The detail was ready, and outside of the prison were hundreds of loving ones, waiting to take a last farewell of fathers, brothers, lovers, whom they would probably never see again. But Barnwell had no one waiting for him, and it seemed that life, hope, ambition, everything was crushed out of him.
CHAPTER IV.
SWIFT RETRIBUTION.
Retribution does not always go with justice, however, as in this case, notably.
William Barnwell was hurried away to exile, for reasons the reader fully understands; but even then Prince Mastowix felt far from secure. The unaccountable absence of that correspondence haunted him day and night.
But not for long, however, for that treasonable document was in the hands of General Walisky, prefect of police, and by him presented to the Czar and his ministers, together with all the particulars in the case.
Action was at once taken and search made for the young American who had innocently acted as the messenger.
But the spirit of the fiend was soon shown, for Mastowix had destroyed every trace of the American's individuality, blending it with others who, like him, were simply known by numbers.
From the moment a political prisoner is thrown into prison in Russia, he loses his identity, although the authorities keep a secret roll containing the names and other particulars regarding the unfortunate wretches, but that roll is never seen by the outside world.
In the fortress-like Bastile over which Prince Mastowix held sway, he had charge of this fearful secret record; but the better to blot his existence out, should inquiries ever be made, he applied a false name to the "No. 20"; described him as a Russian, a Nihilist, who had been caught in holding correspondence with Paul Zobriskie, and who had also assaulted Prince Mastowix.