," he said, after a long examination of
the little clouds hanging like lines across the eastern sky. "We shall
not be able to cross the frontier at Thorn with this full moon, and I
am afraid we are going to have fine weather. We shall soon come to some
large islands on this side of Plock. I know a farmer there. We must
wait with him until we have promise of a suitable night to pass through
Thorn."

Before daylight they reached the islands. There was no pack now; the
ice was afloat and moving onward. All Kosmaroff's skill, all the little
strength of both was required to work the boat through the floes towards
the land. The farmer took them in willingly enough, and boasted that
they could not have found a safer hiding-place in all Poland, which,
indeed, seemed true enough. For none but expert and reckless boatmen
would attempt to cross the river now.

Nevertheless, Kosmaroff made the passage to the mainland before mid-day,
and set off on foot to Plock. He was going to communicate with the
prince at Warsaw, and ask him to provide money or means of escape to
await them at Dantzic. In two days a reply came, telling them that their
escape was being arranged, but they must await further instructions
before quitting their hiding-place. After the lapse of four days these
further orders came by the same sure channel, which was independent of
the Russian post-offices.

The fugitives were to proceed cautiously to Dantzic, to pass through
that town at night to the anchorage below Neufahrwasser. Here they would
find Captain Cable, in the _Minnie_, anchored in the stream ready for
sea. The instructions were necessarily short. There were no explanations
whatever. There was no news.

At Plock, Kosmaroff could learn nothing, for nothing was known there.
The story of the great plot had been hushed up by the authorities. There
are persons living in Warsaw who do not know of it to this day. There
are others who know of it and deny that it ever existed. The arms are in
use in Central Asia at the present time, though their pattern is
already considered antiquated. Any one who may choose to walk along
the Czerniakowska will find to-day on the left-hand side of it a large
building, once an iron-foundry, now deserted and falling into disrepair.
If it be evening-time, he will, as likely as not, meet the patrol from
the neighboring hussar barracks, which nightly guards this road and the
river-side.

After receiving their final instructions,