When he awoke next morning he found the engines had stopped, and, as the vessel was motionless, surmised it had reached harbor.  He heard the intermittent chuck-chuck of a pony engine, and the screech of an imperfectly-oiled crane, and guessed that cargo was being put ashore.

“Now,” he said to himself, “if my former sentinel is at the door they are going to take me to prison.  If he is absent, I am to be set free.”

He jumped up, threw back the bolt, opened the door.  There was no one there.  In a very few minutes he was on deck, and found that the steamer was lying in the lee of a huge rock, which reminded him of Mont St. Michel in Normandy, except that it was about half again as high, and three times as long, and that there were no buildings of any kind upon it, nor, indeed, the least sign of human habitation.

The morning was fine; in the east the sun had just risen, and was flooding the grim rock with a rosy light.  Except this rock, no trace of land was visible as far as the eye could see.  Alongside the steamer was moored a sailing-boat with two masts, but provided also with thole-pins, and sweeps for rowing.  The sails were furled, and she had evidently been brought to the steamer’s side by means of the oars.  Into this craft the crane was lowering boxes, bags, and what-not, which three or four men were stowing away.  The mate was superintending this transshipment, and the Captain, standing with his back against the deck-house, was handing one by one certain papers, which Lermontoff took to be bills of lading, to a young man who signed in a book for each he received.  When this transaction was completed, the young man saluted the Captain, and descended over the ship’s side to the sail-boat.

“Good morning, Captain.  At anchor, I see,” said Lermontoff.

“No, not at anchor.  Merely lying here.  The sea is too deep, and affords no anchorage at this point.”

“Where are all these goods going?”

The Captain nodded his head at the rock, and Lermontoff gazed at it again, running his eyes from top to bottom without seeing any vestige of civilization.

“Then you lie to the lee of this rock, and the small boat takes the supplies ashore?”

“Exactly,” said the Captain.

“The settlement, I take it, is on the other side.  What is it—­ a lighthouse?”

“There’s no lighthouse,” said the Captain.

“Sort of coastguard, then?”

“Yes, in a way.  They keep a lookout.  And now, Highness, I see your overcoat is on your back.  Have you left anything in your room?”

The Prince laughed.

“No, Captain, I forgot to bring a portmanteau with me.”

“Then I must say farewell to you here.”

“What, you are not going to maroon me on this pebble in the ocean?”

“You will be well taken care of, Highness.”

“What place is this?”

“It is called the Trogzmondoff, Highness, and the water surrounding you is the Baltic.”