"What are your questions?"
"First, is Professor Volnow in the building?"
"He is."
"Then I must ask you to send for him at once."
It went sorely against the grain of the servant of the Tsar to acquiesce in the demand of an outlaw, but there was nothing else for it. The outlaw could blow him and all his subordinates into space with a pressure of his finger; and so he sent an orderly with a request for the presence of the professor. Meanwhile Mazanoff continued—
"An air-ship similar to this arrived here three days ago, I believe?"
The officer bit his lips with rage at his helpless position, and bowed affirmatively.
"And certain articles were taken out of her for examination here—two gas cylinders and a projectile, I believe?"
Again the officer bowed, wondering how on earth the Terrorist could have come by such accurate information.
"And the air-ship has been sent on to the seat of war, while the Professor is trying to discover the composition of the gases and the explosive used in the shell?" went on Mazanoff, risking a last shot at the truth.