is touched a
certain spot, and now this wall, seemingly solid and unbroken, gave way,
just as the oaken panel had done.

"Even if they discovered the panel, you see, they would not have the
secret," said Boris. "I will show you the exact spots you must touch.
Then if they come, you can reach this place by yourself. Once in here,
you will be safe. Carry an electric torch always with you. I will give
you one later. You will find two sets of arrows marked every few feet
through the passages to which this leads. The upper ones point to the
outside door that is at the end of a passage far beyond the house. The
lower ones, if you follow their course, will bring you back to these
panels. So you cannot lose your way."

"By George, that certainly sounds mysterious! Have you always planned
for something like this?"

"Oh, these passages are very old. This house, you see, was built at a
time when intrigue was more common than now. But when my father began to
see, as he did years ago, that Germany was sure to force war upon us,
and that it would probably come in his lifetime, he made many changes.
This is not really a private house at all--it is a little outpost of
Russia, here in the midst of an enemy's country. And it is not the only
one. In Silesia and in Galicia we have places like it."

"Perhaps the Germans will find that Russia is not so slow after all!"

Outside now there rose a peculiar sound, but one that Fred identified
at once.

"That sounds like your Germans coming now, Boris," he said, quietly.
"I've heard crowds making just that same noise at home--on election
night, for instance, when they were coming to make the winner give them
a speech."

Boris listened for a moment, then he went to a window.

"Yes," he said. "But it's not the sort of Germans we need to worry
about. It's only the people from the village. Old men, and women, and
children--boys, of course. I'm surprised that they should come for they
know they can't get in."

But even as he spoke, there came a thunderous sound of knocking at the
outer door and the sharp grounding of arms--a noise as ominous as it was
unmistakable.

"There are soldiers, too. They are here much sooner than I thought they
could come!" exclaimed Boris. "Here, into that passage with you! Listen!
Follow the arrows! They will lead you down. Stop at a double arrow. You
will be able to hear. The wall is very thin there, on purpose. You can
hear what is going on in the great hall