tell.</p> + +<p>The hierophant no doubt saw that he must submit. His retreat was +executed with great skill.</p> + +<p>“If the obstacle is one that can be removed, rap once.”</p> + +<p>A rap.</p> + +<p>“Can you spell it for us?”</p> + +<p>In the rather cumbrous alphabet in use among the shades, the visitor +spelled out in French:</p> + +<p>“<i>Son nom.</i>”</p> + +<p>“Is there something you object to about his name?”</p> + +<p>A rap.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p><p>“Is it an assumed name?”</p> + +<p>A very loud rap. Decidedly the spirit was indignant.</p> + +<p>“Can you tell us his real name? His initials will do?”</p> + +<p>“A. V.” spelled the unseen visitor.</p> + +<p>“Is that right?” M. Auguste inquired with well-assumed curiosity.</p> + +<p>“It is marvelous!” ejaculated the Emperor. “You will understand, of +course, Auguste, that this must be kept a secret among ourselves.”</p> + +<p>“Ask if it is Madame Blavatsky,” said the Czar.</p> + +<p>We learned that the apostle of theosophy was indeed present.</p> + +<p>“Would you like to hear from any other spirits?” M. Auguste asked the +company.</p> + +<p>“I should be glad of a word with Bismarck,” I suggested.</p> + +<p>In five minutes the Iron Chancellor announced himself. His rap was +sharp, quick and decided, quite a characteristic rap.</p> + +<p>“Ask if he approves of the present policy of the German Emperor?”</p> + +<p>A hearty rap. Evidently the spirit had greatly changed its views in +the other world.</p> + +<p>“Ask if he remembers telling me, the last time I saw him, that Russia +was smothering Germany in bed?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p><p>“Do you refuse to answer that question?” M. Auguste put in adroitly.</p> + +<p>An expressive rap.</p> + +<p>“Will you answer any other questions from this gentleman?”</p> + +<p>Then the spirit of Bismarck spoke out. It denounced me as a worker of +evil, a source of strife, and particularly as one who was acting +injuriously to the Russian Empire. I confess M. Auguste scored.</p> + +<p>“In his lifetime he would have said all that, if he had thought I was +working in the interest of Russia and against Germany,” I remarked in +my own defence.</p> + +<p>The spirit of the Iron Chancellor was dismissed, and that of Madame +Blavatsky recalled.</p> + +<p>It was evident that the Czar placed particular confidence in his late +subject. Indeed, if the issues at stake had been less serious, I +think I should have made an attempt to shake the Emperor’s blind +faith in the performances of M. Auguste.</p> + +<p>But my sole object was to read, if I could, the secret plans and +intentions of a very different imperial character, whose agent I +believed the spirit to be.</p> + +<p>M. Auguste, I quickly discovered, was distracted between fear of +offending Nicholas by too much reserve, and dread of enabling me to +see his game. In the end the Czar’s persistence triumphed, and we +obtained something like a revelation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p><p>“Tell us what you can see, that it concerns the Emperor to know,” M. +Auguste had adjured his familiar.</p> + +<p>“I see”—the reply was rapped out with irritating slowness—I quite +longed for a slate—“an English dockyard. The workmen are secretly at +work by night, with muffled hammers. They are building a torpedo +boat. It is to the order of the Japanese Government. The English +police have received secret instructions from the Minister of the +Interior not to interfere.”</p> + +<p>“Minister of the Interior” was a blunder. With my knowledge of +English politics I am able to say that the correct title of this +personage should be “Secretary of State for the Domestic Department.” +But few foreigners except myself have been able to master the +intricacies of the British Constitution.</p> + +<p>“For what is this torpedo boat designed?” M. Auguste inquired.</p> + +<p>“It is for service against the Baltic Fleet. The Russian sailors are +the bravest in the world, but they are too honest to be a match for +the heathen Japanese,” the spirit pursued, with some inconsistency.</p> + +<p>I could not help reflecting that Madame Blavatsky in her lifetime had +professed the Buddhist faith, which is that of the majority in Japan.</p> + +<p>“Do you see anything else?”</p> + +<p>“I see other dockyards where the same work is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>being carried on. A +whole fleet of warships is being prepared by the perfidious British +for use against the fleet of Russia.”</p> + +<p>“Ask her to cast her eye over the German dockyards,” I put in.</p> + +<p>“Spirits have no sex,” M. Auguste corrected severely. “I will ask +it.”</p> + +<p>A succession of raps conveyed the information that Germany was +preserving a perfectly correct course, as usual. Her sole departure +from the attitude of strict neutrality was to permit certain pilots, +familiar with the North Sea navigation, to offer their services to +the Russian fleet.</p> + +<p>“Glance into the future,” said the Czar. “Tell us what you see about +to happen.”</p> + +<p>“I see the Baltic Fleet setting out. The Admiral has issued the +strictest orders to neutral shipping to retire to their harbors and +leave the sea clear for the warships of Russia. He has threatened to +sink any neutral ship that comes within range of his guns.</p> + +<p>“As long as he is in the Baltic these orders are obeyed. The German, +Swedish and Danish flags are lowered at his approach, as is right.</p> + +<p>“Now he passes out into the North Sea. The haughty and hostile +English defy his commands. Their merchant ships go forth as usual. +Presuming on their knowledge of international law, they annoy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>and +vex the Russian warships by sailing past them. The blood of the brave +Russian officers begins to boil. Ask me no more.”</p> + +<p>M. Auguste, prompted by the deeply interested Czar, did ask more.</p> + +<p>“I see,” the obedient seeress resumed, “torpedo boats secretly +creeping out from the British ports. They do not openly fly the +Japanese flag, but lurk among the English ships, with the connivance +of the treacherous islanders.</p> + +<p>“The Baltic Fleet approaches. The torpedo boats, skulking behind the +shelter of their friends, steal closer to the Russian ships. Then the +brave Russian Admiral remembers his promise. Just in time to save his +fleet from destruction, he signals to the British to retire.</p> + +<p>“They obstinately refuse. The Russian fleet opens fire.</p> + +<p>“I can see no more.”</p> + +<p>The spirit of the seeress, it will be observed, broke off its +revelations at the most interesting point, with the skill of a +practised writer of serials.</p> + +<p>But the Czar, fairly carried away by excitement, insisted on knowing +more.</p> + +<p>“Ask the spirit if there will be any foreign complications,” he said.</p> + +<p>I had already remarked that our invisible companion showed a good +deal of deference to the wishes of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>Nicholas II., perhaps in his +character of Head of the Orthodox Church.</p> + +<p>After a little hesitation it rapped out:</p> + +<p>“The English are angry, but they are restrained by the fear of +Germany. The German Michael casts his shield in front of Russia, and +the islanders are cowed. I cannot see all that follows. But in the +end I see that the Yellow Peril is averted by the joint action of +Russia and Germany.”</p> + +<p>This answer confirmed to the full my suspicions regarding the source +of M. Auguste’s inspiration. I believed firmly that there was a +spirit present, but it was not the spirit of the deceased +theosophist, rather of a monarch who is very much alive.</p> + +<p>The medium now professed to feel exhausted, and Madame Blavatsky was +permitted to retire.</p> + +<p>I rose to accompany M. Auguste as soon as he made a move to retire.</p> + +<p>“If you will let me drive you as far as my hotel,” I said to him, “I +think I can show you something which will repay you for coming with +me.”</p> + +<p>The wizard looked me in the face for the first time, as he said +deliberately:</p> + +<p>“I shall be very pleased to come.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>THE DEVIL’S AUCTION</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>  said as little as possible during the drive homeward.</p> + +<p>My companion was equally silent. No doubt he, like myself, was +bracing himself for a duel of wits.</p> + +<p>As soon as we were safe in my private room at the hotel, with a +bottle of vodka and a box of cigars in front of us, I opened the +discussion with my habitual directness.</p> + +<p>“I need not tell you, M. Auguste, that I have not invited you here to +discuss questions of psychology. I am a politician, and it matters +nothing to me whether I am dealing with a ghost or a man, provided I +can make myself understood.”</p> + +<p>M. Auguste bowed.</p> + +<p>“For instance, it is quite clear that the interesting revelations we +have had to-night would not have been made without your good will. It +is to be presumed, therefore, that if I can convince you that it is +better to turn the Emperor’s mind in another direction, you will +refuse to make yourself the medium of further communications of that +precise character.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p><p>M. Auguste gave me an intelligent glance.</p> + +<p>“I am as you have just said, a <i>medium</i>,” he replied with significant +emphasis. “As such, I need not tell you, I have no personal interest +in the communications which are made through me.”</p> + +<p>I nodded, and took out my pocket-book, from which I extracted a +hundred ruble-note (about $75).</p> + +<p>“I promised to show you something interesting,” I remarked, as I laid +it on the table.</p> + +<p>M. Auguste turned his head, and his lip curled slightly.</p> + +<p>“I am afraid my sight is not very good,” he said negligently. “Is not +that object rather small?”</p> + +<p>“It is merely a specimen,” I responded, counting out nine others, and +laying them beside the first.</p> + +<p>“Ah, now I fancy I can see what you are showing me,” he admitted.</p> + +<p>“There is a history attached to these notes,” I explained. “They +represent the amount of a bet which I have just won.”</p> + +<p>“Really! That is most interesting.”</p> + +<p>“I now have another bet of similar nature pending, which I hope also +to be able to win.”</p> + +<p>“I am tempted to wish you success,” put in the medium encouragingly.</p> + +<p>“The chances of success are so great that if you were a betting man I +should be inclined to ask you to make a joint affair of it,” I said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p><p>“My dear M. V——, I am not a bigot. I have no objection to a wager +provided the stakes are made worth my while.”</p> + +<p>“I think they should be. Well, I will tell you plainly, I stand to +win this amount if the Baltic Fleet does not sail for another month.”</p> + +<p>M. Auguste smiled pleasantly.</p> + +<p>“I congratulate you,” he said. “From what I have heard the repairs +will take at least that time.”</p> + +<p>“But that is not all. This bet of mine is continuous. I win a similar +stake for every month which passes without the fleet having left +harbor.”</p> + +<p>M. Auguste gazed at me steadily before speaking.</p> + +<p>“If your bet were renewable weekly instead of monthly, you might +become quite a rich man.”</p> + +<p>I saw that I was dealing with a cormorant. I made a hasty mental +calculation. Half of one thousand rubles was about $375 a week, and +the information I had led me to believe that Port Arthur was capable +of holding out for another six months at least. To delay the sailing +of the Baltic Fleet till then would cost roughly $10,000—say 15,000 +rubles.</p> + +<p>I decided that neither England nor Japan would grudge the price.</p> + +<p>“I think your suggestion is a good one,” I answered M. Auguste. “In +that case, should you be willing to share the bet?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>“I should be willing to undertake it entirely,” was the response.</p> + +<p>The scoundrel wanted $20,000!</p> + +<p>Had I been dealing with an honest man I should have let him have the +money. But he had raised his terms so artfully that I felt sure that +if I yielded this he would at once make some fresh demand.</p> + +<p>I therefore shook my head, and began picking up the notes on the +table.</p> + +<p>“That would not suit me at all,” I said decidedly. “I do not wish to +be left out altogether.”</p> + +<p>M. Auguste watched me with growing uneasiness as I restored the notes +one by one to my pocket-book.</p> + +<p>“Look here!” he said abruptly, as the last note disappeared. “Tell me +plainly what you expect me to do.”</p> + +<p>“I expect you to have a communication from your friend Madame +Blavatsky, or any other spirit you may prefer—Peter the Great would +be most effective, I should think—every time the Baltic Fleet is +ready to start, warning ‘Mr. Nicholas’ not to let it sail.”</p> + +<p>M. Auguste appeared to turn this proposal over in his mind.</p> + +<p>“And is that all?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“I shall expect you to keep perfect secrecy about the arrangement. I +have a friend at Potsdam, and I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>shall be pretty sure to hear if you +try to give me away.”</p> + +<p>“Potsdam!” M. Auguste seemed genuinely surprised, and even +disconcerted.</p> + +<p>“Do you mean to say that you didn’t know you were carrying out the +instructions of Wilhelm II.?” I demanded, scarcely less surprised.</p> + +<p>It was difficult to believe that the vexation showed by the medium +was feigned.</p> + +<p>“Of course! I see it now!” burst from him. “I wondered what she meant +by all that stuff about Germany. And I—a Frenchman!”</p> + +<p>It is extraordinary what unexpected scruples will display themselves +in the most unprincipled knaves. Low as they may descend, there seems +always to be some one point on which they are as sensitive as a +Bayard.</p> + +<p>M. Auguste, of all men in the world, was a French patriot! It turned +out that he was a fanatical Nationalist and anti-Semite. He had +howled in anti-Dreyfusite mobs, and flung stones at the windows of +Masonic temples in Paris.</p> + +<p>I was delighted with this discovery, which gave me a stronger hold on +him than any bribe could.</p> + +<p>But I had noted the feminine pronoun in his exclamation recorded +above. I did not think it referred to the revealing spirit.</p> + +<p>“You have been deceived by the woman who has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>given you your +instructions,” I remarked to him, when his excitement had subsided a +little. “I fancy I can guess her name.”</p> + +<p>“Yes. It is the Princess Y——,” he confessed.</p> + +<p>Bewildering personality! Again, as I heard her name connected with an +intrigue of the basest kind, a criminal conspiracy to influence the +ruler of Russia by feigned revelations from the spirits of the dead, +I recalled the sight I had last had of her, kneeling in her oratory, +scourging herself before—my portrait!</p> + +<p>There was no longer any fear that M. Auguste would prove obdurate on +the question of terms. He pocketed his first five hundred rubles, and +departed, vowing that the Baltic fleet should never get farther than +Libau, if it was in the power of spirits to prevent it.</p> + +<p>Desirous to relieve Lord Bedale’s mind as far as possible I +despatched the following wire to him the next morning:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Sailing of Baltic Fleet postponed indefinitely. No danger +for the present. Watch Germany.</p></div> + +<p>I sent a fuller account of the situation to a son of Mr. Katahashi, +who was in England, nominally attached to the staff of the Imperial +Bank, but really on business of a confidential character which it +would be indiscreet on my part to indicate.</p> + +<p>I may say that I particularly cautioned the young <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>Japanese to avoid +any action calculated to give the least color to the German legends +about warships being secretly manufactured in British yards to the +order of the Mikado’s Government.</p> + +<p>Every reader who has followed the course of the war with any +attention will recollect the history of the fleet thus detained by my +contrivance.</p> + +<p>Week after week, and month after month, the Baltic Fleet was declared +to be on the point of departure. Time after time the Czar went on +board to review it in person, and speak words of encouragement to the +officers and crew. And every time, after everything had been +pronounced ready, some mysterious obstacle arose at the last moment +to detain the fleet in Russian waters.</p> + +<p>Journalists, naval experts, politicians and other ill-informed +persons invented or repeated all sorts of explanations to account for +the series of delays.</p> + +<p>Only in the very innermost circles of the Russian Court it was +whispered that the guardian spirit of the great Peter, the founder of +Russia’s naval power, had repeatedly come to warn his descendant of +disasters in store for the fleet, should it be permitted to sail.</p> + +<p>M. Auguste was earning his reward.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>MY FUNERAL</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dct.jpg" title="T" height="70" width="70" alt="T" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">T</span>he extreme privacy with which I had managed my negotiation with M. +Auguste completely baffled the plotters who were relying on the +voyage of the Baltic Fleet to furnish a <i>casus belli</i> between Russia +and Great Britain.</p> + +<p>They realized, of course, that some powerful hand was interfering +with their designs, and they were sufficiently intelligent to guess +that that hand must be mine.</p> + +<p>But they were far from suspecting the method of my operations. They +firmly believed that M. Auguste was still carrying out their +instructions, and sowing distrust of England in the mind of Nicholas +II. Indeed, on one occasion he informed me that the Princess Y—— +had sent for him and ordered him not to frighten the Czar to such an +extent as to make him afraid to let the fleet proceed to sea.</p> + +<p>Unable to detect and countermine me, it was natural that they should +become impatient for my removal.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, I was not surprised to receive an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>urgent message from +Sophia, late one evening, requesting me to come to her without delay.</p> + +<p>By this time our friendship, if such it could be called, had become +so intimate that I visited her nearly every day on one pretext or +another.</p> + +<p>Her greeting, as soon as I had obeyed the summons, showed me that a +fresh development had taken place in the situation.</p> + +<p>“Andreas, the hour has come!”</p> + +<p>“The hour?”</p> + +<p>“For your removal. Petrovitch has been here. He suspects something. +He has rebuked me severely for the delay.”</p> + +<p>“Did you tell him I was not an easy man to kill?”</p> + +<p>“I told him anything and everything. He would not listen. He says +they have lost confidence in me. He was brutal. He <span style="white-space: nowrap;">said——”</span></p> + +<p>“Well, what did he say?”</p> + +<p>“He said—” she spoke slowly and shamefacedly—“that he perceived it +took a man to kill a man.”</p> + +<p>I smiled grimly.</p> + +<p>“History tells us differently. But what then?”</p> + +<p>“To-morrow I shall no longer be able to answer for your life.”</p> + +<p>“You think some one else will be appointed to dispose of me?”</p> + +<p>“I am sure that some one else has been appointed already. Most likely +it is Petrovitch himself.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p><p>“Well, I shall look out for him.” I did not think it necessary to +tell Sophia that I had been expecting something of this kind, and had +made certain preparations.</p> + +<p>“It will be useless, Andreas. You do not know the man with whom you +have to deal.”</p> + +<p>“The ignorance may be mutual,” I observed drily.</p> + +<p>The Princess became violently agitated.</p> + +<p>“You must let me save you,” she exclaimed clasping her hands.</p> + +<p>“In what way?”</p> + +<p>“You must let me kill you <i>here</i>, to-night.</p> + +<p>“Don’t you understand?” she pursued breathlessly. “It is absolutely +necessary for your safety, perhaps for the safety of both of us, that +they should think I have carried out my instructions. You must appear +to die. Then they will no longer concern themselves about you, and +you will be able to assume some other personality without being +suspected.”</p> + +<p>The scheme appealed to me strongly, all the more that it seemed as +though it could be made to fit in very well with my own plans.</p> + +<p>“You are a clever woman, Sophia,” I said cautiously. “How do you +purpose to carry out your scheme? They will want to see my corpse, I +suppose.”</p> + +<p>She drew out the little key I have already described.</p> + +<p>“Come this way.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p><p>I followed her through the bedroom as before to the door of the +locked oratory.</p> + +<p>She opened the door and admitted me.</p> + +<p>By the light of the wax candles I saw what was surely one of the +strangest sights ever presented to mortal eyes.</p> + +<p>It was myself, lying in state!</p> + +<p>On a high bier draped in white and black cloth, I lay, or, rather, my +counterpart presentment in wax lay, wrapped and shrouded like a dead +body, a branch of palm in the closed hands, and a small Russian coin +resting on the lips, in accordance with a quaint custom which +formerly prevailed in many lands.</p> + +<p>In spite of my habitual self-command I was unable to repress a cold +shiver at this truly appalling spectacle.</p> + +<p>“Your stage management is perfect,” I observed after a pause. “But +will they be satisfied with a look only?”</p> + +<p>“I do not think so. It will be necessary for you to put on the +appearance of death for a short time, till I have satisfied them. +Afterward I can conceal you in here, while this—” she pointed to the +ghastly figure—“is buried under your name.”</p> + +<p>“Let us get back to the other room, before we talk about it,” I +urged. “This is not altogether a pleasant sight.”</p> + +<p>As we passed out of the oratory I stealthily took <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>note of the +fastening of the door. The lock was on the outside only; in other +words, if I permitted myself to be immured in the cell-like chamber, +I should be a prisoner at the mercy of my charming friend.</p> + +<p>“And now, by what means do you purpose that I shall assume the +appearance of death?” I inquired as soon as we had returned to the +boudoir.</p> + +<p>The Princess opened a small cabinet, and produced a tiny stoppered +bottle.</p> + +<p>“By swallowing this medicine,” she answered. “I have had it specially +prepared from a recipe given me ten years ago at a time when I +thought of resorting to the same contrivance to escape from my +taskmaster.”</p> + +<p>I took the bottle in my hand, and examined it carefully. It bore no +label, and the contents appeared perfectly colorless.</p> + +<p>“In five minutes after you have swallowed the contents of the +bottle,” Sophia explained, “you will begin to turn cold, at first in +the feet and hands. As the cold mounts to the brain you will +gradually lose consciousness, and become rigid. You will look as pale +as if you were actually dead, and your heart will cease to beat.”</p> + +<p>“And how long will this stupor last?”</p> + +<p>“About twenty-four hours, more or less, according to your +constitution.”</p> + +<p>I looked carefully and steadily into her eyes. She flushed and +trembled violently, but did not quail.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p><p>“What does it taste like?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“It is a little bitter.”</p> + +<p>“I will take it in water, then.”</p> + +<p>“You can take it in wine, if you like. I have some here.”</p> + +<p>She moved to a small cupboard in the wall.</p> + +<p>“I shall tell them that I gave it to you in wine, in any case,” she +added.</p> + +<p>“I prefer water, thank you. May I fetch some from the next room?”</p> + +<p>“I will fetch it,” she said hastily, going to the bedroom.</p> + +<p>On an ebony stand beside me there was a large china bowl containing a +flowering plant in its pot. In a second I had removed the stopper, +emptied the bottle into the space between the flower-pot and the +outer bowl, and put the stopper back again.</p> + +<p>“Tell me,” I said to the Princess as she hurried back with a carafe +and tumbler, “have you thought how I am to get away from this house +without exciting attention?”</p> + +<p>“It will be easy for me to procure you a dozen disguises. I am always +going to masked balls. But are you in such a hurry to leave me?”</p> + +<p>“I shall find the air of your oratory rather confined, I am afraid.”</p> + +<p>She hung her head in evident chagrin.</p> + +<p>“But where will you go?” she demanded.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p><p>“Oh, that is all arranged. I have taken a small house and furnished +it, in another name.”</p> + +<p>“Where?” she asked breathlessly.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps I had better not tell you till this excitement is over. I +must not burden you with too many of my secrets.”</p> + +<p>Sophia’s eyes filled with tears.</p> + +<p>“You distrust me still!” she cried. “But, after all, what does it +matter? I have only to ask Petrovitch.”</p> + +<p>“That will be quite unnecessary as well as useless. I pledge myself +to tell you before I leave this place, and I have not favored M. +Petrovitch with my new address.”</p> + +<p>She smiled scornfully.</p> + +<p>“And do you believe that you have succeeded in taking a house in +Petersburg without his knowledge? You do not know him, I tell you +again. He has had you watched every hour of the day while you have +been here.”</p> + +<p>“Please credit me with a little resource, as well as your friend,” I +answered with some slight irritation. “I have no doubt the spies of +M. Petrovitch have watched me pretty closely, but they have not been +able to watch every person who has come in and out of the hotel. Two +of my most capable assistants have been in Petersburg for the last +month—since the day you hinted that my life was not quite safe, in +fact.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p><p>The woman before me looked completely overwhelmed.</p> + +<p>“One of them,” I proceeded with cutting severity, “has taken the +house I speak of. The other is watching over my personal safety at +this moment.”</p> + +<p>The Princess fairly gave way. Sinking on the couch behind her, she +exclaimed in a faint voice:</p> + +<p>“You are a demon, not a man!”</p> + +<p>It was the finest compliment she could have paid me.</p> + +<p>“And now,” I said carelessly, “to carry out your admirable little +idea.”</p> + +<p>The unhappy woman put up her hands, and turned away her head in sheer +terror.</p> + +<p>I splashed some water into the tumbler, and then trickled in a small +quantity afterward, to imitate the sound of adding the poison. This +done I respectfully handed the bottle to my companion.</p> + +<p>“To our next meeting!” I called out lightly, as I lifted the tumbler +to my lips and drained it.</p> + +<p>It was the Princess who swooned.</p> + +<p>Although I had not foreseen this weakness on her part I took +advantage of it to draw the tiny key of the oratory from her bosom, +and hide it in my mouth.</p> + +<p>I then touched the bell twice, the signal for the Princess’s maid to +appear.</p> + +<p>“Fauchette,” I said, when she entered—for this was the assistant I +had alluded to as watching over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>my personal safety—“Madame has just +given me the contents of that stoppered bottle. Do you know anything +about them?”</p> + +<p>Fauchette had made good use of her time since obtaining her +situation. These things are so easily managed that I am almost +ashamed to explain that a bribe to the former maid had brought about +a convenient illness, and the recommendation of Fauchette as a +temporary substitute.</p> + +<p>“Yes, Monsieur,” she said quietly. “I filled the bottle with water +this afternoon, in case of accident. I have preserved the previous +contents, in case you should care to have them analyzed.”</p> + +<p>“You have done well, very well, my girl.”</p> + +<p>Fauchette blushed with pleasure. I do not often say so much to my +staff.</p> + +<p>“Madame does not know that I had just emptied the bottle into that +china bowl,” I added carelessly.</p> + +<p>“It is useless to try to serve Monsieur; he does everything himself,” +murmured the poor girl, mortified.</p> + +<p>“Nonsense, Fauchette, I have just praised you. It is always possible +that I may overlook something.”</p> + +<p>Fauchette shook her head with an incredulous air.</p> + +<p>I have found it good policy to maintain this character for +infallibility with my staff. It is true, perhaps, that I do not very +often blunder.</p> + +<p>“And now,” I went on, “it is time for the poison <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>to take effect! As +soon as I am dead, you will awake Madame.”</p> + +<p>I lay down on another couch, and composed myself in a rigid attitude +with my eyes closed. I did not believe, of course, that it would be +possible to deceive a close observer, but I trusted to the wild +emotions of the Princess to blind her to any signs of life.</p> + +<p>I heard Fauchette dart on her mistress with a well-acted scream, and +sprinkle her face and neck with cold water.</p> + +<p>Sophia seemed to revive quickly.</p> + +<p>“Andreas!” I heard her gasp. “Where? What has become of him?”</p> + +<p>“M. Sterling has also fainted,” the maid replied with assumed +innocence.</p> + +<p>“Ha!”</p> + +<p>It was more like a shriek than a sob. I heard a hasty rustling of +skirts, and then Sophia seemed to be kneeling beside me, and feeling +for the beat of my heart.</p> + +<p>“Go, Fauchette! Send Gregory instantly to M. Petrovitch to inform him +that M. Sterling has been taken ill in my house, and that I fear he +is dead.”</p> + +<p>The Princess began loosening my necktie.</p> + +<p>Had Fauchette been present I should have been able to point to this +as a proof that I was not incapable of an occasional oversight.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, I had not anticipated this very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>natural action +on Sophia’s part. Yet it should have been evident that, were it only +to keep up appearances before any one who might come to view my +supposed corpse, she would be bound to free my neck.</p> + +<p>And I was wearing the locket which contained the portrait of my +promised bride!</p> + +<p>I lay, really rigid with apprehension, while Sophia’s caressing +fingers tenderly removed the necktie, and began unfastening my collar +and shirt.</p> + +<p>Suddenly I heard an ejaculation—at first striking the note of +surprise and curiosity merely, but deepening to fear.</p> + +<p>In a moment the locket was lifted from my chest, and forced open with +a metallic click.</p> + +<p>“Ah!—Ah!”</p> + +<p>She let the open locket drop from her fingers on my bare throat.</p> + +<p>Instantly it was clutched up again. I could picture the frenzied gaze +of jealousy and hate in those burning eyes of deepest violet; I could +actually feel the passionate breathing from between the clenched +teeth of whitest ivory.</p> + +<p>“Miserable child!” she hissed, the hand that held the locket +trembling so that I could feel it against my neck. “So <i>you</i> have +robbed me of him!”</p> + +<p>She paused, and then added, forcing out each word with a passion of +distilled <span style="white-space: nowrap;">hate——</span></p> + +<p>“But you shall never have him! He shall be mine! Mine! Mine, in the +grave!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>A PERILOUS MOMENT</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>  lay with every nerve strained to its utmost tension, listening for +the least movement on the part of the maddened woman which might +indicate she was about to stab me then and there.</p> + +<p>In the silence that followed, if she did not hear the beating of my +heart it was only because her own stormy emotions had rendered her +deaf and blind to everything else.</p> + +<p>For a time her rapid breathing continued to warm my uncovered neck. +Then she snapped-to the locket and let it fall, and rose from my side +to pace the floor of the room with swift, irregular steps.</p> + +<p>Fauchette, who must have been anxious to know how I was faring, now +came back without waiting to be summoned.</p> + +<p>“Well?” the Princess demanded, halting in her promenade.</p> + +<p>“Gregory has gone for M. Petrovitch, Madame. Is there anything I can +do?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p><p>“I have tried every restorative,” came the answer. “See if you can +detect any signs of life.”</p> + +<p>The last command seemed to come as an afterthought. No doubt, Sophia +wished to test her work before Petrovitch arrived.</p> + +<p>I was encouraged to think that she had no immediate intention of +killing me; and as the maid bent over me I contrived to give her hand +a reassuring squeeze.</p> + +<p>“He is quite dead, Madame,” the girl said, turning away. “Would you +like to have the body carried into another room?”</p> + +<p>“No. Wait till M. Petrovitch comes,” her mistress replied. “You can +go.”</p> + +<p>As my assistant withdrew I again became on the alert for any +dangerous move on the part of the Princess.</p> + +<p>It was not long before I was conscious that the room had grown +darker.</p> + +<p>I gathered that Sophia had switched off some of the lights in order +to make it more difficult for Petrovitch to detect her fraud, and +again I took courage.</p> + +<p>Some muttered words helped me to understand the plan of the desperate +woman.</p> + +<p>“I will give him one chance. He shall choose. Men do not die for love +in these days.”</p> + +<p>There was little doubt that she intended to lock me up in her oratory +and hold me a prisoner till <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>I consented to sacrifice my faith to her +Japanese rival.</p> + +<p>Satisfied that there was little risk of any immediate violence, I +waited calmly for the arrival of Sophia’s colleague, or master.</p> + +<p>The head of the Manchurian Syndicate lost no time on the way. Very +soon I heard the door open and the familiar voice, with its slightly +affected accent, saying,</p> + +<p>“Permit me to offer you the expression of my sincere regrets, dear +Princess!—And my sincere congratulations,” he added in a more +business-like tone, as the door closed again.</p> + +<p>A sigh was the only audible response.</p> + +<p>“It has cost you something, I can see,” the man’s voice resumed +soothingly. “That fact gives you a still stronger claim on our +gratitude. I confess I began to fear seriously that you were +deceiving us, and that would have been very dangerous.”</p> + +<p>Another obscure sound, between a sigh and a sob, from the woman.</p> + +<p>“Now we can proceed with light hearts. Within three months from now +Russia and Great Britain will be at war. I do not mind answering for +it. There was only one man in Europe who could have prevented it, and +he lies there!”</p> + +<p>“You would have it so! I still say it would have been enough to +imprison him somewhere.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p><p>“You talk foolishly, believe me, Princess. A man like that is not to +be imprisoned. There is no jailer in the world who would venture to +undertake to keep the famous A. V. under lock and key.”</p> + +<p>“I would have undertaken it,” came the answer. “I would have locked +him in my oratory, the key of which never leaves my bosom.”</p> + +<p>“Nevertheless if it was important to that man to steal it from you, +it would not remain in your bosom very long.”</p> + +<p>A startled cry interrupted the speaker, and told me that Sophia had +made the fatal discovery of the loss of her key.</p> + +<p>I held my breath in the most dreadful suspense. Everything now +depended on this woman. If she allowed the least hint, I knew that +Petrovitch would never leave the room without at least an attempt to +change my supposed trance into death.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the Princess was equal to the emergency. I heard her give +a slight laugh.</p> + +<p>“I am punished for my assurance,” she confessed. “I am not quite +hardened, as you know; and when I realized that M. V—— was actually +dead, I was obliged to pray for him. I have left the key in the +door.”</p> + +<p>“Go and fetch it, then.”</p> + +<p>The tone in which these words were spoken was harsh. I heard Sophia +going out of the room, and in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>an instant, with a single bound, as it +seemed, the man was leaning over me, feeling my pulse, listening for +my heart, and testing whether I breathed.</p> + +<p>“If I had brought so much as a knife with me, I would have made +sure,” I heard him mutter to himself.</p> + +<p>Fortunately Sophia’s absence did not last ten seconds. She must have +snatched up the first key that came to hand, that of a jewel-box most +likely, and hurried back with it.</p> + +<p>Petrovitch seemed to turn away from me with reluctance.</p> + +<p>“You doubt me, it appears,” came in angry tones from the Princess.</p> + +<p>“I doubt everybody,” was the cool rejoinder. “You were in love with +this fellow.”</p> + +<p>“You think so? Then look at this.”</p> + +<p>I felt the locket being picked up, and heard the click of the tiny +spring.</p> + +<p>A coarse laugh burst from the financier.</p> + +<p>“So that is it! Woman’s jealousy is safer than her sworn word, after +all. Now I believe he <i>is</i> dead.”</p> + +<p>The Princess made no reply.</p> + +<p>Presently the man spoke again.</p> + +<p>“This must be kept a secret among ourselves, you understand. The +truth is, I have exceeded my instructions a little. A certain +personage only authorized detention. It appears he is like you in +having a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>certain tenderness for this fellow—why, I can’t think. At +any rate his manner was rather alarming when we hinted that a coffin +made the safest straight-jacket.”</p> + +<p>It was impossible for me to doubt that it was the Kaiser whom this +villain had insulted by offering to have me assassinated. I thanked +Wilhelm II. silently for his chivalrous behavior. M. Petrovitch could +have known little of the proud Hohenzollern whom he tempted.</p> + +<p>At the same time, it was a source of serious concern for me to know +that, just as I had learned that my real opponent was my friend the +Kaiser, so he in turn had acquired the knowledge that he had me +against him.</p> + +<p>It had become a struggle, no longer in the dark, between the most +resourceful of Continental sovereigns and myself, and that being so, +I realized that I could not afford to rest long on my oars.</p> + +<p>From the deep breathing of the Princess, I surmised that she was +choking down the rage she must have felt at the other’s cynical +depravity. For Sophia, though capable of committing a murder out of +jealousy perhaps, was yet incapable of killing for reward.</p> + +<p>“Well,” I heard Petrovitch say in the tone of one who is taking his +leave, “I must send some one ’round to remove our friend.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p><p>“Do not trouble, if you please. I will see to the funeral,” came in +icy tones from the Princess.</p> + +<p>“What, still sentimental! Be careful, my good Sophia Y——, you will +lose your value to us if you give way to such weaknesses.”</p> + +<p>I heard his steps move across the carpeted floor, and then with +startling suddenness, the words came out:</p> + +<p>“Curse me if I can believe he <i>is</i> dead!”</p> + +<p>My blood ran cold. But it turned out to be only a passing +exclamation. At the end of what seemed to me minutes—they can only +have been seconds—the footsteps moved on, and the door opened and +closed.</p> + +<p>“Thank God!” burst from Sophia.</p> + +<p>Her next words were plainly an apostrophe to myself.</p> + +<p>“So you did not trust me after all!”</p> + +<p>I was within an ace of opening my eyes on the supposition that she +had found me out, when I was reassured by her adding, this time to +herself,</p> + +<p>“He must have done it when I fainted!”</p> + +<p>I saw that she was referring to my theft of the key.</p> + +<p>There was a soft rustle of silk on the floor, and I felt her hands +searching in my pockets for the stolen key.</p> + +<p>“Fool! To think that I could outwit him!” she murmured to herself at +last.</p> + +<p>She had taken some time to learn the lesson, however.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>A RESURRECTION AND A GHOST</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>t was soon evident that the Princess Y—— had taken her new maid +into her confidence to a certain extent.</p> + +<p>She must have rung for Fauchette without my hearing anything, for +presently the door opened again, and I heard my assistant’s voice.</p> + +<p>As the result of a hurried consultation between the two women, in +which Fauchette played to perfection the part of a devoted maid who +is only desirous to anticipate the wishes of her mistress, it was +decided to wheel the sofa on which I lay into the oratory, and to +bring the wax dummy into the Princess’s bedroom, to lie in state till +the next day.</p> + +<p>The arrangement did not take long to carry out.</p> + +<p>Partly from what I was able to overhear, and partly from the report +afterward furnished to me by Fauchette, I am able to relate +succinctly what took place.</p> + +<p>To begin with, I was left in the oratory, while the counterfeit +corpse was duly arranged in the adjoining room.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p><p>Unable to lock me in the smaller apartment, Sophia declared her +intention of locking both the outer doors of the bedroom, one of +which gave on a corridor, while the other, as the reader is aware, +opened into the boudoir where the previous scene had taken place.</p> + +<p>The Princess retained one of these keys herself, entrusting the other +to the maid, of course with the strictest injunctions as to its use.</p> + +<p>To keep up appearances before the household, the Princess arranged to +pass the next few nights in another room on the same floor, which +usually served as a guest chamber.</p> + +<p>It was explained to the servants that the death which had occurred +had upset the nerves of their mistress, and rendered her own suite of +rooms distasteful to her for the present.</p> + +<p>Fauchette, who thus became my jailer, brought me a supply of cold +food and wine during the night. I had part of this provision under +the altar of the oratory, to serve me during the following day.</p> + +<p>My cataleptic condition was supposed to endure for nearly twenty-four +hours. The enforced seclusion was intensely irritating to a man of my +temperament; but I could not evade it without revealing to Sophia +that I had heard her confession, and thereby inflicting a deadly +wound on a woman who loved me.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the arrangements for my funeral had been pressed on.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p><p>Already a telegram had appeared in the London papers announcing the +sudden and unexpected death from heart-failure of the well-known +English philanthropist, Mr. Melchisedak Sterling. One or two of the +journals commented on the fact of Mr. Sterling’s death having taken +place while he was on a mission of peace to the Russian capital, and +expressed a hope that his death would have a chastening effect on the +War Party in Petersburg.</p> + +<p>My friend, the editor of the Peace Review, very generously sent a +wreath, which arrived too late for the funeral but was laid on my +grave.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately these newspaper announcements were taken seriously by +my exalted employers, as well as by the enemies whom I wished to +deceive, but this could not be helped.</p> + +<p>By noon the undertaker’s men had arrived with my coffin. The Princess +played upon their ignorance of English customs and burial rites to +pretend that the work of coffining must be done by women’s hands. In +this way she and Fauchette were able to enclose the dummy in its +wooden shell, leaving to the men only the task of screwing down the +lid.</p> + +<p>The burial took place in the English cemetery. I am glad to say that +the Princess contrived to avoid the mockery of a religious service by +alleging that Mr. Sterling had belonged to a peculiar sect—the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>Quakers, I fancy—which holds such ceremonies to be worldly and +unnecessary.</p> + +<p>I may add that I have since visited my grave, which is still to be +seen in a corner of the cemetery. It is marked by a stone slab with +an inscription in English.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon the faithful Fauchette persuaded her mistress to go +out for a drive, to soothe her over-strained nerves.</p> + +<p>Before quitting the house, the Princess came in to take a last look +at me.</p> + +<p>She lingered minute after minute, as though with some premonition +that our next meeting would be under widely different circumstances.</p> + +<p>To herself, I heard her whisper, sighing softly:</p> + +<p>“Andreas! O Andreas! If I could sleep, or thou couldst never wake!”</p> + +<p>She crept away, and the better to secure me locked both the bedroom +doors herself, and carried off the keys.</p> + +<p>On her return, two hours later, Sophia, with a look that told the +watchful Fauchette of her uneasiness, hurried straight up-stairs, +toward the door of the little oratory.</p> + +<p>She found it locked from the outside, with the key in the door.</p> + +<p>It had cost me something to break my pledge to the Princess Y—— +that I would give her my new address before leaving her.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p><p>But her unfortunate discovery of the portrait I wore around my neck +and her plainly-declared intention to hold me a prisoner till she +could shake my fidelity, had rendered it necessary for me to meet +treachery with treachery.</p> + +<p>The secret service, it must always be borne in mind, has its own code +of honor, differing on many points from that obtaining in other +careers, but perhaps stricter on the whole.</p> + +<p>For instance, I can lay my hand on my heart and declare that I have +never done either of two things which are done every day by men +holding high offices and high places in the world’s esteem. I have +never taken a secret commission. And I have never taken advantage of +my political information to gamble in stocks.</p> + +<p>The manner of my escape was simplicity itself.</p> + +<p>My assistant had not come to live with the Princess without making +some preparations for the part she was to play, and these included +the bringing with her of a bunch of skeleton keys, fully equal to the +work of opening any ordinary lock.</p> + +<p>As soon as her mistress was safely out of the way, Fauchette came to +receive my instructions.</p> + +<p>I told her that I did not intend to wait for my jailer’s return. We +discussed the best way for me to slip out, without obstruction from +the servants, and I decided to take advantage of the superstition of +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>Russian illiterate class, by enacting the part of my own ghost.</p> + +<p>The report that I had been buried without any funeral service had +already reached the household, and had prepared them for any +supernatural manifestation.</p> + +<p>Fauchette first brought me a little powdered chalk, with which I +smeared my face. I then put on a long flowing cloak and a sombrero +hat, part of the wardrobe accumulated by the Princess in the course +of her gaieties.</p> + +<p>I slipped a damp sponge into my pocket and directed the girl to lead +the way.</p> + +<p>She went down-stairs a few yards in front of me, turned into the +servants’ part of the house and threw open the back door, which led +out into a courtyard giving on a street used only by tradesmen’s +carts. At this hour of the day it was deserted.</p> + +<p>I followed cautiously in Fauchette’s wake, and got as far as the back +door without meeting any interruption.</p> + +<p>But at that point, the porter, who must have been roused by an +unfamiliar step—though I understand he swore afterward that the +passage of the ghost had been absolutely noiseless—came out and +stood in the doorway.</p> + +<p>Without hesitating for an instant I assumed an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>erect posture and +advanced swiftly toward him with my whitened face well displayed.</p> + +<p>The fellow gave vent to a half-articulate call which died down in his +throat, and bolted back into his room uttering yell after yell.</p> + +<p>Fifteen seconds later I was out in the street, sponging the chalk +from my face.</p> + +<p>And five minutes after that I was comfortably seated in a hired +droshky, on my way to a certain little house in the seafaring quarter +of the city, which possessed, among other advantages, that of +commanding an exceedingly fine view of the Admiralty Pier.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>A SECRET EXECUTION</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>  now come to a part of my chronicle which I plainly foresee must +expose me to grave criticism.</p> + +<p>To that criticism it is no part of my purpose to attempt any reply.</p> + +<p>In the long run, I have found, men’s minds are not much affected by +argument and advocacy. Facts tell their own story, and men’s +judgments are usually the result of their personal prejudices.</p> + +<p>For that reason I shall confine myself to relating facts. I have +already told the story of my murder—for such it was in the +intent—by Petrovitch. I shall now tell the story of the justice +meted out by me on the assassin.</p> + +<p>As soon as I was safely lodged in my house on the Alexander Quay, I +despatched my assistant, a clever young Frenchman named Breuil, with +a message to the promoter of the Manchurian Syndicate—the real +moving spirit of that War clique in which even the bellicose grand +dukes had only secondary parts.</p> + +<p>The wording of the message had been carefully calculated to arouse +curiosity, but not apprehension.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p><p>“The agent of a foreign Power,” Breuil was instructed to say to this +self-styled patriot, “with very large funds at his disposal, desires +to see you in strict secrecy.”</p> + +<p>The bait took. Petrovitch, naturally concluding that he was to be +offered a heavy bribe for some act of treachery to Russia, greedily +accepted the invitation.</p> + +<p>The infatuated man did not take even the ordinary precaution of +asking for guarantees. He consented to accompany Breuil at once, +merely asking how far he had to go. This recklessness was the result +of his supposed triumphant crime. Believing that I was safely +interred in the English cemetery, he thought there was no one left +for him to fear.</p> + +<p>On the way he did his best to extract some information out of my +assistant. But Breuil returned the same answer to all his questions +and hints:</p> + +<p>“I am under orders not to converse with you, monsieur.”</p> + +<p>The doomed man was in good spirits as the droshky put him down at the +door of my house.</p> + +<p>“Decidedly an out-of-the-way retreat!” he commented gaily. “I should +hardly be able to find my way here again without your assistance!”</p> + +<p>The silent Breuil merely bowed, as he proceeded to open the street +door with a latch key.</p> + +<p>Perhaps Petrovitch had been a little more nervous <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>than he allowed to +appear. When he noticed that his escort simply closed the door on the +latch, without locking or bolting it further, he said in a tone of +relief:</p> + +<p>“You are not much afraid of being visited by the police, I see.”</p> + +<p>Breuil, as silent as ever, led the way into a back parlor, +overlooking the Neva, where I was waiting to receive my visitor.</p> + +<p>The room was plainly furnished as a study, and I had placed myself in +an arm-chair facing the window, so that my back was turned to the +door as Petrovitch entered.</p> + +<p>I pretended to be writing furiously, as a pretext for not turning my +head till the visitor had seated himself.</p> + +<p>Breuil said quietly, “M. Petrovitch is here,” and went out of the +room.</p> + +<p>As the door closed I tossed away my pen and turned around, facing my +assassin.</p> + +<p>“I am pleased to see you, M. Petrovitch.”</p> + +<p>“Monsieur V——!”</p> + +<p>I thought he would have lost his senses. His whole countenance +changed. He clung to his chair, and his eyes were fixed on me with an +expression of panic.</p> + +<p>So complete was his collapse that he did not attempt to speak or +excuse himself. I saw that he was hardly in a condition to listen to +anything I had to say.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p><p>“I fear you are unwell, M. Petrovitch. Allow me to offer you a little +brandy.”</p> + +<p>The wretched man watched me with bewildered looks, as I took a bottle +and glasses from a cupboard and helped first him and then myself.</p> + +<p>“It is quite wholesome, I assure you.”</p> + +<p>As I said the words I raised my own glass to my lips and sipped.</p> + +<p>A choking cry escaped from the author of the war. He seized the glass +I had set before him and feverishly drained it.</p> + +<p>I saw that he was burning to know by what means I had escaped the +fate prepared for me. But I had no object in gratifying his +curiosity, and mere boasting is not a weakness of mine.</p> + +<p>Steadfastly preserving the tone of a business interview between men +who understand each other, I went on to say:</p> + +<p>“I am here, as you know, in the joint interests of England and +Japan.”</p> + +<p>My murderer nodded faintly. I could see him making a tremendous +effort to control his nerves, and enter into conversation with me on +my own terms.</p> + +<p>“I think I should be glad of a little more brandy. Thank you!—I am +not at all myself.”</p> + +<p>I shook my head compassionately.</p> + +<p>“You should be careful to avoid too much excitement,”<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> I said. “Any +sudden shock is bad for a man with your nerves.”</p> + +<p>The promoter gasped. The situation was clearly beyond him.</p> + +<p>“You,” I went on in my most matter-of-fact tone, “on the contrary, +are acting on behalf of Germany.”</p> + +<p>“Who says so!” He was beginning to speak fiercely; but his eye met +mine, and the words died on his lips.</p> + +<p>“We will say I dreamed it, if you like,” I responded drily. “I have +very remarkable dreams sometimes, and learn a great deal from them.</p> + +<p>“To confine ourselves to business. I have caused the sailing of this +Baltic Fleet to be put off, <span style="white-space: nowrap;">because——”</span></p> + +<p>“You—have caused it!”</p> + +<p>The interruption burst from him in spite of himself.</p> + +<p>I affected to shrug my shoulders with a certain annoyance.</p> + +<p>“Your opinion of my powers does not seem to be a very high one, +unfortunately,” I remarked with irony. “It would be better if you +accepted me as a serious antagonist, believe me.”</p> + +<p>Petrovitch lowered his eyes in confusion, as he muttered,</p> + +<p>“I apologize, Monsieur V——. I have blundered, as I now perceive.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p><p>“Let us resume. I was about to say that I had prevented the sailing +of this fleet, because I feared that its voyage might be marked by +some incident likely to bring Great Britain and Russia into +collision.”</p> + +<p>The financier raised his head and watched me keenly.</p> + +<p>“You, yourself, M. Petrovitch, have been active, I believe, in +preparing the mind of the Czar and the Russian public for something +of the sort. Doubtless you have not done so without very good +grounds.”</p> + +<p>“My information leads me to think that a flotilla of torpedo boats is +being kept ready in the English ports for a night attack on our fleet +during its progress through the North Sea.”</p> + +<p>I smiled disdainfully.</p> + +<p>“That is a false report. I have asked you to call here in the hope +that I might find you ready to assist me in discrediting it.”</p> + +<p>The Russian continued to watch me out of his narrow eyes.</p> + +<p>“And, also,” I added, “to assist me in preventing any attempt to give +color to it.”</p> + +<p>“I am not sure that I understand you, Monsieur V——.”</p> + +<p>“That is quite possible. I will speak more plainly. There are some +prophets who take a little trouble to make their prophesies come +true. I wish to know whether you and your friends have determined +that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>this particular prophesy shall come true—perhaps to fulfill it +yourselves?”</p> + +<p>Petrovitch frowned and compressed his lips.</p> + +<p>“So that is why you got me here?”</p> + +<p>“I wished to see,” I said blandly, “if it was possible for me to +offer you terms which might induce you to alter your views +altogether—in short, to stop the war.”</p> + +<p>The financier looked thunderstruck.</p> + +<p>“Monsieur V——, you don’t know what you ask! But you—would a +million rubles tempt you to come over, to be neutral, even?”</p> + +<p>“I am a member, by adoption, of the imperial family of Japan,” I +replied laconically.</p> + +<p>Petrovitch was past surprise. If I had informed him that I was the +Mikado in disguise, I think he would have taken it as a matter of +course.</p> + +<p>“This war is worth ten millions to me,” he confessed hoarsely.</p> + +<p>I shook my head with resignation.</p> + +<p>“The price is too high. We must be enemies, not friends, I perceive.”</p> + +<p>The author of the war, who had regained his self-possession, did not +blanch at these words.</p> + +<p>“I regret it,” he said with a courteous inclination.</p> + +<p>“You have reason to.”</p> + +<p>He gave me a questioning glance.</p> + +<p>“Up to the present I have been on the defensive,” <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>I explained. “I +dislike violent measures. But from this moment I shall hold myself at +liberty to use them.”</p> + +<p>“I am afraid I have gone rather too far,” the promoter hesitated.</p> + +<p>“You have drugged me. You have robbed me. You have murdered me.”</p> + +<p>“You are alive, however,” he ventured to retort with an impudent +smile.</p> + +<p>“Unfortunately,” I went on sternly, “in murdering me you exceeded +your instructions.”</p> + +<p>“How——”</p> + +<p>“I dreamed that I heard you tell your accomplice so,” I put in, +without giving him a chance to speak.</p> + +<p>He ceased to meet my gaze.</p> + +<p>“You are therefore not even a political criminal. You are a common +felon. As such I warn you that I shall execute you without notice, +and without reprieve.”</p> + +<p>The Russian scowled fiercely.</p> + +<p>“We will see about that,” he blustered. “I have a loaded revolver in +my pocket.”</p> + +<p>I waved my hand scornfully.</p> + +<p>“Undeceive yourself, George Petrovitch. I am not proposing a duel. I +cannot be expected to fight with a condemned murderer. I sentence you +to death—and may the Lord have mercy on your soul.”</p> + +<p>“By what right?” he demanded furiously.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p><p>“I am accredited by the Emperor of Japan to the Emperor of Russia. +This house is Japanese soil. Farewell!”</p> + +<p>Petrovitch rose from his chair, wavering between indignation and +alarm.</p> + +<p>“I shall defend myself!” he exclaimed, edging slowly toward the door.</p> + +<p>“You will do better to confess yourself. Is there no prayer that you +wish to say?”</p> + +<p>The Russian smiled incredulously.</p> + +<p>“You seem very confident,” he sneered.</p> + +<p>I saw that it was useless to try to rouse him to a sense of his +peril. I pointed to the door, and pressed a knob on the wall.</p> + +<p>The murderer made two steps from me, laid his fingers on the +door-handle—and dropped dead instantly.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>A CHANGE OF IDENTITY</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>  now approach the crucial portion of my narrative.</p> + +<p>The incidents already dealt with, though not without a certain +interest, perhaps, for those who value exact information about +political events, are comparatively unimportant, and have been given +here chiefly in order to inspire confidence in what follows.</p> + +<p>At all events, their truth is not likely to be disputed, and I have +not thought it necessary, therefore, to insist on every corroborative +detail.</p> + +<p>But I am now about to enter on what must be considered debatable +ground.</p> + +<p>I had taken the little house on the Alexander Quay, as the reader +will have guessed, as a post of observation from which to watch the +proceedings of the Russian Ministry of Marine, more particularly with +regard to the fleet under the command of Admiral Rojestvensky.</p> + +<p>It is my subsequent observations and discoveries which compel me, +greatly to my regret, to give a direct contradiction to the gallant +Admiral’s version of what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>took place in the North Sea on the night +of Trafalgar Day, 1904.</p> + +<p>It is for that reason that I desire to exercise particular care in +this part of my statement.</p> + +<p>Such care is the more incumbent on me, inasmuch as I was requested by +the British Government to furnish a confidential copy of my evidence +in advance, for the use of the members of the international court +which sat in Paris to inquire into this most mysterious affair.</p> + +<p>The following chapters should be read, therefore, as the sworn +depositions of a witness, and not as the carelessly worded account of +a journalist or popular historian.</p> + +<p>The electrocution of the murderer, Petrovitch, already described, +furnished me with a valuable opportunity which I was quick to seize.</p> + +<p>I have not extenuated this act, and I will not defend it. I content +myself with recording that this man had been the principal instrument +in promoting the Russo-Japanese war, and the principal obstacle to +peace. In this he was acting as the paid agent of a foreign Power, +and was therefore guilty of high treason to his own country. On these +grounds my execution of him, although irregular at the time, has +since been formally ratified by the highest tribunal of the Russian +Empire, the Imperial Council of State.</p> + +<p>A justification which I value still more, consists in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>the fact that +the removal of this man proved the turning point in the history of +the war.</p> + +<p>Within a month of his death I had the satisfaction to be made the +medium of an informal overture for peace. The negotiations thus +opened have proceeded with great secrecy, but before these lines meet +the public eye, I have every hope that the calamitous struggle in +Manchuria will have been suspended indefinitely.</p> + +<p>To return:</p> + +<p>Owing to the secret life led by the deceased man, it was some time +before his absence from his usual haunts excited remark.</p> + +<p>When it became evident that something must have happened to him, +people were still slow to suspect that he had come to a violent end. +Many persons believed that he had been ruined by the ill-success of +the war, and had gone into hiding from his creditors. Others supposed +that he had been secretly arrested.</p> + +<p>Some of his fellow-plotters in the Russian capital imagined that he +had fled to Germany to escape the penalty of his treason. In Germany, +on the other hand, I afterward learned, he was supposed to have been +sent to Siberia by order of the Czar.</p> + +<p>For weeks the “Disappearance of M. Petrovitch” was the general topic +of discussion in the newspapers and in private circles; but no one +came near guessing the truth.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p><p>There was one person who must have divined from the first what had +happened. But she held her tongue.</p> + +<p>So far as I could gather from the reports which continued to reach me +from Fauchette, the Princess <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Y——</span> had sunk into a lethargy after my +evasion. She seemed to wish only to be left alone to brood, perhaps +to mourn.</p> + +<p>The only sign she gave was by depositing a wreath on the empty grave +in the English cemetery, a wreath which bore the solitary word, +“Remembrance.”</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile I had gratifying evidence that the loss of the chief +conspirator had completely disorganized the schemes of the plotters +in the Ministry of Marine.</p> + +<p>My first proceeding, after disconnecting the powerful battery which I +had installed in my house for the purpose of the execution, was to +summon my assistant Breuil.</p> + +<p>With his aid, the corpse was stripped and sewn up in a sheet, +together with some heavy weights. In the middle of the night it was +committed to the waters of the Neva, almost within sight and sound of +the fleet.</p> + +<p>The papers which we found in his clothes were not numerous or +important. But there was one which I thought worth preserving.</p> + +<p>It was a passport, made out in the name of the deceased, issued by +the Russian Foreign Office, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>viséd by the German Ambassador. This +passport I still have in my possession.</p> + +<p>I now disclosed to my assistant a plan which had been in my own mind +for some time, though, true to my principle of never making an +unnecessary confidence, I had not previously mentioned it to him.</p> + +<p>“I have decided,” I told him, “to assume the personality of +Petrovitch.”</p> + +<p>Breuil stared at me in consternation. It is only fair to say that he +had not been with me very long.</p> + +<p>I could see that some objection was trembling on the tip of his +tongue. He had learned, however, that I expect my staff not to +criticize, but to obey.</p> + +<p>“You may speak,” I said indulgently, “if you have anything to say.”</p> + +<p>“I was about to remark, sir, that you are not in the least like +Petrovitch.”</p> + +<p>“Think again,” I said mildly.</p> + +<p>He gave me an intelligent look.</p> + +<p>“You are much about the same height!” he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>“Exactly.”</p> + +<p>“But his friends, who see him every day—surely they cannot be +deceived? And then his business—his correspondence—but perhaps you +are able to feign handwriting?”</p> + +<p>I smiled. The good Breuil had passed from one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>extreme to the other. +Instead of doubting me, he was crediting me too much.</p> + +<p>I proceeded to explain.</p> + +<p>“No, as you very properly suggest, I could not hope to deceive +Petrovitch’s friends, nor can I imitate his hand. But remember, that +in a few days Petrovitch will have disappeared. What will have become +of him, do you suppose?”</p> + +<p>Breuil was still puzzled. I had to make my meaning still plainer.</p> + +<p>“He will be in concealment—that is to say, in disguise.”</p> + +<p>Breuil threw up his hands in a gesture of admiration.</p> + +<p>“As the disguised Petrovitch I may manage to pass very well, more +particularly as I shall be meeting people who have never seen the +real Petrovitch.”</p> + +<p>Breuil did not quite understand this last observation.</p> + +<p>“I am going,” I exclaimed, “on board the Baltic Fleet.”</p> + +<p>“Sir, you are magnificent!”</p> + +<p>I frowned down his enthusiasm. Compliments are compliments only when +they come from those who pay us, not from those whom we pay.</p> + +<p>“Go and procure me the uniform of a superintendent of naval stores. +And ascertain for me where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>Captain Vassileffsky usually passes his +evenings.”</p> + +<p>Captain Vassileffsky was the naval officer who had been present on +the occasion when I was drugged at Petrovitch’s table.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>TRAPPED</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dct.jpg" title="T" height="70" width="70" alt="T" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">T</span>he clock was striking eight as I entered the restaurant of the +Two-Headed Eagle, in the seaport of Revel on the Gulf of Finland, +about a week after the mysterious disappearance of Petrovitch had +become the talk of Petersburg.</p> + +<p>Picking out a table at which an officer in the uniform of a Russian +naval captain was already seated, I went up to it, and sat down in +front of him with the formal bow prescribed by etiquette in the +circumstances.</p> + +<p>The ships intended to sail to the relief of Port Arthur were lying at +this time some at Revel and others at Libau on the Baltic. From time +to time their departure was officially announced for a certain date, +reviews were held, and one or two preliminary trips had been +undertaken.</p> + +<p>But each time some unseen obstacle was interposed, and M. Auguste +continued to draw his weekly stipend.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless it was beginning to be evident that the game of see-saw +could not go on forever. Autumn <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>was approaching, the nation was +becoming impatient, and the scoffs of the foreign press were severely +galling the naval pride of Russia.</p> + +<p>I had picked up a certain amount of information in the capital +itself, where a great number of the officers were on leave. But I +wished to get in direct touch with the one man who, I believed, was +most likely to be in the confidence of Petrovitch, and, finding there +was no chance of his coming to Petersburg, I had been obliged to make +the journey to Revel.</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky acknowledged my bow with cordiality, at the same time +fixing his dark, wicked eyes on me with a look which I well +understood.</p> + +<p>I was wearing the uniform which I had ordered my assistant to provide +me with, and the Captain had been quick to take note of it.</p> + +<p>It may be said that the most valuable part of a naval officer’s +income in Russia is derived from the peculation of government stores. +To carry on this lucrative system of plunder there is always a good +understanding between officials of the Stores Department and the +combatant officers.</p> + +<p>Captain Vassileffsky now studied my face like a man expecting to +receive some proposal of the kind. I, on my side, made it my business +to say as little as possible to him till dinner was over.</p> + +<p>Then I called for a magnum of champagne, and invited my companion to +fill a tumbler.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p><p>He did so readily enough, and I gave him the toast,</p> + +<p>“To the Emperor who wishes us well!”</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky started, and gave me a penetrating look.</p> + +<p>He did not venture to put a question to me, however, and contented +himself with drinking the toast in silence.</p> + +<p>Determined not to say anything as long as the Captain remained sober, +I plied him with champagne in increasing quantities, while taking as +little as possible myself.</p> + +<p>On his side Vassileffsky was equally reserved. He saw, of course, +that I had a special object in courting his friendship, and was +cunning enough to let me make the first advance.</p> + +<p>As soon as I thought the wine had had time to confuse his faculties, +I leaned forward and whispered,</p> + +<p>“I’ve got something to say to you about Petrovitch.”</p> + +<p>The Captain looked at me eagerly.</p> + +<p>“Do you know where he is?”</p> + +<p>“Not so loud. Yes. He has had to disguise himself.”</p> + +<p>I spoke in a muffled tone, which Vassileffsky imitated in his +response.</p> + +<p>“Where is he? I want to see him very badly.”</p> + +<p>“I know. He wants to see you. He is here in Revel.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p><p>“In Revel! Isn’t that dangerous?”</p> + +<p>“It would be if he weren’t so well disguised. You, yourself, wouldn’t +know him.”</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky looked incredulous.</p> + +<p>“I bet I should.”</p> + +<p>“Done with you! What in?”</p> + +<p>“A dozen magnums.”</p> + +<p>“Pay for them, then. <i>I’m Petrovitch.</i>”</p> + +<p>The Captain started, shook himself, and peered drunkenly into my +face.</p> + +<p>“I don’t believe it.”</p> + +<p>“Read that then.”</p> + +<p>I drew out the passport, and spread it before him. The Russian +spelled his way through it, and nodded solemnly at the end.</p> + +<p>“Yes, that’s all right. You must be Petrovitch, I suppose. But you +don’t look like him.”</p> + +<p>“Didn’t I tell you I was disguised. I had to clear out in a hurry. +Some one’s been denouncing me to Nicholas.”</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky looked frightened. His eye sought the door, as though he +no longer felt at ease in my company.</p> + +<p>“You needn’t be afraid,” I assured him. “No one suspects you.”</p> + +<p>“Well, what do you want?” he asked sullenly.</p> + +<p>“I want you to take me on board your ship.”</p> + +<p>An angry frown crossed his face.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p><p>“You want me to hide you from the police!”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense. The police are all right. They want me to get away. They +could have put their hands on me long ago if they had wanted to.”</p> + +<p>“Then why have you come here?”</p> + +<p>“I told you. I want to have a talk with you about our plans.”</p> + +<p>“The plan is all right. But I want to know when we’re to sail.”</p> + +<p>“I’m doing all I can. It’s only a question of weeks now.”</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky looked hard at me again, bent across the table, and +whispered a word which I failed to understand.</p> + +<p>Something in his face warned me that it was a password. I recovered +myself from my momentary confusion and smiled.</p> + +<p>“The word’s changed,” I said with an air of authority. “It’s <i>North +Sea</i> and <i>Canal</i>.”</p> + +<p>The Russian seemed satisfied.</p> + +<p>“Well,” he said, stumbling to his feet, “if we’re going on board we’d +better go.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t forget the magnums,” I put in, as I rose in my turn.</p> + +<p>The reckoning was settled, and the champagne ordered to follow us +down to the boat.</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky nearly lost his footing as we got out into the fresh +air, and caught hold of my arm.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p><p>“You’ll have to lead me,” he said, speaking thickly. “Straight along +the street, and down the first turning on the quay.”</p> + +<p>We walked along, arm-in-arm, my companion appearing to become more +helpless every minute.</p> + +<p>As we emerged from the narrow lane which conducted us to the +waterside, the lights of the harbor burst into view. There on the +tide lay a long line of stately battleships, cruisers and dark, +low-lying torpedo boats, their riding lights flashing and twinkling +in a thousand reflections on the waves.</p> + +<p>A drunken hail from the Captain was responded to by a respectful hail +from a Russian petty officer, who was lounging at the head of some +stone steps.</p> + +<p>He came forward and assisted his commanding officer down and into the +launch which waited below. I followed, and the bottles of champagne +were handed in afterward.</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky seized the tiller with more energy than he had seemed +capable of, and headed the launch for a great battleship, the +<i>Beresina</i>.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes we were alongside. A smart landing stage and ladder +brought us up on to the deck, and as soon as our feet touched it, +Captain Vassileffsky, suddenly drawing himself up, said in distinct +and sober tones,</p> + +<p>“Consider yourself under arrest, if you please——”</p> + +<p>I was a prisoner on board a Russian man-of-war!</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>THE BALTIC FLEET</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcf.jpg" title="F" height="70" width="69" alt="F" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">F</span>ortunately I am accustomed to face emergencies without losing my +presence of mind.</p> + +<p>The manner of Vassileffsky had prepared me for some display of +suspicion on his part, though I hardly anticipated his procedure +would be so theatrical.</p> + +<p>Fixing him with my sternest look, I responded,</p> + +<p>“Captain Vassileffsky, I do not think you quite understand what you +are doing. I will talk to you in the morning, when you are more +yourself.”</p> + +<p>He drew back, considerably disconcerted.</p> + +<p>“Very well, I will listen to what you have to say in the morning. In +the meantime you will be under a guard.”</p> + +<p>I shrugged my shoulders with a disdainful smile.</p> + +<p>“Be good enough to let me see my quarters,” I said.</p> + +<p>More and more abashed, the Captain summoned one of his officers, and +gave him some instructions.</p> + +<p>“Follow me, sir,” said the lieutenant. I walked after him with +perfect self-possession.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p>“I do not wish to make a fuss to-night, as Captain Vassileffsky is +not himself,” I said haughtily, as we drew out of hearing. “But you +will understand that unless I receive an apology in the morning, I +shall complain to his majesty the Czar, by whose orders I am here.”</p> + +<p>The lieutenant looked badly frightened.</p> + +<p>“It is not my fault, as you can see, sir. I am only obeying orders. +Will you accept my own berth for the night, sir?”</p> + +<p>I thanked him and entered a small, comfortably-fitted state-room. +With profuse apologies, he turned the key and left me to my own +reflections.</p> + +<p>I slept soundly, rocked by the tide of the Finland Gulf.</p> + +<p>In the morning my jailer came to wake me.</p> + +<p>“Captain Vassileffsky presents his compliments, and asks you to +breakfast with him in his cabin, in half an hour.”</p> + +<p>This message was a welcome proof to me that my bluff had produced the +desired effect. I accepted the invitation as if it was a matter of +course.</p> + +<p>I dressed, and went to the cabin where Vassileffsky awaited me.</p> + +<p>“Are we friends or foes this morning?” I called out with a +good-humored laugh, as I greeted him.</p> + +<p>The Russian looked dull and nervous.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p><p>“I hope all will be well,” he muttered. “Let us have something to eat +before we talk.”</p> + +<p>He might have said, something to drink, for his own breakfast was +mainly of champagne. I, myself, made a point of eating heartily, and +drank only coffee.</p> + +<p>“Now, Vassileffsky,” I said in authoritative tones, “to business. +First of all, you want some money.”</p> + +<p>It was a guess, but a fairly safe one. Without waiting for the +astonished man to reply, I took out my pocket-book.</p> + +<p>“How much can you do with till the fleet sails?” I asked, still in +the same matter-of-fact tone.</p> + +<p>Fairly nonplussed, the Captain blurted out,</p> + +<p>“I should like two thousand.”</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>“I can let you have only a thousand now, but you shall have the +balance this day week.” I counted the thousand rubles, and handed +them to him. “They are grumbling, rather, in Berlin over the +expense.”</p> + +<p>It was, of course, my object to give Vassileffsky no opening for a +cross-examination, but to take it for granted that we were on +confidential terms.</p> + +<p>At the word “Berlin” he opened his eyes pretty wide.</p> + +<p>“Does this money come from Germany?” he exclaimed, half-withdrawing +his hand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p><p>I affected surprise in my turn.</p> + +<p>“You have not received any information at all, apparently! My message +must have miscarried. Didn’t the Princess see you?”</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky looked still more surprised. His demeanor taught me a +good deal. I saw that Petrovitch had not trusted him very far. The +financier had evidently kept all the threads of the intrigue in his +own hands, as far as possible.</p> + +<p>So much the better, I reflected. His removal would disorganize +matters even more thoroughly than I had ventured to hope.</p> + +<p>“What Princess?” the Captain asked.</p> + +<p>“The Princess Y——, of course.”</p> + +<p>He brightened up a little, as though this name, at all events, was +familiar.</p> + +<p>“No, she has not been here.”</p> + +<p>“One can never trust these women,” I muttered aloud. “She has not +been at all the same since the death of her Englishman.”</p> + +<p>“Of Sterling, do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. You heard of it, I suppose?”</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky grinned.</p> + +<p>“Rather sudden, wasn’t it?”</p> + +<p>I smiled meaningly, as I retorted,</p> + +<p>“You remember he fainted rather unexpectedly that night he dined with +me.”</p> + +<p>A look of relief broke out on Vassileffsky’s face, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>I thus +referred to an incident which he naturally supposed could be known +only to Petrovitch.</p> + +<p>“My dear fellow, I beg a thousand pardons for my stupid conduct last +night,” he burst out. “But you must admit that your disguise is +extraordinary.”</p> + +<p>“Not a word!” I returned. “It is always better to err on the side of +distrust. Besides, I wished to spend a night on your ship in any +case. Your crew can be thoroughly depended on, if I am any judge.”</p> + +<p>“They would bombard the Tower of London, if I gave the word,” boasted +Vassileffsky.</p> + +<p>It is extraordinary how widely the belief prevails on the Continent +of Europe that the London Tower is still a fortress, charged with the +protection of the British capital.</p> + +<p>“At all events, they will not be frightened by the sight of the Union +Jack?” I returned.</p> + +<p>The Russian officer gave me an alarmed glance.</p> + +<p>“You do not mean—you are not asking us to fire on the British +fleet?”</p> + +<p>“No, no,” I reassured him.</p> + +<p>“Ah, that is all right. For the moment I confess you frightened me. +They say we shall have to pass Admiral Beresford!”</p> + +<p>“What are you prepared to do?” I asked, concealing my deep interest +in the reply.</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky’s manner became slightly reproachful.</p> + +<p>“You did not bargain with me to attack an armed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>ship,” he said in +the tone of one who reminds another of his agreement. “It was +understood that we were to attack merchantmen, like the +Vladivostockers.”</p> + +<p>At last I had a direct confirmation of my suspicions.</p> + +<p>“And what is the tone of the fleet generally?” I inquired.</p> + +<p>“I have done my best to make them all of the same mind. They will do +their best, depend on it. I think there will be a few English vessels +mysteriously lost at sea during the next two or three months! The +prize courts cannot always be depended on.”</p> + +<p>By an effort I restrained my indignation at these atrocious hints. +The Baltic Fleet was about to seek the open sea, secretly intending +to miss no chance of sinking a British merchantman that should be +unlucky enough to cross its path.</p> + +<p>It was with a feeling of chagrin that I perceived it would be useless +to send any message to Lord Bedale of what was in preparation. On +certain subjects the British people are deaf and blind. They believe +that all foreign statesmen are as high-minded as a Gladstone, and all +foreign officials as scrupulous and truthful as the Chevalier Bayard +himself.</p> + +<p>Captain Vassileffsky continued,</p> + +<p>“Our men are badly scared by reports of the Japanese plans. It is +supposed that they have torpedo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> boats lurking in the English ports. +Hull is said to be full of them.”</p> + +<p>“Why, Hull?”</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky gave me a wink.</p> + +<p>“Hull is the great fishing center. Whole fleets of traders come out +from there to the fishing banks in the North Sea. We are going to +stir them up a bit.”</p> + +<p>The outlines of the plot became every moment more clear.</p> + +<p>“On what pretext?” I asked.</p> + +<p>The Russian answered me without noticing that I was not so well +informed as himself.</p> + +<p>“Oh, we shall find pretexts enough, you bet. For one thing, we shall +signal them to clear out of the way, and when they have their trawl +nets down and can’t move! That will be lively. There will be a +collision or two, I shouldn’t wonder.”</p> + +<p>“But isn’t that against the rule of the road?”</p> + +<p>Though not a seaman, I had always heard that a vessel in motion is +bound to avoid one that is at rest. I knew, moreover, that a +steamship was bound to make way for a sailing vessel.</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky cursed the rule of the road.</p> + +<p>“It will be a question of evidence,” he exclaimed. “My word against a +dirty fisherman’s. What do you say?”</p> + +<p>I pretended to be thoroughly satisfied. Still, knowing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> what I did of +the Russian character, I had some hope that the Captain was boasting +in order to impress me, and that he would not really dare to run down +a British vessel within reach of the shores of England.</p> + +<p>Our conversation was interrupted by a gun.</p> + +<p>As the report died away, a junior officer ran down the companionway, +helter-skelter, and burst into the cabin.</p> + +<p>“Something’s up, sir,” he cried to his commander. “They are signaling +from the Admiral’s ship.”</p> + +<p>Vassileffsky darted up the steps and on to the bridge, and I +followed.</p> + +<p>The Baltic fleet presented a striking spectacle. Every vessel was +busily reporting the signals from the flag ship, the launches were +dashing to and fro, and there was every sign of bustle and activity.</p> + +<p>The signal officer read out Admiral Rojestvensky’s order:</p> + +<p>“The fleet will proceed to Libau to-day <i>en route</i> to the East. +Anchors will be weighed at noon. By order of the Czar.”</p> + +<p>M. Auguste had failed me at last!</p> + +<p>With the frightful boasts of Vassileffsky still ringing in my ears, I +felt that I must make one effort to stay its departure.</p> + +<p>“This news compels me to return to Petersburg immediately,” I told +the Captain. “Have the goodness to put me ashore at once.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p><p>For a moment or two the Russian made no answer. I glanced at him +curiously.</p> + +<p>His face had gone suddenly livid. His limbs were trembling. He gave +me the dull look of a man stupefied by fear.</p> + +<p>“The Japanese!” he ejaculated in a thick voice.</p> + +<p>I seized him by the arm.</p> + +<p>“Are you pretending?” I whispered.</p> + +<p>He gave me a savage glance.</p> + +<p>“It’s true!” he said. “Those devils will be up to something. It’s all +over with the fleet. No one believes we shall ever see Port Arthur.”</p> + +<p>Grave and pre-occupied, I went ashore and caught a fast train to +Petersburg.</p> + +<p>It was late when I got to the little house on the Alexander Quay. The +faithful Breuil received me with a serious face.</p> + +<p>“Fauchette is here,” he announced.</p> + +<p>“Fauchette?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. She has some news for you.”</p> + +<p>“Let me see her.”</p> + +<p>I strode in front to my study, where I was immediately joined by the +maid, who appeared not a little alarmed.</p> + +<p>I never like to see my assistants agitated.</p> + +<p>“Sit down, my good girl,” I said soothingly. “Do not be afraid; I +know what pains you take to serve me. Now, what is it?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p><p>“Madame has dismissed me.”</p> + +<p>I had feared as much.</p> + +<p>“On what grounds?”</p> + +<p>“She gave none, except that she was leaving home.”</p> + +<p>I pricked up my ears.</p> + +<p>“Did she tell you where she was going?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, to her estates in the country.”</p> + +<p>“It was a lie, I suppose. She had come to suspect you, had she not?”</p> + +<p>“Since Monsieur’s escape, I fear yes.”</p> + +<p>“And have you ascertained——?”</p> + +<p>“The Princess has left Petersburg by the midday train for——”</p> + +<p>“For?” I broke in impatiently.</p> + +<p>“For Berlin.”</p> + +<p>I rang the bell. Breuil appeared.</p> + +<p>“Have you got the tickets?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> + +<p>“And my dress as a pilot of the Kiel Canal?”</p> + +<p>“It is packed.”</p> + +<p>“And what time does the next train leave?”</p> + +<p>“In two hours from now.”</p> + +<p>“Good. And now, my children, we will have supper.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>ON THE TRACK</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dca.jpg" title="A" height="70" width="69" alt="A" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">A</span>s the really exciting moment of the protracted struggle drew near, I +summoned all my energies to meet it.</p> + +<p>I alighted in Berlin armed only with two weapons, the passport made +out in the name of Petrovitch, and a fairly accurate knowledge of the +schemes, or at all events the hopes, of the German Government.</p> + +<p>From the first beginning of my long investigation, all the clues I +had picked up had led steadily in one direction.</p> + +<p>The great disorganized Empire of the Czar’s, with its feeble-willed +autocrat, its insubordinate grand dukes, its rival ministers pulling +different ways, and its greedy officials whose country was their +pocket, had been silently and steadily enfolded in the invisible web +of German statecraft.</p> + +<p>The brilliant personality of Wilhelm II had magnetized the +vacillating, timorous Nicholas. Count Bülow had courted the Russian +Foreign Office with the assiduous arts of a lover, and his wooing had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>been crowned by complete success. Through Petrovitch the grand dukes +had been indirectly bribed, and the smaller fry like M. Auguste had +been bought outright. Even the Army and Navy had been cajoled, or +bought, or terrorized by pretended revelations of Japanese designs.</p> + +<p>Russia had become a supple implement in the hands of the German +Kaiser, the sovereign who for nearly twenty years had been striving +toward one goal by a hundred different crooked paths.</p> + +<p>It was evident that the unexplained disappearance of Petrovitch must +have struck consternation into his employers. I suspected that the +Princess Y—— had been summoned to Berlin to throw light on the +event, and possibly to be furnished with instructions which would +enable her to take over the dead man’s work.</p> + +<p>My position was now peculiarly difficult. I wished to get in touch +with the principals for whom Petrovitch had acted, but to avoid, if +possible, meeting any one who had known him personally.</p> + +<p>Above all, I was determined not to risk an encounter with Sophia. She +knew that I was still alive, and I feared that her feminine +intuition, quickened by love, would penetrate through whatever +disguise I might adopt.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances I decided to begin by approaching Herr +Finkelstein, the head of the imperial Secret Service in Berlin.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p><p>This man was an old crony of mine. While a magnificent organizer of +espionage, he was a poor observer himself, and I had already +succeeded on one occasion in imposing myself on him under a false +identity.</p> + +<p>I had brought with me the papers which I had obtained by bribery from +the police agent Rostoy, representing me as an inspector in the +secret police of the Russian Empire.</p> + +<p>Wearing my pilot’s dress, but carrying these and other papers in my +pocket, I presented myself at Finkelstein’s office, and asked to see +him.</p> + +<p>I was shown in first, as I had expected, to Finkelstein’s secretary, +who asked me my business.</p> + +<p>“I can tell that only to the Herr Superintendent himself,” I said.</p> + +<p>“If you will let him know that I have just come from Petersburg, I am +sure he will receive me.”</p> + +<p>The secretary seemed to think so too. He went straight into his +chief’s room and came out immediately to fetch me in.</p> + +<p>As soon as I found myself alone with the head of the German service, +I said quietly,</p> + +<p>“I have brought you a message from M. Petrovitch.”</p> + +<p>“Petrovitch!” exclaimed the Superintendent, surprised out of his +usual caution. “But he is dead!”</p> + +<p>“You have been misinformed,” I replied in an assured tone.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p><p>Finkelstein looked at me searchingly.</p> + +<p>“My informant does not often make mistakes,” he observed.</p> + +<p>“The Princess is deceived this time, however,” was my retort.</p> + +<p>It was a fresh surprise for the Superintendent.</p> + +<p>“The Princess! Then you know?” He broke off short, conscious that he +was making an admission.</p> + +<p>“The Princess Y—— having left Petersburg, it was natural to suppose +that she had come here to consult you,” I answered modestly, not +wishing to appear too well informed.</p> + +<p>Finkelstein frowned.</p> + +<p>“You have not yet told me who you are,” he reminded me.</p> + +<p>I produced the forged papers.</p> + +<p>“I am an inspector attached to the Third Section, as you will see. I +must inform you, however, that I am not here with the knowledge of my +superiors.”</p> + +<p>The German gave a glance at the papers, which were similar to others +which he must have had presented to him from time to time.</p> + +<p>“That is all satisfactory,” he said, as he returned them to me. “But +you say that you have a message from M. Petrovitch?”</p> + +<p>“He had no opportunity of giving me any but this,” I responded, +producing the passport.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p><p>This time Finkelstein seemed really satisfied.</p> + +<p>“It is clear that you know something about him, at least,” he +remarked. “I will listen to what you have to say.”</p> + +<p>“M. Petrovitch is confined in Schlüsselburg.”</p> + +<p>The name of the dreaded fortress, the last home of so many political +prisoners, caused Finkelstein a shock.</p> + +<p>“<i>Gott im Himmel!</i> You don’t say so! How did he get there? Tell me +everything.”</p> + +<p>“He does not know from what quarter the blow came. The only person he +can think of who might have denounced him is the Princess herself.”</p> + +<p>“The Princess Y——?”</p> + +<p>“Exactly.”</p> + +<p>The German looked incredulous.</p> + +<p>“But they were hand in glove. The Princess was his best agent.”</p> + +<p>“True. Unfortunately there is always one source of danger where a +woman is concerned—she cannot control her affections. It appears +that M. Petrovitch ordered her to remove a certain Englishman, a spy +of some kind, who was giving trouble, and Madame Y—— was attached +to the fellow. She carried out her orders, but M. Petrovitch fears +that she has taken revenge on him.”</p> + +<p>Finkelstein gave a superior smile.</p> + +<p>“I can dispose of that suspicion,” he said confidently.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> “The +Princess did <i>not</i> carry out her orders. The man you speak of—who is +the most dangerous and unprincipled scoundrel in the world—has +escaped, and we have lost all trace of him.”</p> + +<p>It was my turn to show surprise and alarm.</p> + +<p>“What you tell me is appalling! I ought to see the Princess as soon +as possible. If what she says is true, it must be the Englishman who +has brought about Petrovitch’s arrest.”</p> + +<p>“He is no Englishman,” the Superintendent returned. “He is an +American, a Pole, a Frenchman, whatever you please. That man has been +at the bottom of all the troubles in Europe for the last twenty +years. I have employed him myself, sometimes, so I ought to know +something about him.”</p> + +<p>I listened with an interest that was not feigned to this character of +myself. It was, all the same, a lie that Finkelstein had ever +employed me; on the contrary, I had been called in by his imperial +master to check his work.</p> + +<p>“Then what is to be done?” I asked, as the German finished speaking. +“M. Petrovitch sent me here to warn you against the Princess, and to +demand your influence to secure his release.”</p> + +<p>“That will be a difficult matter. I shall have to consult the +Minister. In the meantime, where can I find you?”</p> + +<p>I mentioned the name of a hotel.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p><p>“And the Princess Y——? Where can I see her?”</p> + +<p>“I expect that she has left for Kiel,” said the Superintendent. “She +has volunteered to carry out the plan originally proposed by +Petrovitch.”</p> + +<p>“Then in that case you will not require my services?” I said, with an +air of being disappointed. “M. Petrovitch thought you might find me +useful in his place.”</p> + +<p>“I must consult others before I can say anything as to that,” was the +cautious reply.</p> + +<p>He added rather grudgingly,</p> + +<p>“I did not know M. Petrovitch myself, you see. It was thought better +that he should not come to Berlin.”</p> + +<p>This statement relieved me of a great anxiety. I now saw my way to +take a bolder line.</p> + +<p>“So I understood, sir. But I did not venture to approach his majesty +except through you.”</p> + +<p>Finkelstein started again, and gave me a new look of curiosity.</p> + +<p>“Who authorized you to mention the Emperor?”</p> + +<p>I tried to play the part of a man who has made an unintentional slip.</p> + +<p>“I spoke too quickly. Petrovitch informed me—that is to say, I +supposed—” I broke down in feigned confusion.</p> + +<p>I knew inquisitiveness to be the Superintendent’s <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>besetting sin, +and, up to a certain point, I had an interest in tempting him on.</p> + +<p>“You appear to be more in the confidence of M. Petrovitch than you +are willing to admit,” he said sagely. “Up to the present you have +not explained how he came to make you his messenger.”</p> + +<p>I leaned back with a faint smile.</p> + +<p>“I imagine you are quite astute enough to guess my secret, if you +choose, Herr Finkelstein. But you must excuse me if I am a little +careful whom I trust, especially after the behavior of Princess +<span style="white-space: nowrap;">Y——.”</span></p> + +<p>“You are M. Petrovitch himself! Of course! I thought as much all +along,” Finkelstein said with a smile of triumph. “Well, you are +certainly right to be cautious; but, as you see, it is not easy to +deceive an old hand like myself.”</p> + +<p>“At all events you will be at least equally cautious, I hope. What +you tell me about this international spy being still at large has +disturbed me a good deal, I confess.”</p> + +<p>“Make your mind easy,” the German returned with a patronizing air. +“We are in Berlin here, not in Petersburg. This gentleman will not +venture within my reach, I assure you.”</p> + +<p>I professed every satisfaction with this guarantee, and took my +leave.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<h3>AN IMPERIAL FANATIC</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>  was now to face Wilhelm II.</p> + +<p>It was solely for this purpose that I had come to Berlin. But I knew +the great advantage of getting myself vouched for in advance by a +third party, and therefore I had been anxious to convince Finkelstein +of my identity in the first place, so that his master might accept me +without inquiry as to whether I was the man I claimed to be.</p> + +<p>I dined quietly in my hotel, a small tavern in a back street. It was +getting late, and I was on the point of going to bed, when I heard +the noise of a motor rushing up and stopping suddenly outside the +little inn.</p> + +<p>An aide-de-camp burst in upon me.</p> + +<p>“Your name, sir?” he demanded in a whisper.</p> + +<p>“Petrovitch,” I replied in the same tone.</p> + +<p>“Come this way, if you please.”</p> + +<p>In less than a minute I was seated in the car, which was dashing at a +really dangerous pace through the nearly deserted streets.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p><p>“I am taking you to Potsdam,” was all the explanation my companion +thought necessary.</p> + +<p>It did not take us long to reach the famous palace of Frederick the +Great, which the growth of Berlin has almost turned into a suburban +residence.</p> + +<p>My conductor brought me past all the sentries and servants, and led +me down some steps into what seemed to be a subterranean hall. It was +decorated with statues and paintings of the ancestors of Wilhelm II., +together with weapons, suits of armor, and banners of the successive +periods in which they lived.</p> + +<p>But the most striking object in the hall or crypt—for it might have +been either—was a trophy erected on a species of altar at one end, +exhibiting a variety of crowns.</p> + +<p>At the foot were a number of small coronets, representing those worn +by the former Margraves of Brandenburg, in whom the Hohenzollern +family took its rise. Above were ranged the crowns of the Kings of +Prussia, that of Frederick the Great being in the center. Still +higher rose the three imperial crowns of Germany, those of William +I., Frederick III., and the present Emperor. And then, right on the +summit, came a still more gorgeous object, whose like I had never +seen before.</p> + +<p>It was a colossal miter, somewhat after the fashion of the Papal +tiara, wrought out of pure gold, thickly studded with great pearls, +and surmounted by a cross.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p><p>But I had barely time to notice this singular display. As my guide +left me on the threshold of the hall, I was aware that I stood in the +presence of the German Emperor.</p> + +<p>This extraordinary monarch, whose great and far-reaching views are +combined with a type of extravagance which has long made him looked +upon as the <i>enfant terrible</i> of Europe, was about to teach me a new +side of his character.</p> + +<p>He received me seated in a small ivory chair like a throne, and +attired in a garment of pontifical design.</p> + +<p>“Advance, M. Petrovitch,” he commanded in a loud voice.</p> + +<p>As I stood in front of him, he said theatrically,</p> + +<p>“I receive you in the Hall of the Hohenzollerns. You see around you +the sacred memorials of the family which Providence has raised up to +be the saviors of Europe, and the future rulers of the world.”</p> + +<p>In response to this invitation I took a longer and more comprehensive +view of the various objects already described. The Kaiser +condescended to point some of them out to me with a long two-handed +sword which he held.</p> + +<p>I began to suspect seriously that the megalomania which has always +formed one of Wilhelm’s characteristic traits, was overpowering his +good sense.</p> + +<p>“M. Petrovitch,” my august cicerone proceeded, “you see there the +crowns which have been won and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>worn by my illustrious and +never-to-be-forgotten ancestors. Can you guess the meaning of the +diadem above—which I have designed myself?</p> + +<p>“That,” declared the last and most remarkable of the Hohenzollerns, +“is intended to be worn by that member of my Family who shall be +called by the united voice of the other sovereigns to the supreme +world monarchy. It is destined to be our Planetary Crown.”</p> + +<p>I bowed in stupefaction. The Kaiser seemed pleased with the +impression he had made.</p> + +<p>“And now,” he said, “since it is necessary that I should be sure of +you before I trust you with my plans, kneel down.”</p> + +<p>I knelt, feeling as if I were in a dream. Wilhelm II. solemnly held +out the hilt of his two-handed sword:—</p> + +<p>“You swear to yield faith, loyalty and utter obedience now and +henceforth to Almighty God, and the Head of the Hohenzollerns!”</p> + +<p>It being impossible to refuse the oath in the circumstances, I kissed +the sword, with a mental reservation.</p> + +<p>Wilhelm II. surprised me by thereupon laying it across my shoulders.</p> + +<p>“I dub thee knight of the Sacred Order of the Hohenzollerns! Arise.”</p> + +<p>I got up, thoroughly confused. The Emperor invited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> me to be seated, +and proceeded to deliver a harangue—for it was nothing less.</p> + +<p>“Bismarck had not sufficient genius to see the destiny of the +Hohenzollerns. With the vision of a mere German Junker, he looked on +Russia as the enemy.</p> + +<p>“It is I who have changed all that. I have taught the Czar to look to +me for guidance and protection. Should the present revolutionary +movement become dangerous, I shall march at the head of my army to +the rescue, and reinstate the Romanoffs as my vassals.</p> + +<p>“The only obstacle in the path of the Hohenzollerns is an island +which two of my Army Corps could subdue in a fortnight. But in order +to invade it with safety, I must have France on my side.</p> + +<p>“It is for this end that I have been working. France cherishes a +grudge against me because of the glorious exploits of my immortal +grandfather. Moreover, my uncle, Edward VII., has contrived to win +the friendship of the Republicans.</p> + +<p>“But France is the ally of Russia, and if Russia is attacked, France +must draw the sword on her behalf.</p> + +<p>“You understand?—with the first shot which is fired by a British +warship on the Russian flag, I shall be able to invade England.”</p> + +<p>I understood indeed. Briefly and plainly Wilhelm II. had summed up +the result of my own inquiries and reasonings.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p><p>“It is you,” the Emperor proceeded, “who have undertaken to secure +this result.”</p> + +<p>I bowed, intensely desirous to know exactly what it was that +Petrovitch had pledged himself to do.</p> + +<p>“I have just rewarded you for the services you have already rendered, +by admitting you to my Family Order, an order which I intend shall +take precedence of the Golden Fleece, and even the Garter. Should you +carry out your present task to my satisfaction I shall consider no +reward too great for you.”</p> + +<p>I trembled as I listened to this wild vaporing. If such were the +private thoughts of the Kaiser, no wonder some of his public +utterances smacked of the visionary.</p> + +<p>I could not doubt that he was thoroughly in earnest. Long brooding on +the greatness of his ancestors, and his own importance as the sole +European ruler who has kings for his satellites, had filled him with +the fanatical spirit of a Mohammed or a Hildebrand. He believed, +firmly and sincerely believed, that Providence had called him to the +sovereignty of the globe, and authorized him to sweep every rival out +of his path.</p> + +<p>“Your majesty overwhelms me,” I murmured. “Consider, sire, that to be +your servant is in itself an honor so great that no other reward is +necessary.”</p> + +<p>The Kaiser smiled graciously.</p> + +<p>“Well, now, M. <i>de</i> Petrovitch——” his majesty emphasized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> the +particle by way of reminding me that I was now a knight of the +important Order of Hohenzollern—“let us discuss your next step.”</p> + +<p>I seized the opportunity to obtain the information I was so anxious +to secure.</p> + +<p>“I should feel it presumptuous to enter into anything like a +discussion with you, sire. If your majesty will be gracious enough to +impart your criticism on my proposal?”</p> + +<p>Wilhelm II. looked at me as though he found me to be a person of much +good sense.</p> + +<p>“Your idea, my dear de Petrovitch, as I understand it, is to provoke +the British to reprisals by some outrage on the part of the Baltic +Fleet during its passage to the Far East.</p> + +<p>“Unfortunately, as you must see, the British are determined not to be +provoked. Remember what has been done already. You have captured and +sunk their ships, in violation of international law; you have sent +out volunteer cruisers from the Black Sea in defiance of treaties, +and turned back their mail steamers with government stores on board.</p> + +<p>“What has been the result? The English Government has complained to +yours; the Czar has ordered explanations to be given, and the thing +has blown over.</p> + +<p>“This time there must be something more than that. There must be +something which cannot be explained away. We must if possible place +Nicholas <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>II., as well as Great Britain, in a position from which +neither can retreat without loss of honor.</p> + +<p>“To this end it is necessary that the Baltic Fleet should commit an +act of war, and that the Czar should be convinced that the +provocation has come from the English side. Do you understand?”</p> + +<p>I recalled the hints dropped by Captain Vassileffsky at Revel.</p> + +<p>“Your majesty has been informed perhaps that I have caused the +officers and men of the Fleet to believe that they will find Japanese +torpedo boats lying in wait for them among the English fishing +vessels in the North Sea. In consequence, they will be ready to fire +without waiting to see if the torpedo boats are really there, +especially if the fishermen fail to retire as the Fleet approaches.”</p> + +<p>The Kaiser shook his head.</p> + +<p>“All that is leaving too much to chance, my good de Petrovitch. What +is required is something more positive. In short, the torpedo boats +must really be there.”</p> + +<p>I lifted my eyes to his.</p> + +<p>“There is not a Japanese torpedo boat within ten thousand miles of +the North Sea, unfortunately.”</p> + +<p>Wilhelm II. smiled a meaning smile.</p> + +<p>“If that is all, we must so far forget the duties of neutrality as to +allow the friends of Japan to procure a craft suitable for the +purpose from our dockyard at Kiel.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<h3>THE STOLEN SUBMARINE</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dca.jpg" title="A" height="70" width="69" alt="A" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">A</span>s the full extent of this audacious plot was laid bare before my +eyes I had a difficulty in believing in its reality.</p> + +<p>I was obliged to remind myself of some of the maneuvres which have +marked German statecraft in the recent past, of the forgeries and +“reinsurance” treaties of Bismarck, of the patronage extended to +Abdul Hamid, of the secret intrigue that brought about the disasters +of Greece.</p> + +<p>If I had had any scepticism left, the Emperor would have dispelled it +by the clear and business-like explanations which followed.</p> + +<p>His majesty produced a chart of the North Sea, showing the coasts of +Great Britain and Germany, with the Kiel Canal and so forth. Half-way +between the opposite shores a dotted outline marked the situation of +the great shoals which attract the fish, and from which the harvests +of the sea are gathered by the brave and industrious toilers of +Grimsby, Hull, and many another port.</p> + +<p>From the northern point of Denmark, two lines in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>red ink were drawn +right down the map to where the North Sea narrows into the Straits of +Dover.</p> + +<p>The first of these lines was fairly direct, passing about thirty +miles to the eastward of the great fishing grounds.</p> + +<p>The second line took a wide curve to the west, and crossed right over +the center of a shoal marked “Dogger Bank.”</p> + +<p>The Kaiser proceeded to explain.</p> + +<p>“This is a duplicate of the charts used by the pilots of the North +Sea. I have offered my brother Nicholas as a special favor the +services of German pilots, and they will board the vessels of the +Baltic Fleet as soon as it leaves Danish waters.</p> + +<p>“As you see, the right course would take the fleet a long way off the +English fishing-boats. But the pilots who go on board will receive +secret orders at the last moment to take the Russian ships over the +Dogger Bank, and, if possible, into the very midst of any fishing +fleet that may be there.</p> + +<p>“Then all that is required is that you should be on the spot, and +should fire the first shot from the midst of the fishing-boats.”</p> + +<p>I endeavored to preserve a calm demeanor.</p> + +<p>“May I suggest to your majesty that the presence of a torpedo boat +among them is likely to arouse suspicion beforehand. The English +sailors have keen eyes.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p><p>“I have thought of that. It will be necessary for you to have a +submarine.”</p> + +<p>“A submarine, sire!”</p> + +<p>“Certainly. I have had six submarine torpedo boats built by my own +designs at Kiel since this war broke out, for use in defending the +approaches to the Canal.</p> + +<p>“These boats are now lying in the inner harbor, all fitted out and +ready for sea.</p> + +<p>“You will take one, with a crew of your own, whom you must enlist +secretly, and slip out through the Canal into the North Sea.</p> + +<p>“You will proceed, keeping under the surface, till you reach the +Dogger Bank, and find yourself among the trawl nets of the English +fishermen.</p> + +<p>“There you will wait till such time as the Russian ships come up.</p> + +<p>“As soon as the right moment has arrived, you will rise to the +surface and discharge a torpedo. As soon as you have drawn the fire +of the Russians, and have seen an English fishing-boat struck, you +can go beneath the surface again, and make the best of your way back +to Kiel.”</p> + +<p>“Your plan is perfection itself, sire!” I exclaimed with an +admiration which was not wholly pretended, since the idea really was +not lacking in cleverness.</p> + +<p>The Kaiser nodded good-humoredly.</p> + +<p>“The Russians will never be persuaded they were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>not attacked first, +and the English will never pass over such an outrage in their own +waters,” his majesty remarked complacently. “Lord Charles Beresford +will do the rest.”</p> + +<p>“I am ready to carry out your orders, sire. All I require is an +authority to take the submarine from Kiel.”</p> + +<p>The Kaiser frowned.</p> + +<p>“Have you had any authority from me for anything you have done up to +the present, sir?” he demanded harshly.</p> + +<p>As an answer in the negative was clearly expected, I gave it.</p> + +<p>“Understand me, M. de Petrovitch, I repose every confidence in you; +but I should not have held this conversation with any man, even my +Chancellor, if I thought it could ever be used against me. If I gave +you the authority you ask for, I should not be able to deny that I +had ever employed you, in case of trouble.”</p> + +<p>“Then you propose, sire——?”</p> + +<p>“I intend you to take this vessel secretly, without authority from me +or from any one else.”</p> + +<p>“And if I am caught in the act of taking it? If any of the naval +authorities question my movements?”</p> + +<p>“You will not be caught. Your movements will not be questioned. I can +assure you of so much.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p><p>“I thank you, sire. That is quite sufficient.”</p> + +<p>I retired from the imperial presence, though not, as I have had some +reason to suspect, from the imperial observation. In other words, I +felt pretty well convinced that there would be a watch on my +movements till my task was over.</p> + +<p>The same aide-de-camp awaited me outside the Hall of the +Hohenzollerns, and carried me back to my obscure hotel with the same +speed and silence as he had brought me.</p> + +<p>The next morning I arose to find the papers filled with the news of +the departure of the Baltic Fleet from Libau.</p> + +<p>The Russian Admiral, as if in obedience to the secret promptings of +Berlin, was reported as having issued a preposterous and illegal +warning that he should fire on any ship of any nation that presumed +to venture within reach of his guns. I could not help wondering what +would be thought of this proclamation in the British Admiralty.</p> + +<p>There being no more for me to do in Berlin, I took the first train to +Kiel, the Portsmouth of Germany. Kiel itself, it will be remembered, +stands at the Baltic end of the famous canal which the present Kaiser +has had constructed for his warships to pass out to the North Sea +without going around Denmark.</p> + +<p>It was late when I arrived, but I determined to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>lose no time in +seeing how far the secret orders of the Kaiser extended.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, as soon as I had dined, I went out and took my way +toward the government dockyard.</p> + +<p>The entrance to the dockyard was guarded by a sentry with fixed +bayonet. Behind him I saw a large iron gate which appeared to be +heavily barred, with a small postern at one side, which was also +closed.</p> + +<p>I advanced toward the sentry, expecting every moment to hear a +challenge ring out. To my genuine astonishment, nothing of the kind +occurred. The sentry did not pay the slightest attention to me, but +went on pacing to and fro as though I had been wearing a cap of +invisibility.</p> + +<p>I went up to the postern door, and tried the handle. It opened at a +touch, and I found myself alone in the deserted dockyard.</p> + +<p>For some time I groped my way forward by the light of the few +scattered electric lights, till I reached the edge of a large basin +which appeared to communicate with the outer harbor of Kiel.</p> + +<p>Turning the opposite way, I went along the edge of the wharf, picking +my way among timber balks, stacks of iron sheeting, chains, ropes, +and all the other things that are found scattered about a naval +dockyard.</p> + +<p>At the head of the great basin I found a lock giving access to a +small inner dock, in which a number of vessels were moored.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p><p>I made my way around, searching everywhere for the vessels I had been +told I should find.</p> + +<p>At last, in the farthest and most secluded corner, I perceived a row +of small craft, shaped much like a shark, with a long narrow tube or +funnel rising up from the center of each.</p> + +<p>They lay low in the water, without being submerged. Alone among the +shipping they carried no riding-lights. They appeared dark, silent, +and deserted.</p> + +<p>Almost unconsciously I ran my eye along them, counting them as they +lay. Suddenly I was aroused to keen attention.</p> + +<p>One—two—three—four—five. The Kaiser had assured me that I should +find six submarines to choose from!</p> + +<p>I counted once more with straining eyes.</p> + +<p><i>One</i>—<i>two</i>—<i>three</i>—<i>four</i>—<i>five</i>.</p> + +<p>One of the mysterious craft had been taken away!</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<h3>THE KIEL CANAL</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>t was impossible to resist the conclusion suggested by the absence +of the sixth submarine.</p> + +<p>I was not the only person who had been authorized, or rather +instructed, to carry out the design against the Baltic Fleet. My +august employer had thought it better to have two strings to his bow.</p> + +<p>Who, then, was the person by whom I had been anticipated?</p> + +<p>To this question an answer suggested itself which I was tempted to +reject, but which haunted me, and would not be dismissed.</p> + +<p>The Princess Y—— had arrived in Berlin twelve hours before me. She +had come, fully believing that Petrovitch was dead, and prepared to +take his place.</p> + +<p>She had interviewed Finkelstein, as I knew. Was it not possible that +she, also, had been received in the crypt at Potsdam, had been shown +the chart of the North Sea, with its ominous red lines, and had +accepted the task of launching one of the submarines on its fatal +errand?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p><p>In spite of all the stories which had been told me of Sophia’s daring +and resource, in spite of my own experiences of her adventures and +reckless proceedings, I did not go so far as to credit her with +having proceeded to sea in the missing craft.</p> + +<p>But it struck me as altogether in keeping with her character that she +should have arranged for the withdrawal of the boat, provided it with +a crew, and despatched it fully instructed as to the work to be done.</p> + +<p>But whether these suspicions were well founded or otherwise, of one +thing there could be no doubt. A submarine had been taken by some +one, and was now on its way to the North Sea, to lie in wait for the +ships of Admiral Rojestvensky.</p> + +<p>This discovery entirely changed the position for me.</p> + +<p>I had come down to Kiel intending to take a submarine out to sea, to +watch for the approach of the Russian fleet, and to take whatever +steps proved practicable to avert any collision between it and the +fishing-boats on the Dogger Bank.</p> + +<p>I now saw that the chance of my preventing a catastrophe depended +entirely on the movements of the boat which had left already. This +boat had become my objective, to use a strategical phrase.</p> + +<p>Somewhere in the North Sea was a submarine boat, charged with the +mission of provoking a world-wide war. And that boat I had to find.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p><p>There was no time to be lost. I hastened back by the most direct way +I could find, to the dockyard gates. The little postern was still +unlocked, and I passed out, the sentry again taking no notice of my +passage.</p> + +<p>But at the first street corner I saw a man in seafaring dress who +fixed a very keen gaze on me as I came up, and saluted me by touching +his cap.</p> + +<p>“Good-night,” I said in a friendly voice, slowing down in my walk.</p> + +<p>“Good-night, sir. Beg pardon, Captain,”—he came and moved along +beside me—“but you don’t happen to know of a job for a seafaring +man, I suppose?”</p> + +<p>I stopped dead, and looked him straight in the eyes.</p> + +<p>“How many men do you estimate are required to navigate a submarine?” +I asked.</p> + +<p>“Fifteen,” was the prompt answer.</p> + +<p>“How soon can you have them here?” was my next question.</p> + +<p>The fellow glanced at his watch.</p> + +<p>“It’s half-past eleven now, Captain. I could collect them and bring +them here by half-past one.”</p> + +<p>“Do it, then,” I returned and walked swiftly away.</p> + +<p>The whole thing, it was evident, had been prearranged, and I did not +choose to waste time in mock negotiations.</p> + +<p>I went back to my inn to wait, but there was nothing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>for me to do, +except examine the cartridges in my revolver. I was not quite sure +how much my crew had been told, and I thought it just possible that I +might have some trouble with them when they found out the nature of +my proceedings.</p> + +<p>Punctually at the hour fixed I returned to the street outside the +dockyard, where I found fifteen men assembled.</p> + +<p>Glancing over them, I formed the opinion that they were picked men, +on whom I could have relied thoroughly for the work I had been +ordered to do, but who might be all the more likely to mutiny if they +suspected that I was playing false.</p> + +<p>I stood in front of them in the silence of the street.</p> + +<p>“Now, my men, if there is any one of you who is not prepared to obey +me, even if I order him to scuttle the ship, let him fall out before +we start.”</p> + +<p>Not a man stirred. Not an eyelash quivered. The German discipline had +done its work.</p> + +<p>“I give you notice that the first man who hesitates to carry out my +orders will be shot.”</p> + +<p>The threat was received with perfect resignation.</p> + +<p>“Follow me.”</p> + +<p>I turned on my heel, and led the way to the dockyard gates, the men +marching after me with a regular tramp which could only have been +acquired on the deck of a man-of-war.</p> + +<p>The sentry was, if possible, more indifferent to our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>approach than +he had been when I had been alone. I threw open the wicket, and bade +the last man close it.</p> + +<p>Then we marched in the same order to the place where the five +submarines were moored.</p> + +<p>“I am going on board one of these boats,” I announced. “Find +something to take us off.”</p> + +<p>The man whom I had engaged originally, taking on himself the part of +mate, repeated my directions. A large whale-boat was found tied up in +a convenient spot beside the wharf.</p> + +<p>We all got in, and I took the tiller. The mate, who answered to the +Russian name of Orloff, though the only language I heard him speak +was German, said nothing till I brought the whale-boat alongside of +the nearest submarine.</p> + +<p>“I beg pardon, Captain, but I have a fancy that the boat at the far +end is in better trim, if you have no choice.”</p> + +<p>“Why didn’t you tell me so at once?” I returned sharply, not too well +pleased to find him so well informed.</p> + +<p>We boarded the submarine pointed out, and found it, of course, +provided with everything necessary for an immediate departure, +including provisions for a week.</p> + +<p>“You understand the navigation of the Canal, I suppose?” I inquired +of Orloff.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p><p>“I do, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Very good. Take the boat through. And ascertain all that you can +about another submarine which must have passed through yesterday. +Wake me if you hear or see anything.”</p> + +<p>I lay down in the captain’s berth and tried to sleep. But the +excitement and, I may say, the romantic interest of the adventure +proved too strong for me.</p> + +<p>I rose again, and came to where my deputy was seated, carefully +conning the boat out of the dockyard basin into the Baltic end of the +great Canal.</p> + +<p>We were already submerged, only the tip of our conning staff being +out of the water. But by an ingenious system of tiny mirrors the +steersman was able to see his way as plainly as if he had been on +deck above the surface.</p> + +<p>On approaching the lock by which the basin opened into the Canal, no +signal appeared to be given. Silently, as if of their own accord, the +huge sluices opened and shut, and we glided out into the great +waterway which has made the German Navy independent of Danish +good-will.</p> + +<p>The voyage along the Kiel Canal in the silence of the night was +deeply interesting, and were I not obliged to restrict myself +severely to the naked outline of such facts as bear directly on the +catastrophe, I should like to attempt a description of the weird and +picturesque scene.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p><p>Keeping steadily just under the surface, we proceeded swiftly past +ports and villages and lonely wharves, till the stars paled and +disappeared and a faint flush overspreading the sky in front warned +us that day was breaking behind us.</p> + +<p>I searched the banks for anything resembling the craft of which I was +in search, but in vain. We passed many other ships, chiefly +merchantmen bound for Lubeck and Dantzig and other Baltic ports, but +of course without being perceived ourselves.</p> + +<p>When we reached the mouth of the Canal, I ordered Orloff to stop.</p> + +<p>“I must go ashore here, and inquire about the other boat,” I +explained.</p> + +<p>I saw from the expression of his face that this step was not quite to +his liking, but he did not venture on any remonstrance.</p> + +<p>He brought the boat alongside the bank, and raised her gently to the +surface, to enable me to step on shore.</p> + +<p>But my quest proved useless, as perhaps I ought to have foreseen.</p> + +<p>The harbor-master, or port captain, to whom I addressed myself, +affected the most entire ignorance of the exit of any submarine +within the last week or more.</p> + +<p>“What you suggest is impossible,” he assured me. “Every submarine is +well known and carefully guarded, and if one had been permitted to +leave Kiel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>by way of the Canal, I should have been notified in +advance. No such notification has reached me, and therefore, as you +will see, no such boat can possibly have left.”</p> + +<p>I suspected that he was lying, but I thought it unsafe to persist.</p> + +<p>It occurred to me too late that I had been guilty of some imprudence +in showing so much anxiety on the subject. It was only too probable +that my inquiries would be reported to the Kaiser, who would draw his +own inferences in the event of anything going wrong.</p> + +<p>I returned on board my own boat, saying nothing to Orloff, and gave +the order to proceed.</p> + +<p>Orloff had handed over the wheel to one of his subordinates, who +steered the submarine out into the blue waters of the North Sea.</p> + +<p>As soon as we were well out of reach of the Slesvig shore, I said to +the steersman,</p> + +<p>“Now I will take the helm.”</p> + +<p>Instead of promptly relinquishing it to me, the man turned his head +in search of Orloff, saying at the same time,</p> + +<p>“Do you understand the course, sir?”</p> + +<p>I saw that if I meant to be master of the vessel, I must prove that +my words of the night before were spoken in earnest. I drew my +revolver, and put a bullet through the mutineer’s head.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<h3>THE DOGGER BANK</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dct.jpg" title="T" height="70" width="70" alt="T" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">T</span>he sound of the explosion reverberated through the little craft like +thunder. Orloff and half a dozen more men came rushing up.</p> + +<p>“This man disobeyed me,” I said, quietly, slipping a fresh cartridge +into the smoking chamber of my revolver. “Throw the body overboard, +and return to your duties.”</p> + +<p>What instructions Orloff and his men had received it was impossible +for me to guess. But they clearly did not authorize any breach of +discipline at this stage of the voyage.</p> + +<p>Without the slightest demur they lifted up the body, and carried it +off. I had learned the way to manage the submarine by watching Orloff +during the night, and I now pressed a lever which brought us swiftly +to the surface. There was a sound of trampling feet overhead, +followed by a splash, and I saw the mutineer’s body drift past.</p> + +<p>It would be idle to seek for words in which to describe the +overpowering anxiety which racked my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>nerves as we tore through the +water. The peace of Europe, the safety of Japan and Great Britain, +perhaps the future of the world, might be at stake.</p> + +<p>Everything depended on my finding the other submarine before it had +launched its bolt against the great war fleet which was even now +steaming through the Danish Belts, officered by men, some of whom I +knew to be ready to take advantage of any pretext for outraging the +peace of the seas.</p> + +<p>It did not take me long to decide that the neighborhood of the Dogger +Bank was the most likely place, in fact the only place, for my +search.</p> + +<p>I am not wholly unskilled in navigation, having given up a good deal +of my spare time to yachting. With the aid of a chart which was on +board, I had little difficulty in keeping a fairly straight course +for the famous fishing ground.</p> + +<p>On the way I did not neglect the opportunity of acquiring a complete +command over the movements of the submarine.</p> + +<p>It was driven by electricity, and so designed that by means of +various knobs, one man could control it entirely, steering it, +raising or lowering it in the water, increasing or slackening speed, +stopping, backing, and even discharging the torpedo which was its +only weapon of attack—with the exception of a small sharp ram at the +bow.</p> + +<p>Having asserted my authority, and acquired the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>practical knowledge I +needed, I at last called Orloff to me, and gave him the wheel.</p> + +<p>“Take me to the Dogger Bank. Warn me as soon as we get near any +fishing-boats, and above all keep a careful lookout for our consort.”</p> + +<p>It was by this name that I thought it most prudent to refer to the +object of my search.</p> + +<p>Orloff took the wheel, and said immediately with an air of great +respect,</p> + +<p>“You have laid a marvelously straight course, Captain. I was not +aware that you were familiar with these waters. The Dogger Bank is +right ahead, and we shall reach it in less than an hour.”</p> + +<p>An hour later I was conscious of a light shock as the submarine +stopped.</p> + +<p>We had grounded on the sandy shoal of the Dogger, in twenty fathoms +of water, and overhead I could see great black shadows sweeping +slowly past.</p> + +<p>They were cast by the trawlers of the Gamecock fleet.</p> + +<p>It being still daylight I did not venture to let the submarine show +itself on the surface of the sea.</p> + +<p>Hugging the bottom, I steered in and out among the great trailing +nets of the fisher fleet.</p> + +<p>At the same time I ordered my crew to keep a sharp watch for the +first submarine, promising fifty marks<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> to the man who sighted her.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p><p>The rest of that day passed without anything happening.</p> + +<p>As soon as darkness fell I brought my boat up to the surface, partly +in order to renew the air supply, and partly to scan the horizon in +search of the oncoming Russian fleet.</p> + +<p>But thanks to the promptness with which I had gone out to sea I had +anticipated Rojestvensky by twenty-four hours. The Baltic Fleet was +still in Danish waters, waiting to pick up the German pilots who were +to lure it from its course.</p> + +<p>Finding there were no signs of the Russians, I submerged the +submarine, all except the little conning tube, which was invisible in +the darkness, and ran in among the English smacks.</p> + +<p>As I heard the brave, hardy fishermen talking to one another, the +temptation was a strong one to disclose myself, and warn them of the +coming peril.</p> + +<p>Only my experience of the uselessness of such warnings restrained me. +I knew that these simple, law-abiding citizens would laugh me in the +face if I told them that they were in danger from the warships of a +foreign Power.</p> + +<p>As my unseen vessel glided softly past the side of one fishing-boat, +whose name I could just make as the <i>Crane</i>, I overheard a few scraps +of conversation, which threw a pathetic light on the situation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p><p>“We shall have the Rooshians coming along presently,” said one voice.</p> + +<p>“No,” answered another, “they won’t come anywhere near us. ’Tis out +of their course.”</p> + +<p>“They do say the Rooshians don’t know much about seamanship,” a third +voice spoke out. “Like as not we’ll see their search-lights going +by.”</p> + +<p>“Well, if they come near enough, we’ll give the beggars a cheer; what +d’ye say?”</p> + +<p>“Aye, let’s. Fair play’s what I wishes ’em, and let the best man +win.”</p> + +<p>The words died away along the water, as I drew off and let my craft +sink under once again.</p> + +<p>That night I slept soundly, making up for the vigil of the night +before. The submarine rested on the sea floor, in a hollow of the +undulating Bank, and one of the crew kept watch in case a “trawl” +should come too close.</p> + +<p>But there was no sign of the mysterious companion which had come out +of Kiel Harbor in front of me, and was even now prowling somewhere in +the dark depths around.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + +<h3>TRAFALGAR DAY</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dci.jpg" title="I" height="70" width="68" alt="I" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">I</span>n the morning I was conscious of a certain stir and display on board +some of the fishing boats among which I continued to lurk.</p> + +<p>At first I supposed that the Baltic Fleet must have been sighted. But +in the course of the day I gathered from various cries and shouts +which were borne across the water, that the fishermen were keeping +the anniversary of the most glorious day in the history of England, +the day on which the immortal Nelson annihilated the united fleets of +France and Spain, and shattered the dream of the great Napoleon that +he could tame the haughty Island Power.</p> + +<p>As long as daylight lasted I scoured the sea for a distance of five +miles all around the devoted fishing fleet, without coming on the +slightest trace of the other submarine.</p> + +<p>A delusive hope assailed me that some accident might have overtaken +it. But I did not relax my vigilance, and when night fell I took up a +station <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>about a mile in front of the English smacks, in the +direction from which I had reason to expect the approach of +Rojestvensky.</p> + +<p>A few hours elapsed, then my watchfulness was rewarded.</p> + +<p>Away down on the horizon toward the northeast, there glittered out a +row of twinkling lights, one behind the other, as though a lamp-lit +thoroughfare had got afloat and drifted out to sea.</p> + +<p>The sinuous streak of lights, shifting as they approached like the +coils of some great water-snake, glided toward us at what seemed a +fearful speed, and as they drew near the white lights were +interspread with green and crimson points, like rubies and emeralds +set between rows of diamonds. And ever and anon the swift electric +tongues of the search-lights spat forth and licked the dark face of +the waters like hungry things.</p> + +<p>Keeping my upper deck just awash, I lay still and beheld at last the +great black sides of the battleships tower up, pierced with +illuminated windows.</p> + +<p>My heart began to throb wildly. If only the other submarine failed to +appear; if only the English fishermen would realize their danger and +flee in time, disaster might be averted.</p> + +<p>The hope had scarcely formed itself in my mind when Orloff, who had +come to repose confidence in me, respectfully touched my arm and +pointed ahead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p><p>Not two hundred yards from me, stealing along about a mile in advance +of the Russian fleet, I perceived a small dark object, showing hardly +a foot above the surface of the waves.</p> + +<p>It was the rival submarine!</p> + +<p>Instead of proceeding direct to the Dogger Bank, as I had done, the +other boat must have joined Admiral Rojestvensky’s squadron, and come +on before it like a jackal pointing out the lion’s prey.</p> + +<p>“Go forward,” I commanded the German mate. “Let no one disturb me +till this business is over.”</p> + +<p>Orloff gave me a wondering look, but obeyed without an instant’s +hesitation.</p> + +<p>As soon as his back was turned, I swung the wheel around, put on the +full power of the engines, and went after the craft I had been +searching for during the last forty-eight hours.</p> + +<p>Had the commander of the other submarine noticed mine, and did he +suspect my intention to frustrate his design? It almost seemed so. +His boat, scarcely visible in the gloom, fled in front of me to where +the foremost fishing boats were riding lazily over the shoals, +dragging their nets along the bottom.</p> + +<p>It was a weird chase. Neither of us showed a glint of light, or made +the smallest sound. Like two great shadowing fish we darted through +the depths of the sea, hunter and hunted.</p> + +<p>In between the sagging nets with their load of cod <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>and flounders, +shot the phantom boat I was pursuing, and I followed, obliged to +slacken speed as we twisted in and out under the keels of the +unconscious fishermen.</p> + +<p>And all this time the huge warships in two lines astern were plunging +through the seas, heading straight for the unfortunate smacks.</p> + +<p>The chase seemed to be aware that it was a case of now or never. I +was catching up with it fast; I was able to mark its course by the +broken water churned up by its propeller; when, all at once, I saw it +rise with the swift motion of a bird.</p> + +<p>I had no alternative but to do the same.</p> + +<p>As I emerged upon the surface I found my boat in the very center of +the full glare of a search-light which lit up the whole scene with +dazzling radiance.</p> + +<p>Fresh from the depths below, where all had been dark, my eyes fairly +blinked in the sudden splendor of light.</p> + +<p>Then, for what might have been from three to five seconds, I saw +everything that passed.</p> + +<p>The foremost vessels of the Russian fleet had already gone past the +group of drifting trawlers. One large cruiser was passing within a +stone’s-throw of the nearest fishing-boat, and the English fishermen +were playfully holding up some of their freshly-caught fish, as +though offering it to the Russian sailors.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p><p>Another line of warships was coming up behind, with its search-lights +thrown out in front.</p> + +<p>And then, right across the range of lights, and in a straight line +between the Russian battleships and the English smacks, I saw the +phantom torpedo boat pass deliberately, as high out of the water as +she could show.</p> + +<p>What happened next took place so swiftly, and with such confusion +that I cannot pretend to describe it with accuracy.</p> + +<p>Shouts rang out on some of the Russian ships, the submarine headed +around as though to seek refuge among the trawlers, and then a gun +was fired, and a cannon-ball struck the water within a few feet of +me.</p> + +<p>All at once, it seemed to me, and as though by some preconcerted +plan, half the ships of the Baltic Fleet opened fire on the English +fishermen, who seemed too surprised and horrified to do anything. I +saw ball after ball crash into one luckless smack, which quickly +began to fill and sink. But, generally speaking, the marksmanship of +the Russians was too wild for the firing to have serious effect.</p> + +<p>As soon as I realized that I had become a mark for the Russian guns I +sank beneath the surface. It is no doubt this voluntary move on my +part which has given rise to the belief cherished by some of the +officers of the Baltic Fleet, and indorsed by Admiral Rojestvensky, +that a torpedo boat was sunk by their fire.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p><p>But I knew that the massacre—for it was nothing less—would go on as +long as the other submarine remained on the surface, mixing among the +luckless fishing boats with the deliberate intention of drawing on +them the Russian fire.</p> + +<p>I marked her course, put my engines to their fullest speed one more, +and rushed after her.</p> + +<p>This time my coming was not watched by the hostile commander. Like +Admiral Rojestvensky, he may have believed that my boat had been sunk +by the ball which had come so close. Or else, perhaps, in his +exultation at having brought about an event which seemed to make war +inevitable, he had forgotten his former fears.</p> + +<p>But the truth will never be known.</p> + +<p>I brought my own boat right under the demon craft, and then, tilting +her up at a sharp angle, rammed the other in the center of her keel.</p> + +<p>There was a concussion, a muffled sound of tearing iron, and as I +backed away at full speed astern, I saw the waters of the North Sea +pour through a long jagged rent in the bottom of the doomed +submarine, and watched her go down staggering like a wounded vulture +through the air.</p> + +<p>The shock of the collision had brought Orloff and the rest of my crew +running aft.</p> + +<p>“An accident,” I explained coolly. “I have sunk some boat or other in +the dark.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p><p>The men exchanged suspicious glances.</p> + +<p>“It was the other submarine, sir,” said Orloff, still preserving his +respectful tone. “Will you permit us to see whether it is possible to +save any of the crew?”</p> + +<p>“Do as you please,” I returned, leaving the helm. “My work here is +done, and I am ready to go back.”</p> + +<p>I intended them to think I referred to the attack on the +fishing-boats. The cannonade died away as I spoke.</p> + +<p>We went down through the water to where the wrecked submarine was +lying half over on her side. Some frightened faces peered at us out +of the upper portholes, where a supply of air still lingered.</p> + +<p>It was impossible to do anything for them down there without being +swamped ourselves. We could only invite them by signs to forsake +their own craft and let us carry them up to the surface where it +would be safe for us to take them inside.</p> + +<p>In order to receive them on our upper deck we circled slowly around +to the opposite side of their vessel. And there I beheld a sight +which will haunt me for years to come.</p> + +<p>The whole side of the submarine had been wrenched open, revealing the +interior of the cabin. And on the floor, lying in the peaceful +attitude of one who had just resigned herself to sleep, I beheld the +drowned form of the beautiful, desperate, perhaps wicked, but +unhappy, woman from whose mad love I had fled.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p><p>So, in the midst of the wild North Sea, in their strange coffin, the +bones of Sophia, Princess Yernoloff, lie and rock on the incessant +tides that sweep across the Dogger Bank.</p> + +<p><i>Requiescat in pace!</i></p> + +<p>As our boat, laden with the rescued survivors, shot up again to the +surface, I felt a noosed rope drawn tightly around my throat and +heard the voice of Orloff hiss in my ear,</p> + +<p>“I arrest you in the name of the Kaiser!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> + +<h3>THE FAMILY STATUTE</h3> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dcm.jpg" title="M" height="70" width="71" alt="M" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">M</span>y task is done. At last the reader knows all that ever will be +known—all there is to know, in short—concerning the tragedy of the +North Sea.</p> + +<p>My personal adventures can possess little interest after the +all-important transactions I have had to describe. But in case there +should be a reader here and there who is good enough to feel any +curiosity as to my fate, I will briefly tell what followed on my +arrest.</p> + +<p>My revolver was taken from me and I was conducted under a strict +guard back to Kiel.</p> + +<p>Off the mouth of the Canal we were boarded by a despatch-boat flying +the German naval ensign, and a police officer with three men took me +off the submarine.</p> + +<p>The first proceeding of my new captor was to handcuff me. He then +warned me,</p> + +<p>“If you speak a single word to me or any one else till you are in the +imperial presence, my orders are to shoot you through the head.”</p> + +<p>I nodded. I had as little wish to speak as the Emperor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> could have to +let me. My thoughts were busy with the memory of the woman of whose +tragic death I had been the unwitting cause, and with the measures +that remained to be taken to extenuate, so far as extenuation was +possible, the fatal action of the Baltic fleet.</p> + +<p>As for myself, I can say truly that I had become almost indifferent +to what was in store for me. My feeling toward the unfortunate +Princess had not been such as that which makes a man desire a woman +for his wife; it had not deserved the name of love, perhaps; and it +was certainly free from any taint of a less noble passion.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless it had been a powerful sentiment, colored and +strengthened by my knowledge of her love for me.</p> + +<p>Sophia had loved me. She had saved my life. And I had taken hers in +return.</p> + +<p>Must I accuse myself of weakness for feeling as if happiness for me +were over, and the best fate I could wish would be to lie there +beside my victim on the lonely Dogger sands?</p> + +<p>When I came before Wilhelm II. he was not in the Hall of the +Hohenzollerns, indulging his vein of extravagant romance, but in his +private cabinet and in his most stern and business-like mood.</p> + +<p>“Give the prisoner a chair, and wait outside,” his majesty commanded +briefly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p><p>I sat down, still handcuffed, and the guards withdrew.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said the Kaiser, fixing me with an eagle glance, “be good +enough to explain your proceedings.”</p> + +<p>I met his look with a steadfast one in return.</p> + +<p>“I have carried out your majesty’s orders scrupulously. I have taken +out the submarine torpedo boat, engaged a crew, proceeded to the +Dogger Bank, and drawn the fire of the Baltic Fleet on the +fishing-boats from Hull. I have not seen a newspaper since, but I +assume that the British Navy has already arrested Admiral +Rojestvensky and his squadron, and that the two Powers are at war.”</p> + +<p>The Kaiser gnawed his moustache.</p> + +<p>“Things have not gone quite so well as you pretend, M. Petrovitch.</p> + +<p>“The Russian cannonade ceased after a few minutes,” the Emperor +resumed. “You did not remain on the surface after the first shot; you +did not launch your torpedo, neither did you permit the other +submarine to do so. In fact you sunk her.”</p> + +<p>“I had no orders with respect to another submarine, sire. I was +entitled to treat it as an enemy.”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense, you know that it had left Kiel before you, on the same +errand.”</p> + +<p>“On the contrary, sire, I could not possibly know anything of the +kind.”</p> + +<p>“Why, you saw it had disappeared from the dock. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>You inquired after +it along the Canal. When you got out to the Dogger you were searching +for it the whole time.”</p> + +<p>“And when I found it, sire, it was leading the Russian squadron, of +which it appeared to form part. I had every right to assume that it +was a Russian man-of-war.”</p> + +<p>“A German boat!” thundered the Kaiser.</p> + +<p>“A boat not flying any flag must be presumed to belong to the country +of those who are in control of it. I found this submarine under the +control of a Russian subject.”</p> + +<p>“The Princess was my agent.”</p> + +<p>“Your majesty had not told me so. On the contrary, I understood that +you wished my own boat to be considered a Russian vessel, in case of +any question. I shipped a Russian crew therefore.”</p> + +<p>Wilhelm II. frowned angrily.</p> + +<p>“Do not play with me, M. Petrovitch. I know all about your crew. +Explain why you, a Russian subject, should have attacked what you are +pleased to pretend was a Russian ship.”</p> + +<p>“I regret to have to say that your majesty is laboring under a +mistake. I am not a Russian subject.”</p> + +<p>This time the Kaiser was fairly taken aback.</p> + +<p>“What subject are you?”</p> + +<p>“A Japanese.”</p> + +<p>Wilhelm looked thunderstruck.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p><p>“Japanese!” was all he could say.</p> + +<p>“If your majesty pleases. That being so, as soon as I took possession +of the submarine, with your permission, of course it became a +Japanese ship.”</p> + +<p>“What you tell me is monstrous—ridiculous. Your name is Russian, +your face is at least European.”</p> + +<p>“My name, sire, is Matsukata. I received it in Tokio at the +commencement of the war, on being adopted into a Japanese family.</p> + +<p>“If your majesty doubts my statement, I ask to be confronted with the +Japanese Ambassador in Berlin.”</p> + +<p>The Kaiser looked as if he would have liked to doubt it, but found +himself unable to do so.</p> + +<p>“Then on your own showing you are a Japanese spy,” he pronounced +slowly. “As such I am entitled to have you shot.”</p> + +<p>“Pardon me again, sire. In Petersburg I admit, that was my character. +In Germany I have been your majesty’s agent, and have literally +fulfilled your commands.”</p> + +<p>“You are a very acute quibbler, I see,” was the retort, “but quibbles +will not save you. You have stolen one of my ships to sink another +with, and at the very least you deserve to be hanged as a pirate.”</p> + +<p>“I demand to be tried,” I said boldly, knowing that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>this was the one +step to which the Emperor, for his own sake, could not consent.</p> + +<p>As I expected, he frowned uneasily.</p> + +<p>“In this case I must exercise my right of refusing a civil trial, in +the interest of the State. I will give you a court-martial with +closed doors.”</p> + +<p>“That would be illegal, sire.”</p> + +<p>“You dare to tell me so!”</p> + +<p>“Your majesty will find I am right. The case falls within the +Hohenzollern Family Statute.”</p> + +<p>The Kaiser appeared stupefied.</p> + +<p>“The Family Statute?” he repeated slowly, as if unable to believe his +ears. “What has the Statute to do with you?”</p> + +<p>“It is provided in the Statute, if I recollect rightly, sire, that a +member of the Imperial Family can be tried only by his peers, that is +to say, by a court composed of members of your majesty’s House.”</p> + +<p>“Well, and what then?”</p> + +<p>“By another clause in the Statute—I regret that the number has +escaped my memory—the privileges of a Hohenzollern in that respect +are extended to members of other reigning Houses.”</p> + +<p>“What are you going to tell me?” Wilhelm II. demanded in amazement.</p> + +<p>“Only that I have the honor to be the adopted son of his imperial +highness Prince Yorimo, cousin to his majesty the Emperor of Japan.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p><p>The German monarch sat still, unable to parry this unexpected blow.</p> + +<p>“The Japanese Ambassador—” he began to mutter.</p> + +<p>“Will confirm my statement, sire. I have already asked to be +confronted with him. Before going to Kiel, I sent him information of +my plans, so that he is already expecting to hear from me, I have no +doubt.”</p> + +<p>Wilhelm II. saw that he had come to the end of his tether. Lying back +in his chair, he <span style="white-space: nowrap;">ejaculated——</span></p> + +<p>“I believed there was only one man in the two hemispheres who could +do things like this!”</p> + +<p>“I am flattered to think you may be right, sire,” I responded in my +natural voice, with a smile.</p> + +<p>The Emperor bounded from his seat.</p> + +<p>“You—are—Monsieur V——!” he fairly gasped out.</p> + +<p>“I was, sire. Permit me to repeat that I am now called Prince +Matsukata of Japan.”</p> + +<p>Wilhelm II. made an effort, and came out of it with his best manner.</p> + +<p>“Then, in that case, you will stay and lunch with the Empress and +myself, my dear Prince.”</p> + +<p>As soon as the handcuffs had been removed, I told the whole story to +the Kaiser, who was immensely interested, and decidedly touched by +the part which related to the drowned Princess.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p><p>Before leaving the Palace, I asked permission of my imperial host to +make use of his private wire for a message to London, in the interest +of peace.</p> + +<p>Wilhelm II., who began to see that he had been betrayed into going a +little farther than was altogether desirable, consented in the +friendliest spirit, merely stipulating that he should be allowed to +see the message.</p> + +<p>He was rather surprised when he found it was addressed to Lord Bedale +at Buckingham Palace, and comprised a single word, “Elsinore.”</p> + +<p>And so, although some of the newspapers in the two capitals of +England and Russia continued to breathe war for some days longer, I +felt no more anxiety after reading the paragraph which stated that +the British Prime Minister, at the close of the decisive Cabinet +Council, had driven to the Palace to be received in private audience +by her majesty Queen Alexandra.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="EPILOGUE" id="EPILOGUE"></a>EPILOGUE</h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/dca.jpg" title="A" height="70" width="69" alt="A" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">A</span>s I write these lines the war which has cost so many brave lives, +and carried so much desolation through the fields and cities of +Manchuria is still raging.</p> + +<p>The great fleet of Admiral Rojestvensky, from which the stains of the +innocent fisherman’s blood have not yet been washed, is plowing its +way to meet a terrible retribution at the hands of the victorious +Togo.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> A curse is on that fleet, and it may be that the British +Government foresaw that they could punish the crime of the Dogger +Bank more terribly by letting it proceed, than by bringing it into +Portsmouth to await the result of the international trial.</p> + +<p>In the great affairs of nations it is not always wise to exact strict +justice, or to expose the actual truth.</p> + +<p>I, too, am a lover of peace. Not of that hysterical, sentimental +horror of bloodshed which would place a great civilized nation at the +mercy of more barbarous <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>powers, which would stay the wheels of +progress, and be indistinguishable from cowardice in the face of +wrong.</p> + +<p>But I am a friend of the peace which is the natural result of a +better understanding between peoples, of respect for one another’s +character and aims, of a wise recognition of facts, and an honorable +determination not to play the part of the aggressor.</p> + +<p>It is in the hope of promoting such a peace on earth, and such +good-will toward men, that I have allowed myself to publish the +foregoing narrative.</p> + +<p>In order to soften the character of this revelation I have endeavored +to impart to it a character of romance.</p> + +<p>So far as my abilities extend, I have sought to give the reader the +impression that he has been reading an allegory rather than a dry, +business record. I have tried to cover certain incidents with a +discreet veil. I have as much as possible refrained from using real +names.</p> + +<p>I trust that my narration will be accepted in the spirit in which it +has been written and that no reader will allow his feelings of +curiosity to lead him into going further, or raising questions which +it might be indiscreet on my part to answer.</p> + +<p>But there is one part of the story to which the foregoing remarks do +not apply.</p> + +<p>Whatever else be mythical, there is nothing mythical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> about the +bright figure whose portrait has accompanied me through so many +perils. There is a home for me in far-off Tokio, and when the +blood-begrimed battalions of Asia sheathe their swords, I shall go +thither to claim my reward.</p> + +<h3>THE END</h3> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox2"> +<h2>POPULAR AND ATTRACTIVE<br /> +CLOTH BOUND BOOKS</h2> + +<p>Printed on superior paper; clear type; multi-color jackets. A +carefully selected list of titles of the World’s Best Authors; +embracing absorbing love stories, baffling detective and mystery +stories, and the most fascinating romantic stories of the West. Many +of them have been dramatized and filmed—you will enjoy reading every +title on this list:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="FIRSTADBOOKSLIST"> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Ball, Eustace Hale</b></td> +<td align="left"><b>Marshall, Edward</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Traffic In Souls</span></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">In Old Kentucky</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Barrett, Alfred Wilson</b></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Bat</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Silver King</span></td> +<td align="left"><b>Raleigh, Cecil</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Dane, John Collin</b></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Sins of Society</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Champion</span></td> +<td align="left"><b>Roberts, Theodore Goodrich</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Drummond, A. L.</b></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brothers in Peril</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">True Detective Stories</span></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Captain Love</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Ferguson, W. B. M.</b></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cavalier of Virginia</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">A Man’s Code</span></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Wasp</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Gallon, Tom</b></td> +<td align="left"><b>Scarborough, George</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Rogue’s Heiress</span></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Lure</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Harding, John W.</b></td> +<td align="left"><b>Sinclair, Bertrand W.</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Chorus Lady</span></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Land of the Frozen Suns</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Heyn, Cutliffe</b></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raw Gold</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adventures of Captain Kettle</span></td> +<td align="left"><b>Sutton, Margaret Doris</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Kent, Oliver</b></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goddess of The Dawn</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her Heart’s Gift</span></td> +<td align="left"><b>Upward, Allen</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Lewis, Alfred Henry</b></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The International Spy</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Apaches of New York</span></td> +<td align="left"><b>Varnardy, Varick</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><b>Macvane, Edith</b></td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Return of The Night Wind</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Thoroughbred</span></td> +<td align="left"><b>Way, L. N.</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td> +<td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Call of The Heart</span></td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<p>You have enjoyed this book—Read every title listed above—you may +procure them at the store where this book was purchased at the same +price per copy, or sent postpaid to any address for 75c per volume by +the Publishers.</p> + +<p class="center adfont">M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="FIRSTAD"> +<tr><td align="left" style="width: 50%;">701-733 S. DEARBORN STREET</td> +<td align="center" style="width: 15%;">::</td> +<td align="right" style="width: 35%;">CHICAGO</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox2"> +<p class="center adfont3">FAMOUS BOOKS IN REBOUND EDITIONS</p> + +<h3>HEIDI</h3> + +<h4>A Child’s Story of Life in the Alps</h4> + +<h4>By Johanna Spyri</h4> + +<p class="center">395 pages—illustrated. Printed from new plates; neatly bound in<br /> +cloth.</p> + +<h3>PINOCCHIO</h3> + +<h4>A Tale of a Puppet—By C. Collodi</h4> + +<p>Printed from new plates on a good grade of paper; neatly bound +in cloth; illustrated.</p> + +<h3>ELSIE DINSMORE</h3> + +<h4>By Martha Finley</h4> + +<p>Beautiful edition of this popular book. Printed from new plates, +covers stamped in four colors from original design.</p> + +<h3>BROWNIES AND OTHER STORIES</h3> + +<h4>Illustrated by Palmer Cox</h4> + +<p>320 pages and containing an illustration on nearly every page, +printed from new plates from large, clear type, substantially bound +in cloth.</p> + +<h3>HELEN’S BABIES</h3> + +<h4>By John Habberton</h4> + +<p>This amusing and entertaining book, printed from new plates, +cloth binding.</p> + +<h3>HANS BRINKER; or, The Silver Skates</h3> + +<h4>By Mary Mapes Dodge</h4> + +<p>A popular edition of this well-known story of life in Holland.</p> + +<h3>RAINY DAY DIVERSIONS</h3> + +<h4>By Carolyn Wells</h4> + +<h3>PLEASANT DAY DIVERSIONS</h3> + +<h4>By Carolyn Wells</h4> + +<p>Printed on a good grade of paper from new plates, bound in a +superior grade book binders’ cloth. These volumes have never +before been offered for less than $1.25; for sale now at the special +price of 75 cents each.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 75c</p> + +<p class="center adfont">M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="BOYSHOWTOAD"> +<tr><td align="left">701-733 So. Dearborn Street,</td> +<td align="right">Chicago</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox3"> +<h3>ALWAYS <i>ASK FOR THE</i> DONOHUE</h3> +<h5>COMPLETE EDITIONS—THE BEST FOR LEAST MONEY</h5></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox3"> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="SOUTHWORTHBOOKS"> + +<tr><td align="right"><i>BOOKS</i><br /> +<i>BY</i></td> +<td align="left" style="font-size: 18pt"> +MRS. E. D. E. N.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><span class="adfont2 smcap"><span style="font-size: 160%; font-weight: bold;">Southworth</span></span></td></tr></table></div> + +<p class=" adfont2"></p> + +<p class="center">AN ATTRACTIVE LIST OF THE<br /> +WORKS OF THIS POPULAR AUTHOR</p> + +<p class="double"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he first eighteen titles with brackets are books +with sequels, “Victor’s Triumph,” being a sequel +to “Beautiful Fiend.” etc. They are all printed +from large, clear type on a superior quality of flexible +paper and bound in English vellum cloth, assorted colors, +containing charming female heads lithographed in +twelve colors, as inlays; the titles being stamped in +harmonizing colors of ink or foil. Cloth, 12mo size.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="SOUTHWORTHBOOKS"> + +<tr><td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 24pt" rowspan="2"> + {</td> +<td><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">1 Beautiful Fiend, A</span></td> +<td>24 Curse of Clifton</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">2 Victor’s Triumph</span></td> +<td>25 Deserted Wife, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 24pt" rowspan="2"> + {</td> +<td><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">3 Bride’s Fate</span></td> +<td>26 Discarded Daughter, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">4 Changed Brides</span></td> +<td>27 Doom of Deville, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 24pt" rowspan="2"> + {</td> +<td><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">5 Cruel as the Grave</span></td> +<td>28 Eudora</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">6 Tried for Her Life</span></td> +<td>29 Fatal Secret, A</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 24pt" rowspan="2"> + {</td> +<td><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">7 Fair Play</span></td> +<td>30 Fortune Seeker</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">8 How He Won Her</span></td> +<td>31 Gypsy’s Prophecy</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 24pt" rowspan="2"> + {</td> +<td><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">9 Family Doom</span></td> +<td>32 Haunted Homestead</td></tr> + +<tr><td>10 Maiden Widow</td> +<td>33 India; or, The Pearl on Pearl River</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 24pt" rowspan="2"> + {</td> +<td>11 Hidden Hand, The</td> +<td>34 Lady of the Isle, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td>12 Capitola’s Peril</td> +<td>35 Lost Heiress, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 24pt" rowspan="2"> + {</td> +<td>13 Ishmael</td> +<td>36 Love’s Labor Won</td></tr> + +<tr><td>14 Self Raised</td> +<td>37 Missing Bride, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 24pt" rowspan="2"> + {</td> +<td>15 Lost Heir of Linlithgow</td> +<td>38 Mother-in-Law</td></tr> + +<tr><td>16 Noble Lord, A</td> +<td>39 Prince of Darkness, and Artist’s Love</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 24pt" rowspan="2"> + {</td> +<td>17 Unknown</td> +<td>40 Retribution</td></tr> + +<tr><td>18 Mystery of Raven Rocks</td> +<td>41 Three Beauties, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td> +<td>19 Bridal Eve, The</td> +<td>42 Three Sisters, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td> +<td>20 Bride’s Dowry, The</td> +<td>43 Two Sisters, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td> +<td>21 Bride of Llewellyn, The</td> +<td>44 Vivian</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td> +<td>22 Broken Engagement, The</td> +<td>45 Widow’s Son</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td> +<td>23 Christmas Guest, The</td> +<td>46 Wife’s Victory</td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<p>All of the above books may be had at the store where this book was +bought, or will be sent postpaid at 75c each by the publishers.</p> + +<p class="center adfont">M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="BOYSHOWTOAD"> +<tr><td align="left">701-727 So. Dearborn Street,</td> +<td align="right">CHICAGO</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox2"> +<h3>THE “HOW-TO-DO-IT” BOOKS</h3> + +<p class="center">By J. S. ZERBE</p> + +<h2>Carpentry for Boys</h2> + +<p>A book which treats, in a most practical and fascinating manner all +subjects pertaining to the “King of Trades”; showing the care and use +of tools; drawing; designing, and the laying out of work; the +principles involved in the building of various kinds of structures, +and the rudiments of architecture. It contains over two hundred and +fifty illustrations made especially for this work, and includes also +a complete glossary of the technical terms used in the art. The most +comprehensive volume on this subject ever published for boys.</p> + +<h2>Electricity for Boys</h2> + +<p>The author has adopted the unique plan of setting forth the +fundamental principles in each phase of the science, and practically +applying the work in the successive stages. It shows how the +knowledge has been developed, and the reasons for the various +phenomena, without using technical words so as to bring it within the +compass of every boy. It has a complete glossary of terms, and is +illustrated with two hundred original drawings.</p> + +<h2>Practical Mechanics for Boys</h2> + +<p>This book takes the beginner through a comprehensive series of +practical shop work, in which the uses of tools, and the structure +and handling of shop machinery are set forth; how they are utilized +to perform the work, and the manner in which all dimensional work is +carried out. Every subject is illustrated, and model building +explained. It contains a glossary which comprises a new system of +cross references, a feature that will prove a welcome departure in +explaining subjects. Fully illustrated.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>12mo, cloth. Price $1.00 each.</i></p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p class="center"><i>For sale by all Booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of $1.00.</i></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center adfont">M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="BOYSHOWTOAD"> +<tr><td align="left" style="width: 50%;">711 S. DEARBORN STREET</td> +<td align="center" style="width: 15%;">::</td> +<td align="right" style="width: 35%;">CHICAGO</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox2"> +<h2>GIRLS’ LIBERTY SERIES</h2> + +<p>Contains an assortment of attractive and desirable books for +girls by standard and favorite authors. The books are printed +on a good quality of paper in large clear type. Each title is +complete and unabridged. Bound in clothene, ornamented on +the sides and back with attractive illustrative designs and the +title stamped on front and back.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>12mo, clothene. Price 50c each.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="LIBERTYLIST"> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1. Camp Fire Girls on a Long Hike, or,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Lost in the Great Northern Woods</span></td> +<td align="right">Stella M. Francis</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2. Daddy’s Girl</span></td> +<td align="right">Mrs. L. T. Meade</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3. Ethel Hollister’s First Summer as</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">a Camp Fire Girl</span></td> +<td align="right">Irene Elliott Benson</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4. Ethel Hollister’s Second Summer</span></td> +<td align="right">Irene Elliott Benson</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">5. Flat Iron for a Farthing</span></td> +<td align="right">Mrs. Ewing</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6. Four Little Mischiefs</span></td> +<td align="right">Rose Mulholland</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">7. Girls and I</span></td> +<td align="right">Mrs. Molesworth</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">8. Girl from America</span></td> +<td align="right">Mrs. L. T. Meade</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">9. Grandmother Dear</span></td> +<td align="right">Mrs. Molesworth</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">10. Irvington Stories</td> +<td align="right">Mary Mapes Dodge</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">11. Little Lame Prince</td> +<td align="right">Mrs. Muloch</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">12. Little Susie Stories</td> +<td align="right">Mrs. H. Prentiss</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">13. Mrs. Over the Way</td> +<td align="right">Julianna Horatio Ewing</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">14. Naughty Miss Bunny</td> +<td align="right">Rose Mulholland</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">15. Sweet Girl Graduate</td> +<td align="right">Mrs. L. T. Meade</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">16. School Queens</td> +<td align="right">Mrs. L. T. Meade</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">17. Sue, A Little Heroine</td> +<td align="right">Mrs. L. T. Meade</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">18. Wild Kitty</td> +<td align="right">Mrs. L. T. Meade</td></tr></table></div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p class="center"><i>For sale by all Booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 50c</i></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center adfont">M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="MEADEAD"> +<tr><td align="left" style="width: 50%;">711 S. DEARBORN STREET</td> +<td align="center" style="width: 15%;">::</td> +<td align="right" style="width: 35%;">CHICAGO</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox3"> +<h3>ALWAYS <i>ASK FOR THE</i> DONOHUE</h3> +<h5>COMPLETE EDITIONS—THE BEST FOR LEAST MONEY</h5></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox3"> +<p class="center adfont2">Mrs. L. T. Meade<br /> +<i>====SERIES====</i></p> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/adsdca.jpg" title="T" height="55" width="48" alt="A" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">A</span>n excellent edition of the works of this very popular author of +books for girls. Printed from large type on an extra quality of +paper, cover design stamped in three colors, large side title +letterings, each book in glazed paper printed wrapper. Each book with +a beautiful colored frontispiece. Printed wrapper, 12 mo, cloth.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="MEADELIST"> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">1 Bad Little Hannah</span></td> +<td align="left">18 Little Mother to Others</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">2 Bunch of Cherries, A</span></td> +<td align="left">20 Merry Girls of England</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">4 Children’s Pilgrimage</span></td> +<td align="left">21 Miss Nonentity</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">5 Daddy’s Girl</span></td> +<td align="left">22 Modern Tomboy, A</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">6 Deb and the Duchess</span></td> +<td align="left">23 Out of Fashion</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">7 Francis Kane’s Fortune</span></td> +<td align="left">24 Palace Beautiful</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">8 Gay Charmer, A</span></td> +<td align="left">25 Polly, A New-Fashioned Girl</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">9 Girl of the People, A</span></td> +<td align="left">26 Rebels of the School</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">10 Girl in Ten Thousand, A</td> +<td align="left">27 School Favorite</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">11 Girls of St. Wodes, The</td> +<td align="left">28 Sweet Girl Graduate, A</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">12 Girls of the True Blue</td> +<td align="left">29 Time of Roses, The</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">13 Good Luck</td> +<td align="left">30 Very Naughty Girl, A</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">14 Heart of Gold, The</td> +<td align="left">31 Wild Kitty</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">15 Honorable Miss, The</td> +<td align="left">32 World of Girls</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">17 Light of the Morning</td> +<td align="left">33 Young Mutineer, The</td></tr></table></div> + +<p>All of the above books may be had at the store where this book was +bought, or will be sent postage prepaid to any address at 75c by the +publishers</p> + +<p class="center adfont">M. A. Donohue & Co.,</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="MEADEAD"> +<tr><td align="left">701-727 South Dearborn St.,</td> +<td align="right">CHICAGO</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox2"> +<h2>THE BOYS’ ELITE SERIES</h2> + +<p class="center"><i>12mo, cloth. Price 75c each.</i></p> + +<p>Contains an attractive assortment of books for boys by standard and +favorite authors. Printed from large, clear type on a superior +quality of paper, bound in a superior quality of binders’ cloth, +ornamented with illustrated original designs on covers stamped in +colors from unique and appropriate dies. Each book wrapped in +attractive jacket.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="BOYSLIST"> + +<tr><td align="left">1. Cudjo’s Cave</td> +<td align="right">Trowbridge</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">2. Green Mountain Boys</td> +<td align="right"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">3. Life of Kit Carson</td> +<td align="right">Edward L. Ellis</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">4. Tom Westlake’s Golden Luck</td> +<td align="right">Perry Newberry</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">5. Tony Keating’s Surprises</td> +<td align="right">Mrs. G. R. Alden (Pansy)</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">6. Tour of the World in 80 Days</td> +<td align="right">Jules Verne</td></tr></table></div> + +<h2>THE GIRLS’ ELITE SERIES</h2> + +<p class="center"><i>12mo, cloth. Price 75c each.</i></p> + +<p>Contains an assortment of attractive and desirable books for girls by +standard and favorite authors. The books are printed on a good +quality of paper in large clear type. Each title is complete and +unabridged. Bound in clothene, ornamented on the sides and back with +attractive illustrative designs and the title stamped on front and +back.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="GIRLSLIST"> + +<tr><td align="left">1. Bee and the Butterfly</td> +<td align="right">Lucy Foster Madison</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">2. Dixie School Girl</td> +<td align="right">Gabrielle E. Jackson</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">3. Girls of Mount Morris</td> +<td align="right">Amanda Douglas</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">4. Hope’s Messenger</td> +<td align="right">Gabrielle E. Jackson</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">5. The Little Aunt</td> +<td align="right">Marion Ames Taggart</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">6. A Modern Cinderella</td> +<td align="right">Amanda Douglas</td></tr></table></div> + +<p class="center"><i>For sale by all Booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 75c</i></p> + +<p class="center adfont">M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="BOYSELITEAD"> +<tr><td align="left" style="width: 50%;">711 S. DEARBORN STREET</td> +<td align="center" style="width: 15%;">::</td> +<td align="right" style="width: 35%;">CHICAGO</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox3"> +<h3>ALWAYS <i>ASK FOR THE</i> DONOHUE</h3> +<h5>Complete Editions and you will get the best for the least money</h5></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox3"> + +<h2>THERE IS MONEY<br /> +IN POULTRY</h2> + +<h3>AMERICAN STANDARD PERFECTION<br /> +POULTRY BOOK, <i>By</i> I. K. FELCH.</h3> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="BOYSELITEAD"> + +<tr><td align="left"><div class="figleft" style="width: 68px;"> +<img src="images/adsbookimage1.jpg" class="jpg" width="68" height="100" alt="Poultry Culture." title="" /> +</div></td> +<td> </td> +<td><div class="figleft"><img src="images/adsdcy2.jpg" title="Y" height="50" width="45" alt="Y" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">Y</span>ET many old-fashion farmers are inclined to discredit the statement. +Why? Because they are not up to the new and improved ideas in poultry +management. A little trial of the rules laid down in these books will +soon dispel all misgivings in this direction and tend to convince the +most skeptical that there is money in poultry-keeping. It contains a +complete description of all the varieties of fowls, including +turkeys, ducks and geese.</p></td></tr></table></div> + +<p>This book contains double the number of illustrations found +in any similar work. It is the best and cheapest poultry +book on the market Paper covers, 25c. Cloth, prepaid, <b>50c</b></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h4>POULTRY CULTURE</h4> + +<h5><i>By</i> I. K. FELCH</h5> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 71px;"> +<img src="images/adsbookimage2.jpg" class="jpg" width="71" height="100" alt="Poultry Culture." title="" /> +</div> + +<p>How to raise, manage, mate and judge thoroughbred fowls, by I. K. +Felch, the acknowledged authority on poultry matters. Thorough, +comprehensive and complete treatise on all kinds of poultry. Cloth, +438 pages, large 12mo, and over 70 full-page and other illustrations. +Printed from clear type on good paper, stamped on side and back from +ornate, appropriate designs.</p> + +<p class="right">Price, prepaid, <b>$1.00</b></p> + +<p>For sale by all book and newsdealers, or will send to any +address in the United States, Canada or Mexico, postage +prepaid, on receipt of price, in currency, money order or +stamps.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="POULTRYADBOTTOM"> + +<tr><td align="center" rowspan="2"><span style="font-size: 160%; font-weight: bold;">M. A. DONOHUE & CO.</span></td> +<td align="right">701-727 S. DEARBORN</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">STREET :: CHICAGO</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox2"> +<h2><span class="u">OUR YOUNG FOLKS’<br /> +ILLUSTRATED BOOKS</span></h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>his series contains those books for young folks that are without +question conceded to be the most popular of this class. Each title +has a distinctive cover design. Each volume contains twenty to sixty +illustrations.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>The following books are ready for delivery</i>:</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 7em;">Andersen’s Fairy Tales</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Alice in Wonderland</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Arabian Nights</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Black Beauty</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Mother Goose</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Pilgrim’s Progress</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Rip Van Winkle</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Robinson Crusoe</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Story of the Bible</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Wood’s Natural History</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Through the Looking Glass</span></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center"><i>Sent postpaid at twenty cents each or six for one dollar.</i></p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center adfont">M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</p> +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="YOUNGFOLKSAD"> +<tr><td align="left" style="width: 50%;">711 S. DEARBORN STREET</td> +<td align="center" style="width: 15%;">::</td> +<td align="right" style="width: 35%;">CHICAGO</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox3"> +<h3>ALWAYS <i>ASK FOR THE</i> DONOHUE</h3> +<h5>Complete Editions and you will get the best for the least money</h5></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox3"> + +<h3><i>SELECTED WORKS OF</i></h3> + +<h2>EUGENE FIELD</h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 67px;"> +<img src="images/adsbookimage3.jpg" class="jpg" width="61" height="100" alt="IN WINK-A-WAY LAND." title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span> very attractive selection of popular books by this favorite and +gifted author. Each book contains a carefully selected and classified +list of poems that have endeared the author to millions and given him +a place among the immortals. These books should be in every library, +both public and private.</p> + +<p class="center">In Four Volumes. Boxed. Cloth Binding.</p> + +<p class="center">Price, <b>$3.00</b> per set.</p> + +<p class="center">Single Volumes <b>75c</b> each, postpaid.</p> + +<h4>IN WINK-A-WAY LAND</h4> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:30px;line-height:20px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he contents of this volume is especially selected and arranged for +the little folks. All are suitable for use in school exercises and on +“Eugene Field Day.”</p> + +<h4>HOOSIER LYRICS</h4> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:30px;line-height:20px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>his is a series of pathetic, amusing and entertaining poems rendered +in Indiana dialect on notable Hoosier scenes with parodies on poems +by James Whitcomb Riley.</p> + +<h4>JOHN SMITH, U. S. A.</h4> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:30px;line-height:20px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he romantic story of John Smith, also includes many other poems, all +of which afford suitable material for “Field Readings” and general +school and church entertainments.</p> + +<h4>THE CLINK OF THE ICE and other poems</h4> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">E</span>dition containing portraits and autographs. Stories of inimitable +wit and humor with lullabies and sketches of every day scenes that +made Eugene Field famous. All worth while.</p> + +<p>Printed from new plates on good paper, uniformly and neatly bound in +cloth; gold titles on front and back.</p> + +<p>For sale by all book and newsdealers or sent postpaid to any address +upon receipt of price in stamps, currency, postal or express money +order, by the publishers.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="FIELDSADBOTTOM"> + +<tr><td align="center" rowspan="2"><span style="font-size: 160%; font-weight: bold;">M. A. DONOHUE & CO.</span></td> +<td align="right">701-727 S. Dearborn St.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center">Chicago</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>BOYS’ COPYRIGHTED BOOKS</h2> + +<div class="centerbox bbox2"> +<p>Printed from large, clear type on a superior quality of paper, +embellished with original illustrations by eminent artists, and bound +in a superior quality of book binders’ cloth, ornamented with +illustrated covers, stamped in colors from unique and appropriate +dies, each book wrapped in a glazed paper wrapper printed in colors.</p> + +<h3>MOTOR BOAT BOYS SERIES</h3> + +<p class="center">By Louis Arundel</p> + +<p>1.—The Motor Club’s Cruise Down the Mississippi; or, The<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Dash for Dixie.</span><br /> +<br /> +2.—The Motor Club on the St. Lawrence River; or, Adventures<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Among the Thousand Islands.</span><br /> +<br /> +3.—The Motor Club on the Great Lakes; or, Exploring the Mystic<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Isle of Mackinac.</span><br /> +<br /> +4.—Motor Boat Boys Among the Florida Keys; or, The Struggle<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">for the Leadership.</span><br /> +<br /> +5.—Motor Boat Boys Down the Coast; or, Through Storm and<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Stress.</span><br /> +<br /> +6.—Motor Boat Boys’ River Chase.</p> + +<h3>THE BIRD BOYS SERIES</h3> + +<p class="center">By John Luther Langworthy</p> + +<p>1.—The Bird Boys; or, The Young Sky Pilots’ First Air Voyage.<br /> +<br /> +2.—The Bird Boys on the Wing; or, Aeroplane Chums in the<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Tropics.</span><br /> +<br /> +3.—The Bird Boys Among the Clouds; or, Young Aviators in a<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Wreck.</span><br /> +<br /> +4.—Bird Boys’ Flight; or, A Hydroplane Round-up.<br /> +<br /> +5.—Bird Boys’ Aeroplane Wonder; or, Young Aviators on a<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Cattle Ranch.</span></p> + +<h3>CANOE AND CAMPFIRE SERIES</h3> + +<p class="center">By St. George Rathborne</p> + +<p>1.—Canoe Mates in Canada; or, Three Boys Afloat on the<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Saskatchewan.</span><br /> +<br /> +2.—Young Fur Takers; or, Traps and Trails in the Wilderness.<br /> +<br /> +3.—The House Boat Boys; or, Drifting Down to the Sunny South.<br /> +<br /> +4.—Chums in Dixie; or, The Strange Cruise in the Motor Boat.<br /> +<br /> +5.—Camp Mates in Michigan; or, With Pack and Paddle in the<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Pine Woods.</span><br /> +<br /> +6.—Rocky Mountain Boys; or, Camping in the Big Game<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Country.</span></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p>For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 75c</p> + +<p class="center adfont">M. A. DONOHUE & CO.</p> +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="DOWNSAD"> +<tr><td align="left">701-733 So. Dearborn Street,</td> +<td align="right">Chicago</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox2"> +<h4>By</h4> + +<h2>Mrs. George Sheldon Downs</h2> + +<p class="adfont">Katherine’s Sheaves</p> + +<p class="center">A Great Novel With a Great Purpose</p> + +<p>Katherine’s Sheaves is altogether delightful, a charming piece of +fiction, a beautiful romance. One must admire the book for its +characterization, its brilliant pictures of life, and its dramatic +situations, but still more for its philosophy and wisdom.</p> + +<p>The story is a dramatic one, abounding in strong situations.</p> + +<p>The plot is well conceived and carried out, the style easy and the +characters likable.</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, Cloth, Illustrated. Popular Edition,</p> + +<p class="adfont">Step by Step</p> + +<p>Judged as a story pure and simple, “STEP BY STEP” is altogether +delightful. But it is not merely a charming piece of fiction. Ethical +in its nature, the underlying thought shows throughout the lofty +purpose and high ideals of the author, and exhales a wholesome +atmosphere, while the element of romance pervading it is both +elevated and enriched by its purity and simplicity.</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, Cloth, Illustrated. Popular Edition,</p> + +<p class="adfont">Gertrude Elliot’s Crucible</p> + +<p>It is a readable story, clean, wholesome, and high in moral +tone—optimistic and constructive.</p> + +<p>It has an alluring plot, and is well and skillfully worked out. The +incidents are dramatic, and therefore always striking, and the entire +romance will hold the attention of the reader.</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, Cloth, Illustrated. Popular Edition,</p> + +<p class="adfont">Redeemed</p> + +<p>Dealing with divorce—the most vital problem in the world +to-day—this book tells how a pure-minded woman is divorced from her +husband, upon a flimsy pretext, because he wishes to marry again. How +he suffers when he learns that he has thrown away the true +disinterested love of a noble woman, and how he craves that love +again, makes a vivid, forceful story of an intensely modern +significance.</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, Cloth, Illustrated. Popular Edition,</p> + +<p class="center">For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of<br /> +$1.00</p> + +<p class="center">M. A. DONOHUE & CO.</p> +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="DOWNSAD"> +<tr><td align="left">701-733 So. Dearborn Street,</td> +<td align="right">Chicago</td></tr></table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox2"> +<h2>The American Boy’s<br /> +Sports Series</h2> + +<h3>BY MARK OVERTON</h3> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="AMERICANBOYSAD"> +<tr><td align="left">12 Mo, Cloth.</td> +<td align="center">Illustrated.</td> +<td align="right">Price 60c Each.</td></tr></table></div> + +<div class="double"> </div> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/adsdct.jpg" title="T" height="55" width="48" alt="T" /></div> +<p><span class="cap">T</span>hese stories touch upon nearly every sport in which the active boy +is interested. Baseball, rowing, football, hockey, skating, +ice-boating, sailing, camping and fishing all serve to lend interest +to an unusual series of books. There are the following four titles:</p> + +<p><b>1. Jack Winters’ Baseball Team; or, The</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><b>Mystery of the Diamond.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<b>2. Jack Winters’ Campmates; or, Vacation</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><b>Days in the Woods.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<b>3. Jack Winters’ Gridiron Chums; or, When</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><b>the Half-back Saved the Day.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<b>4. Jack Winters’ Iceboat Wonder; or, Leading</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><b>the Hockey Team to Victory.</b></span></p> + +<div class="double"> </div> + +<h2>M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</h2> + +<h3>CHICAGO</h3></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h3><span class="smcap">Footnotes:</span></h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> The author desires to state that this history should be +read as a work of imagination simply, and not as authentic.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> A silver mark is about twenty cents of our money.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> These words, which have been proven prophetic, were +written last March, when Admiral Rojestvensky’s fleet was still a +very formidable fact to be reckoned with.—<span class="smcap">Editor.</span></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Note:</span></h3> + +<p>Minor changes have been made to correct typesetter errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the author’s words and +intent.</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30482 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30482-h/images/adsbookimage1.jpg b/30482-h/images/adsbookimage1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d59132 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/adsbookimage1.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/adsbookimage2.jpg b/30482-h/images/adsbookimage2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..89ac517 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/adsbookimage2.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/adsbookimage3.jpg b/30482-h/images/adsbookimage3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..552a60a --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/adsbookimage3.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/adsdca.jpg b/30482-h/images/adsdca.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0539a39 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/adsdca.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/adsdct.jpg b/30482-h/images/adsdct.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5181671 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/adsdct.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/adsdcy2.jpg b/30482-h/images/adsdcy2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..34747c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/adsdcy2.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dca.jpg b/30482-h/images/dca.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f6952a --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dca.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dcb.jpg b/30482-h/images/dcb.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..83f4304 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dcb.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dcc.jpg b/30482-h/images/dcc.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..33afbcd --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dcc.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dcf.jpg b/30482-h/images/dcf.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4c48af --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dcf.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dch.jpg b/30482-h/images/dch.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6035441 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dch.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dci.jpg b/30482-h/images/dci.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4708b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dci.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dcl.jpg b/30482-h/images/dcl.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe527dc --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dcl.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dcm.jpg b/30482-h/images/dcm.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0dfb18 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dcm.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dcn.jpg b/30482-h/images/dcn.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f67822 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dcn.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dcr.jpg b/30482-h/images/dcr.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b6d130 --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dcr.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dct.jpg b/30482-h/images/dct.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4e799b --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dct.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/dcw.jpg b/30482-h/images/dcw.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f58ca2e --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/dcw.jpg diff --git a/30482-h/images/ititle.jpg b/30482-h/images/ititle.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d825d8a --- /dev/null +++ b/30482-h/images/ititle.jpg |
