These men had been afraid to fire for fear of wounding their commander; but now they laid rude hands on Jack and held him, as General Surgoff arose slowly to his feet and felt his face and shoulders tenderly. The officer turned an angry glare on Jack and he said very quietly: "I should have you killed. But I won't. It would be too easy a death. You shall have twenty lashes every morning and nothing but bread to eat and water to drink for thirty days. Strip him, men!" Jack's coat was quickly stripped from his shoulders. His vest was jerked away and his shirt ripped off. Then, his back bare, he was pushed into the center of the crowd of soldiers. The general now summoned the two men who had first held the whips and they seized their weapons eagerly, for each had felt the weight of Jack's anger. "Twenty lashes!" cried the general. "Ten from each of you!" Jack braced himself to receive the first blow. It came a moment later with a terrible whishing sound. The lash wrapped itself around his bare shoulders and the pain of it was terrible. But Jack made no outcry. The second man delivered a hard blow, which also caught the lad about the bare shoulders, only from the other side. The lad staggered a trifle, but kept his feet with a visible effort. A third and fourth blow came in rapid succession; and Jack staggered first to the right and then to the left. It was almost more than flesh and blood could stand. The rawhides continued to fly with renewed vigor. Jack, who had at first kept track of the strokes, had lost all count now. He was doing his best to remain on his feet; and he kept his lips shut firmly to keep from uttering a cry of pain. With the fifteenth blow Jack was all but unconscious, but he was still on his feet. At the seventeenth he reeled and all but fell. At the nineteenth he stumbled, and with eyes closed, fell face forward on the ground. He did not feel the twentieth blow, for consciousness had left him. The men who had plied the lashes, stepped back, tired out with their exertions. But they eyed Jack with a certain degree of respect. During the terrible ordeal, not a sound had escaped his lips. CHAPTER XIX. FRANK STARTS TO THE RESCUE. After Count Blowinski's attempt on the life of the Czar had failed, it was several hours before Frank and Lord Hastings found themselves in the presence of the Russian Emperor. They had kept out of sight immediately after the Czar's arrival in Moscow, for all feared that should the count chance to see the lad, it would spoil everything. Therefore, when they were summoned to the Czar's presence, it was to find Count Blowinski there as well, though disarmed, nursing a wound in his shoulder and guarded by a squad of troops. "I have summoned you, my lord," said the Czar, "so that your officer here, Mr. Chadwick may confront the count, and thus prove to him the uselessness of further denials."