It was an intensely exciting moment.
I heard the hurrying footsteps pass close to where I was concealed, and listened to them receding in the distance. Then I breathed again. Taking the oars, and dreading lest I should be discovered, I pulled swiftly across the bay to the moored ship I had noticed in the afternoon.
The captain, a genial, kind-hearted man, took compassion upon me when I had related my story, and a few hours later I had the gratification of watching the twinkling lights of Petropaulovsk disappear at the stern.
Three weeks later I landed at Victoria, Vancouver, and after a short residence there was provided with funds by our Organisation, and left for England.
CHAPTER III.
MY FRIEND, THE PRINCESS.
The majority of Londoners are unaware that the headquarters of the most powerful secret organisation in the world exist in their midst. The unsuspecting persons who pass up and down a certain eminently respectable thoroughfare in a north-west suburb, would be somewhat surprised if they knew that in one of these houses the Executive Committee of the Russian Revolutionists holds daily council and matures the plots which from time to time startle Europe.
The thoroughfare, which, for obvious reasons, I shall designate as Oakleigh Gardens, is formed of large, old-fashioned, detached houses which stand somewhat back, with gardens in front. It is lined on each side by fine old elms, and the residences are for the most part built of red brick, with those square, white-framed, unornamented windows of the Georgian era. The house in question is hidden from the quiet road by a high wall in which is a heavy wooden door, but inside one finds a well-kept flower garden and a roomy old house which bears an unmistakable air of wealth and prosperity. Here exiles, whose escape from Siberia Fortune has favoured, find an asylum.
In this house I took up my abode when I arrived in London. Smarting under the terrible punishment to which I had been unjustly subjected, I had long ago taken the oath, and thereby fettered myself body and soul to the Party. I was determined to revenge myself upon the oppressors who had starved my mother, knouted my sister, and sent my father to the mines, although all had been perfectly innocent of any crime. Thus, from a devil-may-care recruit I had developed into an ardent revolutionist whose sole ambition was to assist in the struggle for freedom, and who was prepared to go to any length in order to accomplish the object towards which the Organisation was striving.
From an early age I had been taught English and French, being now able to speak both languages almost as fluently as my own. This knowledge I found of the utmost service, inasmuch as I had been selected by the Executive to perform certain special duties of secret service. They did not hide the fact that the work would require considerable courage and tact, and that my life might sometimes be at stake. But I was fearlessly enthusiastic.