, with the convict-ship--the name on the bows and stern of
which was easily decipherable by him--close alongside. He stared
alternately about him and at the steamer that lay gently heaving upon
the slight swell within a biscuit-toss of him with an expression of
mingled bewilderment and incredulity that proved highly diverting to the
two men between whom he stood; and presently, turning to the professor,
he gasped--

"Why, Herr Professor, what does this mean? When you last night called
upon me I was in my own chateau at Pargolovo; and when you compelled me
to enter this ship--if ship it is--it was stationary on dry land. Now
it is afloat, upon the waters of the Black Sea, if I am to believe my
eyes! I cannot understand it! What does it mean?"

"It means, Count," replied von Schalckenberg, "that what you deemed an
impossibility has been accomplished. When you received that telegram
yesterday, announcing the departure of the _Ludwig Gadd_ from Odessa,
with Colonel Sziszkinski on board her as a convict, you believed that a
man who had dared to oppose certain nefarious plans of yours had at
length been effectually removed from your path, and was at the same time
undergoing a wholesome punishment for his temerity. Instead of which,
you and he are about to change places; you to go on board the _Ludwig
Gadd_ as a convict, there and in the island of Sakhalien to pay the
inadequate penalty of your countless offences, and the colonel to come
here, as our honoured guest, until we are able to place him and his
daughter, finally and for ever, beyond the reach of other tyrants like
yourself."

"Sziszkinski and I to change places?" ejaculated Vasilovich. "That
shall never be! I know not who you are--you people who have perpetrated
this monstrous outrage upon a faithful servant and personal friend of
the Tsar--but I know this, that ere long you will curse the day upon
which you planned it. Think you that his Majesty will allow such
colossal insolence as yours to go unpunished? I tell you that--but
enough; I will not degrade myself by further bandying of words with
you."

The professor duly translated this blustering speech to Colonel
Lethbridge, causing the latter to smile, at sight of which Vasilovich
ground his teeth, and cursed the two men roundly in Russian. But he was
biding his time. He saw that a boat from the convict-ship was about to
visit the strange craft on board which he found himself; he noted the
fact th