* * * * *

They soon received proof that they were under observation. Hardly had
they pushed back their chairs at the completion of the meal than the
door opened and the Russian girl who had brought their food removed the
empty dishes. Silence settled down over the cell. For another hour they
waited before the door opened again. A tall bearded Russian entered with
a younger man at his heels. The bearded man dropped into a chair while
his companion sat at the table and opened a notebook.

"Stand up!" barked the Russian sternly.

Carnes and McCready rose to their feet but Dr. Bird remained stretched
out on a bed.

"What for?" he demanded languidly.

The Russian bristled with rage.

"When I speak to you, you shall obey," he said in curiously clipped
English, "else it will be the worse for you. Would you rather be
questioned while in the _strelska_ than while standing?"

"Not by a long shot," replied Dr. Bird promptly as he rose to his feet.
"Fire away, old fellow. I'll talk."

"What are your names?"

"I am Addison Sims of Seattle," replied Dr. Bird gravely, "and my
friends are Mr. Earle Liedermann and Mr. Bernarr Macfadden. You may have
read of us in the American magazines."

"Their names," said the Russian to his clerk, "are Dr. Bird, of the
Bureau of Standards; Operative Carnes, of the United States Secret
Service; and Lieutenant McCready, of the United States Navy. Dr. Bird,
you will save yourself trouble if you will answer my future questions
truthfully."

"Then ask questions to which I am not sure that you know the answer,"
replied the doctor dryly.

"What vessel brought you here?"

"The _Denver_."

"What is her armament?"

"Consult the Navy list. You will doubtless find a copy in your files. It
may be purchased from the Superintendent of Public Documents at
Washington."

* * * * *

"What is your errand here?"

"To consult with Ivan Saranoff and learn his future plans. If he means
merely to bestow on the northern hemisphere additional sunshine and
warmth, it is possible that the United States will not oppose him. We
would benefit equally with Russia, you know. Possibly the northern
countries could form some sort of an alliance against the southern
hemisphere which is already threatening war."

"You chose a peculiar way of showing your peaceable intentions. You shot
down our plane without warning and you dropped bombs on us at first