“It is forbidden that I should answer questions.”

“Is it also forbidden that I should go on deck?”

“The General said you were not to be allowed to leave this stateroom, as you did not give your parole.”

“How can I escape from a steamer in motion, Captain?”

“It is easy to jump into the river, and perhaps swim ashore.”

“So he is a general, is he?  Well, Captain, I’ll give you my parole that I shall not attempt to swim the Neva on so cold a night as this.”

“I cannot allow you on deck now,” said the Captain, “but when we are in the Gulf of Finland you may walk the deck with the sentry beside you.”

“The Gulf of Finland!” cried Lermontoff.  “Then you are going down the river?”

The big Captain looked at him with deep displeasure clouding his brow, feeling that he had been led to give away information which he should have kept to himself.

“You are not going up to Schlusselburg, then?”

“I told your Highness that I am not allowed to answer questions.  The General, however, has given me a letter for you, and perhaps it may contain all you may want to know.”

“The General has given you a letter, eh?  Then why don’t you let me have it?”

“He told me not to disturb you to-night, but place it before you at breakfast to-morrow.”

“Oh, we’re going to travel all night, are we?”

“Yes, Excellency.”

“Did the General say you should not allow me to see the letter to-night?”

“No, your Excellency; he just said, ’Do not trouble his Highness to-night, but give him this in the morning.’”

“In that case let me have it now.”

The Captain pulled a letter from his pocket and presented it to the Prince.  It contained merely the two notes which Lermontoff had written to Drummond and to the Czar.

CHAPTER XIV

 A voyage into the unknown

After the Captain left him, Lermontoff closed and bolted the door, then sat down upon the edge of his bed to meditate upon the situation.  He heard distant bells ringing on shore somewhere, and looking at his watch saw it was just eleven o’clock.  It seemed incredible that three-quarters of an hour previously he had left the hospitable doors of a friend, and now was churning his way in an unknown steamer to an unknown destination.  It appeared impossible that so much could have happened in forty-five minutes.  He wondered what Drummond was doing, and what action he would take when he found his friend missing.