emperors of Russia never pardoned an exile, schemes such
as those of Ivan Ogareff could never have been realized.
Approaching the Czar, who had thrown himself into an armchair,
he asked, "Your majesty has of course given orders so that this
rebellion may be suppressed as soon as possible?"

"Yes," answered the Czar. "The last telegram which reached
Nijni-Udinsk would set in motion the troops in the governments
of Yenisei, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, as well as those in the provinces
of the Amoor and Lake Baikal. At the same time, the regiments
from Perm and Nijni-Novgorod, and the Cossacks from the frontier,
are advancing by forced marches towards the Ural Mountains;
but some weeks must pass before they can attack the Tartars."

"And your majesty's brother, his Highness the Grand Duke,
is now isolated in the government of Irkutsk, and is no longer
in direct communication with Moscow?"

"That is so."

"But by the last dispatches, he must know what measures have
been taken by your majesty, and what help he may expect from
the governments nearest Irkutsk?"

"He knows that," answered the Czar; "but what he does not know is,
that Ivan Ogareff, as well as being a rebel, is also playing the part
of a traitor, and that in him he has a personal and bitter enemy.
It is to the Grand Duke that Ogareff owes his first disgrace;
and what is more serious is, that this man is not known to him.
Ogareff's plan, therefore, is to go to Irkutsk, and, under an