and will know that all is well inside the castle. Ostrom, you
will then lead the two Viennese to a place directly beneath the
third window in the Princess's sleeping apartment. There are
several clumps of shrubbery there, and under these they will
hide, protected from the gaze of any watchman who is not with
us. You and Geddos will be admitted to the scullery by the
cook, who will conduct you to the hall leading to Her Highness's
bed-room. The man who guards her door is called Dannox. He
will not be at his post, but will accompany you when you leave
the castle. You will understand how carefully you must enter
her room and how deeply she must be chloroformed. In the
adjoining room her lady-in-waiting, the Countess Dagmar, sleeps.
If her door is ajar, you are to creep in and chloroform her,
leaving her undisturbed. Then the Princess is to be wrapped in
the cloth you take with you and lowered from the window to the
men below. They are to remain in hiding until you have left the
castle and have reached their side. It will not be difficult,
if caution is observed, for you to get outside of the wall and
to the carriage in the ravine. I have given you this plan of
action before, I know, but I desire to impress it firmly upon
your minds. There must not be the slightest deviation. The
precision of clock-work is necessary."

The man named Michael hissed the foregoing into the ears of his
companions, the palsied Americans hearing every word distinctly.
They scarcely breathed, so tremendous was the restraint imposed
upon their nerves. A crime so huge, so daring as the abduction
of a Princess, the actual invasion of a castle to commit the
theft of a human being just as an ordinary burglar would steal
in and make way with the contents of a silver chest, was beyond