lency see?"

"I see," said Serganoff, "but they do not attend meetings."

Boolba hesitated.

"Yet," he said, speaking slowly, "I would guarantee that I could bring
the Grand Duchess Irene to such a meeting, and that I could arrange for
the place to be raided whilst she was there."

Serganoff put down his orange stick and eyed the other keenly.

"You have brains, Boolba," he said. "Some day I shall bring you to St.
Petersburg and place you on my staff--if you do not know too much."

He paced the apartment, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Suppose you get in touch with this American again, bring him to the
meeting, unless he's afraid to come, and then boldly suggest to him that
he goes to St. Petersburg to make an attempt upon the life of the Czar
himself."

"He would reject it," said Boolba, shaking his head.

"What if he did--that doesn't matter," said Serganoff impatiently. "It
is sufficient that the suggestion is made. Suppose this man is amongst
these infamous fellows when the London police raid and arrest them, and
he makes a statement that he was approached to destroy the Imperial
life, and the Grand Duchess Irene is arrested at the same time?"

Boolba's eyes brightened.

"That is a wonderful idea, Highness," he said admiringly.

Serganoff continued his pacing, and presently stopped.

"I will arrange the police raid," he said. "I am in communication with
Scotland Yard, and it will be better if I am present when the raid is
conducted. It is necessary that I should identify myself with this
chapter," he said, "but how will you induce the Grand Duchess to come?"

"Leave that to me, Highness," replied the man, and gave some details of
his scheme.

CHAPTER V

THE RAID ON THE SILVER LION

Sophia Kensky was a loyal and faithful adherent to the cause she had
espoused, and her report, written in the weird caligraphy of Russia,
greatly interested the butler of the Grand Duke Yaroslav. From that
report he learned of the visit which the Grand Duchess Irene had paid;
learned, too, that she had been escorted to her car by an Englishman,
whose name the woman did not know; and was to discover later that the
said "Englishman" had been sent out by Israel Kensky on a special
mission. That mission was to discover the Silver Lion, a no very
difficult task. In point of fact, it was discoverable in a London
telephone directory, because the upper part of the premises were used
legitimately enough in the pr