way. Once more Johnny
found himself sitting in the triangle with his interpreter and the Mongol.
In his hands he held two knives; one he had drawn from the heart of the
dead man and had cleansed in the snow; the other was the one dropped by
the murderer. This last one evidently had been meant for him.

The Mongol was profuse in his apologies, while he lauded to the sky the
bravery of the little interpreter. The slain man, he explained, was no
member of his company. He was one of three who had camped on the outer
edge of the village that very night. Doubtless they had followed Johnny
with the purpose of murdering and robbing him. He had sent at once for the
other two men, but they had fled. He hoped now that his guests might sleep
in peace.

After delivering this message, he bowed himself back through the curtains.
Johnny and the interpreter were left alone. It was a dramatic moment. The
interpreter's fingers twitched nervously. Once the brown eyes fell upon
the knives Johnny held, but instantly they flashed away. Johnny had drawn
a freshly lighted fish-oil lamp to his side.

"Friend," said he in a low tone, "you have done me a great service this
night. Will you do me but one more?"

"Gladly, most gracious one."

The small head bent low.

"Allow me." Johnny took one of the brown hands, and began rolling up the
loose sleeve of the brown-skin parka. The brown face blanched a trifle. He
uncovered a sleeve of pink silk, and beneath that a slender brown arm. On
the arm, a finger's length beneath the elbow, was a triangular scar.

Johnny sighed, then carefully rolling down the sleeve, dropped the hand.

"It is enough," he smiled, "you are my old and very dear friend,
Cio-Cio-San. You have to-night added greatly to the debt of gratitude
which I owe you and can never repay. But why did you come? And why, most
of all, are you in disguise? Why are you in Russia at all? Why not in your
beloved Japan?"

Cio-Cio-San sighed as if relieved at feeling the mask removed.

"I came to Russia to find a very dear relative who had lived with my
family in the interior of Russia before this revolution came upon us. I
met Mazie; your so good friend. She pressed me into her service. Who could
refuse? I was glad to be of help.

"Then, because there was no Japanese man who could speak for you to the
Mongols, she asked me to go. And, because it is unsafe for a woman to go
on such a journey, undisguised, I dressed as a man. So, there you h