The Argosy, Vol. XXV, No. 1 — page 70: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BY RIGHT OF SWORD.* A tale of Moscow, the Nihilists, and the Czar—The extraordinary experiences of an Englishman who assumes the name and obligations of a Russian army officer—Complications that bring the bold adventurer within shivering distance of Siberia, and the tactics which earn for him a notable nickname. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED. HAMYLTON TREGETHNER is an Englishman who has lived a great part of his life in Russia. Deceived by the woman he loves, he is about to go to St. Petersburg to offer himself for the field in the event of war with Turkey, hoping somebody will puta bullet through him, when at the Moscow railway station he is approached by a stranger, Olga Petrovitch, who takes him for her brother Alexis, to whom he bears a marvelous resemblance. ‘This Alexis is a good for nothing roysterer, a lieutenant in the Russian army. He has become involved in a quarrel with Major Deviusky, who persecutes Olga with unwelcome attentions, and fearing to meet the major on the dueling field, is about to flee in disguise. Tregethner becomes interested in the case, and being reckless of what he does in any event, gives Alexis his passport as Hamylton Tregethner and decides to remain in Moscow as Alexis Petrovitch. He fights the duel with Devinsky, utterly routing him, but presently finds himself in a tangle because of a love affair his prede- cessor had with Paula Tueski, the wife of the chief of police. She is deceived, as are all other friends of the lieutenant, to say nothing of the Nihilists, with whom it turns out he has had dealings. One night he is summoned to a meeting in a house by the riverside. After being conducted through devious ways, he finds himself in a room occupied by some thirty or forty men, each carrying a knife. He is told that he has been brought there to die, whereupon he declares that he will make it easier for them to kill him by giving up his revolver and baring the heart side of his breast. A tall man seizes him inagrip like iron, and bends him backward so that either his throat or his heart is at the mercy of the long knife he raises aloft. CHAPTER VIII.—(Continued.)—THE RIVERSIDE MEETING. I LET no sound escape me and did not move a muscle. ‘The next instant my left hand was seized and a finger pressed on my pulse. In this position I remained for a full minute. Ido not believe that my pulse quickened, save for the physical strain, by so much as one beat. ‘Tt is enough,’’ said the man who had before spoken; and I was released. ‘“Vou are no coward,’’ he added, addressing me. ‘‘I withdraw that. You can have your life, on one condition.’’ : “* And that ?”’ ‘That you swear ‘**T will swear nothing,’’ I interposed. ‘* You have taken the oath of fealty.’’ ‘‘T will swear nothing. Take my life if you like, but swear I will not. This story began in the July, 1897, tssue of THE ARGOSY, which will be matled to any address on recetpt of ro cents. * Copyright, 1897, by Arthur W. Marchmont. > Eomilcbooks (S@)