haeloff
is acquainted with the field marshal, or had attended him when
unwell, he could ask a little favour of that sort. If the field
marshal sent you here, he could send for you again without more
trouble than signing his name to the order."

"Well, if it is Michaeloff who has done this," Charlie grumbled;
"no doubt he meant it kindly, but I would much rather that he left
me here. A ride of two hundred and fifty miles, in August, is not
pleasant to begin with, and the thought of winter in those swamps
is enough to make one shiver."

"With a comfortable room and a warm stove, you will not find much
to complain of, Captain Carstairs," the governor said with a smile;
"and, no doubt, Michaeloff may be enabled to obtain leave for you
to go out with him on parole. I was about myself to ask you, now
that you are strong and well again, whether you would like to give
your parole, and offer you the use of my horse for a ride, when
inclined for it."

"Thank you, governor. If Michaeloff can do that, it will certainly
be a boon, but I am not disposed to agree that the change can be
his work. In the first place, we don't know that he is there. In
the second, I can hardly think that he could have managed it; and,
most of all, I do not see he could possibly have had a hand in the
matter, for, even supposing the officer had found him directly he
arrived, and then given him the message, and he had acted upon it
at once, there would have been no time for the order to get here.
It would have needed a messenger riding night and day, with
frequent relays of horses, to have got to Notteburg and back since
the day I spoke to you about the matter.

"When am I to start?"

"As soon as you have eaten your breakfast. The order says 'send at
once,' and field marshals expect their orders to be attended to
promptly."

On descending to the courtyard after breakfast, Charlie was
surprised to see that, instead of a horse as he had expected, a
well-appointed carriage, with an ample supply of rugs, was standing
there. The governor was there to see him off.

"Well, sir," Charlie said. "If this is the way in which you convey
prisoners from one place to another in Russia, I shall certainly be
able, when I meet King Charles, to report to him most favourably as
to the treatment of his officers who have fallen into the czar's
hands. This will make the journey a very much more pleasant one
than I had expected."

"I am glad you are pleased," the gov