cessary in that
respect," answered Sir Reginald; "in fact, I thought it was quite
understood by us all that every such precaution _would_ be taken, or I
would have especially mentioned the matter. And now, Professor, as to
the disposal of Vasilovich--when we have caught him. Your idea, I
believe, is to hand him over to the authorities aboard the convict-ship,
in place of Colonel Sziszkinski; but will the authorities accept him,
think you?"

"Yes," said the professor, "I believe they will. So long as they are
able to account satisfactorily at Sakhalien for the full number of
convicts placed in their charge, I do not think they will care whether
one of them declares himself to be Count Vasilovich, or not; they will
simply assign to him the number which Colonel Sziszkinski now bears, and
that will end the matter. If not, we must maroon the fellow upon some
spot from which it will be practically impossible for him to escape, as
he is altogether too wicked a man to be permitted the opportunity to
perpetrate further wrong."

"Oh, we will find a means of satisfactorily disposing of the fellow,
never fear," rejoined Sir Reginald. "And now, our plan of campaign
being complete, when do we start? To-night?"

"That is for you to say," answered the professor. "So far as the
capture of Vasilovich is concerned, if we arrive within sight of his
chateau by nightfall, or in time to berth the _Flying Fish_ in his park
with the last of the daylight, we shall be quite early enough. And if
the weather happens to remain calm, as it is at present, we can
accomplish the run from here to Saint Petersburg in eight hours; while,
with a moderately fresh breeze against us, we can do the distance in
about nine and a half hours. But we must not forget that Saint
Petersburg time is two hours and five minutes fast on Greenwich time,
and we must make our dispositions accordingly. Taking everything into
consideration, I am of opinion that if we leave here to-morrow morning
about seven o'clock, it will be early enough.

"There is, however, one other point to consider: I presume you will
desire to attract as little attention as possible; in which event I
would suggest that a start from here should be made, say, about two
hours before daylight to-morrow morning, which will afford us time to
make a long circular sweep in a north-easterly direction, clearing the
British Isles before dawn. After that we shall almost certainly meet
with weather w