going for a little
walk, Jack whispered in Olga's ear, "Keep up your courage. All may not
be lost yet."

The coachman was waiting for them in the stable, and they started at
once in an opposite direction to that at which the meeting was to take
place, in case Paul might by any possibility observe their departure.
Taking a long _detour_, they reached the cross-roads, and lay down
under cover of the brushwood. It was nearly half an hour later before
they heard footsteps approaching along the road from the chateau. On
reaching the junction of the roads, the man stopped, and from their
place of concealment they could dimly see his figure.

The boys had taken the precaution of abstracting a brace of pistols
and two swords from the count's armory. The coachman they knew would
have his knife. This they had done at Jack's suggestion that it was
possible that their presence might be betrayed by a cough or other
accidental noise, in which case they knew they would have to fight for
their lives. A few minutes later they heard the tramp of a horse's
hoof. It approached quickly, and the rider halted by the standing
figure.

"Is that you, Paul?"

"It is, my lord," the serf said, bowing.

"You are alone?"

"No one had approached the place since I came here a quarter of an
hour ago."

"It is time for action," the horseman said. "To-morrow you will come
boldly at twelve o'clock to my house, and demand to see me on
important business. You will be shown to my room, where two officers
who I wish to have as witnesses will be present. You will then state
to me that you wish to make a denunciation of your master, Count
Preskoff. I shall ask what you have to say, and tell you that you are
of course aware of the serious consequences to yourself should such
statements be proved untrue. You will say that you are aware of that,
but that you are compelled by your love for the Czar, our father, to
speak. You will then say that you have heard the count using insulting
words of the Czar, in speaking of him to his wife, on many occasions,
and that since his return, on one occasion, you put your ear to the
keyhole and heard him telling her of a great plot for a general rising
of the serfs, and an overthrow of the government; that he said he had
prepared the serfs of his estates in the north for the rising; that
those of his estates here would all follow him; that many other nobles
had joined in the plot, and that on a day which had not yet be