The Forbidden Territory
 The Duc de Richleau receives a letter that is a code from his missing friend the young American Rex Van Ryn who, while hunting for treasure lost during the Soviet takeover of Russia, is now in prison somewhere in that vast country. He shares the letter with another young friend, Simon Aron, who agrees to accompany him to search for their friend. They travel to Moscow separately, and reunite one cold winter morning. Aron had met a famous Russian soprano in London and begins an affair with her in Moscow, much to the chagrin of her watcher, a Soviet official. Eventually, she obtains through her watcher the location of Rex, who is in a prison two days to the east of Moscow, in exchange for a guarantee that Simon will leave Moscow within the day. So they book a train for a seven-day transit far to the east, but the morning after they board Simon feigns illness. The Duc, who grew up in Russia and therefore speaks Russian, befriends the porter and the next morning persuades him to allow them to leave the train secretly just before it enters a station in order to save the rapidly ailing Simon's life. They are followed off the train, but they are armed as the Duc smuggled two pistols along with fifty Hoyo de Monterrey cigars into the country through the British embassy. They kill their pursuer and hide him in an old tool shed where they hope he will not be discovered until the spring thaw. By then, the train has gone and they enter the small town. Entering a café, they discover the train that goes to the north will take them only part of the way, as the town they want is in forbidden territory. The train leaves at lunch time, so they wait until the last minute before attempting to buy tickets, which they do successfully after paying three times the official price. As they arrive in the new town, dusk is approaching. They go to a hotel and ask about hiring a carriage to take them, but there are none available. They begin traveling to the town's other hotel but encounter another carriage which an official is just getting out of. "Please hire it to us", asks the Duc, but when he refuses, they take it by brute force and race out of town on the road north. They keep going until midnight when they find shelter in the hovel of a man who owns the boat to cross the river. Finally the next afternoon they arrive in the town where Rex is a prisoner. Finding shelter in a synagogue, they find Rex the next day. The only security during winter is that the prisoners have no boots and none are from the local town, so with the aid of his companions, Rex escapes that night in a horse and carriage that the Duke and Simon have stolen. They keep the carriage driver prisoner, but he escapes with the carriage when they are taking a rest, and so they are stranded.