Whether  only  *'  theoretically  and  conditionally"  or  in  a
definite  form,  as  to  time  and  place,  ways  and  means,  is
of  no  material  importance.  Enough  that  very  soon  after
the  convention  separated,  several  of  its  most  prominent
members,  with  a  dogged  stubbornness  of  purpose  and  an
ahnost  incredible  recklessness  of  danger  and  detection,
set  to  work  to  carry  out  the  very  ela))()i-ate  preparations
for  a  great  final  and,  as  they  confidently  imagined,  uner-
ring coup.  The  revolver  was  discarded  for  a  surer  and
even  more  deadly  agent — dynamite.  A  sufficient  quai^-
tity — three  pouds,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds
— was  secretly  manufactured  in  St.  Petersburg  and  sent
off  to  Moscow  under  the  care  of  two  passengers  who  took
it  as  a  favor  with  their  own  luggage,  never  suspecting
that  the  box  labelled  "Crockery"  contained  anything
else,  and  on  arriving  in  Moscow  left  it,  as  directed,  in  the
luggage-room  "  till  called  for  "  by  the  person  to  whom
they  had  been  requested  to  hand  over  the  check.  Three
pouds  more  were  taken  to  Kharkoff  by  tAvo  of  the  con-
spirators, who  carried  it  simply  in  their  trunk.  This
trunk  they  kept  for  some  time  at  their  hotel,  then  had  it
conveyed  first  to  the  lodgings  of  a  student,  and  lastly  to
those  of  a  lady  friend,  both  of  whom  belonged  to  "  the
party,"  yet  were  not  informed  of  the  contents  of  the
"trunk,  part  of  which  was  afterward  carried  as  ignorantly
by  a  third  jberson  to  Odessa,  and  there  safely  received.
