you, Wynn?" said a low voice--the Duke's. "You are in good time.
This is your horse; mount and let us get on."

We started at a steady pace, not by the road, but across country, and
for three versts or more we rode in absolute silence, the Duke and I in
advance, Mishka and his father close behind.

"Well, I told you I could get away when I wished to," said Loris at
last. "And this time I shall not return. You are a good disciplinarian,
my friend! You have come without one question! For the present we are
bound for Zizcsky, where she probably awaits us. There may be trouble
there; we have word that a _pogrom_ is planned; and we may be in time to
save some. The Jews are so helpless. They have lived in fear, and under
sufferance for so long, that it is difficult to rouse them even to
defend themselves,--out here, anyhow. In Warsaw and Minsk, and the
larger towns within the pale, it is different, and, when the time comes,
some among them at least will make a good fight of it!"

"We may find that the alarm was false, and things are quiet. If
so,--good; we ride on to Count Vassilitzi's house some versts further.
He is Anna's cousin and she will be there to-morrow if she is not in
Zizcsky; and there we shall decide on our movements.

"I said that the game begins,--and this is it. Perhaps to-morrow,--or
maybe a week or a month hence, for the train is laid and a chance spark
might fire it prematurely,--a great strike will commence. All has been
carefully planned. When the moment comes, the revolutionists will issue
a manifesto demanding a Constitution, and that will be the signal for
all workers, in every city and town of importance, to go on strike;
including the post and telegraph operatives, and the railway men. It
will, in effect, be a declaration of civil war; and God alone knows what
the upshot will be! There will be much fighting, much violence; that is
inevitable. The people are sanguine of success, for many of the soldiers
and sailors are with them; but they do not realize--none of the lower
classes can realize--how strong a weapon the iron hand of the
bureaucracy wields, in the army and, yes, even in the remnant of the
navy. Supposing one-tenth of the forces mutiny, and fight on the side of
the people, or even stand neutral,--and I do not think we can count on a
tenth,--there will still be nine-tenths to reckon with. Our part will
be, in a way, that of guerillas. We go to Warsaw, the headquarters of
our branch of th