for the
reception of labourers, the state of stocks of meat and flour, and
other particulars. To each he gave short, sharp orders. When they
had left, he turned to Charlie.

"You guess who I am, I suppose?"

"I guess now, your majesty," Charlie said respectfully, "but until
now the idea that my kind friend was the czar himself never entered
my mind. I understood, from Doctor Kelly, that you were a surgeon."

"I don't think he said so," the czar replied. "He simply said that
I could perform an amputation as well as he could, which was not
quite true. But I studied surgery for a time in Holland, and
performed several operations under the eyes of the surgeons there.

"I saw that you did not recognize my name. It is known to every
Russian, but doubtless you never heard of me save as Peter the
Czar. Directly you mentioned it to the commandant at Bercov, and
described my appearance, he knew who it was you were speaking of,
and despatched a messenger at once to me. He will be here in the
course of a week or so. Upon your report of the state of the
prison, I at once despatched an order for him to hand over his
command to the officer next in rank, and to proceed hither at once.
He is evidently a good administrator, and heaven knows I have need
of such men here.

"I was pleased with you, when I saw you with my friend Doctor
Kelly. It was pleasant not to be known, and hear a frank opinion
such as you gave me, and as you know, I sent you back on the
following morning. I certainly told Kelly, at the time, not to
mention who I was, but I did not intend that he should keep you in
ignorance of it after I had left, and it was not until I heard,
from your jailer at Bercov, that you were ignorant that Peter
Michaeloff was the czar, that I knew that he had kept you in
ignorance of it until the end.

"I should have liked to have kept you as my guest for a time, but
winter comes on early and suddenly, and if you did not go now you
might be detained here until the spring. I have therefore given
orders that one of the Swedish vessels we captured on the lake
should be got in readiness, and its crew placed on board again. You
shall embark in an hour, and it shall carry you to any port in
Sweden you may choose. The wind is from the east, and you have
every chance of a quick run thither."

Charlie expressed his warm thanks to the czar for his thoughtful
kindness.

"I have much to do now," the czar said, "and must hand you over to
the