Professor Peter Barshov pushed a leathery hand through his graying hair and pointed the stem of his meerschaum pipe across the desk at Prevlov.

“No, no, let me assure you, Captain, that the man I sent to Novaya Zemlya is not subject to hallucinations.”

“But a mine tunnel …” Prevlov muttered incredulously. “An unknown, unrecorded mine tunnel on Russian soil? I wouldn’t have thought it possible.”

“But nonetheless a fact,” Barshov replied. “Indications of it first appeared on our aerial contour photos. According to my geologist, who gained entrance, the tunnel was very old, perhaps between seventy and eighty years.”

“Where did it come from?”

“Not where, Captain. The question is who. Who excavated it and why?”

“You say the Leongorod Institute of Geology has no record of it?” Prevlov asked.

Barshov shook his head. “Not a word. However, you might find a trace of it in the old Okhrana files.”

“Okhrana … oh yes, the secret police of the czars.” Prevlov paused a moment. “No, not likely. Their sole concern in those days was revolution. They wouldn’t have bothered with a clandestine mining operation.”

“Clandestine? You can’t be sure of that.”

Prevlov turned and gazed out the window. “Forgive me, Professor, but in my line of work, I attach Machiavellian motives to everything.”

Barshov removed the pipe from between his stained teeth and tamped its bowl. “I have often read of ghost mines in the Western Hemisphere, but this is the first such mystery I’ve heard of in the Soviet Union. It is almost as if this quaint phenomenon was a gift of the Americans.”

“Why do you say that?” Prevlov turned and faced Barshov again. “What have they got to do with it?”

“Perhaps nothing, perhaps everything. The equipment found inside the tunnel’ was manufactured in the United States.”

“Hardly proof positive,” Prevlov said skeptically. “The equipment could merely have been purchased from the Americans and used by other parties.”

Barshov smiled. “A valid assumption, Captain, except for the fact that the body of a man was discovered in the tunnel. I have it on reliable authority that his epitaph was written in the American vernacular.”

“Interesting,” Prevlov said.

“I apologize for not providing you with more in-depth data,” Barshov said. “My remarks, you understand, are purely secondhand. You will have a detailed report on your desk in the morning concerning our findings at Novaya Zemyla, and my people will be at your disposal for any further investigation.”

“The Navy is grateful for your cooperation, Professor.”

“The Leongorod Institute is always at the service of our country.” Barshov rose and gave a stiff bow. “If that is all for now, Captain, I will get back to my office.”

“There is one more thing, Professor.”

“Yes?”

“You didn’t mention whether your geologists found any trace of minerals?”

‘Nothing of value.”

Nothing at all?”

Trace elements of nickel and zinc, plus slight radioactive indications of uranium, thorium, and byzanium.”

“I’m not familiar with the last two.”