“The coast is clear, excellency,” said the old Russian.  “All the Germans have gone—­a curse upon them!  My master has told me to treat you as if you stood in his place until he returns.  I have the things that Ivan brought.  Is it your pleasure that I should deliver them to you?”

Fred was puzzled for a moment.  Then he remembered the wireless.

“Oh, yes, by all means!” he said.  “And show me the room where the wireless is.  You know all about that, Vladimir?”

“I know where it is.  I do not understand such devil’s work, but I am an old man, and stupid.”

Fred laughed.

“Perhaps it’s devil’s work, but if we have any luck it will be pretty useful to us,” he said.  “Come on, if it’s safe for me to come out.  There’s a lot for me to do.”

Vladimir led the way to the top of the house.  On the roof, like a pent-house, there was a little room or cupola, and in this was a partially dismantled wireless installation.  Fred was left there alone while Vladimir went off to get the things that Ivan had given to him for safekeeping, and he studied the installation closely.  It was different from any that he had ever seen, but its leading principle, of course, was familiar to him.  At first it surprised him to find that it was supplied with power by weak batteries, which the Germans had ruined.

“You couldn’t send more than twenty miles with those batteries!” he said to himself.

But when Vladimir returned that was explained.  For he removed a picture that hung on the wall and disclosed a number of wires.

“I do not understand,” he said.  “But my master and Ivan have told me that those wires that you see run down to a place far below the cellar, where there is a great engine that moves when petrol is put into it—­”

“Oh, I see, a dynamo run by a Diesel engine, probably!” said Fred, suddenly enlightened.  “That’s a fine idea!  They can develop power without steam!  Costs a lot—­but it’s worth it, of course!  I’ll just try that out!”

Quickly he connected up the wires, tried out his key, after replacing the parts that had been taken away, and in a moment got a powerful spark.

“That’s great!” he said, to himself, ignoring old Vladimir, who watched him in fascinated wonder.  “I can send a long distance with that spark!”

Then he pounced on something he had overlooked before,—­a little book bound in black leather.  As he opened it, he gave an exclamation of joy.  It was a code book, as he saw at once, and on the inside of the cover was a list of wireless stations, with their calls.  There was one at Virballen, he saw, and a dozen other places just over the border, and running quite a distance into Russian territory, including one at Augustowo, were named.

“Ivan told me to guard that book as if it were my life,” said Vladimir.  “He said to put it in a safe place, and to destroy it if the Germans found it, even if they killed me for doing it.”