"'My company was following on behind,' he answered. 'When we came round the bend we saw you scrapping with that outlaw from Trebizond. You did quite well; you had all but three of them laid out in manly fashion when you got that clip on the back of the head. Then we stepped in and conducted your party to their present quarters ... thought it better for you to remain in the tent while the authorities here locked up those cutthroats for your disappearance.' "'Have you the CODE WORD?' I asked.... He whispered it in my ear.... Then I lettered the order.... Finally he asked, 'Would you not like to meet my SISTER who has been so much _interested_ in you?' "His sister! I had never heard of her!... 'Of course!' I answered amiably enough for one completely stumped.... "He called a petty officer and said a few words in an undertone.... In a minute a radiant young woman with springing steps glided gracefully down the deck.... She was not, in her present attire, much different from Maria ... but as she drew near I noted the difference at a glance.... She came forward quickly and held out her hand. 'Congratulations, Mr. Fox!' she said smiling.... The Métropole!' I gasped,--'what brings YOU here?' 'Still asking questions!' she coquetted prettily. 'I merely called, of course, to inform you that the sapphire is in America!'... I thought hard for more than a minute.... Then it occurred to me that I had seen her in a dozen disguises shadowing me from Buckingham to the room upstairs on Downing Street,--to charm me later at The Hague--to disappear like a will-o'-the-wisp,--then to fascinate me at the Métropole.'... "Well, the commander of the vessel tells me that it is _fourteen hundred miles down stream to Woosung_ and that the voyage will take seven days from there.... With his _code_ word still ringing in my ears to be repeated to one man at _Berlin_, to another man in _England_, another in _Japan_, and to a dignitary in _Italy_, the mission I have undertaken shall have been successfully discharged, so far as _history_ and _public policy_ is concerned.... But there is _another_ mission that I shall, some day, undertake that will be enshrined in lovely memories and lively fancies until _that day_ shall come." PART TWO RESCUING THE CZAR INTRODUCTION The daring reference by Fox, in the foregoing, to personages and events, to locations and the life incident thereto, that may easily be confuted are they false in any of their details, leads to but one conclusion.