On the twenty-sixth we were ordered to leave the territory of the Perm Government--which includes Ekaterinburg--without delay and return to Tobolsk. Care had been taken that we should only have one document between us, to keep us together and so facilitate supervision. But the trains were no longer running. The anti-Bolshevik movement of the Russian and Czech volunteers[71] was spreading rapidly, and the line was exclusively reserved for the military units that were being hurried to Tioumen. This meant further delay. One day when I was passing Ipatief’s house, accompanied by Dr. Derevenko and Mr. Gibbes, we saw two carriages drawn up and surrounded by a large number of Red Guards. What was our horror at recognising in the first Sednief (the _valet-de-chambre_ of the Grand-Duchesses) sitting between two guards. Nagorny was going to the second carriage. He was just setting foot on the step with his hand on the side of the carriage when, raising his head, he saw us all there standing motionless a few yards from him. For a few seconds he looked fixedly at us, then, without a single gesture that might have betrayed us, he took his seat. The carriages were driven off, and we saw them turn in the direction of the prison. These two good fellows were shot shortly afterwards; their sole crime had been their inability to hide their indignation on seeing the Bolshevik commissaries seize the little gold chain from which the holy images hung over the sick bed of Alexis Nicolaïevitch. A few more days passed, and then I learned through Dr. Derevenko that the request made on my behalf had been refused. On June 3rd our carriage was coupled to one of the many trains loaded with starving people from Russia coming to look for food in Siberia. We made for Tioumen, where, after various wanderings, we finally arrived on the fifteenth. A few hours later I was placed under arrest by Bolshevik headquarters, where I had been forced to apply for a _visa_ that was indispensable to my companions and myself. It was only by a lucky combination of circumstances that I came to be released in the evening and was able to get back to the railway carriage, in [Illustration: YOUROVSKY, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH PRODUCED AT THE ENQUIRY.] [Illustration: THE GRAND-DUCHESSES’ ROOM AS I SAW IT ON ENTERING IPATIEF’S HOUSE. ON THE FLOOR ARE THE ASHES FROM THE STOVES. {_Facing page 272._] which they were waiting for me. The following days were days of indescribable anxiety, at the mercy of any chance that might call attention to us. Probably what saved us was that we were lost in the crowd of refugees who filled Tioumen station, and so managed to pass unnoticed. * * * * *