An hour later, just as Charlie was dozing off to sleep, the doctor put his head in to the door.

“You are to start at daybreak, Carstairs.  My servant will call you an hour before that.  I shall be up.  I must put a fresh bandage on your head before you start.”

“Thank you very much, doctor.  I am sorry to get you up so early.”

“That is nothing.  I am accustomed to work at all hours.  Good night.”

At eight o’clock, having had a bowl of broth, Charlie descended to the courtyard in charge of an officer and two soldiers, the doctor accompanying him.  Here he found a Swedish officer belonging to the king’s personal staff.  The Russian handed the lad formally over to his charge, saying: 

“By the orders of the czar, I now exchange Ensign Carstairs for Captain Potoff, whom you, on your part, engage to send off at once.”

“I do,” the Swede said; “that is, I engage that he shall be sent off, as soon as he can be fetched from Revel, where he is now interned, and shall be safely delivered under an escort; and that if, either by death, illness, or escape, I should not be able to hand him over, I will return another officer of the same rank.”

“I have the czar’s commands,” the Russian went on, “to express his regret that, owing to a mistake on the part of the officer commanding here, Ensign Carstairs has not received such worthy treatment as the czar would have desired for him, but he has given stringent orders that, in future, any Swedish officers who may be taken prisoners shall receive every comfort and hospitality that can be shown them.”

“Goodbye, Doctor Kelly,” Charlie said, as he mounted his horse, which had been saddled in readiness for him.  “I am greatly obliged to you for your very great kindness to me, and hope that I may some day have an opportunity of repaying it.”

“I hope not, Carstairs.  I trust that we may meet again, but hope that I sha’n’t be in the position of a prisoner.  However, strange things have happened already in this war, and there is no saying how fortune may go.  Goodbye, and a pleasant journey.”

A Russian officer took his place by the side of the Swede, and an escort of twenty troopers rode behind them, as they trotted out through the gate of the convent.

“It was very kind of the king to send for me,” Charlie said to the Swede, “and I am really sorry that you should have had so long a ride on my account, Captain Pradovich.”

“As to that, it is a trifle,” the officer said.  “If I had not been riding here, I should be riding with the king elsewhere, so that I am none the worse.  But, in truth, I am glad I came, for yesterday evening I saw the czar himself.  I conversed with him for some time.  He expressed himself very courteously with respect to the king, and to our army, against whom he seems to bear no sort of malice for the defeat we inflicted on him at Narva.  He spoke of it himself, and said, ’you will see that, some day, we shall turn the tables upon you.’