CHAPTER XXVIII.

COUNT BLOWINSKI IS CAPTURED.

"And so the count has escaped, eh?"

It was Czar Nicholas who spoke as he gazed at Jack and Lord Hastings.

"Yes, your Majesty," replied the lad, and for a second time, at the Czar's request, he went over the details of the struggle with the count.

"Well," said the Czar when the lad had concluded, "there is no telling in what part of the city he may be located now. Still, I would like to catch him. I wonder how he escaped from Siberia? or if he was ever taken?"

"Probably the latter was the case," declared Lord Hastings. "The count has been a powerful man and must have made friends. It is probable that the officer who had charge of him became temporarily blind, purposely."

"If I were sure----" said the Czar, and he banged his fist on the table angrily.

"The first thing," said Lord Hastings, "if I may make so bold, your Majesty, is to recapture Count Blowinski before he can do any more damage."

"No small job," said the Czar.

"Perhaps not," agreed Lord Hastings. "Still it can be done."

"What would you suggest. My Lord?"

"My plan is a very simple one," said Lord Hastings, "and yet it means lots of work."

"Let's have it," said the Czar eagerly.

"Scour the city," said Lord Hastings. "Put every available man to work and search the town, every nook and corner of it. Eventually you are bound to catch him. He must be in the city still and it will be only a question of time until some of your men come upon him."

"It's a big job," said the Czar meditatively.

"And the sooner it is started the sooner the count will be taken," said Lord Hastings dryly.

"True," returned the Czar briefly. "If you will leave me now, My Lord, I shall set the wheels in motion at once."

Lord Hastings bowed, as did Jack. As they would have passed out of the Czar's presence, the latter exclaimed:

"Pray extend my condolences to your wounded second officer, My Lord. Tell him how sorry I am that he should have been injured in my service."

"It shall be done, your Majesty," replied Lord Hastings.

A moment later the commander of the D-17 and his first officer were in the street.

"Where now, sir?" asked Jack.

"To the hospital, to see how Frank is getting on," replied Lord Hastings.

They turned their steps in that direction.

When Jack had returned to Frank after his futile chase of Count Blowinski, he found his friend trying to sit up, and groaning feebly. Jack hurried to his side and raised Frank's head to his knee. An examination showed him that the back of his chum's head had been badly cut by coming in contact with the sharp table edge as he had fallen. The wound was an ugly one and Jack was much concerned.

But Frank would not hear of Jack carrying him away until he had also looked after the stranger who had so kindly come to their assistance. Jack did this and found that the man was not badly hurt. After the lad had sprinkled a little water over his face, he revived, sat up and directly got to his feet. Then he lent a helping hand in carrying Frank to the street. Here Jack stood guard while the man summoned an ambulance.

Jack climbed in the ambulance with his wounded chum and went to the hospital. The stranger declined to go along and took his departure. At the hospital, Jack saw his friend made comfortable, learned from the attending physician that the wound was not dangerous, and then hastened to report to Lord Hastings.

Lord Hastings was much put out to learn that Frank had been hurt and he upbraided Jack for putting their lives in jeopardy. Nevertheless, he realized the gravity of the fact that Count Blowinski was again at large and had hurriedly sought an audience with the Czar, where we found the two British officers at the opening of this chapter.

They were admitted to the hospital immediately and the nurse told them they could see Frank if he were not sleeping. She was gone a few moments and returned with the information that he was awake and anxious to see them. The two made their way to Frank's side quickly.

Frank smiled feebly as Lord Hastings sat down on the side of the bed and took his hand.

"How do you feel?" demanded the commander gravely.

Frank smiled a trifle at the apparent anxiety of his commander. His head was swathed in bandages and he looked almost ludicrous.

"Well, I don't feel like going for a joy ride," he replied with an attempt at levity, "but I could feel a whole lot worse."

"Head pain you much?" asked Lord Hastings.

"No, sir; not much. I know I've got a hole there, but it doesn't feel like a very big one. Pretty sharp table in the count's house, sir."

"It must have been, to lay you out like that," agreed Lord Hastings.

"If it hadn't been for that, I would have been in at the finish," said Frank. "By the way, have you discovered any trace of the count?"

"Not yet; but by this time the Czar has given orders to scour the city and it is only a question of time until the count is apprehended."

"I hope they get him, sir; and still, I would like to be there when they do."

"You won't be," declared Lord Hastings grimly. "From present indications you will be here for the next three or four days. After this I am going to keep a closer eye on you. You two are too valuable officers for the king to lose; and that's just what will happen unless I tie a string to you."

"Oh, I guess you won't do that, sir," smiled Frank. "You wouldn't like to be tied down, sir. Neither do we."

"Well, perhaps I won't do quite that bad," said Lord Hastings; "but I am free to tell you that right now that is just exactly what I feel like doing."

The conversation was continued for some moments longer; in fact, until the nurse approached and told Lord Hastings and Jack that they had talked long enough and that she would have her patient kept awake no longer.

Frank protested at first, but Lord Hastings silenced him.

"If you don't keep quiet," he said, "we won't be permitted to see you to-morrow."

"I'll be quiet then and go to sleep," Frank decided.

Lord Hastings and Jack took their leave and made their way to the quarters in the palace placed at their disposal by command of the Czar himself. Ten minutes after their arrival there they were abed and fast asleep.

It seemed that they had hardly closed their eyes when they were awakened by a loud rapping at the door. Both were on their feet instantly, and Lord Hastings called out:

"Well?"

"His Majesty's compliments, sir, and he would like to have you come to him at once--both of you," came a voice from without.

"Tell His Majesty that we shall obey his summons instantly," Lord Hastings made reply.

There came the sound of footsteps retreating down the hall.

"Wonder what the Czar wants, sir?" asked Jack excitedly, as he dressed.

"I haven't any idea," returned his commander. "But certainly it must be something important for him to summon us thus in the middle of the night."

Jack looked at his watch.

"Quarter after one, sir," he said. "Yes, it must be something important." He paused, struck by a sudden thought. "By Jove, sir! Maybe Count Blowinski has been captured."

"Pshaw!" said Lord Hastings. "That is hardly possible. They can't have been looking for him more than a couple of hours."

"And still that may be it, sir."

"Oh yes, it may be, but I don't think so."

But as it developed Jack's guess had been correct.

For, when they were ushered into the Czar's presence once more, the first figure upon which their eyes rested was that of the count himself.

"By Jove! you were right," said Lord Hastings in an aside to Jack.

The lad smiled but said nothing aloud. To himself, however, he remarked:

"Another of those things Frank calls hunches."

The Czar greeted them with a smile. In spite of the lateness of the hour, the Czar was as fully dressed as when they left him earlier in the night and he had the appearance of not having retired.

"My Lord and Mr. Templeton," said the Czar, "I see that you have recognized our friend in the corner there."

Lord Hastings and Jack nodded and the Czar continued:

"We were fortunate enough to come upon him almost at once; and I'll wager, My Lord, that you have no idea where we found him."

The Czar paused, apparently awaiting an answer. Lord Hastings shook his head.

"No, your Majesty, I haven't the slightest idea," he returned.

"Well," said the Czar, "what will you say when I tell you that the good count was caught in the act of trying to break into the palace?"

"Into the palace!" repeated Lord Hastings in the greatest surprise.

"Exactly," returned the Czar with a smile. "It seems that he had still further designs on my life. Am I not right, my dear Count?"

He turned to Count Blowinski with a pleasant smile on his features.

The count glowered at him angrily.

"Yes, it's true," he shouted. "And if you weren't so cowardly that you keep yourself so well guarded, I would have reached you. I have not given up hope yet."

"Then you may as well, Count," was the reply. "After this morning at daybreak, I promise you you will worry about me no more. As Siberia is too small to hold you, I must take other means to insure my own safety. No, Count, after this night you will trouble no one."

The count growled under his breath, but he made no audible response to the Czar's words, although he must have realized what the Russian monarch meant.

"Now," said the Czar, "I wouldn't be surprised if the count would tell us just how he managed to escape from Siberia--the bourne from which a traveler seldom returneth. I am curious."

"I shall tell you nothing," declared the count decidedly.

"Come, come, Count!" exclaimed His Majesty. "Surely you will not be so selfish. On my word, I am curious to know. Pray enlighten my curiosity."

Count Blowinski looked at the Czar long and earnestly; and at last he replied with a shrug of his shoulders:

"Oh, well, I cannot see that it will make much difference. It will get one of your most trusted officers into trouble, but he is loyal to you, so I should be glad to implicate him. In the first place, then, I never went to Siberia."

"As I expected," Lord Hastings interrupted.

"Continue," said the Czar.

"Very well. The officer in whose command I was placed chanced to be an old friend--a young man, rather, who had served under me and had come to think of me highly."

"The more fool he," the Czar interrupted.

"So you may think. At any rate, he did not believe the charges against me, apparently plain though they were. I played upon his credulity to such an extent that he at last agreed to allow me to escape."

"As I suspected," Lord Hastings interrupted a second time; and a second time the Czar exclaimed:

"Continue, Count."

"It was easily arranged," the count went on. "One night, while the camp slept, this officer came to my prison tent--we had not yet started for Siberia--unbound me, gave me one of his own uniforms and permitted me to go free. I walked out boldly and without being accosted. I immediately left Moscow and came to St. Petersburg--I should say Petrograd--where I have remained unrecognized until I was seen by these two English upstarts in a restaurant to-night. That is all there is to the story."

"Plainly and briefly told, Count," said the Czar approvingly. "You may be pleased to know, perhaps, that you shall leave my Empire as quickly and as satisfactorily."

"You mean?" questioned the count, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly," replied the Czar significantly. "In the morning at daybreak."

Count Blowinski shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.

"I am not afraid," he said quietly.

"No," returned the Czar. "To your credit, I am glad to say that for you. You have been my friend, and in spite of the manner in which you have betrayed me, I am glad to know that you are not a coward. I hope you shall bear up bravely under the ordeal."

"You need have no fear," said the count with a bow.

"Good," said the Czar.

He signaled the officer of the guard in charge of the prisoner. "Take him away!" he exclaimed. "Guard him carefully and at daybreak to-morrow--I should say this morning--take a squad, of soldiers, stand the count against the wall and shoot him. It is time he was put out of the way."

Then Count Blowinski did a sudden and audacious thing. At the Czar's last words, and before any man present could raise a hand to stop him, the count leaped forward; and as he did so his hand dropped to his belt.

"And it is time you were put out of the way, too!" he cried.