said. "I will not keep him from his duty more
than two or three minutes--just to give him the message."

I waited alone in a small, bare hut for nearly half an hour, when the man
returned with Brusiloff's servant.

"Ah, dear brother Peter!" I cried, rushing forward and embracing him ere
he could express astonishment. "So I have found you at last--at last!"

As I expected, the man who had accompanied him, not wishing to be
present at the meeting, turned and left us alone.

The instant he had gone I pressed the box of matches into his hand,
whispering:

"Take this. It has been sent to you from our friends in Berlin. Inside is
a tube of white powder, which you will mix with the powdered sugar which
General Brusiloff takes with fruit. It is highly dangerous, so be very
careful how you handle it. Death will occur quickly, but the doctors will
never discover the reason. It has already been used with effect by our
friends among the Allies."

"I understand," was the spy's grim reply. "Tell our friends that I will
put it into the sugar to-night, and both His Majesty and the general
shall have some. How fortunate, eh?" he grinned.

I held my breath. It had never crossed my mind that Nicholas was to dine
with the general.

"No," I said. "Keep it till to-morrow, so that the general has it alone.
It is intended for him. Those are the instructions."

"I shall not," was his reply as he placed the box in his pocket. "If one
has it, so shall the other. The German advance will be made all the more
easy by the removal of both of them. I----"

Footsteps sounded outside, and the sergeant appeared an instant later;
hence we were compelled to separate after exchanging farewells as good
brothers would.

Back to Minsk I drove rapidly, and two hours later was in an ambulance
train on my way to Petrograd, full of wonder as to what was happening at
Gorodok.

Peter Tchernine, spy of Germany, had no doubt mixed the contents of that
tiny tube with the powdered sugar served to the general and his Imperial
guest.

Standing alone at the end of a long ambulance carriage, I leaned out of
the window, breathing the fresh air of the open plain. We were running
beside a lake, the water of which came up close to the rails. Here was my
opportunity.

I took a tin matchbox from my pocket and flung it as far as I could into
the water.

Then I returned to my seat, my heart lighter, for at last I had saved the
life of our dear general, and also t