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74 BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.

showing a shapely neck ; no Adam's apple in it, but strong muscular bands right and left ; his head well fixed upon the neck ; and one notes that, in repose and not under the tension of strong passion, head and shoulders would be singularly graceful, but now the head was stiffly borne up as if all the muscles of the body were strung for some big athletic action. His face at first blush would have struck you as more or less ascetic ; but there was something both sensual and sensuous in the mouth, and just now there was a drawing up and a twitching of the right corner of the upper lip that suggested the snarl of a dog that is going to bite. His eyes, black as night, only showed the whites, except that there was a touch of the sun by way of reflec- tion in the pupils, that made a lustrous suggestion of their depths. The forehead was square, and had two strong wrinkles above the nose and a decided scowl right across the frontal bone. He had torn off the disguise of beard and moustache, leaving only a short, downy moustache as black as his long hair that hung about his forehead and was in artistic harmony with his sun-tanned skin.

It was the face of an enthusiast, with the cunning of the Jew and the hot passion in suppression of the Italian bravo. But when he stretched his two arms above his head, as if he were giving himself a pull together for a great leap, you could see that with all the fire of physical passion there was also present a capacity for restraining it until the time was ripe for action. He suggested the tiger getting ready for a spring.

Behold him creep to the great door and fling it back upon its hinges. Behold him leave it wide open for easy egress. Behold him pass along to the next door and listen. He hears no sound. He draws the bolts, releases the bar. He is now in the midst of bales and boxes of skins and rich textiles. Still no sound? Yes. A mur- mur that is not faraway. He opens the next door; he is