"Good! Good!" cried Count Blowinski. "It is as I told you, gentlemen," and he gazed at the others in the room. "Did I not tell you the time for action had come? I said it when I first learned that two German spies----" here he smiled--"had been captured. So the time is almost here! Good!" There were nods and low murmurs of approval from different parts of the room. Count Blowinski swept the others with his eyes. "The time has come for you to prove yourselves," he said sternly. "Let each of you go your way now and report to me at this hour the day after tomorrow. And remember, I am still the Czar's right hand. Should a single man betray me, I shall still have the power to send him to Siberia. Be warned." He glared at the others, who now left the room rapidly. The count signaled the two lads to remain with him. "You gentlemen," he said after the others had gone, "shall remain as my guests. The freedom of the town and the house is yours. By the Kaiser! I am glad you have come. I was beginning to tire of waiting. Will you join me in a glass of wine?" Frank was about to refuse, but Jack stayed him with a look. "With pleasure, your Excellency," the lad said quietly. The Russian clapped his hands and a servant appeared. The count gave a command in Russian and the man disappeared, only to reappear a few moments later bearing a tray on which was wine and glasses. The count filled the glasses, and as each stood with his glass raised the count exclaimed: "Confusion to Nicholas!" As the count threw back his head and drained the glass, each lad was able to dispose of his wine in a jardinière which stood nearby. "Your Excellency," said Frank, "if you would be so kind as to put a room at our disposal, we would rest for a brief while. Your Excellency may never find it out, but a dungeon cell does not rest weary bones." "To be sure," said the count with a laugh. "I had forgotten your recent hardship." He clapped his hands for his servants, then continued: "No, Count Stephan Blowinski shall never repose in a dungeon cell!" CHAPTER XII. THE BOYS MAKE PROGRESS. The two following days passed without incident. Frank and Jack remained in the palatial home of Count Blowinski as honored guests. What excuse the count had given his subordinates for releasing them and giving the freedom of the house and of the city itself, the lads did not know; it was sufficient that he had done so. They went and came without question. It was on the evening of the third day--shortly before the supper hour--that Jack, passing the door of the count's private office, caught a word or two from within that caused him to prick up his ears. He stopped and listened. "To-night at eight, then," came the words in a voice he did not recognize.