CHAPTER XV.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 377, 15 June 1889, Page 3

CHAPTER XV.

TRAILING THE NIHILIST. j3kouri!n tg from Ivan his promise that he woufd'avoid Chernigoff and Sofia, and' arranging a place of meeting for as sOon v as he had returned from his expedition, W,at left him. ; ' First making a good Russian of himself, he returned to^the vicinity of the Russian Ambassador's, and waited for the appearance of. the perfidious count. It was near midnight when the count came out, leading the countess. He escorted her to her house, and then went, as rapidly as he could to his own apartments. Wat patiently awaited his coming, feel ing sure that he would be out again. And he was rewarded before he had had time to grow tired. The count came out in a short time, but in a different guise. Now the elegant gentleman was hidden under the semblance of a workman, and Wat,was certain that he was on the right track. Chernigoff evidently did not care to have anybody know who he was or where he was going, for he took every precaution (o guard against being followed. He might as well have tried to avoid fate as Wat. And when, after many turnings and doublings and feints of going into houses, he at last stopped before an alley in one of the worst quarters of the city, Wat was still with him. The counc, looking around to see if he was observed, darted into the alley and was lost. JVafc followed close after him, assured thafc this w*is really the place where the meeting was to be held. , , He had hardly entered the alley, however, when he ran into two men. 'I beg pardon,' said one of them in French. 'All right,' eaid Wat, gruffly, with a strong, Russian accent. • It seems to me 1 know you,' said one of the men in Russian. 'Np. doubt. I'm Sassulich.' 'Go on. then, and you will find your brother waiting for you.' They disappeared in the darkness, and Wat walked on. He had no fear, buo he knew the peril he was daring, and his heart beat faster as he stumbled through the black alley. Had it not been to gave Vera he would not have played the spy on these nihilists the most of whom were devoted patriots, and not at all the bloodthirsty ruffians they are often thought. They were desperate men, however, and he knew full well that if he were discovered in his true character he would not be likely ever again to see the light of day. Undeterred by this knowledge, he groped his way to the end of the -alley, and there felt about for the door he expected to find, but which he could not see. Suddenly he was caught by the throat and held, while a voice whispered threateningly. ' What are you doing here ?' The man spoke in French, but Wat answered in Russian : ' They told me that I would find my brother Sassulich.here.' , 4 Have you ever met him here ?' 'No.' ' Then how did you know you would be likely to find him here V ' Chernigoff told me he was hete.' ' You will find Mm at the first door.' • Ho was thrust into a hall-way, and a door closed behind him. The hall was as dark as a pocket, and ho was obliged to feel his way along it. Presently he saw a faint glimmer* of light ahead of him, and then he was .at the door. *•» To knock there was to,take his life in his hand,, but he knocked. • The door was opened at once, and Wat saw a small room with not more than half a dozen jjprsons in it. Chernigoff wd.s not there. That' fact cold Wat that he Was not yet "In, the meeting, x'ootti of tho nih'ilisbs. ' For whom are you looking ?' demanded the man.who had opened the door. c Sassulich.' ' I know most of his friends. I never saw you bofore.'- ' ,' * That is not my fault.' ' How s,o ?' ' The good Czar, the father of his people, conceived such an affection for mo that he gave me rooms at his own expense, and insisted that I should remain in them.' The men laughed at the joke, and one of them said : 1 But you did not remain, it seems.' ' No ; one of my guards fell ill and died one day, and I was so afraid that I might get the same disease that I have come abroad for my health.' There was another laugh at this grim joke, and then the man who had opened the door asked in a merely formal way as if he was already satisfied, but was asking because it was the rule : ' What is your name?' 'PaulPetroff.' ' Who told you Sassulich was here ?' 'Chernigoff.' 'Go in there; you may find some old comrades.' •Ah fche permission, one of the men opened a pair of green,baize doors, and Wat entered a short hall. ,•' , v, ,„, There he could hear the 1 sound 1 of..voices. His guide opened another heavy door, and Wat was ushered into a large loom, almost filled with men, and thick with tobacco smoke. The door was at once closed behind him, and he stood alone in the midst of men who, if they had known his object in being there would have held hia life as chenn as a rat's.

Would he save Vera, or would he perish himself?