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diff --git a/old/2004-01-rbalt10h.htm b/old/2004-01-rbalt10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb95039 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2004-01-rbalt10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7262 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>A Rock in the Baltic</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {margin:10%; text-align:justify} +blockquote {font-size:14pt} +P {font-size:14pt} +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + + +<pre>The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Rock in the Baltic, by Robert Barr + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: A Rock in the Baltic + +Author: Robert Barr + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4982] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 7, 2002] +[Date last updated: November 14, 2004] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +</pre> + + +<h1>A Rock in the Baltic</h1> +<h2>by Robert Barr, 1906</h2> + <HR> +<h3>CHAPTER I</h3> +<h4>THE INCIDENT AT THE BANK</h4> +<P> +IN the public room of the Sixth National Bank at Bar Harbor in Maine, Lieutenant +Alan Drummond, H.M.S. "Consternation," stood aside to give precedence to +a lady. The Lieutenant had visited the bank for the purpose of changing several +crisp white Bank of England notes into the currency of the country he was +then visiting. The lady did not appear to notice either his courtesy or his +presence, and this was the more remarkable since Drummond was a young man +sufficiently conspicuous even in a crowd, and he and she were, at that moment, +the only customers in the bank. He was tall, well-knit and stalwart, blond +as a Scandinavian, with dark blue eyes which he sometimes said jocularly +were the colors of his university. He had been slowly approaching the cashier's +window with the easy movement of a man never in a hurry, when the girl appeared +at the door, and advanced rapidly to the bank counter with its brass wire +screen surrounding the arched aperture behind which stood the cashier. Although +very plainly attired, her gown nevertheless possessed a charm of simplicity +that almost suggested complex Paris, and she wore it with that air of distinction +the secret of which is supposed to be the exclusive property of French and +American women. +<P> +The young man saw nothing of this, and although he appreciated the beauty +of the girl, what struck him at that instant was the expression of anxiety +on her face, whose apparently temporary pallor was accentuated by an abundance +of dark hair. It seemed to him that she had resolutely set herself a task +which she was most reluctant to perform. From the moment she entered the +door her large, dark eyes were fixed almost appealingly on the cashier, and +they beheld nothing else. Drummond, mentally slow as he usually was, came +to the quick conclusion that this was a supreme moment in her life, on which +perhaps great issues depended. He saw her left hand grasp the corner of the +ledge in front of the cashier with a grip of nervous tension, as if the support +thus attained was necessary to her. Her right hand trembled slightly as she +passed an oblong slip of paper through the aperture to the calm and indifferent +official. +<P> +"Will you give me the money for this check?" she asked in a low voice. +<P> +The cashier scrutinized the document for some time in silence. The signature +appeared unfamiliar to him. +<P> +"One moment, madam," he said quietly, and retired to a desk in the back part +of the bank, where he opened a huge book, turned over some leaves rapidly, +and ran his finger down a page. His dilatory action seemed to increase the +young woman's panic. Her pallor increased, and she swayed slightly, as if +in danger of falling, but brought her right hand to the assistance of the +left, and so steadied herself against the ledge of the cashier's counter. +<P> +"By Jove!" said the Lieutenant to himself, "there's something wrong here. +I wonder what it is. Such a pretty girl, too!" +<P> +The cashier behind his screen saw nothing of this play of the emotions. He +returned nonchalantly to his station, and asked, in commonplace tones: +<P> +"How will you have the money, madam?" +<P> +"Gold, if you please," she replied almost in a whisper, a rosy flush chasing +the whiteness from her face, while a deep sigh marked the passing of a crisis. +<P> +At this juncture an extraordinary thing happened. The cashier counted out +some golden coins, and passed them through the aperture toward their new +owner. +<P> +"Thank you," said the girl. Then, without touching the money, she turned +like one hypnotized, her unseeing eyes still taking no heed of the big +Lieutenant, and passed rapidly out of the bank, The cashier paid no regard +to this abandonment of treasure. He was writing some hieroglyphics on the +cashed check. +<P> +"By Jove!" gasped the Lieutenant aloud, springing forward as he spoke, sweeping +the coins into his hand, and bolting for the door. This was an action which +would have awakened the most negligent cashier had he been in a trance. +Automatically he whisked out a revolver which lay in an open drawer under +his hand. +<P> +"Stop, you scoundrel, or I fire!" he shouted, but the Lieutenant had already +disappeared. Quick as thought the cashier darted into the passage, and without +waiting to unfasten the low door which separated the public and private rooms +of the bank, leaped over it, and, bareheaded, gave chase. A British naval +officer in uniform, rapidly overtaking a young woman, quite unconscious of +his approach, followed by an excited, bareheaded man with a revolver in his +grasp, was a sight which would quickly have collected a crowd almost anywhere, +but it happened to be the lunch hour, and the inhabitants of that famous +summer resort were in-doors; thus, fortunately, the street was deserted. +The naval officer was there because the hour of the midday meal on board +the cruiser did not coincide with lunch time on shore. The girl was there +because it happened to be the only portion of the day when she could withdraw +unobserved from the house in which she lived, during banking hours, to try +her little agitating financial experiment. The cashier was there because +the bank had no lunch hour, and because he had just witnessed the most suspicious +circumstance that his constantly alert eye had ever beheld. Calm and +imperturbable as a bank cashier may appear to the outside public, he is a +man under constant strain during business hours. Each person with whom he +is unacquainted that confronts him at his post is a possible robber who at +any moment may attempt, either by violence or chicanery, to filch the treasure +he guards. The happening of any event outside the usual routine at once arouses +a cashier's distrust, and this sudden flight of a stranger with money which +did not belong to him quite justified the perturbation of the cashier. From +that point onward, innocence of conduct or explanation so explicit as to +satisfy any ordinary man, becomes evidence of more subtle guilt to the mind +of a bank official. The ordinary citizen, seeing the Lieutenant finally overtake +and accost the hurrying girl, raise his cap, then pour into her outstretched +hand the gold he had taken, would have known at once that here was an every-day +exercise of natural politeness. Not so the cashier. The farther he got from +the bank, the more poignantly did he realize that these two in front, both +strangers to him, had, by their combined action, lured him, pistol and all, +away from his post during the dullest hour of the day. It was not the decamping +with those few pieces of gold which now troubled him: it was fear of what +might be going on behind him. He was positive that these two had acted in +conjunction. The uniform worn by the man did not impose upon him. Any thief +could easily come by a uniform, and, as his mind glanced rapidly backwards +over the various points of the scheme, he saw how effectual the plan was: +first, the incredible remissness of the woman in leaving her gold on the +counter; second, the impetuous disappearance of the man with the money; and, +third, his own heedless plunge into the street after them. He saw the whole +plot in a flash: he had literally leaped into the trap, and during his five +or ten minutes' absence, the accomplices of the pair might have overawed +the unarmed clerks, and walked off with the treasure. His cash drawer was +unlocked, and even the big safe stood wide open. Surprise had as effectually +lured him away as if he had been a country bumpkin. Bitterly and breathlessly +did he curse his own precipitancy. His duty was to guard the bank, yet it +had not been the bank that was robbed, but, at best a careless woman who +had failed to pick up her money. He held the check for it, and the loss, +if any, was hers, not the bank's, yet here he was, running bareheaded down +the street like a fool, and now those two stood quite calmly together, he +handing her the money, and thus spreading a mantle of innocence over the +vile trick. But whatever was happening in the bank, he would secure two of +the culprits at least. The two, quite oblivious of the danger that threatened +them, were somewhat startled by a panting man, trembling with rage, bareheaded, +and flourishing a deadly weapon, sweeping down upon them. +<P> +"Come back to the bank instantly, you two!" he shouted. +<P> +"Why?" asked the Lieutenant in a quiet voice. +<P> +"Because I say so, for one thing." +<P> +"That reason is unanswerable," replied the Lieutenant with a slight laugh, +which further exasperated his opponent. "I think you are exciting yourself +unnecessarily. May I beg you to put that pistol in your pocket? On the cruiser +we always cover up the guns when ladies honor us with their presence. You +wish me to return because I had no authority for taking the money? Right: +come along." +<P> +The cashier regarded this as bluff, and an attempt to give the woman opportunity +to escape. +<P> +"You must come back also," he said to the girl. +<P> +"I'd rather not," she pleaded in a low voice, and it was hardly possible +to have made a more injudicious remark if she had taken the whole afternoon +to prepare. +<P> +Renewed determination shone from the face of the cashier. +<P> +"You must come back to the bank," he reiterated. +<P> +"Oh, I say," protested the Lieutenant, "you are now exceeding your authority. +I alone am the culprit. The young lady is quite blameless, and you have no +right to detain her for a moment." +<P> +The girl, who had been edging away and showing signs of flight, which the +bareheaded man, visibly on the alert, leaned forward ready to intercept, +seemed to make up her mind to bow to the inevitable. Ignoring the cashier, +she looked up at the blond Lieutenant with a slight smile on her pretty lips. +<P> +"It was really all my fault at the beginning," she said, "and very stupid +of me. I am slightly acquainted with the bank manager, and I am sure he will +vouch for me, if he is there." +<P> +With that she turned and walked briskly toward the bank, at so rapid a pace +as to indicate that she did not wish an escort. The bareheaded official found +his anger unaccountably deserting him, while a great fear that he had put +his foot in it took its place. +<P> +"Really," said the Lieutenant gently, as they strode along together, "an +official in your position should be a good judge of human nature. How any +sane person, especially a young man, can look at that beautiful girl and +suspect her of evil, passes my comprehension. Do you know her?" +<P> +"No," said the cashier shortly. "Do you?" +<P> +The Lieutenant laughed genially. +<P> +"Still suspicious, eh?" he asked. "No, I don't know her, but to use a banking +term, you may bet your bottom dollar I'm going to. Indeed, I am rather grateful +to you for your stubbornness in forcing us to return. It's a quality I like, +and you possess it in marvelous development, so I intend to stand by you +when the managerial censure is due. I'm very certain I met your manager at +the dinner they gave us last night. Mr. Morton, isn't he?" +<P> +"Yes," growled the cashier, in gruff despondency. +<P> +"Ah, that's awfully jolly. One of the finest fellows I've met in ten years. +Now, the lady said she was acquainted with him, so if I don't wheedle an +introduction out of him, it will show that a man at a dinner and a man in +a bank are two different individuals. You were looking for plots; so there +is mine laid bare to you. It's an introduction, not gold, I'm conspiring +for." +<P> +The cashier had nothing further to say. When they entered the bank together +he saw the clerks all busily at work, and knew that no startling event had +happened during his absence. The girl had gone direct to the manager's room, +and thither the young men followed her. The bank manager was standing at +his desk, trying to preserve a severe financial cast of countenance, which +the twinkle in his eyes belied. The girl, also standing, had evidently been +giving him a rapid sketch of what had occurred, but now fell into silence +when accuser and accomplice appeared. +<P> +The advent of the Englishman was a godsend to the manager. He was too courteous +a gentleman to laugh in the face of a lady who very seriously was relating +a set of incidents which appealed to his sense of humor, so the coming of +the Lieutenant enabled him to switch off his mirth on another subject, and +in reply to the officer's cordial "Good-morning, Mr. Morton," he replied: +<P> +"Why, Lieutenant, I'm delighted to see you. That was a very jolly song you +sang for us last night: I'll never forget it. What do you call it? Whittington +Fair?" And he laughed outright, as at a genial recollection. +<P> +The Lieutenant blushed red as a girl, and stammered: +<P> +"Really, Mr. Morton, you know, that's not according to the rules of evidence. +When a fellow comes up for trial, previous convictions are never allowed +to be mentioned till after the sentence. Whiddicomb Fair should not be held +against me in the present crisis." +<P> +The manager chuckled gleefully. The cashier, when he saw how the land lay, +had quietly withdrawn, closing the door behind him. +<P> +"Well, Lieutenant, I think I must have this incident cabled to Europe," said +Morton, "so the effete nations of your continent may know that a plain bank +cashier isn't afraid to tackle the British navy. Indeed, Mr. Drummond, if +you read history, you will learn that this is a dangerous coast for your +warships. It seems rather inhospitable that a guest of our town cannot pick +all the gold he wants out of a bank, but a cashier has necessarily somewhat +narrow views on the subject. I was just about to apologize to Miss Amhurst, +who is a valued client of ours, when you came in, and I hope, Miss Amhurst"— he +continued gravely, turning to the girl— "that you will excuse us for the +inconvenience to which you have been put." +<P> +"Oh, it does not matter in the least," replied the young woman, with nevertheless +a sigh of relief. "It was all my own fault in so carelessly leaving the money. +Some time, when less in a hurry than I am at the present moment, I will tell +you how I came to make the blunder." +<P> +Meanwhile the manager caught and interpreted correctly an imploring look +from the Lieutenant. +<P> +"Before you go, Miss Amhurst, will you permit me to introduce to you my friend, +Lieutenant Drummond, of H.M.S. 'Consternation.'" +<P> +This ritual to convention being performed, the expression on the girl's face +showed the renewal of her anxiety to be gone, and as she turned to the door, +the officer sprang forward and opened it for her. If the manager expected +the young man to return, he was disappointed, for Drummond threw over his +shoulder the hasty remark: +<P> +"I will see you at the Club this evening," whereupon the genial Morton, finding +himself deserted, sat down in his swivel chair and laughed quietly to himself. +<P> +There was the slightest possible shade of annoyance on the girl's face as +the sailor walked beside her from the door of the manager's room, through +the public portion of the bank to the exit, and the young man noticing this, +became momentarily tongue-tied, but nevertheless persisted, with a certain +awkward doggedness which was not going to allow so slight a hint that his +further attendance was unnecessary, to baffle him. He did not speak until +they had passed down the stone steps to the pavement, and then his utterance +began with a half-embarrassed stammer, as if the shadow of displeasure demanded +justification on his part. +<P> +"You— you see, Miss Amhurst, we have been properly introduced." +<P> +For the first time he heard the girl laugh, just a little, and the sound +was very musical to him. +<P> +"The introduction was of the slightest," she said. "I cannot claim even an +acquaintance with Mr. Morton, although I did so in the presence of his persistent +subordinate. I have met the manager of the bank but once before, and that +for a few moments only, when he showed me where to sign my name in a big +book." +<P> +"Nevertheless," urged Drummond, "I shall defend the validity of that introduction +against all comers. The head of a bank is a most important man in every country, +and his commendation is really very much sought after." +<P> +"You appear to possess it. He complimented your singing, you know," and there +was a roguish twinkle in the girl's eye as she glanced up sideways at him, +while a smile came to her lips as she saw the color again mount to his cheeks. +She had never before met a man who blushed, and she could not help regarding +him rather as a big boy than a person to be taken seriously. His stammer +became more pronounced. +<P> +"I— I think you are laughing at me, Miss Amhurst, and indeed I don't wonder +at it, and I— I am afraid you consider me even more persistent than the cashier. +But I did want to tell you how sorry I am to have caused you annoyance." +<P> +"Oh, you have not done so," replied the girl quickly. "As I said before, +it was all my own fault in the beginning." +<P> +"No, I shouldn't have taken the gold. I should have come up with you, and +told you that it still awaited you in the bank, and now I beg your permission +to walk down the street with you, because if any one were looking at us from +these windows, and saw us pursued by a bareheaded man with a revolver, they +will now, on looking out again, learn that it is all right, and may even +come to regard the revolver and the hatless one as an optical delusion." +<P> +Again the girl laughed. +<P> +"I am quite unknown in Bar Harbor, having fewer acquaintances than even a +stranger like yourself, therefore so far as I am concerned it does not in +the least matter whether any one saw us or not. We shall walk together, then, +as far as the spot where the cashier overtook us, and this will give me an +opportunity of explaining, if not of excusing, my leaving the money on the +counter. I am sure my conduct must have appeared inexplicable both to you +and the cashier, although, of course, you would be too polite to say so." +<P> +"I assure you, Miss Amhurst—" +<P> +"I know what you would say," she interrupted, with a vivacity which had not +heretofore characterized her, "but, you see, the distance to the corner is +short, and, as I am in a hurry, if you don't wish my story to be continued +in our next—" +<P> +"Ah, if there is to be a next—" murmured the young man so fervently that +it was now the turn of color to redden her cheeks. +<P> +"I am talking heedlessly," she said quickly. "What I want to say is this: +I have never had much money. Quite recently I inherited what had been accumulated +by a relative whom I never knew. It seemed so incredible, so strange— well, +it seems incredible and strange yet— and I have been expecting to wake and +find it all a dream. Indeed, when you overtook me at this spot where we now +stand, I feared you had come to tell me it was a mistake; to hurl me from +the clouds to the hard earth again." +<P> +"But it was just the reverse of that," he cried eagerly. "Just the reverse, +remember. I came to confirm your dream, and you received from my hand the +first of your fortune." +<P> +"Yes," she admitted, her eyes fixed on the sidewalk. +<P> +"I see how it was," he continued enthusiastically. "I suppose you had never +drawn a check before." +<P> +"Never," she conceded. +<P> +"And this was merely a test. You set up your dream against the hard common +sense of a bank, which has no dreams. You were to transform your vision into +the actual, or find it vanish. When the commonplace cashier passed forth +the coin, their jingle said to you, 'The supposed phantasy is real,' but +the gold pieces themselves at that supreme moment meant no more to you than +so many worthless counters, so you turned your back upon them." +<P> +She looked up at him, her eyes, though moist, illumined with pleasure inspired +by the sympathy in his tones rather than the import of his words. The girl's +life heretofore had been as scant of kindness as of cash, and there was a +deep sincerity in his voice which was as refreshing to her lonesome heart +as it was new to her experience. This man was not so stupid as he had pretended +to be. He had accurately divined the inner meaning of what had happened. +She had forgotten the necessity for haste which had been so importunate a +few minutes before. +<P> +"You must be a mind-reader," she said. +<P> +"No, I am not at all a clever person," he laughed. "Indeed, as I told you, +I am always blundering into trouble, and making things uncomfortable for +my friends. I regret to say I am rather under a cloud just now in the service, +and I have been called upon to endure the frown of my superiors." +<P> +"Why, what has happened?" she asked. After their temporary halt at the corner +where they had been overtaken, they now strolled along together like old +friends, her prohibition out of mind. +<P> +"Well, you see, I was temporarily in command of the cruiser coming down the +Baltic, and passing an island rock a few miles away, I thought it would be +a good opportunity to test a new gun that had been put aboard when we left +England. The sea was very calm, and the rock most temptsome. Of course I +knew it was Russian territory, but who could have imagined that such a point +in space was inhabited by anything else than sea-gulls." +<P> +"What!" cried the girl, looking up at him with new interest. "You don't mean +to say you are the officer that Russia demanded from England, and England +refused to give up?" +<P> +"Oh, England could not give me up, of course, but she apologized, and assured +Russia she had no evil intent. Still, anything that sets the diplomatists +at work is frowned upon, and the man who does an act which his government +is forced to disclaim becomes unpopular with his superiors." +<P> +"I read about it in the papers at the time. Didn't the rock fire back at +you?" +<P> +"Yes, it did, and no one could have been more surprised than I when I saw +the answering puff of smoke." +<P> +"How came a cannon to be there?" +<P> +"Nobody knows. I suppose that rock in the Baltic is a concealed fort, with +galleries and gun-rooms cut in the stone after the fashion of our defences +at Gibraltar. I told the court-martial that I had added a valuable bit of +information to our naval knowledge, but I don't suppose this contention exercised +any influence on the minds of my judges. I also called their attention to +the fact that my shell had hit, while the Russian shot fell half a mile short. +That remark nearly cost me my commission. A court-martial has no sense of +humor." +<P> +"I suppose everything is satisfactorily settled now?" +<P> +"Well, hardly that. You see, Continental nations are extremely suspicious +of Britain's good intentions, as indeed they are of the good intentions of +each other. No government likes to have— well, what we might call a 'frontier +incident' happen, and even if a country is quite in the right, it nevertheless +looks askance at any official of its own who, through his stupidity, brings +about an international complication. As concerns myself, I am rather under +a cloud, as I told you. The court-martial acquitted me, but it did so with +reluctance and a warning. I shall have to walk very straight for the next +year or two, and be careful not to stub my toe, for the eyes of the Admiralty +are upon me. However, I think I can straighten this matter out. I have six +months' leave coming on shortly, which I intend to spend in St. Petersburg. +I shall make it my business to see privately some of the officials in the +Admiralty there, and when they realize by personal inspection what a +well-intentioned idiot I am, all distrust will vanish." +<P> +"I should do nothing of the kind," rejoined the girl earnestly, quite forgetting +the shortness of their acquaintance, as she had forgotten the flight of time, +while on his part he did not notice any incongruity in the situation. "I'd +leave well enough alone," she added. +<P> +"Why do you think that?" he asked. +<P> +"Your own country has investigated the matter, and has deliberately run the +risk of unpleasantness by refusing to give you up. How, then, can you go +there voluntarily? You would be acting in your private capacity directly +in opposition to the decision arrived at by your government." +<P> +"Technically, that is so; still, England would not hold the position she +does in the world to-day if her men had not often taken a course in their +private capacity which the government would never have sanctioned. As things +stand now, Russia has not insisted on her demand, but has sullenly accepted +England's decision, still quite convinced that my act was not only an invasion +of Russia's domain, but a deliberate insult; therefore the worst results +of an inconsiderate action on my part remain. If I could see the Minister +for Foreign Affairs, or the head of the Admiralty in St. Petersburg face +to face for ten minutes, I'd undertake to remove that impression." +<P> +"You have great faith in your persuasive powers," she said demurely. +<P> +The Lieutenant began to stammer again. +<P> +"No, no, it isn't so much that, but I have great faith in the Russian as +a judge of character. I suppose I am imagined to be a venomous, brow-beating, +truculent Russophobe, who has maliciously violated their territory, flinging +a shell into their ground and an insult into their face. They are quite sincere +in this belief. I want to remove that impression, and there's nothing like +an ocular demonstration. I like the Russians. One of my best friends is a +Russian." +<P> +The girl shook her head. +<P> +"I shouldn't attempt it," she persisted. "Suppose Russia arrested you, and +said to England, 'We've got this man in spite of you'?" +<P> +The Lieutenant laughed heartily. +<P> +"That is unthinkable: Russia wouldn't do such a thing. In spite of all that +is said about the Russian Government, its members are gentlemen. Of course, +if such a thing happened, there would be trouble. That is a point where we're +touchy. A very cheap Englishman, wrongfully detained, may cause a most expensive +campaign. Our diplomatists may act correctly enough, and yet leave a feeling +of resentment behind. Take this very case. Britain says coldly to Russia: +<P> +"'We disclaim the act, and apologize.' +<P> +"Now, it would be much more to the purpose if she said genially: +<P> +"'We have in our employment an impetuous young fool with a thirst for +information. He wished to learn how a new piece of ordnance would act, so +fired it off with no more intention of striking Russia than of hitting the +moon. He knows much more about dancing than about foreign affairs. We've +given him a month's leave, and he will slip across privately to St. Petersburg +to apologize and explain. The moment you see him you will recognize he is +no menace to the peace of nations. Meanwhile, if you can inculcate in him +some cold, calm common-sense before he returns, we'll be ever so much obliged.'" +<P> +"So you are determined to do what you think the government should have done." +<P> +"Oh, quite. There will be nothing frigidly official about my unauthorized +mission. I have a cousin in the embassy at St. Petersburg, but I shan't go +near him; neither shall I go to an hotel, but will get quiet rooms somewhere +that I may not run the risk of meeting any chance acquaintances." +<P> +"It seems to me you are about to afford the Russian Government an excellent +opportunity of spiriting you off to Siberia, and nobody would be the wiser." +<P> +Drummond indulged in the free-hearted laugh of a youth to whom life is still +rather a good joke. +<P> +"I shouldn't mind studying the Siberian system from the inside if they allowed +me to return before my leave was up. I believe that sort of thing has been +exaggerated by sensational writers. The Russian Government would not countenance +anything of the kind, and if the minor officials tried to play tricks, there's +always my cousin in the background, and it would be hard luck if I couldn't +get a line to him. Oh, there's no danger in my project!" +<P> +Suddenly the girl came to a standstill, and gave expression to a little cry +of dismay. +<P> +"What's wrong?" asked the Lieutenant. +<P> +"Why, we've walked clear out into the country!" +<P> +"Oh, is that all? I hadn't noticed." +<P> +"And there are people waiting for me. I must run." +<P> +"Nonsense, let them wait." +<P> +"I should have been back long since." +<P> +They had turned, and she was hurrying. +<P> +"Think of your new fortune, Miss Amhurst, safely lodged in our friend Morton's +bank, and don't hurry for any one." +<P> +"I didn't say it was a fortune: there's only ten thousand dollars there." +<P> +"That sounds formidable, but unless the people who are waiting for you muster +more than ten thousand apiece, I don't think you should make haste on their +account." +<P> +"It's the other way about, Mr. Drummond. Individually they are poorer than +I, therefore I should have returned long ago. Now, I fear, they will be in +a temper." +<P> +"Well, if anybody left me two thousand pounds, I'd take an afternoon off +to celebrate. Here we are in the suburbs again. Won't you change your mind +and your direction; let us get back into the country, sit down on the hillside, +look at the Bay, and gloat over your wealth?" +<P> +Dorothy Amhurst shook her head and held out her hand. +<P> +"I must bid you good-by here, Lieutenant Drummond. This is my shortest way +home." +<P> +"May I not accompany you just a little farther?" +<P> +"Please, no, I wish to go the rest of the way alone." +<P> +He held her hand, which she tried to withdraw, and spoke with animation. +<P> +"There's so much I wanted to say, but perhaps the most important is this: +I shall see you the night of the 14th, at the ball we are giving on the +'Consternation'?" +<P> +"It is very likely," laughed the girl, "unless you overlook me in the throng. +There will be a great mob. I hear you have issued many invitations." +<P> +"We hope all our friends will come. It's going to be a great function. Your +Secretary of the Navy has promised to look in on us, and our Ambassador from +Washington will be there. I assure you we are doing our best, with festooned +electric lights, hanging draperies, and all that, for we want to make the +occasion at least remotely worthy of the hospitality we have received. Of +course you have your card, but I wish you hadn't, so that I might have the +privilege of sending you one or more invitations." +<P> +"That would be quite unnecessary," said the girl, again with a slight laugh +and heightened color. +<P> +"If any of your friends need cards of invitation, won't you let me know, +so that I may send them to you?" +<P> +"I'm sure I shan't need any, but if I do, I promise to remember your kindness, +and apply." +<P> +"It will be a pleasure for me to serve you. With whom shall you come? I should +like to know the name, in case I should miss you in the crowd." +<P> +"I expect to be with Captain Kempt, of the United States Navy." +<P> +"Ah," said the Lieutenant, with a note of disappointment in his voice which +he had not the diplomacy to conceal. His hold of her hand relaxed, and she +took the opportunity to withdraw it. +<P> +"What sort of a man is Captain Kempt? I shall be on the lookout for him, +you know." +<P> +"I think he is the handsomest man I have ever seen, and I know he is the +kindest and most courteous." +<P> +"Really? A young man, I take it?" +<P> +"There speaks the conceit of youth," said Dorothy, smiling. "Captain Kempt, +U.S.N., retired. His youngest daughter is just two years older than myself." +<P> +"Oh, yes, Captain Kempt. I— I remember him now. He was at the dinner last +night, and sat beside our captain. What a splendid story-teller he is!" cried +the Lieutenant with honest enthusiasm. +<P> +"I shall tell him that, and ask him how he liked your song. Good-by," and +before the young man could collect his thoughts to make any reply, she was +gone. +<P> +Skimming lightly over the ground at first, she gradually slackened her pace, +and slowed down to a very sober walk until she came to a three-storied so-called +"cottage" overlooking the Bay, then with a sigh she opened the gate, and +went into the house by the servant's entrance. +<h3>CHAPTER II</h3> +<h4>IN THE SEWING-ROOM</h4> +<P> +THREE women occupied the sewing-room with the splendid outlook: a mother +and her two daughters. The mother sat in a low rocking-chair, a picture of +mournful helplessness, her hands listlessly resting on her lap, while tears +had left their traces on her time-worn face. The elder daughter paced up +and down the room as striking an example of energy and impatience as was +the mother of despondency. Her comely brow was marred by an angry frown. +The younger daughter stood by the long window, her forehead resting against +the pane, while her fingers drummed idly on the window sill. Her gaze was +fixed on the blue Bay, where rested the huge British warship "Consternation," +surrounded by a section of the United States squadron seated like white swans +in the water. Sails of snow glistened here and there on the bosom of the +Bay, while motor-boats and what-not darted this way and that impudently among +the stately ships of the fleet. +<P> +In one corner of the room stood a sewing-machine, and on the long table were +piles of mimsy stuff out of which feminine creations are constructed. There +was no carpet on the floor, and no ceiling overhead; merely the bare rafters +and the boards that bore the pine shingles of the outer roof; yet this attic +was notable for the glorious view to be seen from its window. It was an ideal +workshop. +<P> +The elder girl, as she walked to and fro, spoke with nervous irritation in +her voice. +<P> +"There is absolutely no excuse, mamma, and it's weakness in you to pretend +that there may be. The woman has been gone for hours. There's her lunch on +the table which has never been tasted, and the servant brought it up at twelve." +<P> +She pointed to a tray on which were dishes whose cold contents bore out the +truth of her remark. +<P> +"Perhaps she's gone on strike," said the younger daughter, without removing +her eyes from H.M.S. "Consternation." "I shouldn't wonder if we went downstairs +again we'd find the house picketed to keep away blacklegs." +<P> +"Oh, you can always be depended on to talk frivolous nonsense," said her +elder sister scornfully. "It's the silly sentimental fashion in which both +you and father treat work-people that makes them so difficult to deal with. +If the working classes were taught their place—" +<P> +"Working classes! How you talk! Dorothy is as much a lady as we are, and +sometimes I think rather more of a lady than either of us. She is the daughter +of a clergyman." +<P> +"So she says," sniffed the elder girl. +<P> +"Well, she ought to know," replied the younger indifferently. +<P> +"It's people like you who spoil dependents in her position, with your Dorothy +this and Dorothy that. Her name is Amhurst." +<P> +"Christened Dorothy, as witness godfather and godmother," murmured the younger +without turning her head. +<P> +"I think," protested their mother meekly, as if to suggest a compromise, +and throw oil on the troubled waters, "that she is entitled to be called +<I>Miss</I> Amhurst, and treated with kindness but with reserve." +<P> +"Tush!" exclaimed the elder indignantly, indicating her rejection of the +compromise. +<P> +"I don't see," murmured the younger, "why you should storm, Sabina. You nagged +and nagged at her until she'd finished your ball-dress. It is mamma and I +that have a right to complain. Our dresses are almost untouched, while you +can sail grandly along the decks of the 'Consternation' like a fully rigged +yacht. There, I'm mixing my similes again, as papa always says. A yacht doesn't +sail along the deck of a battleship, does it?" +<P> +"It's a cruiser," weakly corrected the mother, who knew something of naval +affairs. +<P> +"Well, cruiser, then. Sabina is afraid that papa won't go unless we all have +grand new dresses, but mother can put on her old black silk, and I am going +if I have to wear a cotton gown." +<P> +"To think of that person accepting our money, and absenting herself in this +disgraceful way!" +<P> +"Accepting our money! That shows what it is to have an imagination. Why, +I don't suppose Dorothy has had a penny for three months, and you know the +dress material was bought on credit." +<P> +"You must remember," chided the mother mildly, "that your father is not rich." +<P> +"Oh, I am only pleading for a little humanity. The girl for some reason has +gone out. She hasn't had a bite to eat since breakfast time, and I know there's +not a silver piece in her pocket to buy a bun in a milk-shop." +<P> +"She has no business to be absent without leave," said Sabina. +<P> +"How you talk! As if she were a sailor on a battleship— I mean a cruiser." +<P> +"Where can the girl have gone?" wailed the mother, almost wringing her hands, +partially overcome by the crisis. "Did she say anything about going out to +you, Katherine? She sometimes makes a confidant of you, doesn't she?" +<P> +"Confidant!" exclaimed Sabina wrathfully. +<P> +"I know where she has gone," said Katherine with an innocent sigh. +<P> +"Then why didn't you tell us before?" exclaimed mother and daughter in almost +identical terms. +<P> +"She has eloped with the captain of the 'Consternation,'" explained Katherine +calmly, little guessing that her words contained a color of truth. "Papa +sat next him at the dinner last night, and says he is a jolly old salt and +a bachelor. Papa was tremendously taken with him, and they discussed tactics +together. Indeed, papa has quite a distinct English accent this morning, +and I suspect a little bit of a headache which he tries to conceal with a +wavering smile." +<P> +"You can't conceal a headache, because it's invisible," said the mother +seriously. "I wish you wouldn't talk so carelessly, Katherine, and you mustn't +speak like that of your father." +<P> +"Oh, papa and I understand one another," affirmed Katherine with great +confidence, and now for the first time during this conversation the young +girl turned her face away from the window, for the door had opened to let +in the culprit. +<P> +"Now, Amhurst, what is the meaning of this?" cried Sabina before her foot +was fairly across the threshold. +<P> +All three women looked at the newcomer. Her beautiful face was aglow, probably +through the exertion of coming up the stairs, and her eyes shone like those +of the Goddess of Freedom as she returned steadfastly the supercilious stare +with which the tall Sabina regarded her. +<P> +"I was detained," she said quietly. +<P> +"Why did you go away without permission?" +<P> +"Because I had business to do which could not be transacted in this room." +<P> +"That doesn't answer my question. Why did you not ask permission?" +<P> +The girl slowly raised her two hands, and showed her shapely wrists close +together, and a bit of the forearm not covered by the sleeve of her black +dress. +<P> +"Because," she said slowly, "the shackles have fallen from these wrists." +<P> +"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," said Sabina, apparently impressed +in spite of herself, but the younger daughter clapped her hands rapturously. +<P> +"Splendid, splendid, Dorothy," she cried. "I don't know what you mean either, +but you look like Maxine Elliott in that play where she—" +<P> +"<I>Will</I> you keep quiet!" interrupted the elder sister over her shoulder. +<P> +"I mean that I intend to sew here no longer," proclaimed Dorothy. +<P> +"Oh, Miss Amhurst, Miss Amhurst," bemoaned the matron. "You will heartlessly +leave us in this crisis when we are helpless; when there is not a sewing +woman to be had in the place for love or money. Every one is working night +and day to be ready for the ball on the fourteenth, and you— you whom we +have nurtured—" +<P> +"I suppose she gets more money," sneered the elder daughter bitterly. +<P> +"Oh, Dorothy," said Katherine, coming a step forward and clasping her hands, +"do you mean to say I must attend the ball in a calico dress after all? But +I'm going, nevertheless, if I dance in a morning wrapper." +<P> +"Katherine," chided her mother, "don't talk like that." +<P> +"Of course, where more money is in the question, kindness does not count," +snapped the elder daughter. +<P> +Dorothy Amhurst smiled when Sabina mentioned the word kindness. +<P> +"With me, of course, it's entirely a question of money," she admitted. +<P> +"Dorothy, I never thought it of you," said Katherine, with an exaggerated +sigh. "I wish it were a fancy dress ball, then I'd borrow my brother Jack's +uniform, and go in that." +<P> +"Katherine, I'm shocked at you," complained the mother. +<P> +"I don't care: I'd make a stunning little naval cadet. But, Dorothy, you +must be starved to death; you've never touched your lunch." +<P> +"You seem to have forgotten everything to-day," said Sabina severely. "Duty +and everything else." +<P> +"You are quite right," murmured Dorothy. +<P> +"And did you elope with the captain of the 'Consternation,' and were you +married secretly, and was it before a justice of the peace? Do tell us all +about it." +<P> +"What are you saying?" asked Dorothy, with a momentary alarm coming into +her eyes. +<P> +"Oh, I was just telling mother and Sab that you had skipped by the light +of the noon, with the captain of the 'Consternation,' who was a jolly old +bachelor last night, but may be a married man to-day if my suspicions are +correct. Oh, Dorothy, must I go to the ball in a dress of print?" +<P> +The sewing girl bent an affectionate look on the impulsive Katherine. +<P> +"Kate, dear," she said, "you shall wear the grandest ball dress that ever +was seen in Bar Harbor." +<P> +"How dare you call my sister Kate, and talk such nonsense?" demanded Sabina. +<P> +"I shall always call you Miss Kempt, and now, if I have your permission, +I will sit down. I am tired." +<P> +"Yes, and hungry, too," cried Katherine. "What shall I get you, Dorothy? +This is all cold." +<P> +"Thank you, I am not in the least hungry." +<P> +"Wouldn't you like a cup of tea?" +<P> +Dorothy laughed a little wearily. +<P> +"Yes, I would," she said, "and some bread and butter." +<P> +"And cake, too," suggested Katherine. +<P> +"And cake, too, if you please." +<P> +Katherine skipped off downstairs. +<P> +"Well, I declare!" ejaculated Sabina with a gasp, drawing herself together, +as if the bottom had fallen out of the social fabric. +<P> +Mrs. Captain Kempt folded her hands one over the other and put on a look +of patient resignation, as one who finds all the old landmarks swept away +from before her. +<P> +"Is there anything else we can get for you?" asked Sabina icily. +<P> +"Yes," replied Dorothy, with serene confidence, "I should be very much obliged +if Captain Kempt would obtain for me a card of invitation to the ball on +the 'Consternation.'" +<P> +"Really!" gasped Sabina, "and may not my mother supplement my father's efforts +by providing you with a ball dress for the occasion?" +<P> +"I could not think of troubling her, Miss Kempt. Some of my customers have +flattered me by saying that my taste in dress is artistic, and that my designs, +if better known, might almost set a fashion in a small way, so I shall look +after my costume myself; but if Mrs. Captain Kempt were kind enough to allow +me to attend the ball under her care, I should be very grateful for it." +<P> +"How admirable! And is there nothing that I can do to forward your ambitions, +Miss Amhurst?" +<P> +"I am going to the ball merely as a looker-on, and perhaps you might smile +at me as you pass by with your different partners, so that people would say +I was an acquaintance of yours." +<P> +After this there was silence in the sewing room until Katherine, followed +by a maid, entered with tea and cakes. Some dress materials that rested on +a gypsy table were swept aside by the impulsive Katherine, and the table, +with the tray upon it, was placed at the right hand of Dorothy Amhurst. When +the servant left the room, Katherine sidled to the long sewing table, sprang +up lightly upon it, and sat there swinging a dainty little foot. Sabina had +seated herself in the third chair of the room, the frown still adding severity +to an otherwise beautiful countenance. It was the younger daughter who spoke. +<P> +"Now, Dorothy, tell us all about the elopement." +<P> +"What elopement?" +<P> +"I soothed my mother's fears by telling her that you had eloped with the +captain of the 'Consternation.' I must have been wrong in that guess, because +if the secret marriage I hoped had taken place, you would have said to Sabina +that the shackles were on your wrists instead of off. But something important +has happened, and I want to know all about it." +<P> +Dorothy made no response to this appeal, and after a minute's silence Sabina +said practically: +<P> +"All that has happened is that Miss Amhurst wishes father to present her +with a ticket to the ball on the 'Consternation,' and taking that for granted, +she requests mother to chaperon her, and further expresses a desire that +I shall be exceedingly polite to her while we are on board the cruiser." +<P> +"Oh," cried Katherine jauntily, "the last proviso is past praying for, but +the other two are quite feasible. I'd be delighted to chaperon Dorothy myself, +and as for politeness, good gracious, I'll be polite enough to make up for +all the courteous deficiency of the rest of the family. +<BLOCKQUOTE> +'For I hold that on the seas,<BR> + The expression if you please<BR> + A particularly gentlemanly tone implants,<BR> + And so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts.' +</BLOCKQUOTE> +<P> +Now, Dorothy, don't be bashful. Here's your sister and your cousin and your +aunt waiting for the horrifying revelation. What has happened?" +<P> +"I'll tell you what is going to happen, Kate," said the girl, smiling at +the way the other ran on. "Mrs. Captain Kempt will perhaps consent to take +you and me to New York or Boston, where we will put up at the best hotel, +and trick ourselves out in ball costumes that will be the envy of Bar Harbor. +I shall pay the expense of this trip as partial return for your father's +kindness in getting me an invitation and your mother's kindness in allowing +me to be one of your party." +<P> +"Oh, then it isn't an elopement, but a legacy. Has the wicked but wealthy +relative died?" +<P> +"Yes," said Dorothy solemnly, her eyes on the floor. +<P> +"Oh, I am so sorry for what I have just said!" +<P> +"You always speak without thinking," chided her mother. +<P> +"Yes, don't I? But, you see, I thought somehow that Dorothy had no relatives; +but if she had one who was wealthy, and who allowed her to slave at sewing, +then I say he was wicked, dead or alive, so there!" +<P> +"When work is paid for it is not slavery," commented Sabina with severity +and justice. +<P> +The sewing girl looked up at her. +<P> +"My grandfather, in Virginia, owned slaves before the war, and I have often +thought that any curse which may have been attached to slavery has at least +partly been expiated by me, as foreshadowed in the Bible, where it says that +the sins of the fathers shall affect the third or fourth generations. I was +thinking of that when I spoke of the shackles falling from my wrists, for +sometimes, Miss Kempt, you have made me doubt whether wages and slavery are +as incompatible as you appear to imagine. My father, who was a clergyman, +often spoke to me of his father's slaves, and while he never defended the +institution, I think the past in his mind was softened by a glamor that possibly +obscured the defects of life on the plantation. But often in depression and +loneliness I have thought I would rather have been one of my grandfather's +slaves than endure the life I have been called upon to lead." +<P> +"Oh, Dorothy, don't talk like that, or you'll make me cry," pleaded Kate. +"Let us be cheerful whatever happens. Tell us about the money. Begin 'Once +upon a time,' and then everything will be all right. No matter how harrowing +such a story begins, it always ends with lashin's and lashin's of money, +or else with a prince in a gorgeous uniform and gold lace, and you get the +half of his kingdom. <I>Do</I> go on." +<P> +Dorothy looked up at her impatient friend, and a radiant cheerfulness chased +away the gathering shadows from her face. +<P> +"Well, once upon a time I lived very happily with my father in a little rectory +in a little town near the Hudson River. His family had been ruined by the +war, and when the plantation was sold, or allowed to go derelict, whatever +money came from it went to his elder and only brother. My father was a dreamy +scholar and not a business man as his brother seems to have been. <I>My</I> +mother had died when I was a child; I do not remember her. My father was +the kindest and most patient of men, and all I know he taught me. We were +very poor, and I undertook the duties of housekeeper, which I performed as +well as I was able, constantly learning by my failures. But my father was +so indifferent to material comforts that there were never any reproaches. +He taught me all that I know in the way of what you might call accomplishments, +and they were of a strangely varied order— a smattering of Latin and Greek, +a good deal of French, history, literature, and even dancing, as well as +music, for he was an excellent musician. Our meager income ceased with my +father's life, and I had to choose what I should do to earn my board and +keep, like Orphant Annie, in Whitcomb Riley's poem. There appeared to be +three avenues open to me. I could be a governess, domestic servant, or +dressmaker. I had already earned something at the latter occupation, and +I thought if I could set up in business for myself, there was a greater chance +of gaining an independence along that line than either as a governess or +servant. But to do this I needed at least a little capital. +<P> +"Although there had been no communication between the two brothers for many +years, I had my uncle's address, and I wrote acquainting him with the fact +of my father's death, and asking for some assistance to set up in business +for myself, promising to repay the amount advanced with interest as soon +as I was able, for although my father had never said anything against his +elder brother, I somehow had divined, rather than knew, that he was a hard +man, and his answering letter gave proof of that, for it contained no expression +of regret for his brother's death. My uncle declined to make the advance +I asked for, saying that many years before he had given my father two hundred +dollars which had never been repaid. I was thus compelled, for the time at +least, to give up my plan for opening a dressmaking establishment, even on +the smallest scale, and was obliged to take a situation similar to that which +I hold here. In three years I was able to save the two hundred dollars, which +I sent to my uncle, and promised to remit the interest if he would tell me +the age of the debt. He replied giving the information, and enclosing a receipt +for the principal, with a very correct mathematical statement of the amount +of interest if compounded annually, as was his legal right, but expressing +his readiness to accept simple interest, and give me a receipt in full." +<P> +"The brute!" ejaculated Katherine, which remark brought upon her a mild rebuke +from her mother on intemperance of language. +<P> +"Well, go on," said Katherine, unabashed. +<P> +"I merely mention this detail," continued Dorothy, "as an object lesson in +honesty. Never before since the world began was there such a case of casting +bread upon the waters as was my sending the two hundred dollars. My uncle +appears to have been a most methodical man. He filed away my letter which +contained the money, also a typewritten copy of his reply, and when he died, +it was these documents which turned the attention of the legal arm who acted +for him to myself, for my uncle had left no will. The Californian firm +communicated with lawyers in New York, and they began a series of very cautious +inquiries, which at last resulted, after I had furnished certain proofs asked +for, in my being declared heiress to my uncle's estate." +<P> +"And how much did you get? How much did you get?" demanded Katherine. +<P> +"I asked the lawyers from New York to deposit ten thousand dollars for me +in the Sixth National Bank of this town, and they did so. It was to draw +a little check against that deposit, and thus learn if it was real, that +I went out to-day." +<P> +"Ten thousand dollars," murmured Katherine, in accents of deep disappointment. +"Is that all?" +<P> +"Isn't that enough?" asked Dorothy, with a twinkle in her eyes. +<P> +"No, you deserve ten times as much, and I'm not going to New York or Boston +at your expense to buy new dresses. Not likely! I will attend the ball in +my calico." +<P> +Dorothy laughed quietly, and drew from the little satchel she wore at her +side a letter, which she handed to Katherine. +<P> +"It's private and confidential," she warned her friend. +<P> +"Oh, I won't tell any one," said Katherine, unfolding it. She read eagerly +half-way down the page, then sprang to her feet on the top of the table, +screaming: +<P> +"Fifteen million dollars! Fifteen million dollars!" and, swinging her arms +back and forth like an athlete about to leap, sprang to the floor, nearly +upsetting the little table, tray and all, as she embraced Dorothy Amhurst. +<P> +"Fifteen millions! That's something like! Why, mother, do you realize that +we have under our roof one of the richest young women in the world? Don't +you see that the rest of this conference must take place in our drawing-room +under the most solemn auspices? The idea of our keeping such an heiress in +the attic!" +<P> +"I believe," said Sabina, slowly and coldly, "that Mr. Rockefeller's income +is—" +<P> +"Oh, blow Mr. Rockefeller and his income!" cried the indignant younger sister. +<P> +"Katherine!" pleaded the mother tearfully. +<h3>CHAPTER III</h3> +<h4>ON DECK</h4> +<P> +THROUGHOUT the long summer day a gentle excitement had fluttered the hearts +of those ladies, young, or not so young, who had received invitations to +the ball on board the "Consternation" that night. The last touches were given +to creations on which had been spent skill, taste, and money. Our three young +women, being most tastefully and fashionably attired, were in high spirits, +which state of feeling was exhibited according to the nature of each; Sabina +rather stately in her exaltation; Dorothy quiet and demure; while Katherine, +despite her mother's supplications, would not be kept quiet, but swung her +graceful gown this way and that, practising the slide of a waltz, and quoting +W. R. Gilbert, as was her custom. She glided over the floor in rhythm with +her chant. +<BLOCKQUOTE> +"When I first put this uniform on<BR> + I said, as I looked in the glass,<BR> + 'It's one to a million<BR> + That any civilian<BR> + My figure and form will surpass.'" +</BLOCKQUOTE> +<P> +Meanwhile, in a room downstairs that good-natured veteran Captain Kempt was +telling the latest stories to his future son-in-law, a young officer of the +American Navy, who awaited, with dutiful impatience, the advent of the serene +Sabina. When at last the ladies came down the party set out through the gathering +darkness of this heavenly summer night for the private pier from which they +were privileged, because of Captain Kempt's official standing, to voyage +to the cruiser on the little revenue cutter "Whip-poor-will," which was later +on to convey the Secretary of the Navy and his entourage across the same +intervening waters. Just before they reached the pier their steps were arrested +by the boom of a cannon, followed instantly by the sudden apparition of the +"Consternation" picked out in electric light; masts, funnel and hull all +outlined by incandescent stars. +<P> +"How beautiful!" cried Sabina, whose young man stood beside her. "It is as +if a gigantic racket, all of one color, had burst, and hung suspended there +like the planets of heaven." +<P> +"It reminds me," whispered Katherine to Dorothy, "of an overgrown pop-corn +ball," at which remark the two girls were frivolous enough to laugh. +<P> +"Crash!" sounded a cannon from an American ship, and then the white squadron +became visible in a blaze of lightning. And now all the yachts and other +craft on the waters flaunted their lines of fire, and the whole Bay was +illuminated like a lake in Fairyland. +<P> +"Now," said Captain Kempt with a chuckle, "watch the Britisher. I think she's +going to show us some color," and as he spoke there appeared, spreading from +nest to mast, a huge sheet of blue, with four great stars which pointed the +corners of a parallelogram, and between the stars shone a huge white anchor. +Cheers rang out from the crew of the "Consternation," and the band on board +played "The Star-Spangled Banner." +<P> +"That," said Captain Kempt in explanation, "is the flag of the United States +Secretary of the Navy, who will be with us to-night. The visitors have kept +very quiet about this bit of illumination, but our lads got on to the secret +about a week ago, and I'll be very much disappointed if they don't give 'em +tit for tat." +<P> +When the band on the "Consternation" ceased playing, all lights went out +on the American squadron, and then on the flagship appeared from mast to +mast a device with the Union Jack in the corner, a great red cross dividing +the flag into three white squares. As this illumination flashed out the American +band struck up the British national anthem, and the outline lights appeared +again. +<P> +"That," said the captain, "is the British man-o'-war's flag." +<P> +The "Whip-poor-will" speedily whisked the party and others across the sparkling +waters to the foot of the grand stairway which had been specially constructed +to conduct the elect from the tide to the deck. It was more than double as +broad as the ordinary gangway, was carpeted from top to bottom, and on every +step stood a blue-jacket, each as steady as if cast in bronze, the line forming, +as one might say, a living handrail rising toward the dark sky. +<P> +Captain Kempt and his wife went first, followed by Sabina and her young man +with the two girls in their wake. +<P> +"Aren't those men splendid?" whispered Katherine to her friend. "I wish each +held an old-fashioned torch. I do love a sailor." +<P> +"So do I," said Dorothy, then checked herself, and laughed a little. +<P> +"I guess we all do," sighed Katherine. +<P> +On deck the bluff captain of the "Consternation," in resplendent uniform, +stood beside Lady Angela Burford of the British Embassy at Washington, to +receive the guests of the cruiser. Behind these two were grouped an assemblage +of officers and very fashionably dressed women, chatting vivaciously with +each other. As Dorothy looked at the princess-like Lady Angela it seemed +as if she knew her; as if here were one who had stepped out of an English +romance. Her tall, proudly held figure made the stoutish captain seem shorter +than he actually was. The natural haughtiness of those classic features was +somewhat modified by a <I>pro tem</I> smile. Captain Kempt looked back over +his shoulder and said in a low voice: +<P> +"Now, young ladies, best foot forward. The Du Maurier woman is to receive +the Gibson girls." +<P> +"I know I shall laugh, and I fear I shall giggle," said Katherine, but she +encountered a glance from her elder sister quite as haughty as any Lady Angela +might have bestowed, and all thought of merriment fled for the moment; thus +the ordeal passed conventionally without Katherine either laughing or giggling. +<P> +Sabina and her young man faded away into the crowd. Captain Kempt was nodding +to this one and that of his numerous acquaintances, and Katherine felt Dorothy +shrink a little closer to her as a tall, unknown young man deftly threaded +his way among the people, making directly for the Captain, whom he seized +by the hand in a grasp of the most cordial friendship. +<P> +"Captain Kempt, I am delighted to meet you again. My name is Drummond— Lieutenant +Drummond, and I had the pleasure of being introduced to you at that dinner +a week or two ago." +<P> +"The pleasure was mine, sir, the pleasure was mine," exclaimed the Captain +with a cordiality equal to that with which he had been greeted. He had not +at first the least recollection of the young man, but the Captain was something +of an amateur politician, and possessed all a politician's expertness in +facing the unknown, and making the most of any situation in which he found +himself. +<P> +"Oh, yes, Lieutenant, I remember very well that excellent song you—" +<P> +"Isn't it a perfect night?" gasped the Lieutenant. "I think we are to be +congratulated on our weather." +<P> +He still clung to the Captain's hand, and shook it again so warmly that the +Captain said to himself: +<P> +"I must have made an impression on this young fellow," then aloud he replied +jauntily: +<P> +"Oh, we always have good weather this time of year. You see, the United States +Government runs the weather. Didn't you know that? Yes, our Weather Bureau +is considered the best in the world." +<P> +The Lieutenant laughed heartily, although a hollow note intervened, for the +young man had got to the end of his conversation, realized he could not shake +hands for a third time, yet did not know what more to say. The suavity of +the politician came to his rescue in just the form the Lieutenant had hoped. +<P> +"Lieutenant Drummond, allow me to introduce my wife to you." +<P> +The lady bowed. +<P> +"And my daughter, Katherine, and Miss Amhurst, a friend of ours— Lieutenant +Drummond, of the 'Consternation.'" +<P> +"I wonder," said the Lieutenant, as if the thought had just occurred to him, +"if the young ladies would like to go to a point where they can have a +comprehensive view of the decorations. I— I may not be the best guide, but +I am rather well acquainted with the ship, you know." +<P> +"Don't ask me," said Captain Kempt. "Ask the girls. Everything I've had in +life has come to me because I asked, and if I didn't get it the first time, +I asked again." +<P> +"Of course we want to see the decorations," cried Katherine with enthusiasm, +and so bowing to the Captain and Mrs. Kempt, the Lieutenant led the young +women down the deck, until he came to an elevated spot out of the way of +all possible promenaders, on which had been placed in a somewhat secluded +position, yet commanding a splendid view of the throng, a settee with just +room for two, that had been taken from some one's cabin. A blue-jacket stood +guard over it, but at a nod from the Lieutenant he disappeared. +<P> +"Hello!" cried Katherine, "reserved seats, eh? How different from a theatre +chair, where you are entitled to your place by holding a colored bit of +cardboard. Here a man with a cutlass stands guard. It gives one a notion +of the horrors of war, doesn't it, Dorothy?" +<P> +The Lieutenant laughed quite as heartily as if he had not himself hoped to +occupy the position now held by the sprightly Katherine. He was cudgelling +his brain to solve the problem represented by the adage "Two is company, +three is none." The girls sat together on the settee and gazed out over the +brilliantly lighted, animated throng. People were still pouring up the gangways, +and the decks were rapidly becoming crowded with a many-colored, ever-shifting +galaxy of humanity. The hum of conversation almost drowned the popular selections +being played by the cruiser's excellent band. Suddenly one popular selection +was cut in two. The sound of the instruments ceased for a moment, then they +struck up "The Stars and Stripes for Ever." +<P> +"Hello," cried Katherine, "can your band play Sousa?" +<P> +"I should say we could," boasted the Lieutenant, "and we can play his music, +in a way to give some hints to Mr. Sousa's own musicians." +<P> +"To beat the band, eh?— Sousa's band?" rejoined Katherine, dropping into +slang. +<P> +"Exactly," smiled the Lieutenant, "and now, young ladies, will you excuse +me for a few moments? This musical selection means that your Secretary of +the Navy is on the waters, and I must be in my place with the rest of the +officers to receive him and his staff with all ceremony. Please promise you +will not leave this spot till I return: I implore you." +<P> +"Better put the blue-jacket on guard over us," laughed Katherine. +<P> +"By Jove! a very good idea." +<P> +Dorothy saw all levity depart from his face, giving way to a look of sternness +and command. Although he was engaged in a joke, the subordinate must see +no sign of fooling in his countenance. He said a sharp word to a blue-jacket, +who nimbly sprang to the end of the settee, raised his hand in salute, and +stiffened himself to an automaton. Then the girls saw the tall figure of +the Lieutenant wending its way to the spot where the commander stood. +<P> +"I say, Dorothy, we're prisoners. I wonder what this Johnny would do if we +attempted to <I>fly</I>. Isn't the Lieutenant sumptuous?" +<P> +"He seems a very agreeable person," murmured Dorothy. +<P> +"Agreeable! Why, he's splendid. I tell you, Dorothy, I'm going to have the +first dance with him. I'm the eldest. He's big enough to divide between two +small girls like us, you know." +<P> +"I don't intend to dance," said Dorothy. +<P> +"Nonsense, you're not going to sit here all night with nobody to speak to. +I'll ask the Lieutenant to bring you a man. He'll take two or three blue-jackets +and capture anybody you want." +<P> +"Katherine," said Dorothy, almost as severely as if it were the elder sister +who spoke, "if you say anything like that, I'll go back to the house." +<P> +"You can't get back. I'll appeal to the guard. I'll have you locked up if +you don't behave yourself." +<P> +"You should behave yourself. Really, Katherine, you must be careful what +you say, or you'll make me feel very unhappy." +<P> +Katherine caught her by the elbow, and gave it an affectionate little squeeze. +<P> +"Don't be frightened, Miss Propriety, I wouldn't make you unhappy for the +world. But surely you're going to dance?" +<P> +Dorothy shook her head. +<P> +"Some other time. Not to-night. There are too many people here. I shouldn't +enjoy it, and— there are other reasons. This is all so new and strange to +me: these brilliant men and beautiful women— the lights, the music, +everything— it is as if I had stepped into another world; something I had +read about, or perhaps dreamed about, and never expected to see." +<P> +"Why, you dear girl, I'm not going to dance either, then." +<P> +"Oh, yes, you will, Katherine; you must." +<P> +"I couldn't be so selfish as to leave you here all alone." +<P> +"It isn't selfish at all, Katherine. I shall enjoy myself completely here. +I don't really wish to talk to any one, but simply to enjoy my dream, with +just a little fear at the bottom of my heart that I shall suddenly wake up, +rubbing my eyes, in the sewing room." +<P> +Katherine pinched her. +<P> +"Now are you awake?" +<P> +Dorothy smiled, still dreaming. +<P> +"Hello!" cried Katherine, with renewed animation, "they've got the Secretary +safe aboard the lugger, and they seem to be clearing the decks for action. +Here is my dear Lieutenant returning; tall even among tall men. Look at him. +He's in a great hurry, yet so polite, and doesn't want to bump against anybody. +And now, Dorothy, don't you be afraid. I shall prove a perfect model of +diffidence. You will be proud of me when you learn with what timidity I pronounce +prunes and prism. I think I must languish a little at him. I don't know quite +how it's done, but in old English novels the girls always languished, and +perhaps an Englishman expects a little languishment in his. I wonder if he +comes of a noble family. If he doesn't, I don't think I'll languish very +much. Still, what matters the pomp of pageantry and pride of race— isn't +that the way the poem runs? I love our dear little Lieutenant for himself +alone, and I think I will have just one dance with him, at least." +<P> +Drummond had captured a camp-stool somewhere, and this he placed at right +angles to the settee, so that he might face the two girls, and yet not interrupt +their view. The sailor on guard once more faded away, and the band now struck +up the music of the dance. +<P> +"Well," cried Drummond cheerfully, "I've got everything settled. I've received +the Secretary of the Navy: our captain is to dance with his wife, and the +Secretary is Lady Angela's partner. There they go!" +<P> +For a few minutes the young people watched the dance, then the Lieutenant +said: +<P> +"Ladies, I am disappointed that you have not complimented our electrical +display." +<P> +"I am sure it's very nice, indeed, and most ingenious," declared Dorothy, +speaking for the first time that evening to the officer, but Katherine, whose +little foot was tapping the deck to the dance music, tossed her head, and +declared nonchalantly that it was all very well as a British effort at +illumination, but she begged the young man to remember that America was the +home of electricity. +<P> +"Where would you have been if it were not for Edison?" +<P> +"I suppose," said the Lieutenant cheerfully, "that we should have been where +Moses was when the candle went out— in the dark." +<P> +"You might have had torches," said Dorothy. "My friend forgets she was wishing +the sailors held torches on that suspended stairway up the ship's side." +<P> +"I meant electric torches— Edison torches, of course." +<P> +Katherine was displeased at the outlook. She was extremely fond of dancing, +and here this complacent young man had planted himself down on a camp stool +to talk of electricity. +<P> +"Miss Kempt, I am sorry that you are disappointed at our display. Your slight +upon British electrical engineering leaves us unscathed, because this has +been done by a foreign mechanic, whom I wish to present to you." +<P> +"Oh, indeed," said Katherine, rather in the usual tone of her elder sister. +"I don't dance with mechanics, thank you." +<P> +She emphasized the light fantastic word, but the Lieutenant did not take +the hint; he merely laughed again in an exasperatingly good-natured way, +and said: +<P> +"Lady Angela is going to be Jack Lamont's partner for the next waltz." +<P> +"Oh," said Katherine loftily, "Lady Angela may dance with any blacksmith +that pleases her, but I don't. I'm taking it for granted that Jack Lamont +is your electrical tinsmith." +<P> +"Yes, he is, and I think him by all odds the finest fellow aboard this ship. +It's quite likely you have read about his sister. She is a year older than +Jack, very beautiful, cultured, everything that a <I>grande dame</I> should +be, yet she has given away her huge estate to the peasantry, and works with +them in the fields, living as they do, and faring as they do. There was an +article about her in one of the French reviews not long ago. She is called +the Princess Natalia." +<P> +"The Princess Natalia!" echoed Katherine, turning her face toward the young +man. "How can Princess Natalia be a sister of Jack Lamont? Did she marry +some old prince, and take to the fields in disgust?" +<P> +"Oh, no; Jack Lamont is a Russian. He is called Prince Ivan Lermontoff when +he's at home, but we call him Jack Lamont for short. He's going to help me +on the Russian business I told you of." +<P> +"What Russian business?" asked Katherine. "I don't remember your speaking +of it." +<P> +Dorothy went white, edged a little way from her friend, while her widening +eyes flashed a warning at the Lieutenant, who, too late, remembered that +this conversation on Russia had taken place during the walk from the bank. +The young man coughed slightly behind his open hand, reddened, and stammered: +<P> +"Oh, I thought I had told you. Didn't I mention the prince to you as we were +coming here?" +<P> +"Not that I recollect," said Katherine. "Is he a real, genuine prince? A +right down regular, regular, regular royal prince?" +<P> +"I don't know about the royalty, but he's a prince in good standing in his +own land, and he is also an excellent blacksmith." The Lieutenant chuckled +a little. "He and his sister have both been touched a good deal by Tolstoian +doctrine. Jack is the most wonderful inventor, I think, that is at present +on the earth, Edison notwithstanding. Why, he is just now engaged on a scheme +by which he can float houses from the mountains here down to New York. Float +them— pipe-line them would perhaps be a better term. You know they have +pipe-lines to carry petroleum. Very well; Jack has a solution that dissolves +stone as white sugar dissolves in tea, and he believes he can run the fluid +from the quarries to where building is going on. It seems that he then puts +this liquid into molds, and there you have the stone again. I don't understand +the process myself, but Jack tells me it's marvelously cheap, and marvelously +effective. He picked up the idea from nature one time when he and I were +on our vacation at Detroit." +<P> +"Detroit, Michigan?" +<P> +"The Detroit River." +<P> +"Well, that runs between Michigan and Canada." +<P> +"No, no, this is in France. I believe the real name of the river is the Tarn. +There's a gorge called Detroit— the strait, you know. Wonderful place— tremendous +chasm. You go down in a boat, and all the tributary rivers pour into the +main stream like jets from the nozzle of a hose. They tell me this is caused +by the rain percolating through the dead leaves on the surface of the ground +far above, and thus the water becomes saturated with carbonic acid gas, and +so dissolves the limestone until the granite is reached, and the granite +forms the bed of these underground rivers. It all seemed to me very wonderful, +but it struck Jack on his scientific side, and he has been experimenting +ever since. He says he'll be able to build a city with a hose next year." +<P> +"Where does he live?" +<P> +"On the cruiser just at present. I was instrumental in getting him signed +on as John Lamont, and he passed without question. No wonder, for he has +scientific degrees from all sorts of German universities, from Oxford, and +one or two institutions in the States. When at home he lives in St. Petersburg." +<P> +"Has he a palace there?" +<P> +Drummond laughed. +<P> +"He's got a blacksmith shop, with two rooms above, and I'm going to stop +with him for a few months as soon as I get my leave. When the cruiser reaches +England we pay off, and I expect to have nothing to do for six months, so +Jack and I will make for St. Petersburg." +<P> +"Why do you call him Lamont? Is it taken from his real name of +what-d'ye-call-it-off?" +<P> +"Lermontoff? Yes. The Czar Demetrius, some time about the beginning of the +seventeenth century, established a Scottish Guard, just as Louis XI did in +France two hundred years before, and there came over from Scotland Lamonts, +Carmichaels, Buchanans and others, on whom were bestowed titles and estates. +Prince Ivan Lermontoff is a descendant of the original Lamont, who was an +officer in the Scottish Guard of Russia. +<P> +"So he is really a Scotchman?" +<P> +"That's what I tell him when he annoys me, as I am by way of being a Scotchman +myself. Ah, the waltz is ended. Will you excuse me a moment while I fetch +his Highness?" +<P> +Dorothy inclined her head, and Katherine fairly beamed permission. +<P> +"Oh, Dorothy," she exclaimed, when the Lieutenant was out of hearing, "think +of it! A real prince, and my ambition has never risen higher than a paltry +count, or some plebeian of that sort. He's mine, Dorothy; I found him first." +<P> +"I thought you had appropriated the Lieutenant?" +<P> +"What are lieutenants to me? The proud daughter of a captain (retired) cannot +stoop to a mere lieutenant." +<P> +"You wouldn't have to stoop far, Kate, with so tall a man as Mr. Drummond." +<P> +"You are beginning to take notice, aren't you, Dot? But I bestow the Lieutenant +freely upon you, because I'm going to dance with the Prince, even if I have +to ask him myself. +<BLOCKQUOTE> +She'll toddle away, as all aver,<BR> + With the Lord High Executioner. +</BLOCKQUOTE> +<P> +Ah, here they come. Isn't he perfectly splendid? Look at his beard! Just +the color of a brand-new twenty-dollar gold piece. See that broad ribbon +diagonally across him. I wonder what it means. And gaze at those scintillating +orders on his breast. Good gracious me, isn't he splendid?" +<P> +"Yes, for a blacksmith. I wonder if he beat those stars out on his anvil. +He isn't nearly so tall as Lieutenant Drummond." +<P> +"Dorothy, I'll not allow you to disparage my Prince. How can you be so +disagreeable? I thought from the very first that the Lieutenant was too tall. +If the Prince expects me to call him 'your Highness,' he'll be disappointed." +<P> +"You are quite right, Kate. The term would suit the Lieutenant better." +<P> +"Dorothy, I believe you're jealous." +<P> +"Oh, no, I'm not," said Dorothy, shaking her head and laughing, and then +"Hush!" she added, as Katherine was about to speak again. +<P> +The next moment the young men stood before them, and, introductions being +soberly performed, the Prince lost no time in begging Katherine to favor +him with a dance, to which request the young woman was graciously pleased +to accede, without, however, exhibiting too much haste about her acceptance, +and so they walked off together. +<h3>CHAPTER IV</h3> +<h4>"AT LAST ALONE"</h4> +<P> +"SOME one has taken the camp stool," said Lieutenant Drummond. "May I sit +here?" and the young woman was good enough to give the desired permission. +<P> +When he had seated himself he glanced around, then impulsively held out his +hand. +<P> +"Miss Amhurst," he said, "how are you?" +<P> +"Very well, thank you," replied the girl with a smile, and after half a moment's +hesitation she placed her hand in his. +<P> +"Of course you dance, Miss Amhurst?" +<P> +"Yes, but not to-night. I am here merely as a looker-on in Vienna. You must +not allow politeness to keep you away from the floor, or, perhaps, I should +say the deck. I don't mind being alone in the least." +<P> +"Now, Miss Amhurst, that is not a hint, is it? Tell me that I have not already +tired you of my company." +<P> +"Oh, no, but I do not wish you to feel that simply because we met casually +the other day you are compelled to waste your evening sitting out." +<P> +"Indeed, Miss Amhurst, although I should very much like to have the pleasure +of dancing with you, there is no one else here that I should care to ask. +I have quailed under the eagle eye of my Captain once or twice this evening, +and I have been rather endeavoring to keep out of his sight. I fear he has +found something new about me of which to disapprove, so I have quite determined +not to dance, unless you would consent to dance with me, in which case I +am quite ready to brave his reproachful glances." +<P> +"Have you done anything wrong lately?" +<P> +"Heaven only knows! I try not to be purposely wicked, and indeed have put +forth extra efforts to be extra good, but it seems all of no avail. I endeavor +to go about the ship with a subdued, humble, unobtrusive air, but this is +rather difficult for a person of my size. I don't think a man can droop +successfully unless he's under six feet in height." +<P> +Dorothy laughed with quiet content. She was surprised to find herself so +much at her ease with him, and so mildly happy. They shared a secret together, +and that of itself was an intangible bond linking him with her who had no +ties with any one else. She liked him; had liked him from the first; and +his unconcealed delight in her company was gratifying to a girl who heretofore +had found none to offer her the gentle courtesies of life. +<P> +"Is it the Russian business again? You do not look very much troubled about +it." +<P> +"Ah, that is— that is—" he stammered in apparent confusion, then blurted +out, "because you— because I am sitting here. Although I have met you but +once before, it seems somehow as if I had known you always, and my slight +anxiety that I told you of fades away in your presence. I hope you don't +think I am forward in saying this, but really to-night, when I saw you at +the head of the gangway, I could scarcely refrain from going directly to +you and greeting you. I am afraid I made rather a hash of it with Captain +Kempt. He is too much of a gentleman to have shown any surprise at my somewhat +boisterous accosting of him, and you know I didn't remember him at all, but +I saw that you were under his care, and chanced it. Luckily it seems to have +been Captain Kempt after all, but I fear I surprised him, taking him by storm, +as it were." +<P> +"I thought you did it very nicely," said Dorothy, "and, indeed, until this +moment I hadn't the least suspicion that you didn't recognize him. He is +a dear old gentleman, and I'm very fond of him." +<P> +"I say," said the Lieutenant, lowering his voice, "I nearly came a cropper +when I spoke of that Russian affair before your friend. I was thinking +of— of— well, I wasn't thinking of Miss Kempt—" +<P> +"Oh, she never noticed anything," said Dorothy hurriedly. "You got out of +that, too, very well. I thought of telling her I had met you before while +she and I were in New York together, but the opportunity never seemed— well, +I couldn't quite explain, and, indeed, didn't wish to explain my own inexplicable +conduct at the bank, and so trusted to chance. If you had greeted me first +tonight, I suppose"— she smiled and looked up at him— "I suppose I should +have brazened it out somehow." +<P> +"Have you been in New York?" +<P> +"Yes, we were there nearly a week." +<P> +"Ah, that accounts for it." +<P> +"Accounts for what?" +<P> +"I have walked up and down every street, lane and alley in Bar Harbor, hoping +to catch a glimpse of you. I have haunted the town, and all the time you +were away." +<P> +"No wonder the Captain frowns at you! Have you been neglecting your duty?" +<P> +"Well, I have been stretching my shore leave just a little bit. I wanted +to apologize for talking so much about myself as we walked from the bank." +<P> +"It was very interesting, and, if you remember, we walked farther than I +had intended." +<P> +"Were your friends waiting for you, or had they gone?" +<P> +"They were waiting for me." +<P> +"I hope they weren't cross?" +<P> +"Oh, no. I told them I had been detained. It happened not to be necessary +to enter into details, so I was saved the task of explanation, and, besides, +we had other interesting things to discuss. This function on the cruiser +has loomed so large as a topic of conversation that there has been little +need of any other subject to talk about for several days past." +<P> +"I suppose you must have attended many grander occasions than this. Although +we have endeavored to make a display, and although we possess a reasonably +efficient band, still, a cruiser is not exactly designed for the use to which +it is being put to-night. We have many disadvantages to overcome which are +not met with in the sumptuous dwellings of New York and Bar Harbor." +<P> +The girl's eyes were on the deck for some moments before she replied, then +she looked across at the dancers, and finally said: +<P> +"I think the ball on the 'Consternation' quite equals anything I have ever +attended." +<P> +"It is nice of you to say that. Praise from— I won't name Sir Hubert Stanley— but +rather Lady Hubert Stanley— is praise, indeed. And now, Miss Amhurst, since +I have confessed my fruitless wanderings through Bar Harbor, may I not have +the pleasure of calling upon you to-morrow or next day?" +<P> +Her eyes were dreamily watching the dancers. +<P> +"I suppose," she said slowly, with the flicker of a smile curving those enticing +lips, "that since you were so very friendly with Captain Kempt to-night he +may expect you to smoke a cigar with him, and it will possibly happen that +Katherine and I, who are very fond of the Captain, may chance to come in +while you are there." +<P> +"Katherine? Ah, Katherine is the name of the young lady who was with you +here— Miss Kempt?" +<P> +"Yes." +<P> +"You are stopping with the Kempts, then?" +<P> +"Yes." +<P> +"I wonder if they'd think I was taking a liberty if I brought Jack Lamont +with me?" +<P> +"The Prince?" laughed Dorothy. "Is he a real prince?" +<P> +"Oh, yes, there's no doubt about that. I shouldn't have taken the liberty +of introducing him to you as Prince Lermontoff if he were not, as we say +in Scotland, a real Mackay— the genuine article. Well, then, the Prince and +I will pay our respects to Captain Kempt to-morrow afternoon." +<P> +"Did you say the Prince is going with you to Russia?" +<P> +"Oh, yes. As I told you, I intend to live very quietly in St. Petersburg, +and the Prince has his shop and a pair of rooms above it in a working quarter +of the city. I shall occupy one of the rooms and he the other. The Prince +is an excellent cook, so we shan't starve, even if we engage no servant." +<P> +"Has the Prince given his estates away also?" +<P> +"He hasn't given them away exactly, but he is a very indulgent landlord, +and he spends so much money on his experiments and travel that, although +he has a formidable income, he is very frequently quite short of money. Did +you like him?" +<P> +"Yes. Of course I saw him for a moment only. I wonder why they haven't returned. +There's been several dances since they left." +<P> +"Perhaps," said the Lieutenant, with a slight return of his stammering, "your +friend may be as fond of dancing as Jack is." +<P> +"You are still determined to go to Russia?" +<P> +"Quite. There is absolutely no danger. I may not accomplish anything, but +I'll have a try at it. The Prince has a good deal of influence in St. Petersburg, +which he will use quietly on my behalf, so that I may see the important people. +I shall be glad when the Captain ceases frowning—" +<P> +Drummond was interrupted by a fellow-officer, who raised his cap, and begged +a word with him. +<P> +"I think, Drummond, the Captain wanted to see you." +<P> +"Oh, did he say that?" +<P> +"No, but I know he has left a note for you in your cabin. Shall I go and +fetch it?" +<P> +"I wish you would, Chesham, if you don't mind, and it isn't too much trouble." +<P> +"No trouble at all. Delighted, I'm sure," said Chesham, again raising his +cap and going off. +<P> +"Now, I wonder what I have forgotten to do." +<P> +Drummond heaved a sigh proportionate to himself. +<P> +"Under the present condition of things a bit of neglect that would go unnoticed +with another man is a sign of unrepentant villainy in me. Any other Lieutenant +may steal a horse while I may not look over a hedge. You see how necessary +it is for me to go to Russia, and get this thing smoothed over." +<P> +"I think, perhaps, you are too sensitive, and notice slights where nothing +of the kind is meant," said the girl. +<P> +Chesham returned and handed Drummond a letter. +<P> +"Will you excuse me a moment?" he said, and as she looked at him he flattered +himself that he noticed a trace of anxiety in her eyes. He tore open the +missive. +<P> +"By Jove!" he cried. +<P> +"What is it?" she could not prevent herself from saying, leaning forward. +<P> +"I am ordered home. The Admiralty commands me to take the first steamer for +England." +<P> +"Is that serious?" +<P> +He laughed with well-feigned hilarity. +<P> +"Oh, no, not serious; it's just their way of doing things. They might easily +have allowed me to come home in my own ship. My only fear is I shall have +to take the train for New York early to-morrow morning. But," he said, holding +out his hands, "it is not serious if you allow me to write to you, and if +you will permit me to hope that I may receive an answer." +<P> +She placed her hand in his, this time without hesitation. +<P> +"You may write," she said, "and I will reply. I trust it is not serious." +<h3>CHAPTER V</h3> +<h4>AFTER THE OPERA IS OVER</h4> +<P> +IN mid-afternoon of the day following the entertainment on board the +"Consternation" our two girls were seated opposite one another under the +rafters of the sewing room, in the listless, desultory manner of those who +have not gone home till morning, till daylight did appear. The dominant note +of a summer cottage is the rocking-chair, and there were two in the sewing +room, where Katherine and Dorothy swayed gently back and forth as they talked. +They sat close to the low, broad window which presented so beautiful a picture +of the blue Bay and the white shipping. The huge "Consternation" lay moored +with her broadside toward the town, all sign of festivity already removed +from hull and rigging, and, to the scarcely slumber-satisfied eyes of the +girls, something of the sadness of departure seemed to hang as a haze around +the great ship. The girls were not discussing the past, but rather anticipating +the future; forecasting it, with long, silent pauses intervening. +<P> +"So you will not stay with us? You are determined to turn your wealthy back +on the poor Kempt family?" Katherine was saying. +<P> +"But I shall return to the Kempt family now and then, if they will let me. +I must get away for a time and think. My life has suddenly become all +topsy-turvy, and I need to get my bearings, as does a ship that has been +through a storm and lost her reckoning." +<P> +"'She dunno where she are,' as the song says." +<P> +"Exactly: that is the state of things." +<P> +"I think it's too bad, Dorothy, that you did not allow us to make public +announcement of your good fortune. Just imagine what an ovation you would +have had on board the cruiser last night if it had been known that the richest +woman in that assemblage was a pretty, shy little creature sitting all by +herself, and never indulging in even one dance." +<P> +"I shouldn't in the least care for that sort of ovation, Kate, and if every +one present were as well pleased with the festivities as I, they must all +have enjoyed themselves immensely. I believe my friend Kate did my share +of the dancing as well as her own." +<P> +"'She danced, and she danced, and she danced them a' din.' I think those +are the words of the Scottish song that the Prince quoted. He seems up in +Scottish poetry, and does not even resent being called a Scotchman. This +energetic person of the song seems to have danced them all to a standstill, +as I understood him, for he informs me 'a' means 'all' and 'din' means 'done,' +but I told him I'd rather learn Russian than Scotch; it was so much easier, +and his Highness was good enough to laugh at that. Didn't the Lieutenant +ask you to dance at all?" +<P> +"Oh, yes, he did." +<P> +"And you refused?" +<P> +"I refused." +<P> +"I didn't think he had sense enough to ask a girl to dance." +<P> +"You are ungrateful, Katherine. Remember he introduced you to the Prince." +<P> +"Yes, that's so. I had forgotten. I shall never say anything against him +again." +<P> +"You like the Prince, then?" +<P> +"Of all the crowned heads, emperors, kings, sultans, monarchs of every +description, dukes, counts, earls, marquises, whom I have met, and who have +pestered my life asking me to share their royal perquisites, I think I may +say quite truthfully that I like this Jack Lamont better than any one of +them." +<P> +"Surely Prince Jack has not offered you his principality already?" +<P> +"No, not yet, but with an eye to the future I have persuaded him to give +up Tolstoi and read Mark Twain, who is not only equally humorous, but much +more sensible than the Russian writer. Jack must not be allowed to give away +his estates to the peasants as his silly sister has done. I may need them +later on." +<P> +"Oh, you've got that far, have you?" +<P> +"I have got that far: he hasn't. He doesn't know anything about it, but I'll +wake him up when the right time comes. There are many elements of sanity +about him. He told me that he intended to give up his estates, but in the +first place he had been too busy, and in the second he needed the money. +His good sense, however, requires refining, so that he may get rid of the +dross. I don't blame him; I blame Tolstoi. For instance, when I asked him +if he had patented his liquid city invention, he said he did not wish to +make a profit from his discovery, but intended it for the good of humanity +at large. Imagine such an idiotic idea as that!" +<P> +"I think such views are entirely to his credit," alarmed Dorothy. +<P> +"Oh, of course, but the plan is not practicable. If he allows such an invention +to slip through his fingers, the Standard Oil people will likely get hold +of it, form a monopoly, and then where would humanity at large be? I tell +him the right way is to patent it, make all the money he can, and use the +cash for benefiting humanity under the direction of some charitable person +like myself." +<P> +"Did you suggest that to him?" +<P> +"I did not intimate who the sensible person was, but I elucidated the principle +of the thing." +<P> +"Yes, and what did he say?" +<P> +"Many things, Dorothy, many things. At one time he became confidential about +his possessions in foreign lands. It seems he owns several castles, and when +he visits any of them he cannot prevent the moujiks, if that is the proper +term for the peasantry over there, from prostrating themselves on the ground +as he passes by, beating their foreheads against the earth, and chanting, +in choice Russian, the phrase: 'Defer, defer, here comes the Lord High +Executioner,' or words to that effect. I told him I didn't see why he should +interfere with so picturesque a custom, and he said if I visited one of his +castles that these estimable people, at a word from him, would form a corduroy +road in the mud with their bodies, so that I might step dry-shod from the +carriage to the castle doors, and I stipulated that he should at least spread +a bit of stair carpet over the poor wretches before I made my progress across +his front yard." +<P> +"Well, you <I>did</I> become confidential if you discussed a visit to Russia." +<P> +"Yes, didn't we? I suppose you don't approve of my forward conduct?" +<P> +"I am sure you acted with the utmost prudence, Kate." +<P> +"I didn't lose any time, though, did I?" +<P> +"I don't know how much time is required to attain the point of friendship +you reached. I am inexperienced. It is true I have read of love at first +sight, and I am merely waiting to be told whether or not this is an instance +of it." +<P> +"Oh, you are very diffident, aren't you, sitting there so bashfully!" +<P> +"I may seem timid or bashful, but it's merely sleepiness." +<P> +"You're a bit of a humbug, Dorothy." +<P> +"Why?" +<P> +"I don't know why, but you are. No, it was not a case of love at first sight. +It was a case of feminine vengeance. Yes, you may look surprised, but I'm +telling the truth. After I walked so proudly off with his high mightiness, +we had a most agreeable dance together; then I proposed to return to you, +but the young man would not have it so, and for the moment I felt flattered. +By and by I became aware, however, that it was not because of my company +he avoided your vicinity, but that he was sacrificing himself for his friend." +<P> +"What friend?" +<P> +"Lieutenant Drummond, of course." +<P> +"How was he sacrificing himself for Lieutenant Drummond?" +<P> +"I surmise that the tall Lieutenant did not fall a victim to my wiles as +I had at first supposed, but, in some unaccountable manner, one can never +tell how these things happen; he was most anxious to be left alone with the +coy Miss Dorothy Amhurst, who does not understand how long a time it takes +to fall in love at first sight, although she has read of these things, dear, +innocent girl. The first villain of the piece has said to the second villain +of the piece: 'There's a superfluous young woman over on our bench; I'll +introduce you to her. You lure her off to the giddy dance, and keep her away +as long as you can, and I'll do as much for you some day.' +<P> +"Whereupon Jack Lamont probably swore— I understand that profanity is sometimes +distressingly prevalent aboard ship— but nevertheless he allowed the Lieutenant +to lead him like a lamb to the slaughter. Well, not being powerful enough +to throw him overboard when I realized the state of the case, I did the next +best thing. I became cloyingly sweet to him. I smiled upon him: I listened +to his farrago of nonsense about the chemical components of his various notable +inventions, as if a girl attends a ball to study chemistry! Before half an +hour had passed the infant had come to the conclusion that here was the first +really sensible woman he had ever met. He soon got to making love to me, +as the horrid phrase goes, as if love were a mixture to be compounded of +this ingredient and that, and then shaken before taken. I am delighted to +add, as a testimony to my own powers of pleasing, that Jack soon forgot he +was a sacrifice, and really, with a little instruction, he would become a +most admirable flirt. He is coming to call upon me this afternoon, and then +he will get his eyes opened. I shall tread on him as if he were one of his +own moujiks." +<P> +"What a wonderful imagination you have, Kate. All you have said is pure fancy. +I saw he was taken with you from the very first. He never even glanced at +me." +<P> +"Of course not: he wasn't allowed to." +<P> +"Nonsense, Kate. If I thought for a moment you were really in earnest, I +should say you underestimate your own attractions." +<P> +"Oh, that's all very well, Miss Dorothy Dimple; you are trying to draw a +red herring across the trail, because you know that what I want to hear is +why Lieutenant Drummond was so anxious to get me somewhere else. What use +did he make of the opportunity the good-natured Prince and my sweet complacency +afforded him?" +<P> +"He said nothing which might not have been overheard by any one." +<P> +"Come down to particulars, Dorothy, and let me judge. You are so inexperienced, +you know, that it is well to take counsel with a more sophisticated friend." +<P> +"I don't just remember—" +<P> +"No, I thought you wouldn't. Did he talk of himself or of you?" +<P> +"Of himself, of course. He told me why he was going to Russia, and spoke +of some checks he had met in his profession." +<P> +"Ah! Did he cash them?" +<P> +"Obstacles— difficulties that were in his way, which he hoped to overcome." +<P> +"Oh, I see. And did you extend that sympathy which—" +<P> +There was a knock at the door, and the maid came in, bearing a card. +<P> +"Good gracious me!" cried Katherine, jumping to her feet. "The Prince has +come. What a stupid thing that we have no mirror in this room, and it's a +sewing and sitting room, too. Do I look all right, Dorothy?" +<P> +"To me you seem perfection." +<P> +"Ah, well, I can glance at a glass on the next floor. Won't you come down +and see him trampled on?" +<P> +"No, thank you. I shall most likely drop off to sleep, and enjoy forty winks +in this very comfortable chair. Don't be too harsh with the young man, Kate. +You are quite wrong in your surmises about him. The Lieutenant never made +any such arrangement as you suggest, because he talked of nothing but the +most commonplace subjects all the time I was with him, as I was just about +to tell you, only you seem in such a hurry to get away." +<P> +"Oh, that doesn't deceive me in the least. I'll be back shortly, with the +young man's scalp dangling at my belt. Now we shan't be long," and with that +Katherine went skipping downstairs. +<P> +Dorothy picked up a magazine that lay on the table, and for a few moments +turned its leaves from one story to another, trying to interest herself, +but failing. Then she lifted the newspaper that lay at her feet, but it also +was soon cast aside, and she leaned back in her chair with half-closed eyes, +looking out at the cruiser in the Bay. A slight haze arose between her and +the ship, thickening and thickening until at last it obscured the vessel. +<P> +Dorothy was oppressed by a sense of something forgotten, and she strove in +vain to remember what it was. It was of the utmost importance, she was certain, +and this knowledge made her mental anxiety the greater. +<P> +At last out of the gloom she saw Sabina approach, clothed in rags, and then +a flash of intuition enabled her to grasp the difficulty. Through her remissness +the ball dress was unfinished, and the girl, springing to her feet, turned +intuitively to the sewing-machine, when the ringing laugh of Katherine dissolved +the fog. +<P> +"Why, you poor girl, what's the matter with you? Are you sitting down to +drudgery again? You've forgotten the fortune!" +<P> +"Are— are you back already?" cried Dorothy, somewhat wildly. +<P> +"Already! Why, bless me, I've been away an hour and a quarter. You dear girl, +you've been asleep and in slavery again!" +<P> +"I think I was," admitted Dorothy with a sigh. +<h3>CHAPTER VI</h3> +<h4>FROM SEA TO MOUNTAIN</h4> +<P> +THREE days later the North Atlantic squadron of the British Navy sailed down +the coast from Halifax, did not even pause at Bar Harbor, but sent a wireless +telegram to the "Consternation," which pulled up anchor and joined the fleet +outside, and so the war-ships departed for another port. +<P> +Katherine stood by the broad window in the sewing room in her favorite attitude, +her head sideways against the pane, her eyes languidly gazing upon the Bay, +fingers drumming this time a very slow march on the window sill. Dorothy +sat in a rocking-chair, reading a letter for the second time. There had been +silence in the room for some minutes, accentuated rather than broken by the +quiet drumming of the girl's fingers on the window sill. Finally Katherine +breathed a deep sigh and murmured to herself: +<BLOCKQUOTE> +"'Far called our Navy fades away,<BR> + On dune and headland sinks the fire.<BR> + Lo, all our pomp of yesterday<BR> + Is one with Nineveh and Tyre.' +</BLOCKQUOTE> +<P> +I wonder if I've got the lines right," she whispered to herself. She had +forgotten there was anyone else in the room, and was quite startled when +Dorothy spoke. +<P> +"Kate, that's a solemn change, from Gilbert to Kipling. I always judge your +mood by your quotations. Has life suddenly become too serious for 'Pinafore' +or the 'Mikado'?" +<P> +"Oh, I don't know," said Katherine, without turning round. "They are humorous +all, and so each furnishes something suitable for the saddened mind. Wisdom +comes through understanding your alphabet properly. For instance, first there +was Gilbert, and that gave us G; then came Kipling, and he gave us K; thus +we get an algebraic formula, G.K., which are the initials of Chesterton, +a still later arrival, and as the mind increases in despondency it sinks +lower and lower down the alphabet until it comes to S, and thus we have Barn-yard +Shaw, an improvement on the Kail-yard school, who takes the O pshaw view +of life. And relaxing hold of him I sink deeper until I come to W— W. W. +Jacobs— how I wish he wrote poetry! He should be the humorist of all sailors, +and perhaps some time he will desert barges for battleships. Then I shall +read him with increased enjoyment." +<P> +"I wouldn't give Mark Twain for the lot," commented Dorothy with decision. +<P> +"Mark Twain isn't yours to give, my dear. He belongs to me also. You've forgotten +that comparisons are odious. Our <I>metier</I> is not to compare, but to +take what pleases us from each. +<BLOCKQUOTE> +'How doth the little busy bee<BR> + Improve each shining hour,<BR> + And gather honey all the day<BR> + From every opening flower. +</BLOCKQUOTE> +<P> +Watts. You see, I'm still down among the W's. Oh, Dorothy, how can you sit +there so placidly when the 'Consternation' has just faded from sight? Selfish +creature! +<BLOCKQUOTE> +'Oh, give me tears for others' woes<BR> + And patience for mine own.' +</BLOCKQUOTE> +<P> +I don't know who wrote that, but you have no tears for others' woes, merely +greeting them with ribald laughter," for Dorothy, with the well-read letter +in her hand, was making the rafters ring with her merriment, something that +had never before happened during her long tenancy of that room. Kate turned +her head slowly round, and the expression on her face was half-indignant, +half-humorous, while her eyes were uncertain weather prophets, and gave equal +indication of sunshine or rain. +<P> +"Why, Katherine, you look like a tragedy queen, rather than the spirit of +comedy! Is it really a case of 'Tit-willow, tit-willow, tit-willow'? You +see, I'm a-rescuing you from the bottom of the alphabet, and bringing you +up to the Gilbert plane, where I am more accustomed to you, and understand +you better. Is this despondency due to the departure of the 'Consternation,' +and the fact that she carries away with her Jack Lamont, blacksmith?" +<P> +The long sigh terminated in a woeful "yes." +<P> +"The ship that has gone out with him we call she. If he had eloped with a +real she, then wearing the willow, or singing it, however futile, might be +understandable. As it is I see nothing in the situation to call for a sigh." +<P> +"That is because you are a hardened sinner, Dorothy. You have no heart, or +at least if you have, it is untouched, and therefore you cannot understand. +If that note in your hand were a love missive, instead of a letter from your +lawyers, you would be more human, Dorothy." +<P> +The hand which held the paper crumpled it up slightly as Katherine spoke. +<P> +"Business letters are quite necessary, and belong to the world we live in," +said Dorothy, a glow of brighter color suffusing her cheeks. "Surely your +acquaintance with Mr. Lamont is of the shortest." +<P> +"He has called upon me every day since the night of the ball," maintained +Katherine stoutly. +<P> +"Well, that's only three times." +<P> +"Only three! How you talk! One would think you had never been schooled in +mathematics. Why, three is a magic figure. You can do plenty of amazing things +with it. Don't you know that three is a numeral of love?" +<P> +"I thought two was the number," chimed Dorothy, with heartless mirth. +<P> +"Three," said Katherine taking one last look at the empty horizon, then seating +herself in front of her friend, "three is a recurring decimal. It goes on +and on and on forever, and if you write it for a thousand years you are still +as far from the end as when you began. It will carry you round the world +and back again, and never diminish. It is the mathematical emblem of the +nature of true love." +<P> +"Is it so serious as all that, Kate, or are you just fooling again?" asked +Dorothy, more soberly than heretofore. "Has he spoken to you?" +<P> +"Spoken? He has done nothing but speak, and I have listened— oh, so intently, +and with such deep understanding. He has never before met such a woman as +I, and has frankly told me so." +<P> +"I am very glad he appreciates you, dear." +<P> +"Yes, you see, Dorothy, I am really much deeper than the ordinary woman. +Who, for instance, could find such a beautiful love simile from a book of +arithmetic costing twenty-five cents, as I have unearthed from decimal fractions? +With that example in mind how can you doubt that other volumes of college +learning reveal to me their inner meaning? John presented to me, as he said +good-by, a beautifully bound copy of that celebrated text-book, 'Saunders' +Analytical Chemistry,' with particularly tender passages marked in pencil, +by his own dear hand." +<P> +Rather bewildered, for Kate's expression was one of pathos, unrelieved by +any gleam of humor, Dorothy nevertheless laughed, although the laugh brought +no echo from Katherine. +<P> +"And did you give him a volume of Browning in return?" +<P> +"No, I didn't. How can you be so unsympathetic? Is it impossible for you +to comprehend the unseen link that binds John and me? I rummaged the book +store until I found a charming little edition of 'Marshall's Geologist's +Pocket Companion,' covered with beautiful brown limp Russia leather— I thought +the Russia binding was so inspirational— with a sweet little clasp that keeps +it closed— typical of our hands at parting. On the fly-leaf I wrote: 'To +J. L., in remembrance of many interesting conversations with his friend, +K. K.' It only needed another K to be emblematic and political, a reminiscence +of the olden times, when you people of the South, Dorothy, were making it +hot for us deserving folks in the North. I hadn't time to go through the +book very thoroughly, but I found many references to limestone, which I marked, +and one particularly choice bit of English relating to the dissolution and +re-consolidation of various minerals I drew a parallelogram around in red +ink. A friend of mine in a motor launch was good enough to take the little +parcel direct to the 'Consternation,' and I have no doubt that at this moment +Jack is perusing it, and perhaps thinking of the giver. I hope it's up-to-date, +and that he had not previously bought a copy." +<P> +"You don't mean to say, Kate, that your conversation was entirely about geology?" +<P> +"Certainly not. How could you have become imbued with an idea so absurd? +We had many delightful dalliances down the romantic groves of chemistry, +heart-to-heart talks on metallurgy, and once— ah, shall I ever forget it— while +the dusk gently enfolded us, and I gazed into those bright, speaking, intelligent +eyes of his as he bent nearer and nearer; while his low, sonorous voice in +well-chosen words pictured to me the promise which fortified cement holds +out to the world; that is, ignorant person, Portland cement strengthened +by ribs of steel; and I sat listening breathless as his glowing phrases +prophesied the future of this combination." +<P> +Katherine closed her eyes, rocked gently back and forth, and crooned, almost +inaudibly: +<BLOCKQUOTE> +"'When you gang awa, Jimmie,<BR> + Faur across the sea, laddie,<BR> + When ye gang to Russian lands<BR> + What will ye send to me, laddie?' +</BLOCKQUOTE> +<P> +I know what I shall get. It will probably be a newly discovered recipe for +the compounding of cement which will do away with the necessity of steel +strengthening." +<P> +"Kate, dear, you are overdoing it. It is quite right that woman should be +a mystery to man, but she should not aspire to become a mystery to her sister +woman. Are you just making fun, or is there something in all this more serious +than your words imply?" +<P> +"Like the steel strengthening in the cement, it may be there, but you can't +see it, and you can't touch it, but it makes— oh, such a difference to the +slab. Heigho, Dorothy, let us forsake these hard-headed subjects, and turn +to something human. What have your lawyers been bothering you about? No trouble +over the money, is there?" +<P> +Dorothy shook her head. +<P> +"No. Of course, there are various matters they have to consult me about, +and get my consent to this project or the other." +<P> +"Read the letter. Perhaps my mathematical mind can be of assistance to you." +<P> +Dorothy had concealed the letter, and did not now produce it. +<P> +"It is with reference to your assistance, and your continued assistance, +that I wish to speak to you. Let us follow the example of the cement and +the steel, and form a compact. In one respect I am going to imitate the +'Consternation.' I leave Bar Harbor next week." +<P> +Katherine sat up in her chair, and her eyes opened wide. +<P> +"What's the matter with Bar Harbor?" she asked. +<P> +"You can answer that question better than I, Kate. The Kempt family are not +visitors, but live here all the year round. What do you think is the matter +with Bar Harbor?" +<P> +"I confess it's a little dull in the winter time, and in all seasons it is +situated a considerable distance from New York. Where do you intend to go, +Dorothy?" +<P> +"That will depend largely on where my friend Kate advises me to go, because +I shall take her with me if she will come." +<P> +"Companion, lady's-maid, parlor maid, maid-of-all-work, cook, governess, +typewriter-girl--which have I to be? Shall I get one afternoon a week off, +and may my young man come and see me, if I happen to secure one, and, extremely +important, what are the wages?" +<P> +"You shall fix your own salary, Kate, and my lawyer men will arrange that +the chosen sum is settled upon you so that if we fall out we can quarrel +on equal terms." +<P> +"Oh, I see, it's an adopted daughter I am to be, then?" +<P> +"An adopted sister, rather." +<P> +"Do you think I am going to take advantage of my friendship with an heiress, +and so pension myself off?" +<P> +"It is I who am taking the advantage," said Dorothy, "and I beg you to take +compassion, rather than advantage, upon a lone creature who has no kith or +kin in the world." +<P> +"Do you really mean it, Dot?" +<P> +"Of course I do. Should I propose it if I didn't?" +<P> +"Well, this is the first proposal I've ever had, and I believe it is customary +to say on those occasions that it is so sudden, or so unexpected, and time +is required for consideration." +<P> +"How soon can you make up your mind, Kate?" +<P> +"Oh, my mind's already made up. I'm going to jump at your offer, but I think +it more ladylike to pretend a mild reluctance. What are you going to do, +Dorothy?" +<P> +"I don't know. I've settled on only one thing. I intend to build a little +stone and tile church, very quaint and old-fashioned, if I get the right +kind of architect to draw a plan for it, and this church is to be situated +in Haverstock." +<P> +"Where's Haverstock?" +<P> +"It is a village near the Hudson River, on the plain that stretches toward +the Catskills." +<P> +"It was there you lived with your father, was it not?" +<P> +"Yes, and my church is to be called the Dr. Amhurst Memorial Church." +<P> +"And do you propose to live at Haverstock?" +<P> +"I was thinking of that." +<P> +"Wouldn't it be just a little dull?" +<P> +"Yes, I suppose it is, but it seems to me a suitable place where two young +women may meditate on what they are going to do with their lives." +<P> +"Yes, that's an important question for the two. I say, Dorothy, let's take +the other side of the river, and enter Vassar College. Then we should at +least have some fun, and there would be some reasonably well-educated people +to speak to." +<P> +"Oh, you wish to use your lately acquired scientific knowledge in order to +pass the examinations; but, you see, I have had no tutor to school me in +the mysteries of lime-burning and the mixing of cement. Now, you have scorned +my side of the river, and I have objected to your side of the river. That +is the bad beginning which, let us hope, makes the good ending. Who is to +arbitrate on our dispute?" +<P> +"Why, we'll split the difference, of course." +<P> +"How can we do that? Live in a house-boat on the river like Frank Stockton's +'Budder Grange'?" +<P> +"No, settle in the city of New York, which is practically an island in the +Hudson." +<P> +"Would you like to live in New York?" +<P> +"Wouldn't I! Imagine any one, having the chance, living anywhere else!" +<P> +"In a hotel, I suppose— the Holldorf for choice." +<P> +"Yes, we could live in a hotel until we found the ideal flat, high up in +a nice apartment house, with a view like that from the top of Mount Washington, +or from the top of the Washington Monument." +<P> +"But you forget I made one proviso in the beginning, and that is that I am +going to build a church, and the church is to be situated, not in the city +of New York, but in the village of Haverstock." +<P> +"New York is just the place from which to construct such an edifice. Haverstock +will be somewhere near the West Shore Railway. Very well. We can take a trip +up there once a week or oftener, if you like, and see how the work is +progressing, then the people of Haverstock will respect us. As we drive from +the station they'll say: +<P> +"'There's the two young ladies from New York who are building the church.' +But if we settle down amongst them they'll think we're only ordinary villagers +instead of the distinguished persons we are. Or, while our flat is being +made ready we could live at one of the big hotels in the Catskills, and come +down as often as we like on the inclined railway. Indeed, until the weather +gets colder, the Catskills is the place. +<BLOCKQUOTE> +'And lo, the Catskills print the distant sky,<BR> + And o'er their airy tops the faint clouds driven,<BR> + So softly blending that the cheated eye<BR> + Forgets or which is earth, or which is heaven.'" +</BLOCKQUOTE> +<P> +"That ought to carry the day for the Catskills, Kate. What sort of habitation +shall we choose? A big hotel, or a select private boarding house?" +<P> +"Oh, a big hotel, of course— the biggest there is, whatever its name may +be. One of those whose rates are so high that the proprietor daren't advertise +them, but says in his announcement, 'for terms apply to the manager.' It +must have ample grounds, support an excellent band, and advertise a renowned +cuisine. Your room, at least, should have a private balcony on which you +can place a telescope and watch the building of your church down below. I, +being a humble person in a subordinate position, should have a balcony also +to make up for those deficiencies." +<P> +"Very well, Kate, that's settled. But although two lone women may set up +housekeeping in a New York flat, they cannot very well go alone to a fashionable +hotel." +<P> +"Oh, yes, we can. Best of references given and required." +<P> +"I was going to suggest," pursued Dorothy, not noticing the interruption, +"that we invite your father and mother to accompany us. They might enjoy +a change from sea air to mountain air." +<P> +Katherine frowned a little, and demurred. +<P> +"Are you going to be fearfully conventional, Dorothy?" +<P> +"We must pay some attention to the conventions, don't you think?" +<P> +"I had hoped not. I yearn to be a bachelor girl, and own a latch-key." +<P> +"We shall each possess a latch-key when we settle down in New York. Our flat +will be our castle, and, although our latch-key will let us in, our Yale +lock will keep other people out. A noted summer resort calls for different +treatment, because there we lead a semi-public life. Besides, I am selfish +enough to wish my coming-out to be under the auspices of so well-known a +man as Captain Kempt." +<P> +"All right, I'll see what they say about it. You don't want Sabina, I take +it?" +<P> +"Yes, if she will consent to come." +<P> +"I doubt if she will, but I'll see. Besides, now that I come to think about +it, it's only fair I should allow my doting parents to know that I am about +to desert them." +<P> +With that Katherine quitted the room, and went down the stairs hippety-hop. +<P> +Dorothy drew the letter from its place of concealment, and read it for the +third time, although one not interested might have termed it a most commonplace +document. It began: +<P> +"Dear Miss Amhurst," and ended "Yours most sincerely, Alan Drummond." It +gave some account of his doings since he bade good-bye to her. A sailor, +he informed her, needs little time for packing his belongings, and on the +occasion in question the Prince had been of great assistance. They set out +together for the early morning train, and said "au revoir" at the station. +Drummond had intended to sail from New York, but a friendly person whom he +met on the train informed him that the Liverpool liner "Enthusiana" set out +from Boston next day, so he had abandoned the New York idea, and had taken +passage on the liner named, on whose note-paper he wrote the letter, which +epistle was once more concealed as Dorothy heard Katherine's light step on +the stair. +<P> +That impulsive young woman burst into the sewing room. +<P> +"We're <I>all</I> going," she cried. "Father, mother and Sabina. It seems +father has had an excellent offer to let the house furnished till the end +of September, and he says that, as he likes high life, he will put in the +time on the top of the Catskills. He abandons me, and says that if he can +borrow a shilling he is going to cut me off with it in his will. He regrets +the departure of the British Fleet, because he thinks he might have been +able to raise a real English shilling aboard. Dad only insists on one condition, +namely, that he is to pay for himself, mother and Sabina, so he does not +want a room with a balcony. I said that in spite of his disinheritance I'd +help the family out of my salary, and so he is going to reconsider the changing +of his will." +<P> +"We will settle the conditions when we reach the Catskills," said Dorothy, +smiling. +<h3>CHAPTER VII</h3> +<h4>"A WAY THEY HAVE IN THE NAVY"</h4> +<P> +CAPTAIN and Mrs. Kempt with Sabina had resided a week in the Matterhorn Hotel +before the two girls arrived there. They had gone direct to New York, and +it required the seven days to find a flat that suited them, of which they +were to take possession on the first of October. Then there were the lawyers +to see; a great many business details to settle, and an architect to consult. +After leaving New York the girls spent a day at Haverstock, where Dorothy +Amhurst bought a piece of land as shrewdly as if she had been in the real +estate business all her life. After this transaction the girls drove to the +station on the line connecting with the inclined railway, and so, as Katherine +remarked, were "wafted to the skies on flowery beds of ease," which she explained +to her shocked companion was all right, because it was a quotation from a +hymn. When at last they reached their hotel, Katherine was in ecstasies. +<P> +"Isn't this heavenly?" she cried, "and, indeed, it ought to be, for I understand +we are three thousand feet higher than we were in New York, and even the +sky-scrapers can't compete with such an altitude." +<P> +The broad valley of the Hudson lay spread beneath them, stretching as far +as the eye could see, shimmering in the thin, bluish veil of a summer evening, +and miles away the river itself could be traced like a silver ribbon. +<P> +The gallant Captain, who had been energetically browbeaten by his younger +daughter, and threatened with divers pains and penalties should he fail to +pay attention and take heed to instructions, had acquitted himself with +<I>eclat</I> in the selection of rooms for Dorothy and his daughter. The +suite was situated in one corner of the huge caravansary, a large parlor +occupying the angle, with windows on one side looking into the forest, and +on the other giving an extended view across the valley. The front room adjoining +the parlor was to be Dorothy's very own, and the end room belonged to Katherine, +he said, as long as she behaved herself. If Dorothy ever wished to evict +her strenuous neighbor, all she had to do was to call upon the Captain, and +he would lend his aid, at which proffer of assistance Katherine tossed her +head, and said she would try the room for a week, and, if she didn't like +it, out Dorothy would have to go. +<P> +There followed days and nights of revelry. Hops, concerts, entertainments +of all sorts, with a more pretentious ball on Saturday night, when the week-tired +man from New York arrived in the afternoon to find temperature twenty degrees +lower, and the altitude very much higher than was the case in his busy office +in the city. Katherine revelled in this round of excitement, and indeed, +so, in a milder way, did Dorothy. After the functions were over the girls +enjoyed a comforting chat with one another in their drawing room; all windows +open, and the moon a-shining down over the luminous valley, which it seemed +to fill with mother-o'-pearl dust. +<P> +Young Mr. J. K. Henderson of New York, having danced repeatedly with Katherine +on Saturday night, unexpectedly turned up for the hop on the following Wednesday, +when he again danced repeatedly with the same joyous girl. It being somewhat +unusual for a keen business man to take a four hours' journey during an afternoon +in the middle of the week, and, as a consequence, arrive late at his office +next morning, Dorothy began to wonder if a concrete formation, associated +with the name of Prince Ivan Lermontoff of Russia, was strong enough to stand +an energetic assault of this nature, supposing it were to be constantly repeated. +It was after midnight on Wednesday when the two reached the corner parlor. +Dorothy sat in a cane armchair, while Katherine threw herself into a +rocking-chair, laced her fingers behind her head, and gazed through the open +window at the misty infinity beyond. +<P> +"Well," sighed Katherine, "this has been the most enjoyable evening I ever +spent!" +<P> +"Are you quite sure?" inquired her friend. +<P> +"Certainly. Shouldn't I know?" +<P> +"He dances well, then?" +<P> +"Exquisitely!" +<P> +"Better than Jack Lamont?" +<P> +"Well, now you mention him I must confess Jack danced very creditably." +<P> +"I didn't know but you might have forgotten the Prince." +<P> +"No, I haven't exactly forgotten him, but— I do think he might have written +to me." +<P> +"Oh, that's it, is it? Did he ask your permission to write?" +<P> +"Good gracious, no. We never talked of writing. Old red sandstone, rather, +was our topic of conversation. Still, he might have acknowledged receipt +of the book." +<P> +"But the book was given to him in return for the one he presented to you." +<P> +"Yes, I suppose it was. I hadn't thought of that." +<P> +"Then again, Kate, Russian notions regarding writing to young ladies may +differ from ours, or he may have fallen overboard, or touched a live wire." +<P> +"Yes, there are many possibilities," murmured Katherine dreamily. +<P> +"It seems rather strange that Mr. Henderson should have time to come up here +in the middle of the week." +<P> +"Why is it strange?" asked Katherine. "Mr. Henderson is not a clerk bound +down to office hours. He's an official high up in one of the big insurance +companies, and gets a simply tremendous salary." +<P> +"Really? Does he talk as well as Jack Lamont did?" +<P> +"He talks less like the Troy Technical Institute, and more like the 'Home +Journal' than poor Prince Jack did, and then he has a much greater sense +of humor. When I told him that the oath of an insurance man should be 'bet +your life!' he laughed. Now, Jack would never have seen the point of that. +Anyhow, the hour is too late, and I am too sleepy, to worry about young men, +or jokes either. Good-night!" +<P> +Next morning's mail brought Dorothy a bulky letter decorated with English +stamps. She locked the door, tore open the envelope, and found many sheets +of thin paper bearing the heading of the Bluewater Club, Pall Mall. +<P> +"I am reminded of an old adage," she read, "to the effect that one should +never cross a bridge before arriving at it. Since I bade good-by to you, +up to this very evening, I have been plodding over a bridge that didn't exist, +much to my own discomfort. You were with me when I received the message ordering +me home to England, and I don't know whether or not I succeeded in suppressing +all signs of my own perturbation, but we have in the Navy now a man who does +not hesitate to overturn a court martial, and so I feared a re-opening of +the Rock in the Baltic question, which might have meant the wrecking of my +career. I had quite made up my mind, if the worst came to the worst, to go +out West and become a cow-boy, but a passenger with whom I became acquainted +on the 'Enthusiana' informed me, to my regret, that the cow-boy is largely +a being of the past, to be met with only in the writings of Stewart Edward +White, Owen Wister, and several other famous men whom he named. So you see, +I went across the ocean tolerably depressed, finding my present occupation +threatened, and my future uncertain. +<P> +"When I arrived in London I took a room at this Club, of which I have been +a member for some years, and reported immediately at the Admiralty. But there, +in spite of all diligence on my part, I was quite unable to learn what was +wanted of me. Of course, I could have gone to my Uncle, who is in the government, +and perhaps he might have enlightened me, although he has nothing to do with +the Navy, but I rather like to avoid Uncle Metgurne. He brought me up since +I was a small boy, and seems unnecessarily ashamed of the result. It is his +son who is the <I>attache'</I> in St. Petersburg that I spoke to you about." +<P> +Dorothy ceased reading for a moment. +<P> +"Metgurne, Metgurne," she said to herself. "Surely I know that name?" +<P> +She laid down the letter, pressed the electric button, and unlocked the door. +When the servant came, she said: +<P> +"Will you ask at the office if they have any biographical book of reference +relating to Great Britain, and if so, please bring it to me." +<P> +The servant appeared shortly after with a red book which proved to be an +English "Who's Who" dated two years back. Turning the pages she came to Metgurne. +<P> +"Metgurne, twelfth Duke of, created 1681, Herbert George Alan." Here followed +a number of other titles, the information that the son and heir was Marquis +of Thaxted, and belonged to the Diplomatic Service, that Lord Metgurne was +H. M. Secretary of State for Royal Dependencies; finally a list of residences +and clubs. She put down the book and resumed the letter. +<P> +"I think I ought to have told you that when I reach St. Petersburg I shall +be as anxious to avoid my cousin Thaxted as I am to steer clear of his father +in London. So I sat in my club, and read the papers. Dear me, this is evidently +going to be a very long letter. I hope you won't mind. I think perhaps you +may be interested in learning how they do things over here. +<P> +"After two or three days of anxious waiting there came a crushing communication +from the Admiralty which confirmed my worst fears and set me at crossing +the bridge again. I was ordered to report next morning at eleven, at Committee +Room 5, in the Admiralty, and bring with me full particulars pertaining to +the firing of gun number so-and-so of the 'Consternation's' equipment on +such a date. I wonder since that I did not take to drink. We have every facility +for that sort of thing in this club. However, at eleven next day, I presented +myself at the Committee Room and found in session the grimmest looking five +men I have ever yet been called upon to face. Collectively they were about +ten times worse in appearance than the court-martial I had previously +encountered. Four of the men I did not know, but the fifth I recognized at +once, having often seen his portrait. He is Admiral Sir John Pendergest, +popularly known in the service as 'Old Grouch,' a blue terror who knows +absolutely nothing of mercy. The lads in the service say he looks so disagreeable +because he is sorry he wasn't born a hanging judge. Picture a face as cleanly +cut as that of some severe old Roman Senator; a face as hard as marble, quite +as cold, and nearly as white, rescued from the appearance of a death mask +by a pair of piercing eyes that glitter like steel. When looking at him it +is quite impossible to believe that such a personage has ever been a boy +who played pranks on his masters. Indeed, Admiral Sir John Pendergest seems +to have sprung, fully uniformed and forbidding, from the earth, like those +soldiers of mythology. I was so taken aback at confronting such a man that +I never noticed my old friend, Billy Richardson, seated at the table as one +of the minor officials of the Committee. Billy tells me I looked rather white +about the lips when I realized what was ahead of me, and I daresay he was +right. My consolation is that I didn't get red, as is my disconcerting habit. +I was accommodated with a chair, and then a ferrety-faced little man began +asking me questions, consulting every now and then a foolscap sheet of paper +which was before him. Others were ready to note down the answers. +<P> +"'When did you fire the new gun from the "Consternation" in the Baltic?' +<P> +"Dear Miss Amhurst, I have confessed to you that I am not brilliant, and, +indeed, such confession was quite unnecessary, for you must speedily have +recognized the fact, but here let me boast for a line or two of my one +accomplishment, which is mathematical accuracy. When I make experiments I +don't note the result by rule of thumb. My answer to the ferret-faced man +was prompt and complete. +<P> +"'At twenty-three minutes, seventeen seconds past ten, A.M., on May the third +of this year,' was my reply. +<P> +"The five high officials remained perfectly impassive, but the two stenographers +seemed somewhat taken by surprise, and one of them whispered, 'Did you say +fifteen seconds, sir?' +<P> +"'He said seventeen,' growled Sir John Pendergest, in a voice that seemed +to come out of a sepulchre. +<P> +"'Who sighted the gun?' +<P> +"'I did, sir.' +<P> +"'Why did not the regular gunner do that?' +<P> +"'He did, sir, but I also took observations, and raised the muzzle .000327 +of an inch.' +<P> +"'Was your gunner inaccurate, then, to that extent?' +<P> +"'No, sir, but I had +weighed the ammunition, and found it short by two ounces and thirty-seven +grains.' +<P> +"I must not bore you with all the questions and answers. I merely give these +as samples. They questioned me about the recoil, the action of the gun, the +state of this, that and the other after firing, and luckily I was able to +answer to a dot every query put to me. At the finish one of the judges asked +me to give in my own words my opinion of the gun. Admiral Sir John glared +at him as he put this question, for of course to any expert the answers I +had furnished, all taken together, gave an accurate verdict on the gun, assuming +my statements to have been correct, which I maintain they were. However, +as Sir John made no verbal comment, I offered my opinion as tersely as I +could. +<P> +"'Thank you, Lieutenant Drummond,' rumbled Sir John in his deep voice, as +if he were pronouncing sentence, and, my testimony completed, the Committee +rose. +<P> +"I was out in the street before Billy Richardson overtook me, and then he +called himself to my attention by a resounding slap on the shoulder. +<P> +"'Alan, my boy,' he cried, 'you have done yourself proud. Your fortune's +made.' +<P> +"'As how?' I asked, shaking him by the hand. +<P> +"'Why, we've been for weeks holding an inquiry on this blessed gun, and the +question is whether or not a lot more of them are to be made. You know what +an opinionated beast Old Grouch is. Well, my boy, you have corroborated his +opinion of the gun in every detail. He is such a brow-beating, tyrannical +brute that the rest of the Committee would rather like to go against him +if they dared, but you have put a spoke in their wheel. Why, Sir John never +said "thank you" to a human being since he was born until twenty-seven minutes +and fifteen seconds after eleven this morning, as you would have put it,' +and at the time of writing this letter this surmise of Billy's appears to +be justified, for the tape in the club just now announced that the Committee +has unanimously decided in favor of the gun, and adds that this is regarded +as a triumph for the chairman, Admiral Sir John Pendergest, with various +letters after his name. +<P> +"Dear Miss Amhurst, this letter, as I feared, has turned out intolerably +long, and like our first conversation, it is all about myself. But then, +you see, you are the only one on the other side of the water to whom I have +confided my selfish worries, and I believe you to be so kind-hearted that +I am sure you will not censure me for this once exceeding the limits of friendly +correspondence. Having been deeply depressed during all the previous long +days, the sudden reaction urges me to go out into Pall Mall, fling my cap +in the air, and whoop, which action is quite evidently a remnant of my former +cow-boy aspirations. Truth to tell, the Russian business seems already forgotten, +except by my stout old Captain on the 'Consternation,' or my Uncle. The strenuous +Sir John has had me haled across the ocean merely to give testimony, lasting +about thirty-five minutes, when with a little patience he might have waited +till the 'Consternation' herself arrived, or else have cabled for us to try +the gun at Bar Harbor. I suppose, however, that after my unfortunate +<I>contretemps</I> with Russia our government was afraid I'd chip a corner +off the United States, and that they'd have to pay for it. So perhaps after +all it was greater economy to bring me across on the liner 'Enthusiana.' +<P> +"By the way, I learned yesterday that the 'Consternation' has been ordered +home, and so I expect to see Jack Lamont before many days are past. The ship +will be paid off at Portsmouth, and then I suppose he and I will have our +freedom for six months. I am rather looking forward to Jack's cooking me +some weird but tasteful Russian dishes when we reach his blacksmith's shop +in St. Petersburg. If I get on in Russia as I hope and expect, I shall spend +the rest of my leave over in the States. I saw very little indeed of that +great country, and am extremely anxious to see more. When one is on duty +aboard ship one can only take very short excursions ashore. I should like +to visit Niagara. It seems ridiculous that one should have been all along +the American coast from Canada to New York, and never have got far enough +inland to view the great Falls. + +<p>"Russia is rather dilatory in her methods, +but I surely should know within two or three weeks whether I am going to +succeed or not. If not, then there is no use in waiting there. I shall try +to persuade the Prince to accompany me to America. During the weeks I am +waiting in St. Petersburg I shall continually impress upon him the utter +futility of a life which has not investigated the great electrical power +plant at Niagara Falls. And then he is interested in the educational system +of the United States. While we were going to the station early that morning +he told me that the United States educational system must be the most wonderful +in the world, because he found that your friend, Miss Katherine Kempt, knew +more about electricity, metallurgy, natural philosophy and a great number +of other things he is interested in, than all the ladies he has met in Europe +put together. He thinks that's the right sort of education for girls, and +all this rather astonished me, because, although your friend was most charming, +she said nothing during my very short acquaintance with her to lead me to +suspect that she had received a scientific training. + +<p>"Dear Miss Amhurst, +I am looking every day for a letter from you, but none has yet been received +by the Admiralty, who, when they get one, will forward it to whatever part +of the world I happen to be in." +<h3>CHAPTER VIII</h3> +<h4>"WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME"</h4> +<P> +A SUMMER hotel that boasts a thousand acres of forest, more or less, which +serve the purposes of a back-yard, affords its guests, even if all its multitude +of rooms are occupied, at least one spot for each visitor to regard as his +or her favorite nook. So large an extent of woodland successfully defies +landscape gardening. It insists on being left alone, and its very immensity +raises a financial barrier against trimly-kept gravel walks. There were plenty +of landscape garden walks in the immediate vicinity of the hotel, and some +of them ambitiously penetrated into the woods, relapsing from the civilization +of beaten gravel into a primitive thicket trail, which, however, always led +to some celebrated bit of picturesqueness: a waterfall, or a pulpit rock +upstanding like a tower, or the fancied resemblance of a human face carved +by Nature from the cliff, or a view-point jutting out over the deep chasm +of the valley, which usually supported a rustic summer house or pavilion +where unknown names were carved on the woodwork— the last resort of the +undistinguished to achieve immortality by means of a jack-knife. +<P> +Dorothy discovered a little Eden of her own, to which no discernible covert-way +led, for it was not conspicuous enough to obtain mention in the little gratis +guide which the hotel furnished— a pamphlet on coated paper filled with half-tone +engravings, and half-extravagant eulogies of what it proclaimed to be, an +earthly paradise, with the rates by the day or week given on the cover page +to show on what terms this paradise might be enjoyed. +<P> +Dorothy's bower was green, and cool, and crystal, the ruggedness of the rocks +softened by the wealth of foliage. A very limpid spring, high up and out +of sight among the leaves, sent its waters tinkling down the face of the +cliff, ever filling a crystal-clear lakelet at the foot, which yet was never +full. Velvety and beautiful as was the moss surrounding this pond, it was +nevertheless too damp to form an acceptable couch for a human being, unless +that human being were brave enough to risk the rheumatic inconveniences which +followed Rip Van Winkle's long sleep in these very regions, so Dorothy always +carried with her from the hotel a feather-weight, spider's-web hammock, which +she deftly slung between two saplings, their light suppleness giving an almost +pneumatic effect to this fairy net spread in a fairy glen; and here the young +woman swayed luxuriously in the relaxing delights of an indolence still too +new to have become commonplace or wearisome. +<P> +She always expected to read a great deal in the hammock, but often the book +slipped unnoticed to the moss, and she lay looking upward at the little discs +of blue sky visible through the checkering maze of green leaves. One afternoon, +deserted by the latest piece of fictional literature, marked in plain figures +on the paper cover that protected the cloth binding, one dollar and a half, +but sold at the department stores for one dollar and eight cents, Dorothy +lay half-hypnotized by the twinkling of the green leaves above her, when +she heard a sweet voice singing a rollicking song of the Civil War, and so +knew that Katherine was thus heralding her approach. +<BLOCKQUOTE> +"'When Johnny comes marching home again,<BR> + Hurrah! + Hurrah!<BR> + We'll give him a hearty welcome then,<BR> + Hurrah! + Hurrah!<BR> + The men will cheer, the boys will shout,<BR> + The ladies they will all turn out,<BR> + And we'll all feel gay<BR> + When Johnny comes marching home.'" +</BLOCKQUOTE> +<P> +Dorothy went still further back into the history of her country, and gave +a faint imitation of an Indian war-whoop, to let the oncomer know she was +welcome, and presently Katherine burst impetuously through the dense undergrowth. +<P> +"So here you are, Miss Laziness," she cried. +<P> +"Here I am, Miss Energy, or shall I call you Miss-applied Energy? Katherine, +you have walked so fast that you are quite red in the face." +<P> +"It isn't exertion, it's vexation. Dorothy, I have had a perfectly terrible +time. It is the anxiety regarding the proper discipline of parents that is +spoiling the nervous system of American children. Train them up in the way +they should go, and when they are old they <I>do</I> depart from it. There's +nothing more awful than to own parents who think they possess a sense of +humor. Thank goodness mother has none!" +<P> +"Then it is your father who has been misbehaving?" +<P> +"Of course it is. He treats the most serious problem of a woman's life as +if it were the latest thing in 'Life.'" +<P> +Dorothy sat up in the hammock. +<P> +"The most important problem? That means a proposal. Goodness gracious, Kate, +is that insurance man back here again?" +<P> +"<I>What</I> insurance man?" +<P> +"Oh, heartless and heart-breaking Katherine, is there another? Sit here in +the hammock beside me, and tell me all about it." +<P> +"No, thank you," refused Katherine. "I weigh more than you, and I cannot +risk my neck through the collapse of that bit of gossamer. I must take care +of myself for his sake." +<P> +"Then it is the life insurance man whose interests you are consulting? Have +you taken out a policy with him?" +<P> +"Dear me, you are nearly as bad as father, but not quite so funny. You are +referring to Mr. Henderson, I presume. A most delightful companion for a +dance, but, my dear Dorothy, life is not all glided out to the measures of +a Strauss waltz." +<P> +"True; quite undisputable, Kate, and them sentiments do you credit. Who is +the man?" +<P> +"The human soul," continued Katherine seriously, "aspires to higher things +than the society columns of the New York Sunday papers, and the frivolous +chatter of an overheated ball-room." +<P> +"Again you score, Kate, and are rising higher and higher in my estimation. +I see it all now. Those solemn utterances of yours point directly toward +Hugh Miller's 'Old Red Sandstone' and works of that sort, and now I remember +your singing 'When Johnny comes marching home.' I therefore take it that +Jack Lamont has arrived." +<P> +"He has not." +<P> +"Then he has written to you?" +<P> +"He has not." +<P> +"Oh, well, I give it up. Tell me the tragedy your own way." +<P> +For answer Katherine withdrew her hands from behind her, and offered to her +friend a sheet of paper she had been holding. Dorothy saw blazoned on the +top of it a coat-of-arms, and underneath it, written in words of the most +formal nature, was the information that Prince Ivan Lermontoff presented +his warmest regards to Captain Kempt, U.S.N., retired, and begged permission +to pay his addresses to the Captain's daughter Katherine. Dorothy looked +up from the document, and her friend said calmly: +<P> +"You see, they need another Katherine in Russia." +<P> +"I hope she won't be like a former one, if all I've read of her is true. +This letter was sent to your father, then?" +<P> +"It was, and he seems to regard it as a huge joke. Said he was going to cable +his consent, and as the 'Consternation' has sailed away, he would try to +pick her up by wireless telegraphy, and secure the young man that way: suggests +that I shall have a lot of new photographs taken, so that he can hand them +out to the reporters when they call for particulars. Sees in his mind's eye, +he says, a huge black-lettered heading in the evening papers: 'A Russian +Prince captures one of our fairest daughters,' and then insultingly hinted +that perhaps, after all, it was better not to use my picture, as it might +not bear out the 'fair daughter' fiction of the heading." +<P> +"Yes, Kate, I can see that such treatment of a vital subject must have been +very provoking." +<P> +"Provoking? I should say it was! He pretended he was going to tack this letter +up on the notice-board in the hall of the hotel, so that every one might +know what guests of distinction the Matterhorn House held. But the most +exasperating feature of the situation is that this letter has been lying +for days and days at our cottage in Bar Harbor. I am quite certain that I +left instructions for letters to be forwarded, but, as nothing came, I +telegraphed yesterday to the people who have taken our house, and now a whole +heap of belated correspondence has arrived, with a note from our tenant saying +he did not know our address. You will see at the bottom of the note that +the Prince asks my father to communicate with him by sending a reply to the +'Consternation' at New York, but now the 'Consternation' has sailed for England, +and poor John must have waited and waited in vain." +<P> +"Write care of the 'Consternation' in England." +<P> +"But Jack told me that the 'Consternation' paid off as soon as she arrived, +and probably he will have gone to Russia." +<P> +"If you address him at the Admiralty in London, the letter will be forwarded +whereever he happens to be." +<P> +"How do you know?" +<P> +"I have heard that such is the case." +<P> +"But you're not sure, and I want to be certain." +<P> +"Are you really in love with him, Kate?" +<P> +"Of course I am. You know that very well, and I don't want any stupid +misapprehension to arise at the beginning, such as allows a silly author +to carry on his story to the four-hundredth page of such trash as this," +and she gently touched with her toe the unoffending volume which lay on the +ground beneath the hammock. +<P> +"Then why not adopt your father's suggestion, and cable? It isn't you who +are cabling, you know." +<P> +"I couldn't consent to that. It would look as if we were in a hurry, wouldn't +it?" +<P> +"Then let me cable." +<P> +"You? To whom?" +<P> +"Hand me up that despised book, Kate, and I'll write my cablegram on the +fly-leaf. If you approve of the message, I'll go to the hotel, and send it +at once." +<P> +Katherine gave her the book, and lent the little silver pencil which hung +jingling, with other trinkets, on the chain at her belt. Dorothy scribbled +a note, tore out the fly-leaf, and presented it to Katherine, who read: +<P> +"Alan Drummond, Bluewater Club, Pall Mall, London. Tell Lamont that his letter +to Captain Kempt was delayed, and did not reach the Captain until to-day. +Captain Kempt's reply will be sent under cover to you at your club. Arrange +for forwarding if you leave England. +<P> +Dorothy Amhurst." +<P> +When Katherine finished reading she looked up at her friend, and exclaimed: +"Well!" giving that one word a meaning deep as the clear pool on whose borders +she stood. +<P> +Dorothy's face reddened as if the sinking western sun was shining full upon +it. +<P> +"You write to one another, then?" +<P> +"Yes." +<P> +"And is it a case of—" +<P> +"No; friendship." +<P> +"Sure it is nothing more than that?" +<P> +Dorothy shook her head. +<P> +"Dorothy, you are a brick; that's what you are. You will do anything to help +a friend in trouble." +<P> +Dorothy smiled. +<P> +"I have so few friends that whatever I can do for them will not greatly tax +any capabilities I may possess." +<P> +"Nevertheless, Dorothy, I thoroughly appreciate what you have done. You did +not wish any one to know you were corresponding with him, and yet you never +hesitated a moment when you saw I was anxious." +<P> +"Indeed, Kate, there was nothing to conceal. Ours is a very ordinary exchange +of letters. I have only had two: one at Bar Harbor a few days after he left, +and another longer one since we came to the hotel, written from England." +<P> +"Did the last one go to Bar Harbor, too? How came you to receive it when +we did not get ours?" +<P> +"It did not go to Bar Harbor. I gave him the address of my lawyers in New +York, and they forwarded it to me here. Lieutenant Drummond was ordered home +by some one who had authority to do so, and received the message while he +was sitting with me on the night of the ball. He had got into trouble with +Russia. There had been an investigation, and he was acquitted. I saw that +he was rather worried over the order home and I expressed my sympathy as +well as I could, hoping everything would turn out for the best. He asked +if he might write and let me know the outcome, and, being interested, I quite +willingly gave him permission, and my address. The letter I received was +all about a committee meeting at the Admiralty in which he took part. He +wrote to me from the club in Pall Mall to which I have addressed this cablegram." +<P> +There was a sly dimple in Katherine's cheeks as she listened to this +straightforward explanation, and the faintest possible suspicion of a smile +flickered at the corner of her mouth. She murmured, rather than sang: +<P> +"'A pair of lovesick maidens we.'" +<P> +"One, if you please," interrupted Dorothy. +<P> +"'Lovesick all against our will— '" +<P> +"Only one." +<P> +"'Twenty years hence we shan't be +<br> +A pair of lovesick maidens still.'" +<P> +"I am pleased to note," said Dorothy demurely, "that the letter written by +the Prince to your father has brought you back to the Gilbert and Sullivan +plane again, although in this fairy glen you should quote from Iolanthe rather +than from Patience." +<P> +"Yes, Dot, this spot might do for a cove in the 'Pirates of Penzance,' only +we're too far from the sea. But, to return to the matter in hand, I don't +think there will be any need to send that cablegram. I don't like the idea +of a cablegram, anyhow. I will return to the hotel, and dictate to my frivolous +father a serious composition quite as stately and formal as that received +from the Prince. He will address it and seal it, and then if you are kind +enough to enclose it in the next letter you send to Lieutenant Drummond, +it will be sure to reach Jack Lamont ultimately." +<P> +Dorothy sprang from the hammock to the ground. +<P> +"Oh," she cried eagerly, "I'll go into the hotel with you and write my letter +at once." +<P> +Katherine smiled, took her by the arm, and said: +<P> +"You're a dear girl, Dorothy. I'll race you to the hotel, as soon as we are +through this thicket." +<h3>CHAPTER IX</h3> +<h4>IN RUSSIA</h4> +<P> +THE next letter Dorothy received bore Russian stamps, and was dated at the +black-smith's shop, Bolshoi Prospect, St. Petersburg. After a few preliminaries, +which need not be set down here, Drummond continued: +<P> +"The day after Jack arrived in London, there being nothing whatever to detain +him in England, we set off together for St. Petersburg, and are now domiciled +above his blacksmith shop. We are not on the fashionable side of the river, +but our street is wide, and a very short walk brings us to a bridge which, +being crossed, allows us to wander among palaces if we are so disposed. We +have been here only four days, yet a good deal has already been accomplished. +The influence of the Prince has smoothed my path for me. Yesterday I had +an audience with a very important personage in the Foreign Office, and to-day +I have seen an officer of high rank in the navy. The Prince warns me to mention +no names, because letters, even to a young lady, are sometimes opened before +they reach the person to whom they are addressed. These officials who have +been kind enough to receive me are gentlemen so polished that I feel quite +uncouth in their presence. I am a little shaky in my French, and feared that +my knowledge of that language might not carry me through, but both of these +officials speak English much better than I do, and they seemed rather pleased +I had voluntarily visited St. Petersburg to explain that no discourtesy was +meant in the action I had so unfortunately taken on the Baltic, and they +gave me their warmest assurances they would do what they could to ease the +tension between our respective countries. It seems that my business here +will be finished much sooner than I expected, and then I am off on the quickest +steamer for New York, in the hope of seeing Niagara Falls. I have met with +one disappointment, however. Jack says he cannot possibly accompany me to +the United States. I have failed to arouse in him the faintest interest about +the electric works at Niagara. He insists that he is on the verge of a most +important discovery, the nature of which he does not confide in me. I think +he is working too hard, for he is looking quite haggard and overdone, but +that is always the way with him. He throws himself heart and soul into any +difficulty that confronts him, and works practically night and day until +he has solved it. +<P> +"Yesterday he gave the whole street a fright. I had just returned from the +Foreign Office, and had gone upstairs to my room, when there occurred an +explosion that shook the building from cellar to roof, and sent the windows +of our blacksmith's shop rattling into the street. Jack had a most narrow +escape, but is unhurt, although that fine beard of his was badly singed. +He has had it shaved off, and now sports merely a mustache, looking quite +like a man from New York. You wouldn't recognize him if you met him on Broadway. +The carpenters and glaziers are at work to-day repairing the damage. I told +Jack that if this sort of thing kept on I'd be compelled to patronize another +hotel, but he says it won't happen again. It seems he was trying to combine +two substances by adding a third, and, as I understood him, the mixing took +place with unexpected suddenness. He has endeavored to explain to me the +reaction, as he calls it, which occurred, but I seem to have no head for +chemistry, and besides, if I am to be blown through the roof some of these +days it will be no consolation to me when I come down upon the pavement outside +to know accurately the different elements which contributed to my elevation. +Jack is very patient in trying to instruct me, but he could not resist the +temptation of making me ashamed by saying that your friend, Miss Katherine +Kempt, would have known at once the full particulars of the reaction. Indeed, +he says, she warned him of the disaster, by marking a passage in a book she +gave him which foreshadowed this very thing. She must be a most remarkable +young woman, and it shows how stupid I am that I did not in the least appreciate +this fact when in her company." +<P> +The next letter was received a week later. He was getting on swimmingly, +both at the Foreign Office and at the Russian Admiralty. All the officials +he had met were most courteous and anxious to advance his interests. He wrote +about the misapprehensions held in England regarding Russia, and expressed +his resolve to do what he could when he returned to remove these false +impressions. +<P> +"Of course," he went on, "no American or Englishman can support or justify +the repressive measures so often carried out ruthlessly by the Russian police. +Still, even these may be exaggerated, for the police have to deal with a +people very much different from our own. It is rather curious that at this +moment I am in vague trouble concerning the police. I am sure this place +is watched, and I am also almost certain that my friend Jack is being shadowed. +He dresses like a workman; his grimy blouse would delight the heart of his +friend Tolstoi, but he is known to be a Prince, and I think the authorities +imagine he is playing up to the laboring class, whom they despise. I lay +it all to that unfortunate explosion, which gathered the police about us +as if they had sprung from the ground. There was an official examination, +of course, and Jack explained, apparently to everybody's satisfaction, exactly +how he came to make the mistake that resulted in the loss of his beard and +his windows. I don't know exactly how to describe the feeling of uneasiness +which has come over me. At first sight this city did not strike me as so +very much different from New York or London, and meeting, as I did, so many +refined gentlemen in high places, I had come to think St. Petersburg was +after all very much like Paris, or Berlin, or Rome. But it is different, +and the difference makes itself subtly felt, just as the air in some coast +towns of Britain is relaxing, and in others bracing. In these towns a man +doesn't notice the effect at first, but later on he begins to feel it, and +so it is here in St. Petersburg. Great numbers of workmen pass down our street. +They all seem to know who the Prince is, and the first days we were here, +they saluted him with a deference which I supposed was due to his rank, in +spite of the greasy clothes he wore. Since the explosion an indefinable change +has come over these workmen. They salute the Prince still when we meet them +on the street, but there is in their attitude a certain sly sympathy, if +I may so term it; a bond of camaraderie which is implied in their manner +rather than expressed. Jack says this is all fancy on my part, but I don't +think it is. These men imagine that Prince Ivan Lermontoff, who lives among +them and dresses like them, is concocting some explosive which may yet rid +them of the tyrants who make their lives so unsafe. All this would not matter, +but what does matter is the chemical reaction, as I believe Jack would term +it, which has taken place among the authorities. The authorities undoubtedly +have their spies among the working-men, and know well what they are thinking +about and talking about. I do not believe they were satisfied with the +explanations Jack gave regarding the disaster. I have tried to impress upon +Jack that he must be more careful in walking about the town, and I have tried +to persuade him, after work, to dress like the gentleman he is, but he laughs +at my fears, and assures me that I have gone from one extreme to the other +in my opinion of St. Petersburg. First I thought it was like all other capitals; +now I have swung too far in the other direction. He says the police of St. +Petersburg would not dare arrest him, but I'm not so sure of that. A number +of things occur to me, as usual, too late. Russia, with her perfect secret +service system, must know that Prince Lermontoff has been serving in the +British Navy. They know he returned to St. Petersburg, avoids all his old +friends, and is brought to their notice by an inexplicable explosion, and +they must be well aware, also, that he is in the company of the man who fired +the shell at the rock in the Baltic, and that he himself served on the offending +cruiser. +<P> +"As to my own affairs, I must say they are progressing slowly but satisfactorily; +nevertheless, if Jack would leave St. Petersburg, and come with me to London +or New York, where he could carry on his experiments quite as well, or even +better than here, I should depart at once, even if I jeopardized my own +prospects." +<P> +The next letter, some time later, began: +<P> +"Your two charming notes to me arrived here together. It is very kind of +you to write to a poor exile and cheer him in his banishment. I should like +to see that dell where you have swung your hammock. Beware of Hendrick Hudson's +men, so delightfully written of by Washington Irving. If they offer you anything +to drink, don't you take it. Think how disastrous it would be to all your +friends if you went to sleep in that hammock for twenty years. It's the Catskills +I want to see now rather than Niagara Falls. Your second letter containing +the note from Captain Kempt to Jack was at once delivered to him. What on +earth has the genial Captain written to effect such a transformation in my +friend? He came to me that evening clothed in his right mind; in evening +rig-out, with his decorations upon it, commanded me to get into my dinner +togs, took me in a carriage across the river to the best restaurant St. +Petersburg affords, and there we had a champagne dinner in which he drank +to America and all things American. Whether it was the enthusiasm produced +by Captain Kempt's communication, or the effect of the champagne, I do not +know, but he has reconsidered his determination not to return to the United +States, and very soon we set out together for the west. +<P> +"I shall be glad to get out of this place. We were followed to the restaurant, +I am certain, and I am equally certain that at the next table two police +spies were seated, and these two shadowed us in a cab until we reached our +blacksmith's shop. It is a humiliating confession to make, but somehow the +atmosphere of this place has got on my nerves, and I shall be glad to turn +my back on it. Jack pooh-poohs the idea that he is in any danger. Even the +Governor of St. Petersburg, he says, dare not lay a finger on him, and as +for the Chief of Police, he pours scorn on that powerful official. He scouts +the idea that he is being watched, and all-in-all is quite humorous at my +expense, saying that my state of mind is more fitting for a schoolgirl than +for a stalwart man over six feet in height. One consolation is that Jack +now has become as keen for America as I am. I expect that the interview arranged +for me to-morrow with a great government official will settle my own business +finally one way or another. A while ago I was confident of success, but the +repeated delays have made me less optimistic now, although the gentle courtesy +of those in high places remains undiminished. +<P> +"Dear Miss Amhurst, I cannot afford to fall lower in your estimation than +perhaps I deserve, so I must say that this fear which has overcome me is +all on account of my friend, and not on my own behalf at all. I am perfectly +safe in Russia, being a British subject. My cold and formal Cousin Thaxted +is a member of the British Embassy here, and my cold and formal uncle is +a Cabinet Minister in England, facts which must be well known to these +spy-informed people of St. Petersburg; so I am immune. The worst they could +do would be to order me out of the country, but even that is unthinkable. +If any one attempted to interfere with me, I have only to act the hero of +the penny novelette, draw myself up to my full height, which, as you know, +is not that of a pigmy, fold my arms across my manly chest, cry, 'Ha, ha!' +and sing 'Rule Britannia,' whereupon the villains would wilt and withdraw. +But Jack has no such security. He is a Russian subject, and, prince or commoner, +the authorities here could do what they liked with him. I always think of +things when it is too late to act. I wish I had urged Jack ashore at Bar +Harbor, and induced him to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. +I spoke to him about that coming home in the carriage, and to my amazement +he said he wished he had thought of it himself at the time we were over there. +<P> +"But enough of this. I daresay he is in no real danger after all. Nevertheless, +I shall induce him to pack to-morrow, and we will make for London together, +so my next letter will bear a British stamp, and I assure you the air of +England will taste good to one benighted Britisher whose name is Alan Drummond." +<h3>CHAPTER X</h3> +<h4>CALAMITY UNSEEN</h4> +<P> +THE habit of industry practised from childhood to maturity is not obliterated +by an unexpected shower of gold. Dorothy was an early riser, and one morning, +entering the parlor from her room she saw, lying upon the table, a letter +with a Russian stamp, but addressed in an unknown hand to her friend Katherine +Kempt. She surmised that here was the first communication from the Prince, +and expected to learn all about it during the luncheon hour at the latest. +But the morning and afternoon passed, and Katherine made no sign, which Dorothy +thought was most unusual. All that day and the next Katherine went about +silent, sedate and serious, never once quoting the humorous Mr. Gilbert. +On the third morning Dorothy was surprised, emerging from her room, to see +Katherine standing by the table, a black book in her hand. On the table lay +a large package from New York, recently opened, displaying a number of volumes +in what might be termed serious binding, leather or cloth, but none showing +that high coloring which distinguishes the output of American fiction. +<P> +"Good-morning, Dorothy. The early bird is after the worm of science." She +held forth the volume in her hand. "Steele's 'Fourteen-Weeks' Course in +Chemistry,' an old book, but fascinatingly written. Dorothy," she continued +with a sigh, "I want to talk seriously with you." +<P> +"About chemistry?" asked Dorothy. +<P> +"About men," said Katherine firmly, "and, incidentally, about women." +<P> +"An interesting subject, Kate, but you've got the wrong text-books. You should +have had a parcel of novels instead." +<P> +Dorothy seated herself, and Katherine followed her example, Steele's +"Fourteen-Weeks' Course" resting in her lap. +<P> +"Every man," began Katherine, "should have a guardian to protect him." +<P> +"From women?" +<P> +"From all things that are deceptive, and not what they seem." +<P> +"That sounds very sententious, Kate. What does it mean?" +<P> +"It means that man is a simpleton, easily taken in. He is too honest for +crafty women, who delude him shamelessly." +<P> +"Whom have you been deluding, Kate?" +<P> +"Dorothy, I am a sneak." +<P> +Dorothy laughed. +<P> +"Indeed, Katherine, you are anything but that. You couldn't do a mean or +ungenerous action if you tried your best." +<P> +"You think, Dorothy, I could reform?" she asked, breathlessly, leaning forward. +<P> +"Reform? You don't need to reform. You are perfectly delightful as you are, +and I know no man who is worthy of you. That's a woman's opinion; one who +knows you well, and there is nothing dishonest about the opinion, either, +in spite of your tirade against our sex." +<P> +"Dorothy, three days ago, be the same more or less, I received a letter from +John Lamont." +<P> +"Yes, I saw it on the table, and surmised it was from him." +<P> +"Did you? You were quite right. The reading of that letter has revolutionized +my character. I am a changed woman, Dorothy, and thoroughly ashamed of myself. +When I remember how I have deluded that poor, credulous young man, in making +him believe I understood even the fringe of what he spoke about, it fills +me with grief at my perfidy, but I am determined to amend my ways if hard +study will do it, and when next I see him I shall talk to him worthily like +a female Thomas A. Edison." +<P> +Again Dorothy laughed. +<P> +"Now, that's heartless of you, Dorothy. Don't you see I'm in deadly earnest? +Must my former frivolity dog my steps through life? When I call to mind that +I made fun to you of his serious purpose in life, the thought makes me cringe +and despise myself." +<P> +"Nonsense, Kate, don't go to the other extreme. I remember nothing you have +said that needs withdrawal. You have never made a malicious remark in your +life, Kate. Don't make me defend you against yourself. You have determined, +I take it, to plunge into the subjects which interest the man you are going +to marry. That is a perfectly laudable ambition, and I am quite sure you +will succeed." +<P> +"I know I don't deserve all that, Dorothy, but I like it just the same. I +like people to believe in me, even if I sometimes lose faith in myself. May +I read you an extract from his letter?" +<P> +"Don't if you'd rather not." +<P> +"I'd rather, Dorothy, if it doesn't weary you, but you will understand when +you have heard it, in what a new light I regard myself." +<P> +The letter proved to be within the leaves of the late Mr. Steele's book on +Chemistry, and from this volume she extracted it, pressed it for a moment +against her breast with her open hand, gazing across at her friend. +<P> +"Dorothy, my first love-letter!" +<P> +She turned the crisp, thin pages, and began: +<P> +"'You may recollect that foot-note which you marked with red ink in the book +you so kindly gave me on the subject of Catalysis, which did not pertain +to the subject of the volume in question, and yet was so illuminative to +any student of chemistry. They have done a great deal with Catalysis in Germany +with amazing commercial results, but the subject is one so recent that I +had not previously gone thoroughly into it.'" +<P> +Katherine paused in the reading, and looked across at her auditor, an expression +almost of despair in her eloquent eyes. +<P> +"Dorothy, what under heaven is Catalysis?" +<P> +"Don't ask me," replied Dorothy, suppressing a laugh, struck by the ludicrousness +of any young and beautiful woman pressing any such sentiments as these to +her bosom. +<P> +"Have you ever heard of a Catalytic process, Dorothy?" beseeched Katherine. +"It is one of the phrases he uses." +<P> +"Never; go on with the letter, Kate." +<P> +"'I saw at once that if I could use Catalytic process which would be +instantaneous in its solidifying effect on my liquid limestone, instead of +waiting upon slow evaporation, I could turn out building stone faster than +one can make brick. You, I am sure, with your more alert mind, saw this when +you marked that passage in red.'" +<P> +"Oh, Dorothy," almost whimpered Katherine, +leaning back, "how can I go on? Don't you see what a sneak I am? It was bad +enough to cozen with my heedless, random markings of the book, but to think +that line of red ink might have been marked in his blood, for I nearly sent +the poor boy to his death." +<P> +"Go on, Katherine, go on, go on!" +<P> +"'In my search for a Catalytic whose substance would remain unchanged after +the reaction, I quite overlooked the chemical ingredients of one of the materials +I was dealing with, and the result was an explosion which nearly blew the +roof off the shop, and quite startled poor Drummond out of a year's growth. +However, no real harm has been done, while I have been taught a valuable +lesson; to take into account all the elements I am using. I must not become +so intent on the subject I am pursuing as to ignore everything else.' And +now, Dorothy, I want to ask you a most intimate question, which I beg of +you to answer as frankly as I have confided in you." +<P> +"I know what your question is, Kate. A girl who is engaged wishes to see +her friend in the same position. You would ask me if I am in love with Alan +Drummond, and I answer perfectly frankly that I am not." +<P> +"You are quite sure of that, Dorothy?" +<P> +"Quite. He is the only man friend I have had, except my own father, and I +willingly confess to a sisterly interest in him." +<P> +"Well, if that is all—" +<P> +"It is all, Kate. Why?" +<P> +"Because there is something about him in this letter, which I would read +to you if I thought you didn't care." +<P> +"Oh, he is in love with Jack's sister, very likely. I should think that would +be a most appropriate arrangement. Jack is his best friend, and perhaps a +lover would weaken the influence which Tolstoi exerts over an emotional person's +mind. Lieutenant Drummond, with his sanity, would probably rescue a remnant +of her estates." +<P> +"Oh, well, if you can talk as indifferently as that, you are all right, Dorothy. +No, there is no other woman in the case. Here's what Jack says: +<P> +"'It is amazing how little an Englishman understands people of other nations. +Here is my tall friend Drummond marching nonchalantly among dangers of which +he has not the least conception. The authorities whom he thinks so courteous +are fooling him to the top of his bent. There is, of course, no danger of +his arrest, but nevertheless the eyes of the police are upon him, and he +will not believe it, any more than be will believe he is being hoodwinked +by the Foreign Minister. What I fear is that he will be bludgeoned on the +street some dark night, or involved in a one-sided duel. Twice I have rescued +him from an imminent danger which he has not even seen. Once in a restaurant +a group of officers, apparently drunk, picked a quarrel and drew swords upon +him. I had the less difficulty in getting him away because he fears a broil, +or anything that will call down upon him the attention of his wooden-headed +cousin in the Embassy. On another occasion as we were coming home toward +midnight, a perfectly bogus brawl broke out suddenly all around us. Drummond +was unarmed, but his huge fists sent sprawling two or three of his assailants. +I had a revolver, and held the rest off, and so we escaped. I wish he was +safely back in London again.' What do you think of that, Dorothy?" +<P> +"I think exactly what Mr. Lamont thinks. Lieutenant Drummond's mission to +Russia seems to me a journey of folly." +<P> +"After all, I am glad you don't care, Dorothy. He should pay attention to +what Jack says, for Jack knows Russia, and he doesn't. Still, let us hope +he will come safely out of St. Petersburg. And now, Dot, for breakfast, because +I must get to work." +<P> +Next morning Dorothy saw a letter for herself on the table in the now familiar +hand-writing, and was more relieved than perhaps she would have confessed +even to her closest friend, when she saw the twopence-halfpenny English stamp +on the envelope. Yet its contents were startling enough, and this letter +she did not read to Katherine Kempt, but bore its anxiety alone. +<P> +D<FONT size=-1>EAR</FONT> M<FONT size=-1>ISS</FONT> +A<FONT size=-1>MHURST:</FONT> +<P> +I write you in great trouble of mind, not trusting this letter to the Russian +post-office, but sending it by an English captain to be posted in London. +Two days ago Jack Lamont disappeared; a disappearance as complete as if he +had never existed. The night before last, about ten o'clock, I thought I +heard him come into his shop below my room. Sometimes he works there till +daylight, and as, when absorbed in his experiments, he does not relish +interruptions, even from me, I go on with my reading until he comes upstairs. +Toward eleven o'clock I thought I heard slight sounds of a scuffle, and a +smothered cry. I called out to him, but received no answer. Taking a candle, +I went downstairs, but everything was exactly as usual, the doors locked, +and not even a bench overturned. I called aloud, but only the echo of this +barn of a room replied. I lit the gas and made a more intelligent search, +but with no result. I unlocked the door, and stood out in the street, which +was quite silent and deserted. I began to doubt that I had heard anything +at all, for, as I have told you, my nerves lately have been rather prone +to the jumps. I sat up all night waiting for him, but he did not come. Next +day I went, as had been previously arranged, to the Foreign Office, but was +kept waiting in an anteroom for two hours, and then told that the Minister +could not see me. I met a similar repulse at the Admiralty. I dined alone +at the restaurant Jack and I frequent, but saw nothing of him. This morning +he has not returned, and I am at my wit's end, not in the least knowing what +to do. It is useless for me to appeal to the embassy of my country, for, +Jack being a Russian, it has no jurisdiction. The last letter I received +from you was tampered with. The newspaper extract you spoke of was not there, +and one of the sheets of the letter was missing. Piffling business, I call +it, this interfering with private correspondence. +<P> +Such was the last letter that Alan Drummond was ever to send to Dorothy Amhurst. +<h3>CHAPTER XI</h3> +<h4>THE SNOW</h4> +<P> +SUMMER waned; the evenings became chill, although the sun pretended at noon +that its power was undiminished. Back to town from mountain and sea shore +filtered the warm-weather idlers, but no more letters came from St. Petersburg +to the hill by the Hudson. So far as our girls were concerned, a curtain +of silence had fallen between Europe and America. +<P> +The flat was now furnished, and the beginning of autumn saw it occupied by +the two friends. Realization in this instance lacked the delight of anticipation. +At last Katherine was the bachelor girl she had longed to be, but the pleasures +of freedom were as Dead Sea fruit to the lips. At last Dorothy was effectually +cut off from all thoughts of slavery, with unlimited money to do what she +pleased with, yet after all, of what advantage was it in solving the problem +that haunted her by day and filled her dreams by night. She faced the world +with seeming unconcern, for she had not the right to mourn, even if she knew +he were dead. He had made no claim; had asked for no affection; had written +no word to her but what all the world might read. Once a week she made a +little journey up the Hudson to see how her church was coming on, and at +first Katherine accompanied her, but now she went alone. Katherine was too +honest a girl to pretend an interest where she felt none. She could not talk +of architecture when she was thinking of a man and his fate. At first she +had been querulously impatient when no second communication came. Her own +letters, she said, must have reached him, otherwise they would have been +returned. Later, dumb fear took possession of her, and she grew silent, plunged +with renewed energy into her books, joined a technical school, took lessons, +and grew paler and paler until her teachers warned her she was overdoing +it. Inwardly she resented the serene impassiveness of her friend, who consulted +calmly with the architect upon occasion about the decoration of the church, +when men's liberty was gone, and perhaps their lives. She built up within +her mind a romance of devotion, by which her lover, warning in vain the stolid +Englishman, had at last been involved in the ruin that Drummond's stubbornness +had brought upon them both, and unjustly implicated the quiet woman by her +side in the responsibility of this sacrifice. Once or twice she spoke with +angry impatience of Drummond and his stupidity, but Dorothy neither defended +nor excused, and so no open rupture occurred between the two friends, for +a quarrel cannot be one-sided. +<P> +But with a woman of Katherine's temperament the final outburst had to come, +and it came on the day that the first flurry of snow fell through the still +air, capering in large flakes past the windows of the flat down to the muddy +street far below. Katherine was standing by the window, with her forehead +leaning against the plate glass, in exactly the attitude that had been her +habit in the sewing-room at Bar Harbor, but now the staccato of her fingers +on the sill seemed to drum a Dead March of despair. The falling snow had +darkened the room, and one electric light was aglow over the dainty Chippendale +desk at which Dorothy sat writing a letter. The smooth, regular flow of the +pen over the paper roused Katherine to a frenzy of exasperation. Suddenly +she brought her clenched fist down on the sill where her fingers had been +drumming. +<P> +"My God," she cried, "how can you sit there like an automaton with the snow +falling?" +<P> +Dorothy put down her pen. +<P> +"The snow falling?" she echoed. "I don't understand!" +<P> +"Of course you don't. You don't think of the drifts in Siberia, and the two +men you have known, whose hands you have clasped, manacled, driven through +it with the lash of a Cossack's whip." +<P> +Dorothy rose quietly, and put her hands on the shoulders of the girl, feeling +her frame tremble underneath her touch. +<P> +"Katherine," she said, quietly, but Katherine, with a nervous twitch of her +shoulders flung off the friendly grasp. +<P> +"Don't touch me," she cried. "Go back to your letter-writing. You and the +Englishman are exactly alike; unfeeling, heartless. He with his selfish +stubbornness has involved an innocent man in the calamity his own stupidity +has brought about." +<P> +"Katherine, sit down. I want to talk calmly with you." +<P> +"Calmly! Calmly! Yes, that is the word. It is easy for you to be calm when +you don't care. But I care, and I cannot be calm." +<P> +"What do you wish to do, Katherine?" +<P> +"What can I do? I am a pauper and a dependent, but one thing I am determined +to do, and that is to go and live in my father's house." +<P> +"If you were in my place, what would you do Katherine?" +<P> +"I would go to Russia." +<P> +"What would you do when you arrived there?" +<P> +"If I had wealth I would use it in such a campaign of bribery and corruption +in that country of tyrants that I should release two innocent men. I'd first +find out where they were, then I'd use all the influence I possessed with +the American Ambassador to get them set free." +<P> +"The American Ambassador, Kate, cannot move to release either an Englishman +or a Russian." +<P> +"I'd do it somehow. I wouldn't sit here like a stick or a stone, writing +letters to my architect." +<P> +"Would you go to Russia alone?" +<P> +"No, I should take my father with me." +<P> +"That is an excellent idea, Kate. I advise you to go north by to-night's +train, if you like, and see him, or telegraph to him to come and see us." +<P> +Kate sat down, and Dorothy drew the curtains across the window pane and snapped +on the central cluster of electric lamps. +<P> +"Will you come with me if I go north?" asked Kate, in a milder tone than +she had hitherto used. +<P> +"I cannot. I am making an appointment with a man in this room to-morrow." +<P> +"The architect, I suppose," cried Kate with scorn. +<P> +"No, with a man who may or may not give me information of Lamont or Drummond." +<P> +Katherine stared at her open-eyed. +<P> +"Then you have been doing something?" +<P> +"I have been trying, but it is difficult to know what to do. I have received +information that the house in which Mr. Lamont and Mr. Drummond lived is +now deserted, and no one knows anything of its former occupants. That information +comes to me semi-officially, but it does not lead far. I have started inquiry +through more questionable channels; in other words, I have invoked the aid +of a Nihilist society, and although I am quite determined to go to Russia +with you, do not be surprised if I am arrested the moment I set foot in St. +Petersburg." +<P> +"Dorothy, why did you not let me know?" +<P> +"I was anxious to get some good news to give you, but it has not come yet." +<P> +"Oh, Dorothy," moaned Katherine, struggling to keep back the tears that would +flow in spite of her. Dorothy patted her on the shoulder. +<P> +"You have been a little unjust," she said, "and I am going to prove that +to you, so that in trying to make amends you may perhaps stop brooding over +this crisis that faces two poor lone women. You wrong the Englishman, as +you call him. Jack was arrested at least two days before he was. Nihilist +spies say that both of them were arrested, the Prince first, and the Englishman +several days later. I had a letter from Mr. Drummond a short time after you +received yours from Mr. Lamont. I never showed it to you, but now things +are so bad that they cannot be worse, and you are at liberty to read the +letter if you wish to do so. It tells of Jack's disappearance, and of Drummond's +agony of mind and helplessness in St. Petersburg. Since he has never written +again, I am sure he was arrested later. I don't know which of the two was +most at fault for what you call stubbornness, but I believe the explosion +had more to do with the arrests than any action of theirs." +<P> +"And I was the cause of that," wailed Katherine. +<P> +"No, no, my dear girl. No one is to blame but the tyrant of Russia. Now the +Nihilists insist that neither of these men has been sent to Siberia. They +think they are in the prison of 'St. Peter and St. Paul.' That information +came to me to-day in the letter I was just now answering. So, Katherine, +I think you have been unjust to the Englishman. If he had been arrested first, +there might be some grounds for what you charge, but they evidently gave +him a chance to escape. He had his warning in the disappearance of his friend, +and he had several days in which to get out of St. Petersburg, but he stood +his ground." +<P> +"I'm sorry, Dorothy. I'm a silly fool, and to-day, when I saw the snow— well, +I got all wrought up." +<P> +"I think neither of the men are in the snow, and now I am going to say something +else, and then never speak of the subject again. You say I didn't care, and +of course you are quite right, for I confessed to you that I didn't. But +just imagine— imagine— that I cared. The Russian Government can let the Prince +go at any moment, and there's nothing more to be said. He has no redress, +and must take the consequences of his nationality. But if the Russian Government +have arrested the Englishman; if they have put him in the prison of 'St. +Peter and St. Paul,' they dare not release him, unless they are willing to +face war. The Russian Government can do nothing in his case but deny, demand +proof, and obliterate all chance of the truth ever being known. Alan Drummond +is doomed: they dare not release him. Now think for a moment how much worse +my case would be than yours, if— if—" her voice quivered and broke for the +moment, then with tightly clenched fists she recovered control of herself, +and finished: "if I cared." +<P> +"Oh, Dorothy, Dorothy, Dorothy!" gasped Katherine, springing to her feet. +<P> +"No, no, don't jump at any false conclusion. We are both nervous wrecks this +afternoon. Don't misunderstand me. I don't care— I don't care, except that +I hate tyranny, and am sorry for the victims of it." +<P> +"Dorothy, Dorothy!" +<P> +"We need a sane man in the house, Kate. Telegraph for your father to come +down and talk to us both. I must finish my letter to the Nihilist." +<P> +"Dorothy!" said Katherine, kissing her. +<h3>CHAPTER XII</h3> +<h4>THE DREADED TROGZMONDOFF</h4> +<P> +THE Nihilist was shown into the dainty drawing room of the flat, and found +Dorothy Amhurst alone, as he had stipulated, waiting for him. He was dressed +in a sort of naval uniform and held a peaked cap in his hand, standing awkwardly +there as one unused to luxurious surroundings. His face was bronzed with +exposure to sun and storm, and although he appeared to be little more than +thirty years of age his closely cropped hair was white. His eyes were light +blue, and if ever the expression of a man's countenance betokened stalwart +honesty, it was the face of this sailor. He was not in the least Dorothy's +idea of a dangerous plotter. +<P> +"Sit down," she said, and he did so like a man ill at ease. +<P> +"I suppose Johnson is not your real name," she began. +<P> +"It is the name I bear in America, Madam." +<P> +"Do you mind my asking you some questions?" +<P> +"No, Madam, but if you ask me anything I am not allowed to answer I shall +not reply." +<P> +"How long have you been in the United States?" +<P> +"Only a few months, Madam." +<P> +"How come you to speak English so well?" +<P> +"In my young days I shipped aboard a bark plying between Helsingfors and +New York." +<P> +"You are a Russian?" +<P> +"I am a Finlander, Madam." +<P> +"Have you been a sailor all your life?" +<P> +"Yes, Madam. For a time I was an unimportant officer on board a battleship +in the Russian Navy, until I was discovered to be a Nihilist, when I was +cast into prison. I escaped last May, and came to New York." +<P> +"What have you been doing since you arrived here?" +<P> +"I was so fortunate as to become mate on the turbine yacht 'The Walrus,' +owned by Mr. Stockwell." +<P> +"Oh, that's the multi-millionaire whose bank failed a month ago?" +<P> +"Yes, Madam." +<P> +"But does he still keep a yacht?" +<P> +"No, Madam. I think he has never been aboard this one, although it is probably +the most expensive boat in these waters. I am told it cost anywhere from +half a million to a million. She was built by Thornycroft, like a cruiser, +with Parson's turbine engines in her. After the failure, Captain and crew +were discharged, and I am on board as a sort of watchman until she is sold, +but there is not a large market for a boat like 'The Walrus,' and I am told +they will take the fittings out of her, and sell her as a cruiser to one +of the South American republics." +<P> +"Well, Mr. Johnson, you ought to be a reliable man, if the Court has put +you in charge of so valuable a property." +<P> +"I believe I am considered honest, Madam." +<P> +"Then why do you come to me asking ten thousand dollars for a letter which +you say was written to me, and which naturally belongs to me?" +<P> +The man's face deepened into a mahogany brown, and he shifted his cap uneasily +in his hands. +<P> +"Madam, I am not acting for myself. I am Secretary of the Russian Liberation +Society. They, through their branch at St. Petersburg, have conducted some +investigations on your behalf." +<P> +"Yes, for which I paid them very well." +<P> +Johnson bowed. +<P> +"Our object, Madam, is the repression of tyranny. For that we are in continual +need of money. It is the poor, and not the millionaires, who subscribe to +our fund. It has been discovered that you are a rich woman, who will never +miss the money asked, and so the demand was made. Believe me, Madam, I am +acting by the command of my comrades. I tried to persuade them to leave +compensation to your own generosity, but they refused. If you consider their +demand unreasonable, you have but to say so, and I will return and tell them +your decision." +<P> +"Have you brought the letter with you?" +<P> +"Yes, Madam." +<P> +"Must I agree to your terms before seeing it?" +<P> +"Yes, Madam." +<P> +"Have you read it?" +<P> +"Yes, Madam." +<P> +"Do you think it worth ten thousand dollars?" +<P> +The sailor looked up at the decorated ceiling for several moments before +he replied. +<P> +"That is a question I cannot answer," he said at last. "It all depends on +what you think of the writer." +<P> +"Answer one more question. By whom is the letter signed?" +<P> +"There is no signature, Madam. It was found in the house where the two young +men lived. Our people searched the house from top to bottom surreptitiously, +and they think the writer was arrested before he had finished the letter. +There is no address, and nothing to show for whom it is intended, except +the phrase beginning, 'My dearest Dorothy.'" +<P> +The girl leaned back in her chair, and drew a long breath. "It is not for +me," she said, hastily; then bending forward, she cried suddenly: +<P> +"I agree to your terms: give it to me." +<P> +The man hesitated, fumbling in his inside pocket. +<P> +"I was to get your promise in writing," he demurred. +<P> +"Give it to me, give it to me," she demanded. "I do not break my word." +<P> +He handed her the letter. +<P> +"My dearest Dorothy," she read, in writing well known to her. "You may judge +my exalted state of mind when you see that I dare venture on such a beginning. +I have been worrying myself and other people all to no purpose. I have received +a letter from Jack this morning, and so suspicious had I grown that for a +few moments I suspected the writing was but an imitation of his. He is a +very impulsive fellow, and can think of only one thing at a time, which accounts +for his success in the line of invention. He was telegraphed to that his +sister was ill, and left at once to see her. I had allowed my mind to become +so twisted by my fears for his safety that, as I tell you, I suspected the +letter to be counterfeit at first. I telegraphed to his estate, and received +a prompt reply saying that his sister was much better, and that he was already +on his way back, and would reach me at eleven to-night. So that's what happens +when a grown man gets a fit of nerves. I drew the most gloomy conclusions +from the fact that I had been refused admission to the Foreign Office and +the Admiralty. Yesterday that was all explained away. The business is at +last concluded, and I was shown copies of the letters which have been forwarded +to my own chiefs at home. Nothing could be more satisfactory. To-morrow Jack +and I will be off to England together. + +<p>"My dearest Dorothy (second time of +asking), I am not a rich man, but then, in spite of your little fortune of +Bar Harbor, you are not a rich woman, so we stand on an equality in that, +even though you are so much my superior in everything else. I have five hundred +pounds a year, which is something less than two thousand five hundred dollars, +left me by my father. This is independent of my profession. I am very certain +I will succeed in the Navy now that the Russian Government has sent those +letters, so, the moment I was assured of that, I determined to write and +ask you to be my wife. Will you forgive my impatience, and pander to it by +cabling to me at the Bluewater Club, Pall Mall, the word 'Yes' or the word +'Undecided'? I shall not allow you the privilege of cabling 'No.' And please +give me a chance of pleading my case in person, if you use the longer word. +Ah, I hear Jack's step on the stair. Very stealthily he is coming, to surprise +me, but I'll surprise—" +<P> +Here the writing ended. She folded the letter, and placed it in her desk, +sitting down before it. +<P> +"Shall I make the check payable to you, or to the Society?" +<P> +"To the Society, if you please, Madam." +<P> +"I shall write it for double the amount asked. I also am a believer in liberty." +<P> +"Oh, Madam, that is a generosity I feel we do not deserve. I should like +to have given you the letter after all you have done for us with no conditions +attached." +<P> +"I am quite sure of that," said Dorothy, bending over her writing. She handed +him the check, and he rose to go. +<P> +"Sit down again, if you please. I wish to talk further with you. Your people +in St. Petersburg think my friends have not been sent to Siberia? Are they +sure of that?" +<P> +"Well, Madam, they have means of knowing those who are transported, and they +are certain the two young men were not among the recent gangs sent. They +suppose them to be in the fortress of 'St. Peter and St. Paul', at least +that's what they say." +<P> +"You speak as if you doubted it." +<P> +"I do doubt it." +<P> +"They have been sent to Siberia after all?" +<P> +"Ah, Madam, there are worse places than Siberia. In Siberia there is a chance: +in the dreadful Trogzmondoff there is none." +<P> +"What is the Trogzmondoff?" +<P> +"A bleak 'Rock in the Baltic,' Madam, the prison in which death is the only +goal that releases the victim." +<P> +Dorothy rose trembling, staring at him, her lips white. +<P> +"'A Rock in the Baltic!' Is that a prison, and not a fortress, then?" +<P> +"It is both prison and fortress, Madam. If Russia ever takes the risk of +arresting a foreigner, it is to the Trogzmondoff he is sent. They drown the +victims there; drown them in their cells. There is a spring in the rock, +and through the line of cells it runs like a beautiful rivulet, but the pulling +of a lever outside stops the exit of the water, and drowns every prisoner +within. The bodies are placed one by one on a smooth, inclined shute of polished +sandstone, down which this rivulet runs so they glide out into space, and +drop two hundred feet into the Baltic Sea. No matter in what condition such +a body is found, or how recent may have been the execution, it is but a drowned +man in the Baltic. There are no marks of bullet or strangulation, and the +currents bear them swiftly away from the rock." +<P> +"How come you to know all this which seems to have been concealed from the +rest of the world?" +<P> +"I know it, Madam, for the best of reasons. I was sentenced this very year +to Trogzmondoff. In my youth trading between Helsingfors and New York, I +took out naturalization papers in New York, because I was one of the crew +on an American ship. When they illegally impressed me at Helsingfors and +forced me to join the Russian Navy, I made the best of a bad bargain, and +being an expert seaman, was reasonably well treated, and promoted, but at +last they discovered I was in correspondence with a Nihilist circle in London, +and when I was arrested, I demanded the rights of an American citizen. That +doomed me. I was sent, without trial, to the Trogzmondoff in April of this +year. Arriving there I was foolish enough to threaten, and say my comrades +had means of letting the United States Government know, and that a battleship +would teach the gaolers of the rock better manners. +<P> +"The cells hewn in the rock are completely dark, so I lost all count of time. +You might think we would know night from day by the bringing in of our meals, +but such was not the case. The gaoler brought in a large loaf of black bread, +and said it was to serve me for four days. He placed the loaf on a ledge +of rock about three feet from the floor, which served as both table and bed. +In excavating the cell this ledge had been left intact, with a bench of stone +rising from the floor opposite. Indeed, so ingenious had been the workmen +who hewed out this room that they carved a rounded stone pillow at one end +of the shelf. + +<p>"I do not know how many days I had been in prison when the +explosion occurred. It made the whole rock quiver, and I wondered what had +happened. Almost immediately afterward there seemed to be another explosion, +not nearly so harsh, which I thought was perhaps an echo of the first. About +an hour later my cell door was unlocked, and the gaoler, with another man +holding a lantern, came in. My third loaf of black bread was partly consumed, +so I must have been in prison nine or ten days. The gaoler took the loaf +outside, and when he returned. I asked him what had happened. He answered +in a surly fashion that my American warship had fired at the rock, and that +the rock had struck back, whereupon she sailed away, crippled." +<P> +Dorothy, who had been listening intently to this discourse, here interrupted +with: +<P> +"It was an English war-ship that fired the shell, and the Russian shot did +not come within half a mile of her." +<P> +The sailor stared at her in wide-eyed surprise. +<P> +"You see, I have been making inquiries," she explained. "Please go on." +<P> +"I never heard that it was an English ship. The gaoler sneered at me, and +said he was going to send me after the American vessel, as I suppose he thought +it was. I feared by his taking away of the bread that it was intended to +starve me to death, and was sorry I had not eaten more at my last meal. I +lay down on the shelf of rock, and soon fell asleep. I was awakened by the +water lapping around me. The cell was intensely still. Up to this I had always +enjoyed the company of a little brook that ran along the side of the cell +farthest from the door. Its music had now ceased, and when I sprang up I +found myself to the waist in very cold water. I guessed at once the use of +the levers outside the cell in the passage which I had noticed in the light +of the lantern on the day I entered the place, and I knew now why it was +that the prison door was not pierced by one of those gratings which enable +the gaoler in the passage to look into the cell any time of night or day. +Prisoners have told me that the uncertainty of an inmate who never knew when +he might be spied upon added to the horror of the situation, but the water-tight +doors of the Trogzmondoff are free from this feature, and for a very sinister +reason. +<P> +"The channel in the floor through which the water runs when the cell is empty, +and the tunnel at the ceiling through which the water flows when the cell +is full, give plenty of ventilation, no matter how tightly the door may he +closed. The water rose very gradually until it reached the top outlet, then +its level remained stationary. I floated on the top quite easily, with as +little exertion as was necessary to keep me in that position. If I raised +my head, my brow struck the ceiling. The next cell to mine, lower down, was +possibly empty. I heard the water pour into it like a little cataract. The +next cell above, and indeed all the cells in that direction were flooded +like my own. Of course it was no trouble for me to keep afloat; my only danger +was that the intense coldness of the water would numb my body beyond recovery. +Still, I had been accustomed to hardships of that kind before now, in the +frozen North. At last the gentle roar of the waterfall ceased, and I realized +my cell was emptying itself. When I reached my shelf again, I stretched my +limbs back and forth as strenuously as I could, and as silently, for I wished +no sound to give any hint that I was still alive, if, indeed, sound could +penetrate to the passage, which is unlikely. Even before the last of the +water had run away from the cell, I lay stretched out at full length on the +floor, hoping I might have steadiness enough to remain death-quiet when the +men came in with the lantern. I need have had no fear. The door was opened, +one of the men picked me up by the heels, and, using my legs as if they were +the shafts of a wheelbarrow, dragged me down the passage to the place where +the stream emerged from the last cell, and into this torrent he flung me. +There was one swift, brief moment of darkness, then I shot, feet first, into +space, and dropped down, down, down through the air like a plummet, into +the arms of my mother." +<P> +"Into what?" cried Dorothy, white and breathless, thinking the recital of +these agonies had turned the man's brain. +<P> +"The Baltic, Madam, is the Finlander's mother. It feeds him in life, carries +him whither he wishes to go, and every true Finlander hopes to die in her +arms. The Baltic seemed almost warm after what I had been through, and the +taste of the salt on my lips was good. It was a beautiful starlight night +in May, and I floated around the rock, for I knew that in a cove on the eastern +side, concealed from all view of the sea, lay a Finland fishing-boat, a craft +that will weather any storm, and here in the water was a man who knew how +to handle it. Prisoners are landed on the eastern side, and such advantage +is taken of the natural conformation of this precipitous rock, that a man +climbing the steep zigzag stairway which leads to the inhabited portion is +hidden from sight of any craft upon the water even four or five hundred yards +away. Nothing seen from the outside gives any token of habitation. The +fishing-boat, I suppose, is kept for cases of emergency, that the Governor +may communicate with the shore if necessary. I feared it might be moored +so securely that I could not unfasten it. Security had made them careless, +and the boat was tied merely by lines to rings in the rock, the object being +to keep her from bruising her sides against the stone, rather than to prevent +any one taking her away. I pushed her out into the open, got quietly inside, +and floated with the swift tide, not caring to raise a sail until I was well +out of gunshot distance. Once clear of the rock I spread canvas, and by daybreak +was long out of sight of land. I made for Stockholm, and there being no mark +or name on the boat to denote that it belonged to the Russian Government, +I had little difficulty in selling it. I told the authorities what was perfectly +true: that I was a Finland sailor escaping from the tyrant of my country, +and anxious to get to America. As such events are happening practically every +week along the Swedish coast I was not interfered with, and got enough money +from the sale of the boat to enable me to dress myself well, and take passage +to England, and from there first-class to New York on a regular liner. +<P> +"Of course I could have shipped as a sailor from Stockholm easy enough, but +I was tired of being a common sailor, and expected, if I was respectably +clothed, to get a better position than would otherwise be the case. This +proved true, for crossing the ocean I became acquainted with Mr. Stockwell, +and he engaged me as mate of his yacht. That's how I escaped from the +Trogzmondoff, Madam, and I think no one but a Finlander could have done it." +<P> +"I quite agree with you," said Dorothy. "You think these two men I have been +making inquiry about have been sent to the Trogzmondoff?" +<P> +"The Russian may not be there, Madam, but the Englishman is sure to be there." +<P> +"Is the cannon on the western side of the rock?" +<P> +"I don't know, Madam. I never saw the western side by daylight. I noticed +nothing on the eastern side as I was climbing the steps, to show that any +cannon was on the Trogzmondoff at all." +<P> +"I suppose you had no opportunity of finding out how many men garrison the +rock?" +<P> +"No, Madam. I don't think the garrison is large. The place is so secure that +it doesn't need many men to guard it. Prisoners are never taken out for exercise, +and, as I told you, they are fed but once in four days." +<P> +"How large a crew can 'The Walrus' carry?" +<P> +"Oh, as many as you like, Madam. The yacht is practically an ocean liner." +<P> +"Is there any landing stage on the eastern side of the rock?" +<P> +"Practically none, Madam. The steamer stood out, and I was landed in the +cove I spoke of at the foot of the stairway." +<P> +"It wouldn't be possible to bring a steamer like 'The Walrus' alongside the +rock, then?" +<P> +"It would be possible in calm weather, but very dangerous even then." +<P> +"Could you find that rock if you were in command of a ship sailing the Baltic?" +<P> +"Oh, yes, Madam." +<P> +"If twenty or thirty determined men were landed on the stairway, do you think +they could capture the garrison?" +<P> +"Yes, if they were landed secretly, but one or two soldiers at the top with +repeating rifles might hold the stairway against an army, while their ammunition +lasted." +<P> +"But if a shell were fired from the steamer, might not the attacking company +get inside during the confusion among the defenders?" +<P> +"That is possible, Madam, but a private steamer firing shells, or, indeed, +landing a hostile company, runs danger of meeting the fate of a pirate." +<P> +"You would not care to try it, then?" +<P> +"I? Oh, I should be delighted to try it, if you allow me to select the crew. +I can easily get aboard the small arms and ammunition necessary, but I am +not so sure about the cannon." +<P> +"Very good. I need not warn you to be extremely cautious regarding those +you take into your confidence. Meanwhile, I wish you to communicate with +the official who is authorized to sell the yacht. I am expecting a gentleman +to-morrow in whose name the vessel will probably be bought, and I am hoping +he will accept the captaincy of it." +<P> +"Is he capable of filling that position, Madam? Is he a sailor?" +<P> +"He was for many years captain in the United States Navy. I offer you the +position of mate, but I will give you captain's pay, and a large bonus in +addition if you faithfully carry out my plans, whether they prove successful +or not. I wish you to come here at this hour to-morrow, with whoever is +authorized to sell or charter the steamer. You may say I am undecided whether +to buy or charter. I must consult Captain Kempt on that point." +<P> +"Thank you, Madam, I shall be here this time to-morrow." +<h3>CHAPTER XIII</h3> +<h4>ENTRAPPED</h4> +<P> +PRINCE IVAN LERMONTOFF came to consider the explosion one of the luckiest +things that had ever occurred in his workshop. Its happening so soon after +he reached St. Petersburg he looked upon as particularly fortunate, because +this gave him time to follow the new trend of thought along which his mind +had been deflected by such knowledge as the unexpected outcome of his experiment +had disclosed to him. The material he had used as a catalytic agent was a +new substance which he had read of in a scientific review, and he had purchased +a small quantity of it in London. If such a minute portion produced results +so tremendous, he began to see that a man with an apparently innocent material +in his waistcoat pocket might probably be able to destroy a naval harbor, +so long as water and stone were in conjunction. There was also a possibility +that a small quantity of ozak, as the stuff was called, mixed with pure water, +would form a reducing agent for limestone, and perhaps for other minerals, +which would work much quicker than if the liquid was merely impregnated with +carbonic acid gas. He endeavored to purchase some ozak from Mr. Kruger, the +chemist on the English quay, but that good man had never heard of it, and +a day's search persuaded him that it could not be got in St. Petersburg, +so the Prince induced Kruger to order half a pound of it from London or Paris, +in which latter city it had been discovered. For the arrival of this order +the Prince waited with such patience as he could call to his command, and +visited poor Mr. Kruger every day in the hope of receiving it. +<P> +One afternoon he was delighted to hear that the box had come, although it +had not yet been unpacked. +<P> +"I will send it to your house this evening," said the chemist. "There are +a number of drugs in the box for your old friend Professor Potkin of the +University, and he is even more impatient for his consignment than you are +for yours. Ah, here he is," and as he spoke the venerable Potkin himself +entered the shop. +<P> +He shook hands warmly with Lermontoff, who had always been a favorite pupil +of his, and learned with interest that he had lately been to England and +America. +<P> +"Cannot you dine with me this evening at half-past five?" asked the old man. +"There are three or four friends coming, to whom I shall be glad to introduce +you." +<P> +"Truth to tell, Professor," demurred the Prince, "I have a friend staying +with me, and I don't just like to leave him alone." +<P> +"Bring him with you, bring him with you," said the Professor, "but in any +case be sure you come yourself. I shall be expecting you. Make your excuses +to your friend if he does not wish to endure what he might think dry discussion, +because we shall talk nothing but chemistry and politics." +<P> +The Prince promised to be there whether his friend came or no. The chemist +here interrupted them, and told the Professor he might expect his materials +within two hours. +<P> +"And your package," he said to the Prince, "I shall send about the same time. +I have been very busy, and can trust no one to unpack this box but myself." +<P> +"You need not trouble to send it, and in any case I don't wish to run the +risk of having it delivered at a wrong address by your messenger. I cannot +afford to wait so long as would be necessary to duplicate the order. I am +dining with the Professor to-night, so will drive this way, and take the +parcel myself." +<P> +"Perhaps," said the chemist, "it would be more convenient if I sent your +parcel to Professor Potkin's house?" +<P> +"No," said the Prince decisively, "I shall call for it about five o'clock." +<P> +The Professor laughed. +<P> +"We experimenters," he said, "never trust each other," so they shook hands +and parted. +<P> +On returning to his workshop, Lermontoff bounded up the stairs, and hailed +his friend the Lieutenant. +<P> +"I say, Drummond, I'm going to dine to-night with Professor Potkin of the +University, my old teacher in chemistry. His hour is half-past five, and +I've got an invitation for you. There will be several scientists present, +and no women. Will you come?" +<P> +"I'd a good deal rather not," said the Englishman, "I'm wiring into these +books, and studying strategy; making plans for an attack upon Kronstadt." +<P> +"Well, you take my advice, Alan, and don't leave any of those plans round +where the St. Petersburg police will find them. Such a line of study is carried +on much safer in London than here. You'd be very welcome, Drummond, and the +old boy would be glad to see you. You don't need to bother about evening +togs— plain living and high thinking, you know. I'm merely going to put on +a clean collar and a new tie, as sufficient for the occasion." +<P> +"I'd rather not go, Jack, if you don't mind. If I'm there you'll all be trying +to talk English or French, and so I'd feel myself rather a damper on the +company. Besides, I don't know anything about science, and I'm trying to +learn something about strategy. What time do you expect to be back?" +<P> +"Rather early; ten or half-past." +<P> +"Good, I'll wait up for you." +<P> +At five o'clock Jack was at the chemist's and received his package. On opening +it he found the ozak in two four-ounce, glass-stoppered bottles, and these +be put in his pocket. +<P> +"Will you give me three spray syringes, as large a size as you have, rubber, +glass, and metal. I'm not sure but this stuff will attack one or other of +them, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life running down to your +shop." +<P> +Getting the syringes, he jumped into his cab, and was driven to the Professor's. +<P> +"You may call for me at ten," he said to the cabman. +<P> +There were three others besides the Professor and himself, and they were +all interested in learning the latest scientific news from New York and London. +<P> +It was a quarter past ten when the company separated. Lermontoff stepped +into his cab, and the driver went rattling up the street. In all the talk +the Prince had said nothing of his own discovery, and now when he found himself +alone his mind reverted to the material in his pocket, and he was glad the +cabman was galloping his horse, that he might be the sooner in his workshop. +Suddenly he noticed that they were dashing down a street which ended at the +river. +<P> +"I say," he cried to the driver, "you've taken the wrong turning. This is +a blind street. There's neither quay nor bridge down here. Turn back." +<P> +"I see that now," said the driver over his shoulder. "I'll turn round at +the end where it is wider." +<P> +He did turn, but instead of coming up the street again, dashed through an +open archway which led into the courtyard of a large building fronting the +Neva. The moment the carriage was inside, the gates clanged shut. +<P> +"Now, what in the name of Saint Peter do you mean by this?" demanded the +Prince angrily. +<P> +The cabman made no reply, but from a door to the right stepped a tall, uniformed +officer, who said: +<P> +"Orders, your Highness, orders. The isvoshtchik is not to blame. May I beg +of your Highness to accompany me inside?" +<P> +"Who the devil are you?" demanded the annoyed nobleman. +<P> +"I am one who is called upon to perform a disagreeable duty, which your Highness +will make much easier by paying attention to my requests." +<P> +"Am I under arrest?" +<P> +"I have not said so, Prince Ivan." +<P> +"Then I demand that the gates be opened that I may return home, where more +important business awaits me than talking to a stranger who refuses to reveal +his identity." +<P> +"I hope you will pardon me, Prince Lermontoff. I act, as the isvoshtchik +has acted, under compulsion. My identity is not in question. I ask you for +the second time to accompany me." +<P> +"Then, for the second time I inquire, am I under arrest? If so, show me your +warrant, and then I will go with you, merely protesting that whoever issued +such a warrant has exceeded his authority." +<P> +"I have seen nothing of a warrant, your Highness, and I think you are confusing +your rights with those pertaining to individuals residing in certain countries +you have recently visited." +<P> +"You have no warrant, then?" +<P> +"I have none. I act on my superior's word, and do not presume to question +it. May I hope that you will follow me without a further parley, which is +embarrassing to me, and quite unhelpful to yourself. I have been instructed +to treat you with every courtesy, but nevertheless force has been placed +at my disposal. I am even to take your word of honor that you are unarmed, +and your Highness is well aware that such leniency is seldom shown in St. +Petersburg." +<P> +"Well, sir, even if my word of honor failed to disarm me, your politeness +would. I carry a revolver. Do you wish it?" +<P> +"If your Highness will condescend to give it to me." +<P> +The Prince held the weapon, butt forward, to the officer, who received it +with a gracious salutation. +<P> +"You know nothing of the reason for this action?" +<P> +"Nothing whatever, your Highness." +<P> +"Where are you going to take me?" +<P> +"A walk of less than three minutes will acquaint your Highness with the spot." +<P> +The Prince laughed. +<P> +"Oh, very well," he said. "May I write a note to a friend who is waiting +up for me?" +<P> +"I regret, Highness, that no communications whatever can be allowed." +<P> +The Prince stepped down from the vehicle, walked diagonally across a very +dimly lighted courtyard with his guide, entered that section of the rectangular +building which faced the Neva, passed along a hall with one gas jet burning, +then outside again, and immediately over a gang-plank that brought him aboard +a steamer. On the lower deck a passage ran down the center of the ship, and +along this the conductor guided his prisoner, opened the door of a stateroom +in which candles were burning, and a comfortable bed turned down for occupancy. +<P> +"I think your Highness will find everything here that you need. If anything +further is required, the electric bell will summon an attendant, who will +get it for you." +<P> +"Am I not to be confronted with whoever is responsible for my arrest?" +<P> +"I know nothing of that, your Highness. My duty ends by escorting you here. +I must ask if you have any other weapon upon you?" +<P> +"No, I have not." +<P> +"Will you give me your parole that you will not attempt to escape?" +<P> +"I shall escape if I can, of course." +<P> +"Thank you, Excellency," replied the officer, as suavely as if Lermontoff +had given his parole. Out of the darkness he called a tall, rough-looking +soldier, who carried a musket with a bayonet at the end of it. The soldier +took his stand beside the door of the cabin. +<P> +"Anything else?" asked the Prince. +<P> +"Nothing else, your Highness, except good-night." +<P> +"Oh, by the way, I forgot to pay my cabman. Of course it isn't his fault +that he brought me here." +<P> +"I shall have pleasure in sending him to you, and again, good-night." +<P> +"Good-night," said the Prince. +<P> +He closed the door of his cabin, pulled out his note-book, and rapidly wrote +two letters, one of which he addressed to Drummond and the other to the Czar. +When the cabman came he took him within the cabin and closed the door. +<P> +"Here," he said in a loud voice that the sentry could overhear if he liked, +"how much do I owe you?" +<P> +The driver told him. +<P> +"That's too much, you scoundrel," he cried aloud, but as he did so he placed +three gold pieces in the palm of the driver's hand together with the two +letters, and whispered: +<P> +"Get these delivered safely, and I'll give you ten times this money if you +call on Prince Lermontoff at the address on that note." +<P> +The man saluted, thanked him, and retired; a moment later he heard the jingle +of a bell, and then the steady throb of an engine. There was no window to +the stateroom, and he could not tell whether the steamer was going up or +down the river. Up, he surmised, and he suspected his destination was +Schlusselburg, the fortress-prison on an island at the source of the Neva. +He determined to go on deck and solve the question of direction, but the +soldier at the door brought down his gun and barred the passage. +<P> +"I am surely allowed to go on deck?" +<P> +"You cannot pass without an order from the captain." +<P> +"Well, send the captain to me, then." +<P> +"I dare not leave the door," said the soldier. +<P> +Lermontoff pressed the button, and presently an attendant came to learn what +was wanted. +<P> +"Will you ask the captain to come here?" +<P> +The steward departed, and shortly after returned with a big, bronzed, bearded +man, whose bulk made the stateroom seem small. +<P> +"You sent for the captain, and I am here." +<P> +"So am I," said the Prince jauntily. "My name is Lermontoff. Perhaps you +have heard of me?" +<P> +The captain shook his shaggy head. +<P> +"I am a Prince of Russia, and by some mistake find myself your passenger +instead of spending the night in my own house. Where are you taking me, Captain?" +<P> +"It is forbidden that I should answer questions." +<P> +"Is it also forbidden that I should go on deck?" +<P> +"The General said you were not to be allowed to leave this stateroom, as +you did not give your parole." +<P> +"How can I escape from a steamer in motion, Captain?" +<P> +"It is easy to jump into the river, and perhaps swim ashore." +<P> +"So he is a general, is he? Well, Captain, I'll give you my parole that I +shall not attempt to swim the Neva on so cold a night as this." +<P> +"I cannot allow you on deck now," said the Captain, "but when we are in the +Gulf of Finland you may walk the deck with the sentry beside you." +<P> +"The Gulf of Finland!" cried Lermontoff. "Then you are going down the river?" +<P> +The big Captain looked at him with deep displeasure clouding his brow, feeling +that he had been led to give away information which he should have kept to +himself. +<P> +"You are not going up to Schlusselburg, then?" +<P> +"I told your Highness that I am not allowed to answer questions. The General, +however, has given me a letter for you, and perhaps it may contain all you +may want to know." +<P> +"The General has given you a letter, eh? Then why don't you let me have it?" +<P> +"He told me not to disturb you to-night, but place it before you at breakfast +to-morrow." +<P> +"Oh, we're going to travel all night, are we?" +<P> +"Yes, Excellency." +<P> +"Did the General say you should not allow me to see the letter to-night?" +<P> +"No, your Excellency; he just said, 'Do not trouble his Highness to-night, +but give him this in the morning.'" +<P> +"In that case let me have it now." +<P> +The Captain pulled a letter from his pocket and presented it to the Prince. +It contained merely the two notes which Lermontoff had written to Drummond +and to the Czar. +<h3>CHAPTER XIV</h3> +<h4>A VOYAGE INTO THE UNKNOWN</h4> +<P> +AFTER the Captain left him, Lermontoff closed and bolted the door, then sat +down upon the edge of his bed to meditate upon the situation. He heard distant +bells ringing on shore somewhere, and looking at his watch saw it was just +eleven o'clock. It seemed incredible that three-quarters of an hour previously +he had left the hospitable doors of a friend, and now was churning his way +in an unknown steamer to an unknown destination. It appeared impossible that +so much could have happened in forty-five minutes. He wondered what Drummond +was doing, and what action he would take when he found his friend missing. +<P> +However, pondering over the matter brought no solution of the mystery, so, +being a practical young man, he cast the subject from his mind, picked up +his heavy overcoat, which he had flung on the bed, and hung it up on the +hook attached to the door. As he did this his hand came in contact with a +tube in one of the pockets, and for a moment he imagined it was his revolver, +but he found it was the metal syringe he had purchased that evening from +the chemist. This set his thoughts whirling in another direction. He took +from an inside pocket one of the bottles of ozak, examining it under the +candle light, wishing he had a piece of rock with which to experiment. Then +with a yawn he replaced the materials in his overcoat pocket, took off his +boots, and threw himself on the bed, thankful it was not an ordinary shelf +bunk, but a generous and comfortable resting-place. Now Katherine appeared +before his closed eyes, and hand in hand they wandered into dreamland together. +<P> +When he awoke it was pitch dark in his cabin. The candles, which he had neglected +to extinguish, had burned themselves out. The short, jerky motion of the +steamer indicated that he was aboard a small vessel, and that this small +vessel was out in the open sea. He believed that a noise of some kind had +awakened him, and this was confirmed by a knock at his door which caused +him to spring up and throw back the bolt. The steward was there, but in the +dim light of the passage he saw nothing of the sentinel. He knew it was daylight +outside. +<P> +"The Captain, Excellency, wishes to know if you will breakfast with him or +take your meal in your room?" +<P> +"Present my compliments to the Captain, and say I shall have great pleasure +in breakfasting with him." +<P> +"It will be ready in a quarter of an hour, Excellency." +<P> +"Very good. Come for me at that time, as I don't know my way about the boat." +<P> +The Prince washed himself, smoothed out his rumpled clothes as well as he +could, and put on his boots. While engaged in the latter operation the door +opened, and the big Captain himself entered, inclosed in glistening oilskins. +<P> +"Hyvaa pyvaa, Highness," said the Captain. "Will you walk the deck before +breakfast?" +<P> +"Good-day to <I>you</I>," returned the Prince, "and by your salutation I +take you to be a Finn." +<P> +"I am a native of Abo," replied the Captain, "and as you say, a Finn, but +I differ from many of my countrymen, as I am a good Russian also." +<P> +"Well, there are not too many good Russians, and here is one who would rather +have heard that you were a good Finn solely." +<P> +"It is to prevent any mistake," replied the Captain, almost roughly, "that +I mention I am a good Russian." +<P> +"Right you are, Captain, and as I am a good Russian also, perhaps good Russian +Number One can tell me to what part of the world he is conveying good Russian +Number Two, a man guiltless of any crime, and unwilling, at this moment, +to take an enforced journey." +<P> +"We may both be good, but the day is not, Highness. It has been raining during +the night, and is still drizzling. I advise you to put on your overcoat." +<P> +"Thanks, Captain, I will." +<P> +The Captain in most friendly manner took the overcoat from its hook, shook +it out, and held it ready to embrace its owner. Lermontoff shoved right arm, +then left, into the sleeves, hunched the coat up into place, and buttoned +it at the throat. +<P> +"Again, Captain, my thanks. Lead the way and I will follow." +<P> +They emerged on deck into a dismal gray morning. No land or craft of any +kind was in sight. The horizon formed a small, close circle round the ship. +Clouds hung low, running before the wind, and bringing intermittently little +dashes of rain that seemed still further to compress the walls of horizon. +The sea was not what could be called rough, but merely choppy and fretful, +with short waves that would not have troubled a larger craft. The steamer +proved to be a small, undistinguished dingy-looking boat, more like a commercial +tramp than a government vessel. An officer, apparently the mate, stood on +the bridge, sinewy hands grasping the rail, peering ahead into the white +mist that was almost a fog. The promenade deck afforded no great scope for +pedestrianism, but Captain and prisoner walked back and forth over the restricted +space, talking genially together as if they were old friends. Nevertheless +there was a certain cautious guardedness in the Captain's speech; the wary +craft of an unready man who is in the presence of a person more subtle than +himself. The bluff Captain remembered he had been caught napping the night +before, when, after refusing to tell the Prince the direction of the steamer, +he had given himself away by mentioning the Gulf of Finland. Lermontoff noticed +this reluctance to plunge into the abyss of free conversation, and so, instead +of reassuring him he would ask no more questions, he merely took upon his +own shoulders the burden of the talk, and related to the Captain certain +wonders of London and New York. +<P> +The steward advanced respectfully to the Captain, and announced breakfast +ready, whereupon the two men followed him into a saloon not much larger than +the stateroom Lermontoff had occupied the night before, and not nearly so +comfortably furnished. A plenteous breakfast was supplied, consisting principally +of fish, steaming potatoes, black bread, and very strong tea. The Captain +swallowed cup after cup of this scalding beverage, and it seemed to make +him more and more genial as if it had been wine. Indeed, as time went on +he forgot that it was a prisoner who sat before him, for quite innocently +he said to the steward who waited on them: +<P> +"Have the poor devils below had anything to eat?" +<P> +"No orders, sir," replied the steward. +<P> +"Oh, well, give them something— something hot. It may be their last meal," +then turning, he met the gaze of the Prince, demanded roughly another cup +of tea, and explained: +<P> +"Three of the crew took too much vodka in St. Petersburg yesterday." +<P> +The Prince nodded carelessly, as if he believed, and offered his open cigarette +case to the Captain, who shook his head. +<P> +"I smoke a pipe," he growled. +<P> +The Captain rose with his lighted pipe, and together they went up on deck +again. The Prince saw nothing more of the tall sentinel who had been his +guard the night before, so without asking permission he took it for granted +that his movements, now they were in the open sea, were unrestricted, therefore +he walked up and down the deck smoking cigarettes. At the stroke of a bell +the Captain mounted the bridge and the mate came down. +<P> +Suddenly out of the thickness ahead loomed up a great black British freighter +making for St. Petersburg, as the Prince supposed. The two steamers, big +and little, were so close that each was compelled to sheer off a bit; then +the Captain turned on the bridge and seemed for a moment uncertain what to +do with his prisoner. A number of men were leaning over the bulwarks of the +British ship, and it would have been quite possible for the person on one +boat to give a message to those on the other. The Prince, understanding the +Captain's quandary, looked up at him and smiled, but made no attempt to take +advantage of his predicament. Some one on board the English ship shouted +and fluttered a handkerchief, whereupon the Prince waved his cigarette in +the air, and the big boat disappeared in the thickness of the east. +<P> +Lermontoff walked the deck, thinking very seriously about his situation, +and wondering where they intended to take him. If he were to be put in prison, +it must be in some place of detention on the coast of Finland, which seemed +strange, because he understood that the fortresses there were already filled +with dissatisfied inhabitants of that disaffected land. His first impression +had been that banishment was intended, and he had expected to be landed at +some Swedish or German port, but a chance remark made by the Captain at breakfast +inclined him to believe that there were other prisoners on board not quite +so favorably treated as himself. But why should he be sent out of Russia +proper, or even removed from St. Petersburg, which, he was well aware, suffered +from no lack of gaols. The continued voyage of the steamer through an open +sea again aroused the hope that Stockholm was the objective point. If they +landed him there it merely meant a little temporary inconvenience, and, once +ashore, he hoped to concoct a telegram so apparently innocent that it would +win through to his friend, and give Drummond at least the knowledge of his +abiding-place. The thought of Drummond aroused all his old fear that the +Englishman was to be the real victim, and this enforced voyage was merely +a convenient method of getting himself out of the way. +<P> +After lunch a dismal drizzle set in that presently increased to a steady +downpour, which drove Lermontoff to his cabin, and that room being unprovided +with either window or electric light, the Prince struck a match to one of +the candles newly placed on the washstand. He pushed the electric button +summoning the steward, and, giving him some money, asked if there was such +a thing as a piece of stone on board, carried as ballast, or for any other +reason. The steward said he would inquire, and finally returned with a sharpening +stone used for the knives in the galley. Bolting his door, Lermontoff began +an experiment, and at once forgot he was a prisoner. He filled the wash-basin +with water, and opening one of the glass-stoppered bottles, took out with +the point of his knife a most minute portion of the substance within, which +he dissolved in the water with no apparent effect. Standing the whetstone +up on end, he filled the glass syringe, and directed a fine, vaporous spray +against the stone. It dissolved before his eyes as a sand castle on the shore +dissolves at the touch of an incoming tide. +<P> +"By St. Peter of Russia!" he cried, "I've got it at last! I must write to +Katherine about this." +<P> +Summoning the steward again to take away this fluid, and bring him another +pailful of fresh water, Lermontoff endeavored to extract some information +from the deferential young man. +<P> +"Have you ever been in Stockholm?" +<P> +"No, Excellency." +<P> +"Or in any of the German ports?" +<P> +"No, Excellency." +<P> +"Do you know where we are making for now?" +<P> +"No, Excellency." +<P> +"Nor when we shall reach our destination?" +<P> +"No, Excellency." +<P> +"You have some prisoners aboard?" +<P> +"Three drunken sailors, Excellency." +<P> +"Yes, that's what the Captain said. But if it meant death for a sailor to +be drunk, the commerce of the world would speedily stop." +<P> +"This is a government steamer, Excellency, and if a sailor here disobeys +orders he is guilty of mutiny. On a merchant vessel they would merely put +him in irons." +<P> +"I see. Now do you want to earn a few gold pieces?" +<P> +"Excellency has been very generous to me already," was the non-committal +reply of the steward, whose eyes nevertheless twinkled at the mention of +gold. +<P> +"Well, here's enough to make a jingle in your pocket, and here are two letters +which you are to try to get delivered when you return to St. Petersburg." +<P> +"Yes, Excellency." +<P> +"You will do your best?" +<P> +"Yes, Excellency." +<P> +"Well, if you succeed, I'll make your fortune when I'm released." +<P> +"Thank you, Excellency." +<P> +That night at dinner the Captain opened a bottle of vodka, and conversed +genially on many topics, without touching upon the particular subject of +liberty. He partook sparingly of the stimulant, and, to Lermontoff's +disappointment, it did not in the least loosen his tongue, and thus, still +ignorant of his fate, the Prince turned in for the second night aboard the +steamer. +<P> +When he awoke next morning he found the engines had stopped, and, as the +vessel was motionless, surmised it had reached harbor. He heard the intermittent +chuck-chuck of a pony engine, and the screech of an imperfectly-oiled crane, +and guessed that cargo was being put ashore. +<P> +"Now," he said to himself, "if my former sentinel is at the door they are +going to take me to prison. If he is absent, I am to be set free." +<P> +He jumped up, threw back the bolt, opened the door. There was no one there. +In a very few minutes he was on deck, and found that the steamer was lying +in the lee of a huge rock, which reminded him of Mont St. Michel in Normandy, +except that it was about half again as high, and three times as long, and +that there were no buildings of any kind upon it, nor, indeed, the least +sign of human habitation. +<P> +The morning was fine; in the east the sun had just risen, and was flooding +the grim rock with a rosy light. Except this rock, no trace of land was visible +as far as the eye could see. Alongside the steamer was moored a sailing-boat +with two masts, but provided also with thole-pins, and sweeps for rowing. +The sails were furled, and she had evidently been brought to the steamer's +side by means of the oars. Into this craft the crane was lowering boxes, +bags, and what-not, which three or four men were stowing away. The mate was +superintending this transshipment, and the Captain, standing with his back +against the deck-house, was handing one by one certain papers, which Lermontoff +took to be bills of lading, to a young man who signed in a book for each +he received. When this transaction was completed, the young man saluted the +Captain, and descended over the ship's side to the sail-boat. +<P> +"Good morning, Captain. At anchor, I see," said Lermontoff. +<P> +"No, not at anchor. Merely lying here. The sea is too deep, and affords no +anchorage at this point." +<P> +"Where are all these goods going?" +<P> +The Captain nodded his head at the rock, and Lermontoff gazed at it again, +running his eyes from top to bottom without seeing any vestige of civilization. +<P> +"Then you lie to the lee of this rock, and the small boat takes the supplies +ashore?" +<P> +"Exactly," said the Captain. +<P> +"The settlement, I take it, is on the other side. What is it— a lighthouse?" +<P> +"There's no lighthouse," said the Captain. +<P> +"Sort of coastguard, then?" +<P> +"Yes, in a way. They keep a lookout. And now, Highness, I see your overcoat +is on your back. Have you left anything in your room?" +<P> +The Prince laughed. +<P> +"No, Captain, I forgot to bring a portmanteau with me." +<P> +"Then I must say farewell to you here." +<P> +"What, you are not going to maroon me on this pebble in the ocean?" +<P> +"You will be well taken care of, Highness." +<P> +"What place is this?" +<P> +"It is called the Trogzmondoff, Highness, and the water surrounding you is +the Baltic." +<P> +"Is it Russian territory?" +<P> +"Very, <I>very</I> Russian," returned the Captain drawing a deep breath. +"This way, if your Highness pleases. There is a rope ladder, which is sometimes +a little unsteady for a landsman, so be careful." +<P> +"Oh, I'm accustomed to rope ladders. Hyvasti, Captain." +<P> +"Hyvasti, your Highness." +<P> +And with this mutual good-by in Finnish, the Prince went down the swaying +ladder. +<h3>CHAPTER XV</h3> +<h4>"A HOME ON THE ROLLING DEEP"</h4> +<P> +FOR once the humorous expression had vanished from Captain Kempt's face, +and that good-natured man sat in the dainty drawing-room of the flat a picture +of perplexity. Dorothy had told him the story of the Nihilist, saying she +intended to purchase the yacht, and outlining what she proposed to do with +it when it was her own. Now she sat silent opposite the genial Captain, while +Katherine stood by the window, and talked enough for two, sometimes waxing +indignant, and occasionally giving, in terse language, an opinion of her +father, as is the blessed privilege of every girl born in the land of the +free, while the father took the censure with the unprotesting mildness of +his nature. +<P> +"My dear girls, you really must listen to reason. What you propose to do +is so absurd that it doesn't even admit of argument. Why, it's a filibustering +expedition, that's what it is. You girls are as crazy as Walker of Nicaragua. +Do you imagine that a retired Captain of the United States Navy is going +to take command of a pirate craft of far less legal standing than the 'Alabama,' +for then we were at war, but now we are at peace. Do you actually propose +to attack the domain of a friendly country! Oh!" cried the Captain, with +a mighty explosion of breath, for at this point his supply of language entirely +gave out. +<P> +"No one would know anything about it," persisted Katherine. +<P> +"Not know about it? With a crew of men picked up here in New York, and coming +back to New York? Not know about it? Bless my soul, the papers would be full +of it before your men were an hour on shore. In the first place, you'd never +find the rock." +<P> +"Then what's the harm of going in search of it?" demanded his daughter. "Besides +that, Johnson knows exactly where it is." +<P> +"Johnson, Johnson! You're surely not silly enough to believe Johnson's +cock-and-bull story?" +<P> +"I believe every syllable he uttered. The man's face showed that he was speaking +the truth." +<P> +"But, my dear Kate, you didn't see him at all, as I understand the yarn. +He was here alone with you, was he not, Dorothy?" +<P> +Dorothy smiled sadly. +<P> +"I told Kate all about it, and gave my own impression of the man's appearance." +<P> +"You are too sensible a girl to place any credit in what he said, surely?" +<P> +"I did believe him, nevertheless," replied Dorothy. +<P> +"Why, look you here. False in one thing, false in all. I'll just take a single +point. He speaks of a spring sending water through the cells up there in +the rock. Now, that is an impossibility. Wherever a spring exists, it comes +from a source higher than itself." +<P> +"There are lots of springs up in the mountains," interrupted Katherine. "I +know one on Mount Washington that is ten times as high as the rock in the +Baltic." +<P> +"Quite so, Katherine, quite so, but nevertheless there is a lake, subterraneous +or above ground, which feeds your White Mountain spring, and such a lake +must be situated higher than the spring is. Why, girl, you ought to study +hydrometeorology as well as chemistry. Here is a rock jutting up in midocean—" +<P> +"It's in the Baltic, near the Russian coast," snapped Kate, "and I've no +doubt there are mountains in Finland that contain the lake which feeds the +spring." +<P> +"How far is that rock from the Finnish coast, then?" +<P> +"Two miles and a half," said Kate, quick as an arrow speeding from a bow. +<P> +"Captain, we don't know how far it is from the coast," amended Dorothy. +<P> +"I'll never believe the thing exists at all." +<P> +"Why, yes it does, father. How can you speak like that? Don't you know Lieutenant +Drummond fired at it?" +<P> +"How do you know it was the same rock?" +<P> +"Because the rock fired back at him. There can't be two like that in the +Baltic." +<P> +"No, nor one either," said the Captain, nearing the end of his patience. +<P> +"Captain Kempt," said Dorothy very soothingly, as if she desired to quell +the rising storm, "you take the allegation about the spring of water to prove +that Johnson was telling untruths. I expect him here within an hour, and +I will arrange that you have an opportunity, privately, of cross-examining +him. I think when you see the man, and listen to him, you will believe. What +makes me so sure that he is telling the truth is the fact that he mentioned +the foreign vessel firing at this rock, which I knew to be true, and which +he could not possibly have learned anything about." +<P> +"He might very well have learned all particulars from the papers, Dorothy. +They were full enough of the subject at the time, and, remembering this, +he thought to strengthen his story by—" +<P> +Katherine interrupted with great scorn. +<P> +"By adding verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative." +<P> +"Quite so, Kate; exactly what I was going to say myself. But to come back +to the project itself. Granting the existence of the rock, granting the truth +of Johnson's story, granting everything, granting even that the young men +are imprisoned there, of which we have not the slightest proof, we could +no more succeed in capturing that place from a frail pleasure yacht—" +<P> +"It's built like a cruiser," said Katherine. +<P> +"Even if it were built like a battleship we would have no chance whatever. +Why, that rock might defy a regular fleet. Our venture would simply be a +marine Jameson Raid which would set the whole world laughing when people +came to hear of it." +<P> +"Johnson said he could take it with half a dozen men." +<P> +"No, Kate," corrected Dorothy, "he said the very reverse; that two or three +determined men on the rock with repeating rifles could defeat a host. It +was I who suggested that we should throw a shell, and then rush the entrance +in the confusion." +<P> +Captain Kempt threw up his hands in a gesture of despair. +<P> +"Great heavens, Dorothy Amhurst, whom I have always regarded as the mildest, +sweetest and most charming of girls; to hear you calmly propose to throw +a shell among a lot of innocent men defending their own territory against +a perfectly unauthorized invasion! Throw a shell, say you, as if you were +talking of tossing a copper to a beggar! Oh, Lord, I'm growing old. What +will become of this younger generation? Well, I give it up. Dorothy, my dear, +whatever will happen to those unfortunate Russians, I shall never recover +from the shock of your shell. The thing is absolutely impossible. Can't you +see that the moment you get down to details? How are you going to procure +your shells, or your shell-firing gun? They are not to be bought at the first +hardware store you come to on Sixth Avenue." +<P> +"Johnson says he can get them," proclaimed Kate with finality. +<P> +"Oh, damn Johnson! Dorothy, I beg your pardon, but really, this daughter +of mine, combined with that Johnson of yours, is just a little more than +I can bear." +<P> +"Then what are we to do?" demanded his daughter. "Sit here with folded hands?" +<P> +"That would be a great deal better than what you propose. You should do something +sane. You mustn't involve a pair of friendly countries in war. Of course +the United States would utterly disclaim your act, and discredit me if I +were lunatic enough to undertake such a wild goose chase, which I'm not; +but, on the other hand, if two of our girls undertook such an expedition, +no man can predict the public clamor that might arise. Why, when the newspapers +get hold of a question, you never know where they will end it. Undoubtedly +you two girls should be sent to prison, and, with equal undoubtedness, the +American people wouldn't permit it." +<P> +"You bet they wouldn't," said Katherine, dropping into slang. +<P> +"Well, then, if they wouldn't, there's war." +<P> +"One moment, Captain Kempt," said Dorothy, again in her mildest tones, for +voices had again begun to run high, "you spoke of doing something sane. You +understand the situation. What should you counsel us to do?" +<P> +The Captain drew a long breath, and leaned back in his chair. +<P> +"There, Dad, it's up to you," said Katherine. "Let us hear your proposal, +and then you'll learn how easy it is to criticise." +<P> +"Well," said the Captain hesitatingly, "there's our diplomatic service—" +<P> +"Utterly useless: one man is a Russian, and the other an Englishman. Diplomacy +not only can do nothing, but won't even try," cried Kate triumphantly. +<P> +"Yet," said the Captain, with little confidence, "although the two men are +foreigners, the two girls are Americans." +<P> +"We don't count: we've no votes," said Kate. "Besides, Dorothy tried the +diplomatic service, and could not even get accurate information from it. +Now, father, third time and out." +<P> +"Four balls are out, Kate, and I've only fanned the air twice. Now, girls, +I'll tell you what I'd do. You two come with me to Washington. We will seek +a private interview with the President. He will get into communication with +the Czar, also privately, and outside of all regular channels. The Czar will +put machinery in motion that is sure to produce those two young men much +more effectually and speedily than any cutthroat expedition on a yacht." +<P> +"I think," said Dorothy, "that is an excellent plan." +<P> +"Of course it is," cried the Captain enthusiastically. "Don't you see the +pull the President will have? Why, they've put an Englishman into 'the jug,' +and when the President communicates this fact to the Czar he will be afraid +to refuse, knowing that the next appeal may be from America to England, and +when you add a couple of American girls to that political mix-up, why, what +chance has the Czar?" +<P> +"The point you raise, Captain," said Dorothy, "is one I wish to say a few +words about. The President cannot get Mr. Drummond released, because the +Czar and all his government will be compelled to deny that they know anything +of him. Even the President couldn't guarantee that the Englishman would keep +silence if he were set at liberty. The Czar would know that, but your plan +would undoubtedly produce Prince Ivan Lermontoff. All the president has to +do is to tell the Czar that the Prince is engaged to an American girl, and +Lermontoff will be allowed to go." +<P> +"But," objected the Captain, "as the Prince knows the Englishman is in prison, +how could they be sure of John keeping quiet when Drummond is his best friend?" +<P> +"He cannot know that, because the Prince was arrested several days before +Drummond was. +<P> +"They have probably chucked them both into the same cell," said the Captain, +but Dorothy shook her head. +<P> +"If they had intended to do that, they would doubtless have arrested them +together. I am sure that one does not know the fate of the other, therefore +the Czar can quite readily let Lermontoff go, and he is certain to do that +at a word from the President. Besides this, I am as confident that Jack is +not in the Trogzmondoff, as I am sure that Drummond is. Johnson said it was +a prison for foreigners." +<P> +"Oh, Dorothy," cried the Captain, with a deep sigh, "if we've got back again +to Johnson—" He waved his hand and shook his head. +<P> +The maid opened the door and said, looking at Dorothy: +<P> +"Mr. Paterson and Mr. Johnson." +<P> +"Just show them into the morning room," said Dorothy, rising. "Captain Kempt, +it is awfully good of you to have listened so patiently to a scheme of which +you couldn't possibly approve." +<P> +"Patiently!" sniffed the daughter. +<P> +"Now I want you to do me another kindness." +<P> +She went to the desk and picked up a piece of paper. +<P> +"Here is a check I have signed— a blank check. I wish you to buy the yacht +'Walrus' just as she stands, and make the best bargain you can for me. A +man is so much better at this kind of negotiation than a woman." +<P> +"But surely, my dear Dorothy, you won't persist in buying this yacht?" +<P> +"It's her own money, father," put in Katherine. +<P> +"Keep quiet," said the Captain, rising, for the first time speaking with +real severity, whereupon Katherine, in spite of the fact that she was older +than twenty-one, was wise enough to obey. +<P> +"Yes, I am quite determined, Captain," said Dorothy sweetly. +<P> +"But, my dear woman, don't you see how you've been hoodwinked by this man +Johnson? He is shy of a job. He has already swindled you out of twenty thousand +dollars." +<P> +"No, he asked for ten only, Captain Kempt, and I voluntarily doubled the +amount." +<P> +"Nevertheless, he has worked you up to believe that these young men are in +that rock. He has done this for a very crafty purpose, and his purpose seems +likely to succeed. He knows he will be well paid, and you have promised him +a bonus besides. If he, with his Captain Kidd crew, gets you on that yacht, +you will only step ashore by giving him every penny you possess. That's his +object. He knows you are starting out to commit a crime— that's the word, +Dorothy, there's no use in our mincing matters— you will be perfectly helpless +in his hands. Of course, I could not allow my daughter Kate to go on such +an expedition." +<P> +"I am over twenty-one years old," cried Kate, the light of rebellion in her +eyes. +<P> +"I do not intend that either of you shall go, Katherine." +<P> +"Dorothy, I'll not submit to that," cried Katherine, with a rising tremor +of anger in her voice, "I shall not be set aside like a child. Who has more +at stake than I? And as for capturing the rock, I'll dynamite it myself, +and bring home as large a specimen of it as the yacht will carry, and set +it up on Bedloe's Island beside the Goddess and say, 'There's your statue +of Liberty, and there's your statue of Tyranny!'" +<P> +"Katherine," chided her father, "I never before believed that a child of +mine could talk such driveling nonsense." +<P> +"Paternal heredity, father," retorted Kate. +<P> +"Your Presidential plan, Captain Kempt," interposed Dorothy, "is excellent +so far as Prince Lermontoff is concerned, but it cannot rescue Lieutenant +Drummond. Now, there are two things you can do for me that will make me always +your debtor, as, indeed, I am already, and the first is to purchase for me +the yacht. The second is to form your own judgment of the man Johnson, and +if you distrust him, then engage for me one-half the crew, and see that they +are picked Americans." +<P> +"First sane idea I have heard since I came into this flat," growled the Captain. +<P> +"The Americans won't let the Finlander hold me for ransom, you may depend +upon that." +<P> +It was a woe-begone look the gallant Captain cast on the demure and determined +maiden, then, feeling his daughter's eye upon him, he turned toward her. +<P> +"I'm going, father," she said, with a firmness quite equal to his own, and +he on his part recognized when his daughter had toed the danger line. He +indulged in a laugh that had little of mirth in it. +<P> +"All I can say is that I am thankful you haven't made up your minds to kidnap +the Czar. Of course you are going, Kate, So am I." +<h3>CHAPTER XVI</h3> +<h4>CELL NUMBER NINE</h4> +<P> +AS the sailing-boat cast off, and was shoved away from the side of the steamer, +there were eight men aboard. Six grasped the oars, and the young clerk who +had signed for the documents given to him by the Captain took the rudder, +motioning Lermontoff to a seat beside him. All the forward part of the boat, +and, indeed, the space well back toward the stern, was piled with boxes and +bags. +<P> +"What is this place called?" asked the Prince, but the young steersman did +not reply. +<P> +Tying the boat to iron rings at the small landing where the steps began, +three of the men shipped their oars. Each threw a bag over his shoulder, +walked up half a dozen steps and waited. The clerk motioned Lermontoff to +follow, so he stepped on the shelf of rock and looked upward at the rugged +stairway cut between the main island and an outstanding perpendicular ledge +of rock. The steps were so narrow that the procession had to move up in Indian +file; three men with bags, then the Prince and the clerk, followed by three +more men with boxes. Lermontoff counted two hundred and thirty-seven steps, +which brought him to an elevated platform, projecting from a doorway cut +in the living rock, but shielded from all sight of the sea. The eastern sun +shone through this doorway, but did not illumine sufficiently the large room +whose walls, ceiling and floor were of solid stone. At the farther end a +man in uniform sat behind a long table on which burned an oil lamp with a +green shade. At his right hand stood a broad, round brazier containing glowing +coals, after the Oriental fashion, and the officer was holding his two hands +over it, and rubbing them together. The room, nevertheless, struck chill +as a cellar, and Lermontoff heard a constant smothered roar of water. +<P> +The clerk, stepping forward and saluting, presented to the Governor seated +there the papers and envelopes given him by the Captain. The officer selected +a blue sheet of paper, and scrutinized it for a moment under the lamp. +<P> +"Where are the others?" +<P> +"We have landed first the supplies, Governor; then the boat will return for +the others." +<P> +The Governor nodded, and struck a bell with his open palm. There entered +a big man with a bunch of keys at his belt, followed by another who carried +a lighted lantern. +<P> +"Number Nine," said the Governor to the gaolers. +<P> +"I beg your pardon, sir, am I a prisoner?" asked Lermontoff. +<P> +The Governor gave utterance to a sound that was more like the grunt of a +pig than the ejaculation of a man. He did not answer, but looked up at the +questioner, and the latter saw that his face, gaunt almost as that of a living +skeleton, was pallid as putty. +<P> +"Number Nine," he repeated, whereupon the gaoler and the man with the lantern +put a hand each on Lermontoff's shoulders, and marched him away. They walked +together down a long passage, the swaying lantern casting its yellow rays +on the iron bolts of door after door, until at last the gaoler stopped, threw +back six bolts, inserted a key, unlocked the door, and pushed it ponderously +open. The lantern showed it to be built like the door of a safe, but unlike +that of a safe it opened inwards. As soon as the door came ajar Lermontoff +heard the sound of flowing water, and when the three entered, he noticed +a rapid little stream sparkling in the rays of the lantern at the further +end of the cell. He saw a shelf of rock and a stone bench before it. The +gaoler placed his hands on a black loaf, while the other held up the lantern. +<P> +"That will last you four days," said the gaoler. +<P> +"Well, my son, judging from the unappetizing look of it, I think it will +last me much longer." +<P> +The gaoler made no reply, but he and the man with the lantern retired, drawing +the door heavily after them. Lermontoff heard the bolts thrust into place, +and the turn of the key; then silence fell, all but the babbling of the water. +He stood still in the center of the cell, his hands thrust deep in the pockets +of his overcoat, and, in spite of this heavy garment, he shivered a little. +<P> +"Jack, my boy," he muttered, "this is a new deal, as they say in the West. +I can imagine a man going crazy here, if it wasn't for that stream. I never +knew what darkness meant before. Well, let's find out the size of our kingdom." +<P> +He groped for the wall, and stumbling against the stone bench, whose existence +he had forgotten, pitched head forward to the table, and sent the four-day +loaf rolling on the floor. He made an ineffectual grasp after the loaf, fearing +it might fall into the stream and be lost to him, but he could not find it, +and now his designs for measuring the cell gave place to the desire of finding +that loaf. He got down on his hands and knees, and felt the stone floor inch +by inch for half an hour, as he estimated the time, but never once did he +touch the bread. +<P> +"How helpless a man is in the dark, after all," he muttered to himself. "I +must do this systematically, beginning at the edge of the stream." +<P> +On all fours he reached the margin of the rivulet, and felt his way along +the brink till his head struck the opposite wall. He turned round, took up +a position that he guessed was three feet nearer the door, and again traversed +the room, becoming so eager in the search that he forgot for the moment the +horror of his situation, just as, when engaged in a chemical experiment, +everything else vanished from his mind, and thus after several journeys back +and forth he was again reminded of the existence of the stone bench by butting +against it when he knew he was still several feet from the wall. Rubbing +his head, he muttered some unfavorable phrases regarding the immovable bench, +then crawled round it twice, and resumed his transverse excursions. At last +he reached the wall that held the door, and now with breathless eagerness +rubbed his shoulder against it till he came to the opposite corner. He knew +he had touched with knees and hands practically every square inch of space +in the floor, and yet no bread. +<P> +"Now, that's a disaster," cried he, getting up on his feet, and stretching +himself. "Still, a man doesn't starve in four days. I've cast my bread on +the waters. It has evidently gone down the stream. Now, what's to hinder +a man escaping by means of that watercourse? Still, if he did, what would +be the use? He'd float out into the Baltic Sea, and if able to swim round +the rock, would merely be compelled to knock at the front door and beg admission +again. No, by Jove, there's the boat, but they probably guard it night and +day, and a man in the water would have no chance against one in the boat. +Perhaps there's gratings between the cells. Of course, there's bound to be. +No one would leave the bed of a stream clear for any one to navigate. Prisoners +would visit each other in their cells, and that's not allowed in any respectable +prison. I wonder if there's any one next door on either side of me. An iron +grid won't keep out the sound. I'll try," and going again to the margin of +the watercourse, he shouted several times as loudly as he could, but only +a sepulchral echo, as if from a vault, replied to him. +<P> +"I imagine the adjoining cells are empty. No enjoyable companionship to be +expected here. I wonder if they've got the other poor devils up from the +steamer yet. I'll sit down on the bench and listen." +<P> +He could have found the bench and shelf almost immediately by groping round +the wall, but he determined to exercise his sense of direction, to pit himself +against the darkness. +<P> +"I need not hurry," he said, "I may be a long time here." +<P> +In his mind he had a picture of the cell, but now that he listened to the +water it seemed to have changed its direction, and he found he had to rearrange +this mental picture, and make a different set of calculations to fit the +new position. Then he shuffled slowly forward with hands outstretched, but +he came to the wall, and not to the bench. Again he mapped out his route, +again endeavored, and again failed. +<P> +"This is bewildering," he muttered. "How the darkness baffles a man. For +the first time in my life I appreciate to the full the benediction of God's +command, 'Let there be light.'" +<P> +He stood perplexed for a few moments, and, deeply thinking, his hands +automatically performed an operation as the servants of habit. They took +from his pocket his cigarette case, selected a tube of tobacco, placed it +between his lips, searched another pocket, brought out a match-box, and struck +a light. The striking of the match startled Lermontoff as if it had been +an explosion; then he laughed, holding the match above his head, and there +at his feet saw the loaf of black bread. It seemed as if somebody had twisted +the room end for end. The door was where he thought the stream was, and thus +he learned that sound gives no indication of direction to a man blindfolded. +The match began to wane, and feverishly he lit his cigarette. +<P> +"Why didn't I think of the matches, and oh! what a pity I failed to fill +my pockets with them that night of the Professor's dinner party! To think +that matches are selling at this moment in Sweden two hundred and fifty for +a halfpenny!" +<P> +Guided by the spark at the end of his cigarette, he sought the bench and +sat down upon it. He was surprised to find himself so little depressed as +was actually the case. He did not feel in the least disheartened. Something +was going to happen on his behalf; of that he was quite certain. It was perfectly +ridiculous that even in Russia a loyal subject, who had never done any illegal +act in his life, a nobleman of the empire, and a friend of the Czar, should +be incarcerated for long without trial, and even without accusation. He had +no enemies that he knew of, and many friends, and yet he experienced a vague +uneasiness when be remembered that his own course of life had been such that +he would not be missed by his friends. For more than a year he had been in +England, at sea, and in America, so much absorbed in his researches that +he had written no private letters worth speaking of, and if any friend were +asked his whereabouts, he was likely to reply: +<P> +"Oh, Lermontoff is in some German university town, or in England, or traveling +elsewhere. I haven't seen him or heard of him for months. Lost in a wilderness +or in an experiment, perhaps." +<P> +These unhappy meditations were interrupted by the clang of bolts. He thought +at first it was his own door that was being opened, but a moment later knew +it was the door of the next cell up-stream. The sound, of course, could not +penetrate the extremely thick wall, but came through the aperture whose roof +arched the watercourse. From the voices he estimated that several prisoners +were being put into one cell, and he wondered whether or not he cared for +a companion. It would all depend. If fellow-prisoners hated each other, their +enforced proximity might prove unpleasant. +<P> +"We are hungry," he heard one say. "Bring us food." +<P> +The gaoler laughed. +<P> +"I will give you something to drink first." +<P> +"That's right," three voices shouted. "Vodka, vodka!" +<P> +Then the door clanged shut again, and he heard the murmur of voices in Russian, +but could not make out what was said. One of the new prisoners, groping round, +appeared to have struck the stone bench, as he himself had done. The man +in the next cell swore coarsely, and Lermontoff, judging from such snatches +of their conversation as he could hear that they were persons of a low order, +felt no desire to make their more intimate acquaintance, and so did not shout +to them, as he had intended to do. And now he missed something that had become +familiar; thought it was a cigarette he desired, for the one he had lit had +been smoked to his very lips, then he recognized it was the murmur of the +stream that had ceased. +<P> +"Ah, they can shut it off," he said. "That's interesting. I must investigate, +and learn whether or no there is communication between the cells. Not very +likely, though." +<P> +He crawled on hands and knees until he came to the bed of the stream, which +was now damp, but empty. Kneeling down in its course, he worked his way toward +the lower cell, and, as he expected, came to stout iron bars. Crouching thus +he sacrificed a second match, and estimated that the distance between the +two cells was as much as ten feet of solid rock, and saw also that behind +the perpendicular iron bars were another horizontal set, then another +perpendicular, then a fourth horizontal. +<P> +While in this position he was startled by a piercing scream to the rear. +He backed out from the tunnel and stood upright once more. He heard the sound +of people splashing round in water. The screamer began to jabber like a maniac, +punctuating his ravings with shrieks. Another was cursing vehemently, and +a third appealing to the saints. Lermontoff quickly knelt down in the +watercourse, this time facing the upper cell, and struck his third match. +He saw that a steel shield, reminding him of the thin shutter between the +lenses of a camera, had been shot across the tunnel behind the second group +of cross bars, and as an engineer be could not but admire the skill of the +practical expert who had constructed this diabolical device, for in spite +of the pressure on the other side, hardly a drop of water oozed through. +He tried to reach this shield, but could not. It was just beyond the touch +of his fingers, with his arm thrust through the two sets of bars, but if +he could have stretched that far, with the first bar retarding his shoulder, +he knew his hand would be helpless even if he had some weapon to puncture +the steel shield. The men would be drowned before he could accomplish anything +unless he was at the lever in the passage outside. +<P> +Crawling into his cell again he heard no more of the chatter and cries of +the maniac, and he surmised that the other two were fighting for places on +bench or shelf, which was amply large enough to have supported both, had +they not been too demented with fear to recognize that fact. The cursing +man was victorious, and now he stood alone on the shelf, roaring maledictions. +Then there was the sound of a plunge, and Lermontoff, standing there, helpless +and shivering, heard the prisoner swim round and round his cell like a furious +animal, muttering and swearing. +<P> +"Don't exhaust yourself like that," shouted Lermontoff. "If you want to live, +cling to the hole at either of the two upper corners. The water can't rise +above you then, and you can breathe till it subsides." +<P> +The other either did not hear, or did not heed, but tore round and round +in his confined tank, thrashing the water like a dying whale. +<P> +"Poor devil," moaned Jack. "What's the use of telling him what to do. He +is doomed in any case. The other two are now better off." +<P> +A moment later the water began to dribble through the upper aperture into +Jack's cell, increasing and increasing until there was the roar of a waterfall, +and he felt the cold splashing drops spurt against him. Beyond this there +was silence. It was perhaps ten minutes after that the lever was pulled, +and the water belched forth from the lower tunnel like a mill race broken +loose, temporarily flooding the floor so that Jack was compelled to stand +on the bench. +<P> +He sunk down shivering on the stone shelf, laid his arms on the stone pillow, +and buried his face in them. +<P> +"My God, my God!" he groaned. +<h3>CHAPTER XVII</h3> +<h4>A FELLOW SCIENTIST</h4> +<P> +IN this position Jack slept off and on, or rather, dozed into a kind of +semi-stupor, from which he awoke with a start now and then, as he thought +be heard again the mingled cries of devotion and malediction. At last he +slept soundly, and awoke refreshed, but hungry. The loaf lay beside him, +and with his knife he cut a slice from it, munching the coarse bread with +more of relish than he had thought possible when he first saw it. Then he +took out another cigarette, struck a match, looked at his watch, and lit +the cigarette. It was ten minutes past two. He wondered if a night had +intervened, but thought it unlikely. He had landed very early in the morning, +and now it was afternoon. He was fearfully thirsty, but could not bring himself +to drink from that stream of death. Once more he heard the bolts shot back. +<P> +"They are going to throw the poor wretches into the sea," he muttered, but +the yellow gleam of a lantern showed him it was his own door that had been +unlocked. +<P> +"You are to see the Governor," said the gaoler gruffly. "Come with me." +<P> +Jack sprang to the floor of his cell, repressing a cry of delight. Nothing +the grim Governor could do to him would make his situation any worse, and +perhaps his persuasive powers upon that official might result in some +amelioration of his position. In any case there was the brief respite of +the interview, and he would gladly have chummed with the devil himself to +be free a few moments from this black pit. +<P> +Although the outside door of the Governor's room stood open, the room was +not as well illumined as it had been before, for the sun had now gone round +to the other side of the island, but to the prisoner's aching eyes it seemed +a chamber of refulgence. The same lamp was burning on the table, giving forth +an odor of bad oil, but in addition to this, two candles were lighted, which +supplemented in some slight measure the efforts of the lamp. At the end of +the table lay a number of documents under a paper-weight, arranged with the +neat precision of a methodical man. The Governor had been warming his hands +over the brazier, but ceased when Lermontoff was brought up standing before +him. He lifted the paper-weight, took from under it the two letters which +Lermontoff had given to the steward on the steamer, and handed them to the +prisoner, who thus received them back for the second time. +<P> +"I wish to say," remarked the Governor, with an air of bored indifference +which was evidently quite genuine, "that if you make any further attempt +to communicate with the authorities, or with friends, you will bring on yourself +punishment which will be unpleasant." +<P> +"As a subject of the Czar, I have the right to appeal to him," said the Prince. +<P> +"The appeal you have written here," replied the Governor, "would have proved +useless, even if it had been delivered. The Czar knows nothing of the +Trogzmondoff, which is a stronghold entirely under the control of the Grand +Dukes and of the Navy. The Trogzmondoff never gives up a prisoner." +<P> +"Then I am here for a lifetime?" +<P> +"Yes," rejoined the Governor, with frigid calmness, "and if you give me no +trouble you will save yourself some inconvenience." +<P> +"Do you speak French?" asked the Prince. +<P> +"Net." +<P> +"English?" +<P> +"Net." +<P> +"Italian?" +<P> +"Net." +<P> +"German?" +<P> +"Da." +<P> +"Then," continued Lermontoff in German, "I desire to say a few words to you +which I don't wish this gaoler to understand. I am Prince Ivan Lermontoff, +a personal friend of the Czar's, who, after all, is master of the Grand Dukes +and the Navy also. If you will help to put me into communication with him, +I will guarantee that no harm comes to you, and furthermore will make you +a rich man." +<P> +The Governor slowly shook his head. +<P> +"What you ask is impossible. Riches are nothing to me. Bribery may do much +in other parts of the Empire, but it is powerless in the Trogzmondoff. I +shall die in the room adjoining this, as my predecessor died. I am quite +as much a prisoner in the Trogzmondoff as is your Highness. No man who has +once set foot in this room, either as Governor, employee, or prisoner, is +allowed to see the mainland again, and thus the secret has been well kept. +We have had many prisoners of equal rank with your Highness, friends of the +Czar too, I dare say, but they all died on the Rock, and were buried in the +Baltic." +<P> +"May I not be permitted to receive certain supplies if I pay for them? That +is allowed in other prisons." +<P> +The Governor shook his head. +<P> +"I can let you have a blanket," he said, "and a pillow, or a sheepskin if +you find it cold at first, but my power here is very limited, and, as I tell +you, the officers have little more comfort than the prisoners." +<P> +"Oh, I don't care anything about comfort," protested Lermontoff. "What I +want is some scientific apparatus. I am a student of science. I have nothing +to do with politics, and have never been implicated in any plot. Someone +in authority has made a stupid mistake, and so I am here. This mistake I +am quite certain will be discovered and remedied. I hold no malice, and will +say nothing of the place, once I am free. It is no business of mine. But +I do not wish to have the intervening time wasted. I should like to buy some +electrical machinery, and materials, for which I am willing to pay any price +that is asked." +<P> +"Do you understand electricity?" questioned the Governor, and for the first +time his impassive face showed a glimmer of interest. +<P> +"Do I understand electricity? Why, for over a year I have been chief electrician +on a war-ship." +<P> +"Perhaps then," said the Governor, relapsing into Russian again, "you can +tell me what is wrong with our dynamo here in the Rock. After repeated +requisition they sent machinery for lighting our offices and passages with +electricity. They apparently did not care to send an electrician to the +Trogzmondoff, but forwarded instead some books of instruction. I have been +working at it for two years and a half, but I am still using oil lamps and +candles. We wired the place without difficulty." He held up the candle, and +showed, depending from the ceiling, a chandelier of electric lamps which +Lermontoff had not hitherto noticed, various brackets, and one or two stand +lamps in a corner, with green silk-covered wire attached. +<P> +"May I see your dynamo?" asked Lermontoff. +<P> +The Governor, with one final warming of his hands, took up a candle, told +the gaoler to remove the shade from the lamp and bring it, led the way along +a passage, and then into a room where the prisoner, on first entering, had +heard the roar of water. +<P> +"What's this you have. A turbine? Does it give you any power?" +<P> +"Oh, it gives power enough," said the Governor. +<P> +"Let's see how you turn on the stream." +<P> +The Governor set the turbine at work, and the dynamo began to hum, a sound +which, to the educated ear of Lermontoff, told him several things. +<P> +"That's all right, Governor, turn it off. This is a somewhat old-fashioned +dynamo, but it ought to give you all the light you can use. You must be a +natural born electrician, or you never could have got this machinery working +as well as it does." +<P> +The dull eyes of the Governor glowed for one brief moment, then resumed their +customary expression of saddened tiredness. +<P> +"Now," said Jack, throwing off his coat, "I want a wrench, screwdriver, hammer +and a pair of pincers if you've got them." +<P> +"Here is the tool chest," said the Governor, and Jack found all he needed. +Bidding the Governor hold the candle here, there and elsewhere, and ordering +the gaoler about as if he were an apprentice, Jack set energetically to work, +and for half an hour no one spoke. +<P> +"Turn on that water again," he commanded. +<P> +The Governor did so, and the machine whirred with quite a different note. +Half a dozen electric lamps in the room flooded the place with a dazzling +white glow. +<P> +"There you are," cried Jack, rubbing the oil off his hands on a piece of +coarse sacking. "Now, Tommy, put these things back in the tool chest," he +said to the gaoler. Then to the Governor: +<P> +"Let's see how things look in the big room." +<P> +The passage was lit, and the Governor's room showed every mark on wall, ceiling +and floor. +<P> +"I told you, Governor," said Jack with a laugh, "that I didn't know why I +was sent here, but now I understand. Providence took pity on you, and ordered +me to strike a light." +<P> +At that moment the gaoler entered with his jingling keys, and the enthusiastic +expression faded from the Governor's face, leaving it once more coldly impassive, +but he spoke in German instead of Russian. +<P> +"I am very much indebted to your Highness, and it grieves me that our +relationship remains unchanged." +<P> +"Oh, that's all right," cried Lermontoff breezily, "If it is within your +power to allow me to come and give you some lessons in electricity and the +care of dynamos, I shall be very glad to do so." +<P> +To this offer the Governor made no reply, but he went on still in German. +<P> +"I shall transfer you to cell Number One, which is not only more comfortable, +but the water there is pure. Did you say you spoke English?" +<P> +"Yes, quite as well as I do Russian." +<P> +The Governor continued, with nevertheless a little hesitation: "On the return +of the steamer there will be an English prisoner. I will give him cell Number +Two, and if you don't talk so loud that the gaoler hears you, it may perhaps +make the day less wearisome." +<P> +"You are very kind," said Jack, rigidly suppressing any trace of either emotion +or interest as he heard the intelligence; leaping at once to certain conclusions, +nevertheless. "I shan't ask for anything more, much as I should like to mention +candles, matches, and tobacco." +<P> +"It is possible you may find all three in Number One before this time to-morrow;" +then in Russian the Governor said to the gaoler: +<P> +"See if Number One is ready." +<P> +The gaoler departed, and the Governor, throwing open a drawer in his table, +took out two candles, a box of matches, and a packet of cigarettes. +<P> +"Put these in your pocket," he said. "The cell door opens very slowly, so +you will always know when the gaoler is coming. In that case blow out your +light and conceal your candle. It will last the longer." +<P> +The gaoler returned. +<P> +"The cell is ready, Excellency," he said. +<P> +"Take away the prisoner," commanded the Governor, gruffly. +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII</h3> +<h4>CELL NUMBER ONE</h4> +<P> +CELL Number One was a great improvement on Number Nine. There was no shelf +of rock, or stone bench, but a cot bed in the corner, a table, and a wooden +chair. The living spring issued from the living rock in a corner of the room. +When the gaoler and his assistant had retired and shoved in the outside bolts, +Jack lit his candle and a cigarette, feeling almost happy. He surveyed the +premises now with more care. The bed was of iron and fastened to the floor. +On the top of it was a mattress, a pillow, and a pair of blankets. At its +head a little triangular shelf of rock had been left in the corner, and on +this reposed a basin of tin, while a coarse piece of sacking took the place +of a towel. Jack threw off his overcoat and flung it on the bed, intent on +a satisfactory wash. He heard something jingle in the pockets, and forgetting +for the moment what it could possibly be, thrust his hand in, and pulled +out a glass-stoppered bottle of ozak. He held it out at arm's length, and +stared at it for some moments like a man hypnotized. +<P> +"Holy Saint Peter!" he cried, "to think that I should have forgotten this!" +<P> +He filled the tin basin with water, and placed it on the table. Again he +dissolved a minute portion of the chemical, and again filled the syringe. +<P> +"I must leave no marks on the wall that may arouse attention," he said, and +taking the full syringe to the arch over the torrent, and placing the candle +on the floor beside him, he gently pushed in the piston. The spray struck +the rock, and the rock dissolved slightly but perceptibly. Coming back to +the table he stood for a few minutes in deep thought. Although the cot bed +was fixed to the floor, and although it was possible that the shelf in the +next cell coincided with its position, the risk of discovery was too great +to cut a passage between the two cells there. The obvious spot to attack +was the interior of the tunnel through which the streamlet ran, but Jack, +testing the temperature of the water with his hand, doubted his physical +ability to remain in that ice-cold current more than a few minutes at a time, +and if he worked in the tunnel he would be all but submerged. He feared he +would perish with cold and cramp before he had made any impression on the +rock. +<P> +To the edge of the stream he drew the table, and, mounting it, examined the +upper orifice through which the water escaped when the cell was full. He +found he could stand on the table and work in comfort until he had excavated +sufficient rock to allow him to clamber into the upper tunnel and so continue +his operations. The water he used would flow through the tunnel, and down +to the main stream in the next cell. All he had to do was to dissolve a +semi-circular hole in the rock that would bend round the end of those steel +bars, and enter the tunnel again on the other side. Eager to be at work, +he took the full basin, shoved it far along the tunnel until it was stopped +by the bars, then, placing his candle beside it, and standing on the table, +he began operations. +<P> +The limestone, under the influence of the spray, dissolved very slowly, and +by the time the basin of water was exhausted, all the effect visible under +the light of the candle was an exceedingly slight circular impression which +was barely visible to the naked eye. +<P> +"I must make the solution stronger, I think," he said, grievously disappointed +at the outcome of his labors, and as he looked at it he heard the clank of +the withdrawing bolts. Blowing out the candle he sprang to the floor of the +cell, picked up the table, set it down in the center of the room, groped +for the chair, and sat down, his heart palpitating wildly at the fear of +discovery. +<P> +Followed as usual by the man with the lantern, the gaoler came in, carrying +a bowl of hot steaming soup, which he placed on the table, then he took from +his pocket a spoon, a small hunk of black bread, and a piece of cheese. In +the light of the lantern Lermontoff consulted his watch, and found it was +six o'clock. The gaoler took the lantern from his assistant, held it high, +and looked round the room, while Lermontoff gazed at him in anxiety, wondering +whether that brutal looking official suspected anything. Apparently he did +not, but merely wished to satisfy himself that everything was in order, for +he said more mildly than he had hitherto spoken: +<P> +"It is a long time since any one occupied this cell." +<P> +Then his eye rested on the vacant corner shelf. +<P> +"Ah, Excellency," he continued, "pardon me, I have forgotten. I must bring +you a basin." +<P> +"I'd rather you brought me a candle," said Lermontoff nonchalantly, although +his lips were dry, and he moistened them as he spoke; then, to learn whether +money was valueless on the rock, as the Governor had intimated, he drew from +his pocket one of the remaining gold pieces, glad that he happened to have +so many, and slipped it into the palm of the gaoler's hand, whose fingers +clutched it as eagerly as if he were in St. Petersburg. +<P> +"I think a candle can be managed, Excellency. Shall I bring a cup?" +<P> +"I wish you would." +<P> +The door was again locked and bolted, but before Lermontoff had finished +his soup, and bread and cheese, it was opened again. The gaoler placed a +tin basin, similar to the former one, on the ledge, put a candle and a +candle-stick on the table, and a tin cup beside them. +<P> +"I thought there was no part of Russia where bribery was extinct," said the +Prince to himself, as the door closed again for the night. +<P> +After supper Lermontoff again shined his table, stood upon it, lit his candle, +and resumed his tunnelling, working hard until after midnight. His progress +was deplorably slow, and the spraying of the rock proved about as tiring +a task as ever he had undertaken. His second basin-full of solution was made +a little stronger, but without perceptible improvement, in its effect. On +ceasing operations for the night he found himself in a situation common to +few prisoners, that of being embarrassed with riches. He possessed two basins, +and one of them must be concealed. Of course he might leave his working basin +in the upper tunnel where it had rested when the gaoler had brought in his +supper, but he realized that at any moment the lantern's rays might strike +its shining surface, and so bring on an investigation of the upper tunnel, +certain to prove the destruction of his whole scheme. A few minutes thought, +however, solved the problem admirably: he placed the basin face downwards +in the rapid stream which swept it to the iron bars between the two cells, +and there it lay quite concealed with the swift water rippling over it. This +done, he flung off his clothes, and got into bed, not awakening until the +gaoler and his assistant brought in bread, cheese and coffee for breakfast. +<P> +The next day he began to feel the inconveniences of the Governor's friendship, +and wished he were safely back to the time when one loaf lasted four days, +for if such were now the case, he would be free of the constant state of +tension which the ever-recurring visits of the gaoler caused. He feared that +some day he might become so absorbed in his occupation that he would not +hear the withdrawing of the bolt, and thus, as it were, be caught in the +act. +<P> +Shortly after lunch the Governor sent for him, and asked many questions +pertaining to the running of the dynamo. Lermontoff concealed his impatience, +and set about his instructions with exemplary earnestness. Russian text books +on electricity at hand were of the most rudimentary description, and although +the Governor could speak German he could not read it, so the two volumes +he possessed in that language were closed to him. Therefore John was compelled +to begin at the very A B C of the science. +<P> +The Governor, however, became so deeply interested that he momentarily forgot +his caution, unlocked a door, and took Lermontoff into a room which he saw +was the armory and ammunition store-house of the prison. On the floor of +this chamber the Governor pointed out a large battery of accumulators, and +asked what they were for. Lermontoff explained the purposes of the battery, +meanwhile examining it thoroughly, and finding that many of the cells had +been all but ruined in transit, through the falling away of the composition +in the grids. Something like half of the accumulators, however, were intact +and workable; these he uncoupled and brought into the dynamo room, where +he showed the Governor the process of charging. He saw in the store room +a box containing incandescent lamps, coils of silk-covered wire and other +material that made his eyes glisten with delight. He spoke in German. +<P> +"If you will give me a coil of this wire, one or two of the lamps, and an +accumulator, or indeed half a dozen of them, I will trouble you no more for +candles." +<P> +The Governor did not reply at the moment, but a short time after asked Lermontoff +in Russian how long it would be before the accumulators were charged. Lermontoff +stated the time, and the Governor told the gaoler to bring the prisoner from +the cell at that hour, and so dismissed his instructor. +<P> +One feature of this interview which pleased Lermontoff was that however much +the Governor became absorbed in these lessons, he never allowed himself to +remain alone with his prisoner. It was evident that in his cooler moments +the Governor had instructed the gaoler and his assistant to keep ever at +the heels of the Prince and always on the alert. Two huge revolvers were +thrust underneath the belt of the gaoler, and the lantern-holder, was similarly +armed. Lermontoff was pleased with this, for if the Governor had trusted +him entirely, even though he demanded no verbal parole, it would have gone +against his grain to strike down the chief as he ruthlessly intended to do +when the time was ripe for it, and in any case, he told himself, no matter +how friendly the Governor might be, he had the misfortune to stand between +his prisoner and liberty. +<P> +Lermontoff was again taken from his cell about half an hour before the time +he had named for the completion of the charging, and although the Governor +said nothing of his intention, the gaoler and his man brought to the cell +six charged batteries, a coil of wire, and a dozen lamps. Lermontoff now +changed his working methods. He began each night as soon as he had finished +dinner, and worked till nearly morning, sleeping all day except when interrupted +by the gaoler. Jack, following the example of Robinson Crusoe, attempted +to tie knots on the tail of time by cutting notches with his knife on the +leg of the table, but most days he forgot to perform this operation, and +so his wooden almanac fell hopelessly out of gear. He estimated that he had +been a little more than a week in prison when he heard by the clang of the +bolts that the next cell was to have an occupant. +<P> +"I must prepare a welcome for him," he said, and so turned out the electric +light at the end of the long flexible wire. He had arranged a neat little +switch of the accumulator, and so snapped the light on and off at his pleasure, +without the trouble of unscrewing the nuts which held in place one of the +copper ends of the wire. Going to the edge of the stream and lighting his +candle, he placed the glass bulb in the current, paid out the flexible line +attached to it, and allowed the bulb to run the risk of being smashed against +the iron bars of the passage, but the little globe negotiated the rapids +without even a perceptible clink, and came to rest in the bed of the torrent +somewhere about the center of the next cell, tugging like a fish on a hook. +Then Jack mounted the table, leaned into the upper tunnel, and listened. +<P> +"I protest," Drummond cried, speaking loudly, as if the volume of sound would +convey meaning to alien ears, "I protest against this as an outrage, and +demand my right of communication with the British Ambassador." +<P> +Jack heard the gaoler growl: "This loaf of bread will last you for four days," +but as this statement was made in Russian, it conveyed no more meaning to +the Englishman than had his own protest of a moment before brought intelligence +to the gaoler. The door clanged shut, and there followed a dead silence. +<P> +"Now we ought to hear some good old British oaths," said Jack to himself, +but the silence continued. +<P> +"Hullo, Alan," cried Jack through the bars, "I said you would be nabbed if +you didn't leave St. Petersburg. You'll pay attention to me next time I warn +you." +<P> +There was no reply, and Jack became alarmed at the continued stillness, then +he heard his friend mutter: +<P> +"I'll be seeing visions by and by. I thought my brain was stronger than it +is— could have sworn that was Jack's voice." +<P> +Jack got speedily and quietly down, turned on the switch, and hopped up on +the table again, peering through. He knew that the stream had now become +a river of fire, and that it was sending to the ceiling an unholy, unearthly +glow. +<P> +"Oh, damn it all!" groaned Drummond, at which Jack roared with laughter. +<P> +"Alan," he shouted, "fish out that electric bulb from the creek and hold +it aloft; then you'll see where you are. I'm in the next cell; Jack Lamont, +Electrician and Coppersmith: all orders promptly attended to: best of references, +and prices satisfactory." +<P> +"Jack, is that really you, or have I gone demented?" +<P> +"Oh, you always <I>were</I> demented, Alan, but it is I, right enough. Pick +up the light and tell me what kind of a cell you've got." +<P> +"Horrible!" cried Drummond, surveying his situation. "Walls apparently of +solid rock, and this uncanny stream running across the floor." +<P> +"How are you furnished? Shelf of rock, stone bench?" +<P> +"No, there's a table, cot bed, and a wooden chair." +<P> +"Why, my dear man, what are you growling about? They have given you one of +the best rooms in the hotel. You're in the Star Chamber." +<P> +"Where in the name of heaven are we?" +<P> +"Didn't you recognize the rock from the deck of a steamer?" +<P> +"I never saw the deck of a steamer." +<P> +"Then how did you come here?" +<P> +"I was writing a letter in my room when someone threw a sack over my head, +and tied me up in a bundle, so that it was a close shave I wasn't smothered. +I was taken in what I suppose was a cab and flung into what I afterwards +learned was the hold of a steamer. When the ship stopped, I was carried like +a sack of meal on someone's shoulder, and unhampered before a gaunt specter +in uniform, in a room so dazzling with electric light that I could hardly +see. That was a few minutes ago, Now I am here, and starving. Where is this +prison?" +<P> +"Like the Mikado, as Kate would say, the authorities are bent on making the +punishment fit the crime. You are in the rock of the Baltic, which you fired +at with that gun of yours. I told you those suave officials at St. Petersburg +were playing with you." +<P> +"But why have they put you here, Jack?" +<P> +"Oh, I was like the good dog Tray, who associated with questionable company, +I suppose, and thus got into trouble." +<P> +"I'm sorry." +<P> +"You ought to be glad. I'm going to get out of this place, and I don't believe +you could break gaol, unassisted, in twenty years. Here is where science +confronts brutality. I say, Drummond, bring your table over to the corner, +and mount it, then we can talk without shouting. Not much chance of any one +outside hearing us, even if we do clamor, but this is a damp situation, and +loud talk is bad for the throat. Cut a slice of that brown bread and lunch +with me. You'll find it not half bad, as you say in England, especially when +you are hungry. Now," continued Jack, as his friend stood opposite him, and +they found by experiment that their combined reach was not long enough to +enable them to shake hands through the bars, "now, while you are luxuriating +in the menu of the Trogzmondoff, I'll give you a sketch of my plan for escape." +<P> +"Do," said Drummond. +<P> +"I happen to have with me a pair of bottles containing a substance which, +if dissolved in water, and sprinkled on this rock, will disintegrate it. +It proves rather slow work, I must admit, but I intend to float in to you +one of the bottles, and the apparatus, so that you may help me on your side, +which plan has the advantage of giving you useful occupation, and allowing +us to complete our task in half the time, like the engineers on each side +of the Simplon Tunnel." +<P> +"If there are bars in the lower watercourse," objected Drummond, "won't you +run a risk of breaking your bottle against them?" +<P> +"Not the slightest. I have just sent that much thinner electric lamp through, +but in this case I'll just tie up the bottle and squirt gun in my stocking, +attach that to the wire, and the current will do the rest. You can unload, +and I'll pull my stocking back again. If I dared wrench off a table leg, +I could perhaps shove bottle and syringe through to you from here, but the +material would come to a dead center in the middle of this tunnel, unless +I had a stick to push it within your reach. +<P> +"Very well; we'll work away until our excavation connects, and we have made +it of sufficient diameter for you to squeeze through. You are then in my +cell. We put out our lights, and you conceal yourself behind the door. Gaoler +and man with the lantern come in. You must be very careful not to close the +door, because if you once shove it shut we can't open it from this side, +even though it is unlocked and the bolts drawn. It fits like wax, and almost +hermetically seals the room. You spring forward, and deal the gaoler with +your fist one of your justly celebrated English knock-down blows, immediately +after felling the man with the lantern. Knowing something of the weight of +your blow, I take it that neither of the two men will recover consciousness +until we have taken off their outer garments, secured revolvers and keys. +Then we lock them in, you and I on the outside." +<P> +"My dear Jack, we don't need any tunnel to accomplish that. The first time +these two men come into my room, I can knock them down as easily here as +there." +<P> +"I thought of that, and perhaps you could, but you must remember we have +only one shot. If you made a mistake; if the lantern man bolted and fired +his pistol, and once closed the door— he would not need to pause to lock +it— why, we are done for. I should be perfectly helpless in the next room, +and after the attempt they'd either drown us, or put us into worse cells +as far apart as possible." +<P> +"I don't think I should miss fire," said Drummond, confidently, "still, I +see the point, and will obey orders." +<P> +"My official position on the rock, ever since I arrived, has been that of +electrical tutor-in-chief to the Governor. I have started his dynamo working, +and have wired such portions of the place as were not already wired before. +During these lessons I have kept my eyes open. So far as the prison is concerned, +there is the Governor, a sort of head clerk, the gaoler and his assistant; +four men, and that is all. The gaoler's assistant appears to be the cook +of the place, although the cooking done is of the most limited description. +The black bread is brought from St. Petersburg, I think, as also tinned meat +and soup; so the cuisine is on a somewhat limited scale." +<P> +"Do you mean to say that only these four men are in charge of the prison?" +<P> +"Practically so, but there is the garrison as well. The soldiers live in +a suite of rooms directly above us, and as near as I can form an opinion, +there are fourteen men and two officers. When a steamer arrives they draft +as many soldiers as are necessary, unload the boat; then the Tommies go upstairs +again. The military section apparently holds little intercourse with the +officials, whom they look upon as gaolers. I should judge that the military +officer is chief of the rock, because when he found the Governor's room lit +by electricity, he demanded the same for his quarters. That's how I came +to get upstairs. Now, these stairs are hewn in the rock, are circular, guarded +by heavy oaken doors top and bottom, and these doors possess steel bolts +on both sides of them. It is thus possible for either the military authorities +upstairs, or the civil authorities, to isolate themselves from the others. +In case of a revolt among the soldiers, the Governor could bolt them into +their attic, and they would find great difficulty in getting out. Now, my +plan of procedure is this. We will disarm gaoler and assistant, take their +keys, outside garments and caps. The gaoler's toggery will fit you, and the +other fellow's may do for me. Then we will lock them in here, and if we meet +clerk or Governor in the passages we will have time to overcome either or +both before they are aware of the change. I'll go up the circular stair, +bolt from the inside the upper door, and afterwards bolt the lower door. +Then we open all the cells, and release the other prisoners, descend from +the rock, get into the Finnish fishing boat, keep clear of the two cannon +that are up above us, and sail for the Swedish coast. We can't miss it; we +have only to travel west, and ultimately we are safe. There is only one danger, +which is that we may make our attempt when the steamer is here, but we must +chance that." +<P> +"Isn't there any way of finding out? Couldn't you pump the Governor?" +<P> +"He is always very much on his guard, and is a taciturn man. The moment the +tunnel is finished I shall question him about some further electrical material, +and then perhaps I may get a hint about the steamer. I imagine she comes +irregularly, so the only safe plan would be for us to make our attempt just +after she had departed." +<P> +"Would there be any chance of our finding a number of the military downstairs?" +<P> +"I don't think so. Now that they have their electric light they spend their +time playing cards and drinking vodka." +<P> +"Very well, Jack, that scheme seems reasonably feasible. Now, get through +your material to me, and issue your instructions." +<h3>CHAPTER XIX</h3> +<h4>"STONE WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE"</h4> +<P> +IN a very short time Drummond became as expert at the rock dissolving as +was his friend. He called it piffling slow work, but was nevertheless extremely +industrious at it, although days and weeks and, as they suspected, months, +passed before the hands of the two friends met in the center of the rock. +One lucky circumstance that favored them was the habit of the gaoler in visiting +Drummond only once every four days. +<P> +The Lieutenant made his difficult passage, squeezing through the newly completed +tunnel half an hour after a loaf had been set upon his table. Jack knew that +the steamer had recently departed, because, two days before, the Governor +had sent for him, and had exhibited a quantity of material recently landed, +among other things a number of electric bells and telephones which the Governor +was going to have set up between himself and the others, and also between +his room and that of the clerk and gaoler. There were dry batteries, and +primary batteries, and many odds and ends, which made Jack almost sorry he +was leaving the place. +<P> +Heavy steps, muffled by the thickness of the door, sounded along the outer +passage. +<P> +"Ready?" whispered Jack. "Here they come. Remember if you miss your first +blow, we're goners, you and I." +<P> +Drummond made no reply, for the steps had come perilously near and he feared +to be heard. Noiselessly he crossed the cell and took up his position against +the wall, just clear of the space that would be covered by the opening of +the door. +<P> +At the same moment Jack switched off the light, leaving the room black. Each +of the two waiting prisoners could hear the other's short breathing through +the darkness. +<P> +On came the shuffling footsteps of the gaoler and lantern-bearer. They had +reached the door of Number One, had paused, had <I>passed on</I> and stopped +in front of Number Two. +<P> +"Your cell!" whispered Jack, panic-stricken. "And they weren't due to look +in on you for four days. It's all up! They'll discover the cell is empty +and give the— Where are you going, man?" he broke off, as Drummond, leaving +his place near the door, groped his way hurriedly along the wall. +<P> +"To squeeze my way back and make a fight for it. It's better than—" +<P> +"Wait!" +<P> +Lamont's hand was on his shoulder, and he whispered a sharp command for silence. +The two attendants had halted in front of Number Two, and while the +lantern-bearer fumbled with the awkward bolt, his companion was saying: +<P> +"Hold on! After all, I'll bring the other his food first, I think." +<P> +"But," remonstrated the lantern-bearer, "the Governor said we were to bring +the Englishman to him at once." +<P> +"What if he did? How will he know we stole a half minute to give the Prince +his dinner? If we bring the Englishman upstairs first, the Prince may have +to wait an hour before we can get back with the Englishman." +<P> +"Let him wait, then." +<P> +"With his pocket full of roubles? Not I. He may decide to give no more of +his gold pieces to a gaoler who lets him go hungry too long." +<P> +"I've got the door unfastened now and—" +<P> +"Then fasten it again and come back with me to Number One." +<P> +Faint as were the words, deadened by intervening walls, their purport reached +Jack. +<P> +"Back to your place," he whispered, "they're coming!" +<P> +The rattle of bolts followed close on his words. The great door of Number +One swung ponderously inward. The lantern-bearer, holding his light high +in front of him, entered; then stepped to one side to admit the gaoler, who +came close after, the tray of food in his outstretched hands. +<P> +Unluckily for the captives' plan, it was to the side of the cell opposite +to that where Alan crouched that the lantern-bearer had taken his stand. +There was no way of reaching him at a bound. The open door stood between. +Were the gaoler to be attacked first, his fellow-attendant could readily +be out of the cell and half-way up the corridor before Alan might hope to +reach him. +<P> +The friends had counted on both men entering the room together and crossing +as usual to the table. This change of plan disconcerted them. Already the +gaoler had set down his tray and was turning toward the door. Alan, helpless, +stood impotently in the shadow, biting his blond mustache with helpless rage. +In another second their cherished opportunity would vanish. And, as the gaoler's +next visit was to be to Number Two, discovery stared them in the eyes. +<P> +It was Jack who broke the momentary spell of apathy. He was standing at the +far end of the cell, near the stream. +<P> +"Here!" he called sharply to the lantern-bearer, "bring your light. My electric +apparatus is out of order, and I've mislaid my matches. I want to fix—" +<P> +The lantern-bearer, obediently, had advanced into the room. He was half-way +across it while Lamont was still speaking. Then, from the corner of his eye, +he spied Alan crouching in the angle behind the door, now fully exposed to +the rays of the lantern. +<P> +The man whirled about in alarm just as Alan sprang. In consequence the +Englishman's mighty fist whizzed past his head, missing it by a full inch. +<P> +The gaoler, recovering from his amaze, whipped out one of the revolvers he +wore in his belt. But Jack, leaping forward, knocked it from his hand before +he could fire; and, with one hand clapped across the fellow's bearded lips, +wound his other arm about the stalwart body so as to prevent for the instant +the drawing of the second pistol. +<P> +Alan's first blow had missed clean; but his second did not. Following up +his right-hand blow with all a trained boxer's swift dexterity, he sent a +straight left hander flush on the angle of the light-bearer's jaw. The man +dropped his lantern and collapsed into a senseless heap on the floor, while +Alan, with no further delay, rushed toward the gaoler. +<P> +The fall of the lantern extinguished the light. The cell was again plunged +in dense blackness, through which could be heard the panting and scuffing +of the Prince and the gaoler. +<P> +Barely a second of time had elapsed since first Jack had seized the man, +but that second had sufficed for the latter to summon his great brute strength +and shake off his less gigantic opponent and to draw his pistol. +<P> +"Quick, Alan!" gasped Jack. "He's got away from me. He'll—" +<P> +Drummond, guided by his friend's voice, darted forward through the darkness, +caught his foot against the sprawling body of the lantern-bearer and fell +heavily, his arms thrown out in an instinctive gesture of self-preservation. +Even as he lost his balance he heard a sharp click, directly in front of +him. The gaoler had pulled the trigger, and his pistol— contract-made and +out of order, like many of the weapons of common soldiers in Russia's frontier +posts— had missed fire. +<P> +To that luckiest of mishaps, the failure of a defective cartridge to explode, +the friends owed their momentary safety. +<P> +As Alan pitched forward, one of his outing arms struck against an obstacle. +It was a human figure, and from the feel of the leather straps, which his +fingers touched in the impact, he knew it was the gaoler and not Lamont. +<P> +Old football tactics coming to memory, Alan clung to the man his arm had +chanced upon, and bore him along to the ground; Jack, who had pressed forward +in the darkness, being carried down as well by the other's fall. +<P> +Gaoler, Prince and Englishman thus struggled on the stone floor in one +indistinguishable heap. It was no ordinary combat of two to one, for neither +of the prisoners could say which was the gaoler and which his friend. The +gaoler, troubled by no such doubts, laid about him lustily, and was only +prevented from crying out by the fact that his heavy fur cap had, in the +fall, become jammed down over his face as far as the chin and could not for +the moment be dislodged. +<P> +He reached for and drew the sword-bayonet that hung at his side (for his +second pistol had become lost in the scrimmage), and thrust blindly about +him. Once, twice his blade met resistance and struck into flesh. +<P> +"Jack," panted Alan, "the beast's stabbing. Get yourself loose and find the +electric light." +<P> +As he spoke, Alan's hand found the gaoler's throat. He knew it was not Alan's +from the rough beard that covered it. The gaoler, maddened by the pressure, +stabbed with fresh fury; most of his blows, fortunately, going wild in the +darkness. +<P> +Alan's free hand reached for and located the arm that was wielding the bayonet, +and for a moment the two wrestled desperately for its possession. +<P> +Then a key clicked, and the room was flooded with incandescent light, just +as Alan, releasing his grip on the Russian's throat, dealt him a short-arm +blow on the chin with all the power of his practiced muscles. The gaoler +relaxed his tense limbs and lay still, while Alan, bleeding and exhausted, +struggled to his feet. +<P> +"Hot work, eh?" he panted. "Hard position to land a knockout from. But I +caught him just right. He'll trouble us no more for a few minutes, I fancy. +You're bleeding! Did he wound you?" +<P> +"Only a scratch along my check. And you?" +<P> +"A cut on the wrist and another on the shoulder, I think. Neither of them +bad, thanks to the lack of aim in the dark. Close call, that! Now to tie +them up. Not a movement from either yet." +<P> +"You must have come close to killing them with those sledge-hammer blows +of yours!" +<P> +"It doesn't much matter," said the imperturbable pugilist, "they'll be all +right in half an hour. It's knowing where to hit. If there are only four +men downstairs, we don't need to wear the clothes of these beasts. Let us +take only the bunch of keys and the revolvers." +<P> +Securing these the two stepped out into the passage, locked and bolted the +door; then Jack, who knew his way, proceeded along the passage to the stairway, +leaped nimbly up the steps, bolted the door leading to the military quarters, +then descended and bolted the bottom door. +<P> +"Now for the clerk, and then for the Governor." +<P> +The clerk's room connected with the armory, which was reached by passing +through the apartment that held turbine and dynamo, which they found purring +away merrily. +<P> +Covering the frightened clerk with four revolvers, Jack told him in Russian +that if he made a sound it would be his last. They took him, opened cell +Number Three, which was empty, and thrust him in. +<P> +Jangling the keys, the two entered the Governor's room. The ancient man looked +up, but not a muscle of his face changed; even his fishy eyes showed no signs +of emotion or surprise. +<P> +"Governor," said Jack with deference, "although you are under the muzzles +of a quartet of revolvers, no harm is intended you. However, you must not +leave your place until you accompany us down to the boat, when I shall hand +the keys over to you, and in cell Number One you will find gaoler and lantern +man a little worse for wear, perhaps, but still in the ring, I hope. In Number +Three your clerk is awaiting you. I go now to release your prisoners. All +communication between yourself and the military is barred. I leave my friend +on guard until I return from the cells. You must not attempt to summon +assistance, or cry out, or move from your chair. My friend does not understand +either Russian or German, so there is no use in making any appeal to him, +and much as I like you personally, and admire your assiduity in science, +our case is so desperate that if you make any motion whatever, he will be +compelled to shoot you dead." +<P> +The Governor bowed. +<P> +"May I continue my writing?" he asked. +<P> +Jack laughed heartily. +<P> +"Certainly," and with that he departed to the cells, which he unlocked one +by one, only to find them all empty. +<P> +Returning, he said to the Governor: +<P> +"Why did you not tell me that we were your only prisoners?" +<P> +"I feared," replied the Governor mildly, "that you might not believe me." +<P> +"After all, I don't know that I should,", said Jack, holding out his hand, +which the other shook rather unresponsively. +<P> +"I want to thank you," the Governor said slowly, "for all you have told me +about electricity. That knowledge I expect to put to many useful purposes +in the future, and the exercise of it will also make the hours drag less +slowly than they did before you came." +<P> +"Oh, that's all right," cried Jack with enthusiasm. "I am sure you are very +welcome to what teaching I have been able to give you, and no teacher could +have wished a more apt pupil." +<P> +"It pleases me to hear you say that, Highness, although I fear I have been +lax in my duties, and perhaps the knowledge of this place which you have +got through my negligence, has assisted you in making an escape which I had +not thought possible." +<P> +Jack laughed good-naturedly. +<P> +"All's fair in love and war," he said. "Imprisonment is a section of war. +I must admit that electricity has been a powerful aid to us. But you cannot +blame yourself, Governor, for you always took every precaution, and the gaoler +was eternally at my heels. You can never pretend that you trusted me, you +know." +<P> +"I tried to do my duty," said the old man mournfully, "and if electricity +has been your helper, it has not been with my sanction. However, there is +one point about electricity which you impressed upon me, which is that although +it goes quickly, there is always a return current." +<P> +"What do you mean by that, Governor?" +<P> +"Is it not so? It goes by a wire, and returns through the earth. I thought +you told me that." +<P> +"Yes, but I don't quite see why you mention that feature of the case at this +particular moment." +<P> +"I wanted to be sure what I have stated is true. You see, when you are gone +there will be nobody I can ask." +<P> +All this time the aged Governor was holding Jack's hand rather limply. Drummond +showed signs of impatience. +<P> +"Jack," he cried at last, "that conversation may be very interesting, but +it's like smoking on a powder mine. One never knows what may happen. I shan't +feel safe until we're well out at sea, and not even then. Get through with +your farewells as soon as possible, and let us be off." +<P> +"Right you are, Alan, my boy. Well, Governor, I'm reluctantly compelled to +bid you a final good-by, but here's wishing you all sorts of luck." +<P> +The old man seemed reluctant to part with him, and still clung to his hand. +<P> +"I wanted to tell you," he said, "of another incident, almost as startling +as your coming into this room a while since, that happened six or eight months +ago. As perhaps you know, we keep a Finland fishing-boat down in the cove +below." +<P> +"Yes, yes," said Jack impatiently, drawing away his hand. +<P> +"Well, six or eight months ago that boat disappeared, and has never been +heard of since. None of our prisoners was missing; none of the garrison was +missing; my three assistants were still here, yet in the night the boat was +taken away." +<P> +"Really. How interesting! Never learned the secret, did you?" +<P> +"Never, but I took precautions, when we got the next boat, that it should +be better guarded, so I have had two men remain upon it night and day." +<P> +"Are your two men armed, Governor?" +<P> +"Yes, they are." +<P> +"Then they must surrender, or we will be compelled to shoot them. Come down +with us, and advise them to surrender quietly, otherwise, from safe cover +on the stairway, we can pot them in an open boat." +<P> +"I will go down with you," said the Governor, "and do what I can." +<P> +"Of course they will obey you." +<P> +"Yes, they will obey me— if they hear me. I was going to add that only yesterday +did I arrange the electric bell down at the landing, with instructions to +those men to take a telegram which I had written in case of emergencies, +to the mainland, at any moment, night or day, when that bell rang. Your Highness, +the bell rang more than half an hour ago. I have not been allowed out to +see the result." +<P> +The placid old man put his hand on the Prince's shoulder, as if bestowing +a benediction upon him. Drummond, who did not understand the lingo, was amazed +to see Jack fling off the Governor's grasp, and with what he took to be a +crushing oath in Russian, spring to the door, which he threw open. He mounted +the stone bench which gave him a view of the sea. A boat, with two sails +spread, speeding to the southwest, across the strong westerly wind, was two +miles or more away. +<P> +"Marooned, by God!" cried the Prince, swinging round and presenting his pistol +at the head of the Governor, who stood there like a statue of dejection, +and made no sign. +<h3>CHAPTER XX</h3> +<h4>ARRIVAL OF THE TURBINE YACHT</h4> +<P> +BEFORE Jack could fire, as perhaps he had intended to do, Drummond struck +down his arm. +<P> +"None of that, Jack," he said. "The Russian in you has evidently been scratched, +and the Tartar has come uppermost. The Governor gave a signal, I suppose?" +<P> +"Yes, he did, and those two have got away while I stood babbling here, feeling +a sympathy for the old villain. That's his return current, eh?" +<P> +"He's not to blame," said Drummond. "It's our own fault entirely. The first +thing to have done was to secure that boat." +<P> +"And everything worked so beautifully," moaned Jack, "up to this point, and +one mistake ruins it. We are doomed, Alan." +<P> +"It isn't so bad as that, Jack," said the Englishman calmly. "Should those +men reach the coast safely, as no doubt they will, it may cost Russia a bit +of trouble to dislodge us." +<P> +"Why, hang it all," cried Jack, "they don't <I>need</I> to dislodge us. All +they've got to do is to stand off and starve us out. They are not compelled +to fire a gun or land a man." +<P> +"They'll have to starve their own men first. It's not likely we're going +to go hungry and feed our prisoners." +<P> +"Oh, we don't mind a little thing like that, we Russians. They may send help, +or they may not. Probably a cruiser will come within hailing distance and +try to find out what the trouble is. Then it will lie off and wait till +everybody's dead, and after that put in a new Governor and another garrison." +<P> +"You take too pessimistic a view, Jack. This isn't the season of the year +for a cruiser to lie off in the Baltic. Winter is coming on. Most of the +harbors in Finland will be ice-closed in a month, and there's no shelter +hereabouts in a storm. They'll attack; probably open shell fire on us for +a while, then attempt to land a storming party. That will be fun for us if +you've got good rifles and plenty of ammunition." +<P> +Jack raised his head. +<P> +"Oh, we're well-equipped," he said, "if we only have enough to eat." +<P> +Springing to his feet, all dejection gone, he said to the Governor: +<P> +"Now, my friend, we're compelled to put you into a cell. I'm sorry to do +this, but there is no other course open. Where is your larder, and what quantity +of provisions have you in stock?" +<P> +A gloomy smile added to the dejection of the old man's countenance. +<P> +"You must find that out for yourself," he said. +<P> +"Are the soldiers upstairs well supplied with food?" +<P> +"I will not answer any of your questions." +<P> +"Oh, very well. I see you are determined to go hungry yourself. Until I am +satisfied that there is more than sufficient for my friend and me, no prisoner +in my charge gets anything to eat. That's the sort of gaoler I am. The stubborn +old beast!" he cried in English, turning to Drummond, "won't answer my +questions." +<P> +"What were you asking him?" +<P> +"I want to know about the stock of provisions." +<P> +"It's quite unnecessary to ask about the grub: there's sure to be ample." +<P> +"Why?" +<P> +"Why? Because we have reached the beginning of winter, as I said before. +There must be months when no boat can land at this rock. It's bound to be +provisioned for several months ahead at the very lowest calculation. Now, +the first thing to do is to put this ancient Johnny in his little cell, then +I'll tell you where our chief danger lies." +<P> +The Governor made neither protest nor complaint, but walked into Number Nine, +and was locked up. +<P> +"Now, Johnny, my boy," said Drummond, "our anxiety is the soldiers. The moment +they find they are locked in they will blow those two doors open in just +about half a jiffy. We can, of course, by sitting in front of the lower door +night and day, pick off the first four or five who come down, but if the +rest make a rush we are bound to be overpowered. They have, presumably, plenty +of powder, probably some live shells, petards, and what-not, that will make +short work even of those oaken doors. What do you propose to do?" +<P> +"I propose," said Jack, "to fill their crooked stairway with cement. There +are bags and bags of it in the armory." +<P> +The necessity for this was prevented by an odd circumstance. The two young +men were seated in the Governor's room, when at his table a telephone bell +rang. Jack had not noticed this instrument, and now took up the receiver. +<P> +"Hello, Governor," said a voice, "your fool of a gaoler has bolted the stairway +door, and we can't open it." +<P> +"Oh, I beg pardon," replied Jack, in whatever imitation of the Governor's +voice he could assume. "I'll see to it at once myself." +<P> +He hung up the receiver and told his comrade what had happened. +<P> +"One or both of these officers are coming down. If we get the officers safely +into a cell, there will be nobody to command the men, and it is more than +likely that the officers carry the keys of the powder room. I'll turn out +the electric lamps in the hall, and light the lantern. You be ready at the +foot of the stairway to fire if they make the slightest resistance." +<P> +The two officers came down the circular stairway, grumbling at the delay +to which they had been put. Lermontoff took advantage of the clamping of +their heavy boots in the echoing stairway to shove in the bolts once more, +and then followed them, himself followed by Drummond, into the Governor's +room. Switching on the electric light, he said: +<P> +"Gentlemen, I am Prince Lermontoff, in temporary charge of this prison. The +Governor is under arrest, and I regret that I must demand your swords, although +I have every reason to believe that they will be handed back to you within +a very few days after I have completed my investigations." +<P> +The officers were too much accustomed to sudden changes in command to see +anything odd in this turn of affairs. Lermontoff spoke with a quiet dignity +that was very convincing, and the language he used was that of the nobility. +The two officers handed him their swords without a word of protest. +<P> +"I must ask you whether you have yet received your winter supply of food." +<P> +"Oh, yes," said the senior officer, "we had that nearly a month ago." +<P> +"Is it stored in the military portion of the rock, or below here?" +<P> +"Our rations are packed away in a room upstairs." +<P> +"I am sorry, gentlemen, that I must put you into cells until my mission is +accomplished. If you will write a requisition for such rations as you are +accustomed to receive, I shall see that you are supplied. Meanwhile, write +also an order to whomsoever you entrust in command of the men during your +absence, to grant no one leave to come downstairs, and ask him to take care +that each soldier is rigidly restricted to the minimum quantity of vodka." +<P> +The senior officer sat down at the table, and wrote the two orders. The men +were then placed in adjoining cells, without the thought of resistance even +occurring to them. They supposed there had been some changes at headquarters, +and were rather relieved to have the assurance of the Prince that their arrest +would prove temporary. Further investigation showed that there would be no +danger of starvation for six months at least. +<P> +Next day Jack, at great risk of his neck, scaled to the apex of the island, +as he had thought of flying, if possible, a signal of distress that might +attract some passing vessel. But even though he reached the sharp ridge, +he saw at once that no pole could be erected there, not even if he possessed +one. The wind aloft was terrific, and he gazed around him at an empty sea. +<P> +When four days had passed they began to look for the Russian relief boat, +which they knew would set out the moment the Governor's telegram reached +St. Petersburg. +<P> +On the fifth day Jack shouted down to Drummond, who was standing by the door. +<P> +"The Russian is coming: heading direct for us. She's in a hurry, too, crowding +on all steam, and eating up the distance like a torpedo-boat destroyer. I +think it's a cruiser. It's not the old tub I came on, anyway." +<P> +"Come down, then," answered Alan, "and we—" +<P> +A cry from above interrupted him. Jack, having at first glance spied the +vessel whose description he had shouted to Drummond, had now turned his eyes +eastward and stood staring aghast toward the sunrise. +<P> +"What's the matter?" asked Alan. +<P> +"Matter?" echoed Jack. "They must be sending the whole Russian Navy here +in detachments to capture our unworthy selves. There's a second boat coming +from the east— nearer by two miles than the yacht. If I hadn't been all taken +up with the other from the moment I climbed here I'd have seen her before." +<P> +"Is she a yacht, too?" +<P> +"No. Looks like a passenger tramp. Dirty and—" +<P> +"Merchantman, maybe." +<P> +"No. She's got guns on her—" +<P> +"Merchantman fitted out for privateersman, probably. That's the sort of craft +Russia would be likeliest to send to a secret prison like this. What flag +does—" +<P> +"No flag at all. Neither of them. They're both making for the rock, full +steam, and from opposite sides. Neither can see the other, I suppose. I—" +<P> +"From opposite sides? That doesn't look like a joint expedition. One of those +ships isn't Russian. But which?" +<P> +Jack had clambered down and stood by Alan's side. +<P> +"We must make ready for defense in either case," he said. "In a few minutes +we'll be able to see them both from the platform below." +<P> +"One of those boats means to blow us out of existence if it can," mused Jack. +"The other cannot know of our existence. And yet, if she doesn't, what is +she doing here, headed for the rock?" +<P> +With that Jack scrambled, slid and jumped down. Drummond was very quiet and +serious. Repeating rifles stood in a row on the opposite wall, easy to get +at, but as far off as might be from the effects of a possible shell. The +two young men now mounted the stone bench by the door, which allowed them +to look over the ledge at the eastern sea. Presently the craft appeared round +the end of the island, pure white, floating like a swan on the water, and +making great headway. +<P> +"By Jove!" said Jack, "she's a fine one. Looks like the Czar's yacht, but +no Russian vessel I know of can make that speed." +<P> +"She's got the ear-marks of Thornycroft build about her," commented Drummond. +"By Jove, Jack, what luck if she should prove to be English. No flag flying, +though." +<P> +"She's heading for us," said Jack, "and apparently she knows which side the +cannon is on. If she's Russian, they've taken it for granted we've captured +the whole place, and are in command of the guns. There, she's turning." +<P> +The steamer was abreast of the rock, and perhaps three miles distant. Now +she swept a long, graceful curve westward and drew up about half a mile east +of the rock. +<P> +"Jove, I wish I'd a pair of good glasses," said Drummond. "They're lowering +a boat." +<P> +Jack showed more Highland excitement than Russian stolidity, as he watched +the oncoming of a small boat, beautifully riding the waves, and masterfully +rowed by sailors who understood the art. Drummond stood imperturbable as +a statue. +<P> +"The sweep of those oars is English, Jack, my boy." +<P> +As the boat came nearer and nearer Jack became more and more agitated. +<P> +"I say, Alan, focus your eyes on that man at the rudder. I think my sight's +failing me. Look closely. Did you ever see him before?" +<P> +"I think I have, but am not quite sure." +<P> +"Why, he looks to me like my jovial and venerable father-in-law, Captain +Kempt, of Bar Harbor. Perfectly absurd, of course: it can't be." +<P> +"He does resemble the Captain, but I only saw him once or twice." +<P> +"Hooray, Captain Kempt, how are you?" shouted Jack across the waters. +<P> +The Captain raised his right hand and waved it, but made no attempt to cover +the distance with his voice. Jack ran pell-mell down the steps, and Drummond +followed in more leisurely fashion. The boat swung round to the landing, +and Captain Kempt cried cordially: +<P> +"Hello, Prince, how are you? And that's Lieutenant Drummond, isn't it? Last +time I had the pleasure of seeing you, Drummond, was that night of the ball." +<P> +"Yes," said Drummond. "I was very glad to see you then, but a hundred times +happier to see you to-day." +<P> +"I was just cruising round these waters in my yacht, and I thought I'd take +a look at this rock you tried to obliterate. I don't see any perceptible +damage done, but what can you expect from British marksmanship?" +<P> +"I struck the rock on the other side, Captain. I think your remark is unkind, +especially as I've just been praising the watermanship of your men." +<P> +"Now, are you boys tired of this summer resort?" asked Captain Kempt. "Is +your baggage checked, and are you ready to go? Most seaside places are deserted +this time of year." +<P> +"We'll be ready in a moment, captain," cried his future son-in-law. "I must +run up and get the Governor. We've put a number of men in prison here, and +they'll starve if not released. The Governor's a good old chap, though he +played it low down on me a few days ago," and with that Jack disappeared +up the stairway once more. +<P> +"Had a gaol-delivery here?" asked the Captain. +<P> +"Well, something by way of that. The Prince drilled a hole in the rock, and +we got out. We've put the garrison in pawn, so to speak, but I've been mighty +anxious these last few days because the sail-boat they had here, and two +of the garrison, escaped to the mainland with the news. We were anxiously +watching your yacht, fearing it was Russian. Jack thought it was the Czar's +yacht. How came you by such a craft, Captain? Splendid-looking boat that." +<P> +"Oh, yes, I bought her a few days before I left New York. One likes to travel +comfortably, you know. Very well fitted up she is." +<P> +Jack shouted from the doorway: +<P> +"Drummond, come up here and fling overboard these loaded rifles. We can't +take any more chances. I'm going to lock up the ammunition room and take +the key with me as a souvenir." +<P> +"Excuse me, Captain," said Drummond, who followed his friend, and presently +bundles of rifles came clattering down the side of the precipice, plunging +into the sea. The two then descended the steps, Jack in front, Drummond following +with the Governor between them. +<P> +"Now, Governor," said Jack, "for the second time I am to bid you farewell. +Here are the keys. If you accept them you must give me your word of honor +that the boat will not be fired upon. If you do not promise that, I'll drop +the bunch into the sea, and on your gray head be the consequences." +<P> +"I give you my word of honor that you shall not be fired upon." +<P> +"Very well, Governor. Here are the keys, and good-by." +<P> +In the flurry of excitement over the yacht's appearance, both Jack and Drummond +had temporarily forgotten the existence of the tramp steamer the former had +seen beating toward the rock. +<P> +Now Lamont suddenly recalled it. +<P> +"By the way, Governor," he said, "the relief boat you so thoughtfully sent +for is on her way here. She should reach the rock at almost any minute now. +In fact, I fancy we've little time to waste if we want to avoid a brush. +It would be a pity to be nabbed now at the eleventh hour. Good-by, once more." +<P> +But the Governor had stepped between him and the boat. +<P> +"I— I am an old man," he said, speaking with manifest embarrassment. "I was +sent to take charge of this prison as punishment for refusing to join a Jew +massacre plot. Governorship here means no more nor less than a life imprisonment. +My wife and children are on a little estate of mine in Sweden. It is twelve +years since I have seen them. I—" +<P> +"If this story is a ruse to detain us—" +<P> +"No! No!" protested the Governor, and there was no mistaking his pathetic, +eager sincerity. "But— but I shall be shot— or locked in one of the cells +and the water turned on— for letting you escape. Won't you take me with you? +I will work my passage. Take me as far as Stockholm. I shall be free there— free +to join my wife and to live forever out of reach of the Grand Dukes. Take +me—" +<P> +"Jump in!" ordered Jack, coming to a sudden resolution. "Heaven knows I would +not condemn my worst enemy to a perpetual life on this rock. And you've been +pretty decent to us, according to your lights. Jump aboard, we've no time +to waste." +<P> +Nor did the Governor waste time in obeying. The others followed, and the +boat shoved off. But scarcely had the oars caught the water when around the +promontory came a large man-o'-war's launch, a rapid-fire gun mounted on +her bows. She was manned by about twenty men in Russian police uniform. +<P> +"From the 'tramp,'" commented Alan excitedly. "And her gun is trained on +us." +<P> +"Get down to work!" shouted Jack to the straining oarsmen. +<P> +"No use!" groaned Kempt. "She'll cross within a hundred yards of us. There's +no missing at such close range and on such a quiet sea. What a fool I was +to—" +<P> +The launch was, indeed, bearing down on them despite the rowers' best efforts, +and must unquestionably cut them off before they could reach the yacht. +<P> +Alan drew his revolver. +<P> +"We've no earthly show against her," he remarked quietly, "and it seems hard +to 'go down in sight of port.' But let's do what we can." +<P> +"Put up that pop-gun," ordered Kempt. "She will sink us long before you're +in range for revolver work. I'll run up my handkerchief for a white flag." +<P> +"To surrender?" +<P> +"What else can we do?" +<P> +"And be lugged back to the rock, all of us? Not I, for one!" +<P> +The launch was now within hailing distance, and every man aboard her was +glaring at the helpless little yacht-gig. +<P> +"Wait!" +<P> +It was the Governor who spoke. Rising from his seat in the stern, he hailed +the officer who was sighting the rapid-fire gun. +<P> +"Lieutenant Tschersky!" he called. +<P> +At sight of the old man's lean, uniformed figure, rising from among the rest, +there was visible excitement and surprise aboard the launch. The officer +saluted and ordered the engine stopped that he might hear more plainly. +<P> +"Lieutenant," repeated the Governor, "I am summoned aboard His Highness the +Grand Duke Vladimir's yacht. You will proceed to the harbor and await my +return to the rock. There has been a mutiny among the garrison, but I have +quelled it." +<P> +The officer saluted again, gave an order, and the launch's nose pointed for +the rock. +<P> +"Governor," observed Lamont, as the old man sank again into his seat, "you've +earned your passage to Stockholm. You need not work for it." +<h3>CHAPTER XXI</h3> +<h4>THE ELOPEMENT</h4> +<P> +THE girls on the yacht had no expectation that Captain Kempt would come back +with the two young men. But when, through their powerful binoculars, the +girls became aware that Drummond and the Prince were in the small boat, they +both fled to the chief saloon, and sat there holding one another's hands. +Even the exuberant Kate for once had nothing to say. She heard the voice +of her father on deck, giving command to the mate. +<P> +"Make for Stockholm, Johnson. Take my men-o'-war's men— see that no one else +touches the ammunition— and fling the shells overboard. Heave the gun after +them, and then clear out the rifles and ammunition the same way. When we +reach Stockholm to-morrow morning, there must not be a gun on board this +ship, and the ridiculous rumor that got abroad among your men that we were +going to attack something or other, you will see is entirely unfounded. You +impress that on them, Johnson." +<P> +"Oh, Dorothy," whispered Katherine, drawing a deep breath. "If you are as +frightened as I am, get behind me." +<P> +"I think I will," answered Dorothy, and each squeezed the other's hand. +<P> +"I tell you what it is, Captain," sounded the confident voice of the Prince. +"This vessel is a beauty. You have done yourself fine. I had no idea you +were such a sybarite. Why, I've been aboard the Czar's yacht, and I tell +you it's nothing— Great heavens! Katherine!" he shouted, in a voice that +made the ceiling ring. +<P> +She was now standing up and advanced toward him with both hands held out, +a welcoming smile on her pretty lips, but he swooped down on her, flung his +arms round her like a cabman beating warmth into his hands, kissed her on +the brow, the two cheeks and the lips, swaying her back and forward as if +about to fling her upstairs. +<P> +"Stop, stop," she cried. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Before my father, +too! You great Russian bear!" and, breathless, she put her open palm against +his face, and shoved his head away from her. +<P> +"Don't bother about me, Kate," said her father. "That's nothing to the way +we acted when I was young. Come on, boys, to the smoking-room, and I'll mix +you something good: real Kentucky, twenty-seven years in barrel, and I've +got all the other materials for a Manhattan." +<P> +"Jack, I am glad to see you," panted Katherine, all in disarray, which she +endeavored to set right by an agitated touch here and there. "Now, Jack, +I'm going to take you to the smoking-room, but you'll have to behave yourself +as you walk along the deck. I won't be made a spectacle of before the crew." +<P> +"Come along, Drummond," said the Captain, "and bring Miss Dorothy with you." +<P> +But Drummond stood in front of Dorothy Amhurst, and held out his hand. +<P> +"You haven't forgotten me, Miss Amhurst, I hope?" +<P> +"Oh, no," she replied, with a very faint smile, taking his hand. +<P> +"It seems incredible that you are here," he began. "What a lucky man I am. +Captain Kempt takes his yacht to rescue his son-in-law that is to be, and +incidentally rescues me as well, and then to find you here! I suppose you +came because your friend Miss Kempt was aboard?" +<P> +"Yes, we are all but inseparable." +<P> +"I wrote you a letter, Miss Amhurst, the last night I was in St. Petersburg +in the summer." +<P> +"Yes, I received it." +<P> +"No, not this one. It was the night I was captured, and I never got a chance +to post it. It was an important letter— for me." +<P> +"I thought it important— for me," replied Dorothy, now smiling quite openly. +"The Nihilists got it, searching your room after you had been arrested. It +was sent on to New York, and given to me." +<P> +"Is that possible? How did they know it was for you?" +<P> +"I had been making inquiries through the Nihilists." +<P> +"I wrote you a proposal of marriage, Dorothy." +<P> +"It certainly read like it, but you see it wasn't signed, and you can't be +held to it." +<P> +He reached across the table, and grasped her two hands. +<P> +"Dorothy, Dorothy," he cried, "do you mean you would have cabled 'Yes'?" +<P> +"No." +<P> +"You would not?" +<P> +"Of course not. I should have cabled 'Undecided.' One gets more for one's +money in sending a long word. Then I should have written—" she paused, and +he cried eagerly: +<P> +"What?" +<P> +"What do you think?" she asked. +<P> +"Well, do you know, Dorothy, I am beginning to think my incredible luck will +hold, and that you'd have written 'Yes.'" +<P> +"I don't know about the luck: that would have been the answer." +<P> +He sprang up, bent over her, and she, quite unaffectedly raised her face +to his. +<P> +"Oh, Dorothy," he cried. +<P> +"Oh, Alan," she replied, with quivering voice, "I never thought to see you +again. You cannot imagine the long agony of this voyage, and not knowing +what had happened." +<P> +"It's a blessing, Dorothy, you had learned nothing about the Trogzmondoff." +<P> +"Ah, but I did: that's what frightened me. We have a man on board who was +flung for dead from that dreadful rock. The Baltic saved him; his mother, +he calls it." +<P> +Drummond picked her up in his arms, and carried her to the luxurious divan +which ran along the side of the large room. There they sat down together, +out of sight of the stairway. +<P> +"Did you get all of my letters?" +<P> +"I think so." +<P> +"You know I am a poor man?" +<P> +"I know you said so." +<P> +"Don't you consider my position poverty? I thought every one over there had +a contempt for an income that didn't run into tens of thousands." +<P> +"I told you, Alan, I had been unused to money, and so your income appears +to me quite sufficient." +<P> +"Then you are not afraid to trust in my future?" +<P> +"Not the least: I believe in you." +<P> +"Oh, you dear girl. If you knew how sweet that sounds! Then I may tell you. +When I was in London last I ran down to Dartmouth in Devonshire. I shall +be stationed there. You see, I have finished my foreign cruising, and Dartmouth +is, for a time at least, to be my home. There's a fine harbor there, green +hills and a beautiful river running between them, and I found such a lovely +old house; not grand at all, you know, but so cosey and comfortable, standing +on the heights overlooking the harbor, in an old garden filled with roses, +shrubs, and every kind of flower; vines clambering about the ancient house. +Two servants would keep it going like a shot. Dorothy, what do you say?" +<P> +Dorothy laughed quietly and whole heartedly. +<P> +"It reads like a bit from an old English romance. I'd just love to see such +a house." +<P> +"You don't care for this sort of thing, do you?" he asked, glancing round +about him. +<P> +"What sort of thing?" +<P> +"This yacht, these silk pannellings, these gorgeous pictures, the carving, +the gilt, the horribly expensive carpet." +<P> +"You mean should I feel it necessary to be surrounded by such luxury? I answer +most emphatically, no. I like your ivy-covered house at Dartmouth much better." +<P> +For a moment neither said anything: lips cannot speak when pressed together. +<P> +"Now, Dorothy, I want you to elope with me. We will be in Stockholm long +before daylight to-morrow at the rate this boat is going. I'll get ashore +as soon as practicable, and make all inquiries at the consulate about being +married. I don't know what the regulations are, but if it is possible to +be married quietly, say in the afternoon, will you consent to that, and then +write a letter to Captain Kempt, thanking him for the trip on the yacht, +and I'll write, thanking him for all he has done for me, and after that we'll +make for England together. I've got a letter of credit in my pocket, which +luckily the Russians did not take from me. I shall find all the money we +need at Stockholm, then we'll cross the Swedish country, sail to Denmark, +make our way through Germany to Paris, if you like, or to London. We shan't +travel all the time, but just take nice little day trips, stopping at some +quaint old town every afternoon and evening." +<P> +"You mean to let Captain Kempt, Katherine, and the Prince go to America alone?" +<P> +"Of course. Why not? They don't want us, and I'm quite sure we— well, Dorothy, +we'd be delighted to have them, to be sure— but still, I've knocked a good +deal about Europe, and there are some delightful old towns I'd like to show +you, and I hate traveling with a party." +<P> +Dorothy laughed so heartily that her head sank on his shoulder. +<P> +"Yes, I'll do that," she said at last. +<P> +And they did. +<h4>THE END</h4> +<P> + <HR> + +<pre> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, A ROCK IN THE BALTIC *** + +This file should be named rbalt10.txt or rbalt10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, rbalt11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, rbalt10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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