hrubs had been caught by the frost when their
leaves were yet green. The leaves had not fallen off, and, even at this
time of year, formed a perfect screen, a fact for which Johnny was later
to be profoundly grateful.

In vain he attempted to play up in a friendly fashion to the Bolsheviki.
They looked upon him as an enemy and a hostage, for, in the first place,
did they not know that American soldiers had, for many months, guarded a
section of the Trans-Siberian Railroad against their armies? And, in the
second place, did not Johnny drive a splendid team of gray wolf-hounds,
which would be of great service to them in their march to the coast? They
did not understand how he came there. They asked him all manner of foolish
questions, to which he gave quite as foolish answers, and, when this was
at an end, they fitted a rusty pair of "bracelets" to his feet, and,
thrusting him inside a vile-smelling tent, gave him vermin-infested
blankets to sleep in and sour brown bread to eat.

"Here's a pretty mess!" he stormed silently to himself. "There's at least
a hundred of them. They must travel slowly, but even so, four days will
bring them to the coast; then, unless the unforeseen happens, it's the
ocean for our outfit, or perhaps worse than death. And if anything goes
wrong, it's all my fault because I failed to consider that this bunch
would have moved forward from where the Chukche saw them. I only hope the
boys find out in time."

He listened for a while with aching heart to the wail of his dogs, who had
been turned into their snowy beds without their supper, and, at last, from
sheer exhaustion, he fell asleep.

Two days later he was led toward a peculiar square cabinet that had been
set up in the snow. Beside it was a pile of glowing embers left from a
fire of willows. The ten men who marched beside him were not armed. Since
they pressed about him on all sides, cutting off all chance of his escape,
no weapons were needed.

They had not told him what they meant to do. What the cabinet was, what
the bed of coals meant, he could not even guess. Malignant grins gave the
faces of the men a look that made his blood run cold. He had seen such an
expression only once before, and that in the movies when Indians grinned
at the prospect of burning an enemy at the stake.

He was soon inside the cabinet with one of his guards. This cabinet was
divided into two compartments, each about four feet square. As soon as he
entered one o