Throwing caution to the winds, Orloff placed the muzzle of his revolver to the lock and pressed the trigger. Then, with a tremendous heave, he burst the door open. The room was empty. An open dormer window showed the track of the fugitive. His pursuer, leaping upon a box, thrust his head through the opening. Brave as he was, Orloff hesitated to follow his quarry. Klostivitch had gained the parapet and was contemplating a leap to the roof of the adjoining house. Before the naval officer could thrust his hand through the narrow opening of the window, and level his pistol, the rascal, desperate in his courage, leapt from his precarious foothold. It was not a great distance for a man to jump--six or seven feet at the outside; but the fugitive had not taken into consideration the ice-rimmed stonework. Even as he leapt, Klostivitch's feet slipped from under him. With a shriek of horror he grasped vainly at the thin air, then, turning a complete somersault, crashed upon the paving-stones sixty feet below. CHAPTER XXVIII Rescued "There's someone coming, sir!" whispered Chalmers, raising his revolver. "Stand by, sir!" Both men waited in eager silence as the sound of bolts being withdrawn was borne to their ears. A voice hailed in Russian. Fordyce lowered his pistol. "It's all right, Chalmers," he said quietly, as Captain-Lieutenant Orloff entered the cellar. "We have made a clean sweep of this little nest, Monsieur Fordyce!" declared the Russian. "Klostivitch will not trouble you or anyone else in the future, as far as this world is concerned. The other man you mentioned is a prisoner. We also found a third--Platoff by name. Do you know anything of him?" No, Fordyce did not. He would have been considerably surprised if he had known that Platoff was in Mindiggle's house at Otherport on that momentous day when the Sub strove to placate the irate victim of Flirt's attack. "It does not matter overmuch," continued Orloff. "The fellow asked for trouble--and received it. He had to be knocked over the head, otherwise he would have strangled one of my men. Sovensky struck a little too hard, and----" The big Russian shrugged his shoulders. Fordyce understood. "You are hungry?" asked Orloff. "Fortunately Comrade Klostivitch was well provided against possible famine. One of my men will get you both a meal, for it is a long, cold journey to Cronstadt. Meanwhile, if you will excuse me, I will make a search for incriminating documents." Fordyce and the petty officer made their way to the room in which Mindiggle had been arrested. The spy was no longer there, having been removed to another part of the house for safe custody. The Sub was glad of that. Much as he had cause to detest the villain, he was not at all anxious to crow over his discomfiture. Presently Orloff hurried into the room with a bundle of papers in his hands.