"There has come wonderful news from Teheran, and the Governor must be told at once," said the visitor, flourishing a big envelope with many red seals attached thereto. "Good," replied the janitor deferentially, "the Governor is enjoying sweet repose, but if it is the wish of the Colonel Sahib, I will take him the paper." "Alas, that it should be so!" interposed the caller gravely, "but into his own hands alone am I permitted {201} to deliver this precious letter. Go, faithful one! Summon your illustrious master, the protector of the poor, and the friend of the oppressed! I will remain on guard by the open door, and none shall enter in your absence." The ruse succeeded. The servitor departed on his errand, and in a few minutes returned with the Governor clad in a dressing-gown and slippers. He greeted the Colonel, who handed him the envelope which contained a blank sheet of paper. It was dark on the threshold where the Governor stood tearing open the missive, so the Colonel proffered the aid of his electric torch. Presently the Governor, divining that something was amiss, looked up with a start, and found himself covered with a revolver. "Come with me," said the officer tersely, "and, above all, do not resist or attempt to summon help!" The trapped official obeyed with docility, and followed his captor to a waiting automobile, into which he was bundled and placed in charge of a British guard. Two sentries at the guardroom door kept the Persian guard within in subjection while the Governor's papers were being seized. These latter proved to the hilt his complicity in the plot that was being hatched to destroy British lives in Hamadan. The deposed official--accompanied by copies of the incriminating documents--was sent as a present to the Teheran Cabinet, with a polite request for an explanation of the gross treachery of their unfaithful servant. {202} The coup had succeeded without the firing of a shot, and the back of the conspiracy was broken, for it was left impotent and leaderless. Before sunrise all the captives, with the exception of the Governor, were on their way to Bagdad and an internment camp. An amusing sidelight on the affair was the attitude of the Persian police in Hamadan. Hearing of the arrests, they assumed the worst. They bolted, taking refuge in the neighbouring cornfields, where they remained a whole day under the impression that they were the sole survivors of a "general massacre" of inhabitants carried out by the British. {203} CHAPTER XIX THE FIRST EXPEDITION TO BAKU Kuchik Khan bars the road--Turk and Russian movements--Kuchik Khan's force broken up--Bicherakoff reaches Baku--British armoured car crews in Russian uniforms--Fighting around Baku--Baku abandoned--Captain Crossing charges six-inch guns.