TO

ROBERT H. DAVIS

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
Prologue: The Valley of Despair[1]
I.Twenty Years After[17]
II.The Intelligence Officer[32]
III.The Firing Squad[44]
IV.The Place of the Vow[60]
V.The Ataman’s Decision[69]
VI.The Prison on the Hill[79]
VII.Old Rimsky Thinks[94]
VIII.Peter Lays His Plans[105]
IX.Ilya Uses His Wits[111]
X.“An American Has Come!”[121]
XI.The Flight[131]
XII.Hidden Again[140]
XIII.Katerin Plans to Meet the American[151]
XIV.The Samovar Girl[160]
XV.The Trap Shuts[174]
XVI.Katerin’s Stratagem[182]
XVII.Setting the Snare[195]
XVIII.The Trail Grows Hot[206]
XIX.Face to Face[217]
XX.The Blow[232]
XXI.The Cat’s Paw Has Claws[244]
XXII.The Officer from the Ataman[254]
XXIII.A Life for a Life[265]
XXIV.A New Tune on an Old Fiddle[274]
XXV.The Final Reckoning[285]
XXVI.Farewell[294]

THE SAMOVAR GIRL

PROLOGUE
THE VALLEY OF DESPAIR

Clank! Clank! Clank!