A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE
Count Preskoff's old steward received his orders with scarce a look of
surprise, singular though they must have seemed to him. A Russian is
accustomed to unquestioning obedience to the orders of his superior,
and although never before had Count Preskoff issued such strange and
unaccountable commands to the steward, the thought never occurred to
the latter of questioning them for a moment.
When he had left the room, the Count turned to the midshipmen, and his
brow relaxed. "I cannot tell you," he said, "under what obligation you
have placed me and my family. Little did we think that any little
kindness we might show to you, strangers and prisoners here, would be
returned by a service of a hundredfold greater value. The danger which
hangs over us may for the time be averted by your discovery. I know my
enemy too well to suppose that it is more than postponed, but every
delay is so much gained. I have news to-day that the Czar is
alarmingly ill. Should Heaven take him, it would be the dawn of a
better era for Russia. His son is a man of very different mould. He
has fallen into disgrace with his father for his liberal ideas, and he
is known to think, as I do, that serfdom is the curse of the empire."
"But surely," Dick Hawtry said, "if we draw out a document signed by
us and Alexis, saying that we overheard the plot to obtain false
evidence against you, the emperor would not believe other false
accusations which your enemies might invent?"
"You little know Russia," the count said. "I believe that Nicholas,
tyrannical and absolute as he is, yet wishes to be just, and that were
such a document placed in his hands, it would open his eyes to the
truth. But my enemies would take care that it never reached him. They
are so powerful that few would dare to brave their hostility by
presenting it. Nor, indeed, surrounded as Nicholas is by creatures
whose great object is to prevent him from learning the true wishes of
his people, would it be easy to obtain an opportunity for laying such
a document before him. Even were the attempt made, and that
successfully, such doubts would be thrown upon it, that he might well
be deceived. It would be said that the evidence of Alexis, a serf
devoted to his master, was valueless, and that you, as strangers, very
imperfectly acquainted with the language, might well have
misunderstood the conversation. Count Smerskoff would swear that he
was only repeating statements which Paul had previously made to him,
and that he only promised money because Paul insisted that, as a first
condition of his informing against me, he should receive funds to
enable him to leave this part of the country, where his life would
assuredly be unsafe. I will thankfully take such a document from you,
my friends, for it may be useful, but I must not trust too much to it.
Now come with me," he continued, as the steward reappeared. "You have
seen how a Russian noble can be kind to his serfs; you will now see
how he punishes traitors."
Followed by the steward and the two midshipmen, the count proceeded to
the stables. Here, by the light of the lantern, they saw Paul
standing, bound against the manger. His features were ghastly pale and
contracted with fear. His conscience told him that his treachery had
been discovered. Alexis and the two servants were standing by, in the
attitude of stolid indifference habitual to the Russian peasant.
"Demetri, you, Ivan, and Alexander will be the court to try this man
whom I accuse of being a traitor, who has plotted against my life and
liberty, who would have sent me to the gallows or Siberia, and seen my
wife and children turned beggared and disgraced on the world. You will
form the court, and decide whether he is innocent or guilty. If the
latter, I will pass sentence. Alexis and these English gentlemen are
the witnesses against him."
The midshipmen first, and then Alexis related the conversation they
had overheard.
"You have heard the evidence," the count said, turning to Demetri.
"What is your opinion? is this man innocent or guilty?"
"He is guilty," the old man said, "of the basest treachery towards the
best and kindest master in Russia, and he deserves to die."
"And so say we," said the other two together, looking with loathing
horror at the prisoner; for in Russia for a serf to conspire against
his master was a crime deemed almost equal in atrocity to parricide.
"You hear, Paul," his master said, sternly looking at him; "you have
been found guilty, and must die. Alexis, you restrained yourself for
my sake from taking the life of this wretch when you heard him
plotting against me; you will now act as executioner."
"Right willingly," the man replied, taking down a huge axe which hung
by the wall.
The wretched prisoner, who had hitherto maintained an absolute
silence, now burst into an agony of cries, prayers for mercy, and
curses. Seeing in the unmoved countenances of his judges that nothing
would avail, and that Alexis was approaching him; he screamed out a
demand for a priest before he died.
"That is reasonable," the count said. "Go into the house, Demetri, and
ask Papa Ivanovitch to come hither"--for in the family of every
Russian noble a priest resides, as a matter of course.
Presently the priest arrived with the steward.
"Papa Ivanovitch," the count said, "you are, I know, devoted to the
family in which your father and grandfather were priests before you.
You can, therefore, be trusted with our secret, a secret which will
never go beyond those present. You are here to shrive a man about to
die."
Then the count related the incidents of the discovery of the treachery
of the prisoner, and the priest, who shared with the serfs their
veneration and affection for their lord, could scarcely overcome his
repugnance and horror of the prisoner so far as to approach and listen
to him.
For five minutes all present withdrew from the stable, leaving the
priest and the prisoner alone together. Then the door opened and the
priest came out.
"It is finished," he said. "May God pardon the sinner!" and he moved
away rapidly towards the house.
Alexis spoke a word to his fellow-servants, and these lifted a heavy
log from the wood-pile in the courtyard, and carried it into the
stable. Then they seized Paul, and in spite of his screams and
struggles laid him with his head across the log. Alexis raised the
heavy axe in the air; it flashed in the light of the lantern; there
was a dull, heavy thud, and the head of the traitor rolled on the
ground.
"Now," the count said, unmoved, "put a horse into a cart, take picks
and shovels, and carry the body of this traitor out to the forest and
bury it there. Dig a hole deeply, that the wolves may not bring it to
light. Demetri will give each of you to-morrow fifty roubles for your
share in this night's work, and beware that you never let a syllable
concerning it pass your lips, even when you are together and alone.
Alexis, on you I bestow your freedom, if you care to have it, and
also, as a gift to yourself and your heirs after you, the little farm
that was vacant by the death of Nouvakeff last week."
So saying, followed by the two midshipmen who had been awed, but not
disapproving spectators of the tragedy, he returned to the house, and
led the way back to his study.
"You do not disapprove," he asked gravely, "of what I have done? It is
not, I know, in accordance with your English ideas, nor even in Russia
may a noble take a serf's life, according to law, though hundreds are
killed in fits of hasty passion, or by slow ill-treatment, and no
inquiry is ever made. Still, this was a case of life against life. My
safety and happiness and that of my dear wife and daughters were
concerned, and were the lives of fifty serfs at stake, I should not
hesitate."
Although the boys felt that the matter, if brought before an English
court of justice, might not be favorably considered, their sympathies
were so thoroughly with the count, that they did not hesitate to say
that they thought he could not have acted otherwise than he had done,
and that the life of the traitor was most justly forfeited.
"I shall now have a respite for a short time," the count said. "Count
Smerskoff will of course be perturbed and annoyed at the
non-appearance of his spy, and will after a time quietly set inquiries
on foot. But I will tell Demetri to give it to be understood that Paul
has asked for leave of absence for a few days to go to a distance to
visit a friend who is ill. He was always a silent and unsociable
fellow, and the others will not wonder at his having started without
mentioning his intention to any of them."
"What are we to say to the ladies, sir?" Jack asked. "We must invent
some reason for our mysterious absence."
"Yes," the count agreed. "I would not burden them with such a secret
as this on any account."
"I have an idea, sir," Jack said after a pause. "You know that
beautiful pair of ponies which were brought here yesterday for sale?
The ladies were in raptures over them, but you said that the price was
preposterous, and that the owner wanted as much for them as you had
given for your best pair of carriage horses. Now, sir, if you were to
order Alexis to go over at daybreak to the town to purchase them, and
have them at the door in a pony-carriage by breakfast-time, this would
seem to explain the whole mystery of the coachman's coming to see you,
and our private conference."
"It is a capital plan," the count assented; "admirable, and I will
carry it out at once. It is true I refused to buy them, for we have
all contributed to the extent of our means to enable the emperor to
carry on the war, and I am really short of money. But of course the
purchase of the ponies is not a matter of importance, one way or the
other."
Upon the party returning to the drawing-room, they were assailed with
questions; but the count told his daughters that their curiosity must
remain unsatisfied until after breakfast on the morrow; and with this
assurance they were obliged to be satisfied, although Olga pouted and
told Jack that he had entirely forfeited her confidence. Fortunately
it was now late, and the lads were not called upon long to maintain an
appearance of gayety and ease which they were very far from feeling.
When they retired to their rooms, they had a long talk together. Both
agreed that, according to English law, the whole proceeding was
unjustifiable; but their final conclusion was that things in Russia
were altogether different to what they were in England, and that,
above all things, it was a case in which "it served him right."
Nevertheless it was long before they got to sleep, and for weeks the
scene in the stable was constantly before their eyes, and the screams
and entreaties of the dying man rang in their ears.
The next morning the sight of the ponies delighted the girls, and in
their pleasure at the purchase they accepted at once the solution of
the mystery, and never thought of questioning whether the long
conference between their father and the midshipmen on the preceding
evening was fully accounted for by the gift of the ponies.
Five days elapsed, and then one morning a sergeant rode up with an
official letter for the count. The latter opened it and read an order
from the governor for him to transfer the English prisoners in his
charge to the bearer of the letter, who would conduct them to the
quarters assigned to them. Most reluctantly the count ascended the
stairs and informed the boys of the order which he had received.
"It is simply done to annoy me," he said. "No doubt he has heard that
you ride about the estate with me and are treated as members of the
family, and he thinks, and rightly, that it will be a serious
annoyance to me if you are transferred elsewhere. However, I can do no
less than obey the order, and I can only hope that you will spend most
of your time here. Alexis shall bring the carriage over every morning
for you, wherever you may be quartered."
The girls were as indignant and aggrieved as even the midshipmen could
wish to see them, but there was no help for it. A quarter of an hour
later a carriage was at the door, a portmanteau well filled with
clothes placed behind, and with the sergeant trotting alongside, the
boys left the chateau where they bad been so hospitably entertained,
promising to come over without fail the next morning.
They were conducted to the governor's house, and taken not to the
large room where he conducted his public business, and where they had
before seen him, but to a smaller room, fitted up as a private study
on the second floor. The governor, who looked, Jack thought, even more
savage and ill-tempered than usual, was seated at a writing-table. He
signed to the sergeant who accompanied them to retire, and pointed to
two chairs. "So," he said, "I am told that you are able to converse
fairly in Russian, although you have chosen to sit silent whenever I
have been present, as if you did not understand a word of what was
being said. This is a bad sign, and gives weight to the report which
has been brought to me, that you are meditating an escape."
"It is a lie, sir," Dick said firmly, "whoever told it you. As to our
learning Russian, we have, as you see, picked up a little of the
language, but I'm not aware of any rule or law by which gentlemen,
whether prisoners or otherwise, are obliged to converse, unless it
pleases them to do so. You never showed any signs of being even aware
of our presence in the room, and there was therefore no occasion for
us to address you."
"I do not intend to bandy words with you," the governor replied
savagely. "I repeat that I am informed you meditate attempting an
escape, and as this is a breach of honor, and a grave offence upon the
part of officers on parole, I shall at once revoke your privilege, and
you will be confined in the same prison with common soldiers."
"In the first place," Jack said, "as my friend has told you, the
report of our thinking of escaping is a lie. If we had wanted to
escape, at any rate from this place, we could have done it at any time
since we have been here. In the second place, I deny that we are
prisoners on parole. We did not give you our promise, because you did
not ask for it. You said to Dr. Bertmann, in our hearing, that our
parole was no matter, one way or the other, as it would be impossible
for us to escape. The doctor can of course be found, and will, I am
sure, bear out what I say."
"Silence, sir!" shouted the governor. "I say that you were prisoners
on parole, and that I have discovered you intended to break that
parole. You will be committed to prison, and treated as men who have
forfeited all right to be considered as officers and gentlemen."
The boys sat silent, looking with contempt at the angry Russian. The
latter believed that he had now cowed them. He sat for a few minutes
silent, in order to allow the prospect of imprisonment and disgrace to
produce its full effect. Then he continued in a milder voice, "I do
not wish to be severe upon such very young officers, and will
therefore point out a way by which you may avoid the imprisonment and
disgrace which your conduct has merited, and be enabled still to enjoy
your freedom as before."
"What is it?" Dick asked briefly.
"It is this," the governor said. "I have here before me," and he
touched some documents lying on the table, "a report which I am about
to forward to the Czar respecting Count Preskoff. The report is not
altogether favorable, for the count is a man of what are called
advanced opinions. He has curious ideas as to the treatment of serfs,
and has, no doubt, in your hearing expressed himself favorable to
their emancipation."
The boys were silent.
"He has, I doubt not, done so, for he is rash and open of speech. I
have here before me an information sworn to that effect, and if you
will place your names as witnesses to it, I will not only pardon the
indiscretion of which you have been guilty, but will do all in my
power to make your stay pleasant."
The boys were speechless with indignation at the infamy of the
proposal, and doubted not that the document contained far weightier
charges than those specified by the governor.
"Who has signed that document?" Jack asked.
"I do not know that the name can matter to you," the governor said,
"but it is one of the servants of the count, one Paul Petrofski."
"Then," Dick said, starting to his feet, "it is a forgery. Paul
Petrofski never signed that document."
"What do you mean?" the governor exclaimed, leaping to his feet also,
and laying his hand on his sword, while his face grew white with
passion. "Do you accuse me of forgery?"
"I repeat," Dick said, his indignation altogether mastering his
prudence, "that it is a forgery. You have never seen Paul Petrofski
since I heard you offer him one thousand roubles at the cross-roads
that night to betray his master."
With a short cry which reminded Jack of the sharp snarl of the wolves
in the night in the forest, the Russian drew his sword and rushed upon
Dick. The latter threw up his arm to defend himself, but the blow
fell, cutting his arm severely, and laying open a great gash on his
cheek.
The Russian raised his arm to repeat the blow, when Jack sprang upon
him from behind, seizing him round the waist, and pinning his arms to
his side.
The count struggled furiously, but Jack was a strongly built English
lad of nearly sixteen years old, and he not only retained his grasp,
but lifted his struggling captive from his feet. "Open the window,
Dick!" he shouted. "It's his life or ours now." Dick though nearly
blinded with blood, sprang to the window and threw it up.
There was a short, desperate struggle, as the Russian shouting
furiously for aid, strove with his feet to keep himself away from the
window, but Dick struck these aside. With a mighty effort Jack pushed
his captive forward, and in another moment he was thrown through the
open window. A rush of heavy steps was heard on the stairs. In an
instant Jack darted to the table, seized the documents upon it, and
cast them into the fire in the stove, slammed the door, and was
standing by the window with Dick, when an officer and several soldiers
burst into the room.
"What is the matter?" the former exclaimed; "and where is the
governor?"
"The matter is," Jack said, quietly turning round, "that the governor
has drawn his sword, and, as you see, tried to kill my friend. In
order to prevent his doing so, my friend and I have thrown the
governor out of the window."
"Thrown the governor out of the window!" gasped the astonished
officer.
"Yes," Jack said. "It was painful, but we had to do it. If you look
out, I fancy you'll see him."
The officer ran to the window.
"Good heavens!" he exclaimed; "it is true. They are lifting him up
already. He seems to me to be dead. You will have to answer for this,"
he said, turning to the lads.
"Of course we shall answer for it," Jack said. "He brought it on
himself. His temper, as no doubt you are aware, was not always under
strict control."
The officer could not help smiling. He had himself often experienced
the effects of that want of control of his temper on the part of his
superior, and was at heart by no means sorry at the prospect of a new
governor.
"His Excellency's temper was hasty," he said. "However, gentlemen,
that is no business of mine." Then, turning to the soldiers, he
continued, "You will take these officers into custody, and remain here
in charge of them until you have further orders." He then left them,
to inquire into the state of the governor. The soldiers muttered
remarks to each other, by no means indicative of sorrow, for the
tyranny of the governor had made him hated by all below him. One of
them at Jack's request at once went out and returned with a jug of
cold water and a towel, with which Jack bathed Dick's wounds, which
were bleeding severely, and the midshipman was scarcely able to stand
from loss of blood. Jack vainly attempted to stop the bleeding. "We
must have a surgeon," he said, turning to the soldiers, "or, as you
see, my friend will bleed to death. No doubt there are plenty of them
below. Will one of you go and ask one of them to come up here, telling
him how urgent is the need?"
After a consultation among themselves, one of the soldiers retired,
and in a minute or two returned with a surgeon, in whom, to his great
delight, Jack recognized Doctor Bertmann, who upon seeing Dick's state
at once proceeded to attend to him. Cutting off his coat and
shirt-sleeve, he examined his arm, from which the blood was flowing in
a stream.
"One of the small arteries is cut," he said. "It is lucky that aid was
at hand, or he would have assuredly bled to death." The severed artery
was speedily found and tied up, and then the wound on the face was
plastered and bandaged, and Dick, as he lay on the couch, for he was
far too weak to stand, felt comparatively comfortable.