The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-03-07

haulDarS started TO MS rect ex-
citedly. Il will lead a battalion
there" he cried. AT oncel"
1T is not Sc easy as that Nikolai
responded. THE house is fortified;
they have three pieces Of artillery,
which they brought in, in oil drums.
And there are two hundred men with
Mausers and Browning pistols. Why,
general, the town is full of American
correspondents, and since his majesty
was mistakenly persuaded into relax
ing the censorship Of the press, they
would telegraph to their papers that
civil wal has broken out. How would
that affect your interests"
The general sank back into his
chair. But l must have them" he
muttered, wiping the sweat from his
brow. What shall l do?"
Give me six men tomorrow eve
ming" said Nikolai. Let them meet
me at the corner of P~resbykoff street,
with picks and shovels. That is all
l require to exterminate revolution In
Batoum."
And he went on to expound his
scheme. AS Kaulbars listened l saw
the sweat start out upon his face
again; l could not understand the
words Nikolai uttered, but l could see
that Kaulbars was badly terrified. At
last he stood up.
Il agree" he said. But. one of the
six goes armed. And, at the first sign
of treachery, he will shoot you. You
see" he went on apologetically, these
cursed Nihilists have taken to forging
badges of the Black Hundred now,
and it is my duty to be on guard
against every man. Curse this ap-
pointment! l wish l were back in
st. Petersburg. Yes, one of the six
goes armed. And l shall be that,
Captain"
"Skobeloff," said Nikolai with a
bow; and then we left him.
When we were back in our quar-
ters Nikolai explained his scheme to
me.
81 told the governor general" he
said, that the Nihilists, working as
employees of the city council. have
succeeded in laying a dynamite mine
under the palace, controlled by an
electric wire which runs from their
headquarters in the suburbs, a mile
away. OF course he wanted to dig it
up. l represented that such an at
tempt would have disastrous results,
and propounded an alternative
scheme. The other end of the wire,
l explained, runs into their arsenal.
By disconnecting the wire midway,
and establishing a miniature battery
underground the current can be re-
versed and sent into the revolu-
tionists' headquarters, where an &C
complete will have affixed a side-wire
running into the revolutlonists cor
dite store. One touch of a button,
and the fort goes into the air. Picture
the generals joy! l found by a few
judicious questions, that he knows
nothing at all of electricity. He is
too terrified to remain in the palace,
so he himself will take charge Of
the party of e~xcavators; and at the
first sign of treachery, he will shoot.
l told him that it might be necessary
to destroy a few harmless people
in blowing up the fort. Burn the
whole cursed town, if you want to-
he answered. So there you are, Sum
mers."
Then from a desk he drew a large
sheet of blue paper, which he spread
out on the table in front of him.
DO you know what this ISL" he
asked.
l saw a multitude Of white and red
lines traced upon it, but their mean
ing was incomprehensible to me.
This said Nikolai, lis a map OF
the underground city of Batoum. 1t
is the only complete map IN existence,
although, of course, it exists in sec.
tions. The sewers are known to the
sewage department, for instance, and
the gas mains to the gas companies
1t was prepared for the inner sector
by one Of the city engineers. 1t is
very useful to know what one is living
over.
Here" he continued, tracing his
finger along a series of thick, white
lines, ARE the sewers, which come tc
the surface in the suburbs as open
bitches. Here are the gas mains
not many of them as yet" He pointed
to a broad ribbon of red which shot
into the map from without and
divided into several branches, all ter
minating in parallel lines along the
waterfront. What do you suppose
these to be?' he asked.
l shook my head.
THAT is the underground pipe line
1t runs from the oil gushers TOWARD
the mountains through the city, tapi
some local gusbers, and connects will
the terminal refineries. The crude OF
is there converted into the CONNER
cial product, and loaded upon thu
ships-or, in u case, pumped
through a submarine pipe into thu
hold Of the Caspian. Now do yol
begin to glimpse my plan?"
Il understand that you are to blow
up some buildings with dynamite
which the governor general will thinl
are strongholds of the Nihilists,' an
/ swered. But what that has to d.
with the pipe line, or how you will
| blow up the Caspian, is still a puzzl'
to me-"
you are very slow at deduction,
said Nikolai impatiently. Nov lie
me explain fully. We are not goinI
napitantfar and looI,s o,,a. tba non