of torture toward a time and place set for their execution by other
politicians in the drunken stupor of their power. (See Part II:
Tobolsk.)

Under the agitated surface of this tidal wave of fanaticism that
threatened to engulf the Royal prisoners there were a few men in
Europe and America, as well as in India and Thibet, who were slowly
converging in the direction of the victims with a _phrase upon their
lips_ that none but Royalty and themselves were privileged to use. It
was that ancient secret code transmitted by tradition to the followers
of a sturdy Tyrian king. It was made use of by Lycurgus, as well as by
Solomon and Justinian; and it was again employed by the partisans of
Louis XVIII to save the House of Bourbon. It is that mystic code which
binds Royalty together and is given only to those whom Royalty may
trust. That ancient code meant freedom if it reached the prisoners
in time! It rested with these silent men to pass the scrutiny of a
million eyes to liberate the victims from the fury of the mob.

Such a rescue, as time swept by, became nothing but a slender hope
with any of the women. They began to realize that their blood
would not very greatly shock the nerves of statesmen who had become
accustomed to the daily cataract that poured down upon the soil of
Europe. They felt abandoned by the diplomats. Their only friends were
busy in the red work of war. One chance alone remained. Soldiers might
be deceived by men disguised as comrades. The Secret Service might
overlook the hysterical entertainers who fluttered under the mask of
charitable workers and skipped across forbidden lines protected by a
Cross. This was the only possibility, this the phantom hope that stood
trembling on the brink of the prisoners' abysmal fear. Thus the sight
of a Red Cross driver or an English uniform in the midst of their