Then, after gaining his confidence, when the Tartars have invested Irkutsk, he will betray the town, and with it my brother, whose life he seeks.

This is what I have learned from my secret intelligence; this is what the Grand Duke does not know; and this is what he must know!" "Well, sire, an intelligent, courageous courier..." "I momentarily expect one." "And it is to be hoped he will be expeditious," added the chief of police; "for, allow me to add, sire, that Siberia is a favorable land for rebellions." "Do you mean to say.

General, that the exiles would make common cause with the rebels ?" exclaimed the Czar.
"Excuse me, your majesty," stammered the chief of police, for that was really the idea suggested to him by his uneasy and suspicious mind.
"I believe in their patriotism," returned the Czar.
"There are other offenders besides political exiles in Siberia," said the chief of police.
"The criminals?
Oh, General, I give those up to you! They are the vilest, I grant, of the human race.

They belong to no country.

But the insurrection, or rather, the rebellion, is not to oppose the emperor; it is raised against Russia, against the country which the exiles have not lost all hope of again seeing--and which they will see again.