The official who entered the jail gave instructions to his two
subordinates and they proceeded to search the boys, but Sidney stepped
back and raised his hand in appeal.
“Wait,” he said, “I have a passport that will explain who we are.”
He took the paper out from his breast pocket and presented it to the
official, who regarded it curiously, but immediately returned it with a
short comment which the boys, of course, could not understand.
“I’ll bet he can’t read Russian,” said Raymond.
“That’s so,” said one of the men in broken English, “he not speak
Russian, only Lesghian.”
“Hello!” exclaimed Raymond in surprise, “where did you learn English?”
“I live New York.”
“Why didn’t you stay there?”
“I come home.”
“Well, I’ll be jiggered! you leave New York to come back to such a
place as this?”
“Yes, I leave New York; I come back home.”
“Do you read Russian?” asked Sidney.
“No, not read Russian.”
“Who is this officer?”
“He chief polis.”
“Tell him,” said Sidney, “that I have a passport which says that we are
American citizens returning to America, and that all Russian officials
are commanded by the Government to help us.”
The man had a short conference with his superior and then turned to
Sidney.
“He says you kill two men.”
“But they attacked us,” said Sidney; “we only defended ourselves. We
did not take anything that belonged to them. We left their guns and
horses and everything. Tell him that.”
There was another conference and the man turned again to Sidney.
“He says you have trial, maybe next week.”
“Holy smoke!” exclaimed Raymond in horror, “they wouldn’t keep us in
this filthy place till next week?”
“Maybe next week, maybe longer.”
The chief had waited patiently, smiling blandly, but he apparently
thought the conversation had lasted long enough, for he gave a command
to his deputies, and the man repeated:--
“He says we search you now.”
The task they had before them must have been an unaccustomed one, for
they were particularly awkward about it, and not at all thorough. The
boys’ purses they found at once, and the chief himself took immediate
charge of them, but Raymond’s revolver was the only other article which
they seemed to think it worth while to remove. The money which the boys
carried concealed beneath their clothes was not discovered, and the
only attention they gave to the blankets was to make joking remarks
and laugh when the rolls were noticed hanging from the window bars.
The boys could imagine that the men were commenting on the comfortable
night they would pass if they attempted to sleep on their suspended
beds. When the search was concluded, the chief and his assistants left
the room without further word.
“I wish I’d used my revolver before they took it,” said Raymond as the
door closed and the bolt slid into place. “I could easily have shot all
three.”
“And that would have been a specially foolish thing to do,” said Sidney.
“Well, it would have been specially satisfactory, if it was foolish.”
“I’m glad, though,” said Sidney, “that we didn’t take any such
desperate step as that. It is much better to wait till night and see if
we can’t get out through the window, as I believe we can.”
“Those fellows are so stupid,” said Raymond, “that I don’t believe they
would know enough to stop us if they saw us climbing out of the window.
Think of their not finding the rest of our money! It’s lucky for us
they didn’t.”
The day wore on past noon, and the boys took a lunch from their
knapsacks. Though the lunch was extremely simple, consisting mainly of
dry bread, they were able to occupy considerable time in disposing of
it, for very careful mastication was necessary in order to swallow the
food without water, of which there was none. Aside from that diversion
there was nothing whatever for them to do while they waited the arrival
of night.
The window looked out against a blank wall, only a few feet away, and
gave them no view of the village. The door was so extremely thick that
it allowed no sound to penetrate. Though it opened on the street, the
boys could distinguish no noise of passing feet, and what appeared
strange to them was that the only noise they heard seemed to come from
the roof.
When the boys were put into the jail in the morning, the whole affair
of their arrest and imprisonment had been so hasty and so bewildering
that they had not taken note of the fact that the jail was situated
against the mountain-side. Above the jail other buildings ran up the
steep slope, and the roofs of the lower lines of buildings formed front
yards for the next line of buildings above, and so on to the top. So
the roof of the jail no doubt was occupied, possibly as a stable for
the horse that belonged to the family above. On that plan are built
many of the mountain villages of Daghestan, very like the villages of
our own Pueblo Indians.
Toward night the English-speaking policeman opened the door and brought
in water and black bread, closing the door after him. The drink, though
in a repulsive-looking receptacle, was most welcome to the boys.
“You like it here?” asked the man, with a twinkle in his eyes.
“No, it’s filthy,” replied Raymond.
“Yes, pretty dirty, not like New York jail.”
“Do you know a New York jail?”
“Yes, I know New York jail.”
“What is your name?” asked Sidney.
“Aleskandir,” replied the man.
“Is there another village near here?”
“No, long way next village.”
“Then,” said Sidney, “I guess we’ll have to go back to Timour Khan
Shoura.”
“You want me let you out?” asked the man. “You give me twenty rubles, I
let you out after dark.”
“How can I give you twenty rubles?” asked Sidney. “You took our money
away, the chief of police has it.”
“I think you got more money,” said the man with a cunning look. “You
have lump under clothes.” And he tapped his breast significantly.
The boys were very much startled by the revelation that the policeman
knew they had more money. Raymond, though excited by the prospect of
an easy release, fortunately had presence of mind to remain quiet and
leave the matter in Sidney’s hands, realizing that one could manage it
better than two.
Sidney could not be sure that the man before them was the only one who
knew that all of their money had not been taken away. It was possible
that the chief of police was just as well informed, and there was a
prearranged plan to get the boys to try to escape. Perhaps, Sidney
thought, there was a custom among the Lesghians similar to the Mexican
“Ley de fuga,” in plain English, law of flight, which encouraged a
prisoner to escape and then shot him in the act. Possibly any money
taken from a prisoner who was killed in that way would not be reported
by the chief of police, and that would be an inducement for the
official to encourage such attempted escapes.
Sidney ran the matter over in his mind so rapidly that only a few
moments were consumed while the man was waiting an answer to his
proposal. But he did not dare trust the fellow, for he realized that
if they were once outside the jail there would be nothing to prevent
the man from taking whatever money they had, perhaps putting them out
of the way to accomplish it. So he determined to deny that he had any
money left, and said accordingly,--
“I have no money to pay you.”
“You be sorry,” said the man with an ugly look. “You get shot.”
“What do you mean?” asked Sidney.
“You kill two men, you both get shot.” And he opened the door and went
out, locking it behind him.
“What made you do that, Sid?” asked Raymond when they were alone. “Why
didn’t you give him the bribe he wanted?”
“I don’t think he’s to be trusted.”
“But he is sure we have the money.”
“Yes, he is, and that’s just the trouble. If he once got us out of here
he would probably kill us and take it all.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter so much after all,” said Raymond, “for I’m
sure we can get out through the window.”
“Yes,” suggested Sidney, “if that fellow isn’t waiting outside to
receive us. He may know the window bars are rotten and thinks we’ll try
that way.”
“We’ll give him a run for his money, anyway. If I _only_ had that
revolver I’d give him something besides a run. I hate to start up
through the mountains without any gun, Sid. Did you notice if that man
had one?”
“Yes, he had a long revolver in his belt, I should think a .38.”
“I almost wish he’d be waiting outside, then, and I’d make a try for
it. Those boneheads didn’t take our cartridges, so all we lack is a
gun.”
The boys were very much amused by the inefficient search the policemen
had conducted. Their knapsacks hung with the blanket rolls from the
window bars in plain view, but had not been examined at all. The sacks
contained, besides a few small articles of clothing and a little food,
all of Raymond’s ammunition. If they could only obtain a gun of the
same caliber, they would still be well fortified. Sidney admonished
his brother, however, to take no rash chances, at any time, in an
attempt to procure arms.
The black bread which the policeman had brought to them was not at all
inviting in its appearance,--indeed it was fairly repulsive,--but they
decided to keep it, for if they were to succeed in escaping from the
town in the night, they would, of course, have no chance to buy food.
So the bread was stowed away in the knapsacks with the small supply
already there.
The boys, while it was still light, carefully inspected the window
bars so that they would know just what to do in the dark. They did not
place their hands on them, for they did not wish anybody who might be
watching outside to observe that the bars were being examined. They
found that the rains which had rusted the bars had, of course, run
downward, so that the irons, while nearly rusted through at the lower
ends, were still very solid at the top. They believed that they would
be able to break the bars loose at the bottom, and then to bend them
up, in that way making an opening of sufficient size to admit their
bodies.
After their plan of action was arranged, the boys waited, with as much
patience as possible, for the closing-down of night. They could not
plan beyond climbing out of the window, for their further action would
depend on whether there were any persons abroad in the streets. They
hoped that the sky would be clear, so that they would be able to locate
the mountains, and not make a mistake in direction.
Finally it became dark, and very dark it was, indeed, inside the jail.
But they waited what seemed to them a long time after that, to make
it probable that all stragglers would have returned home. When they
were sure that night was well advanced, they began operations on the
window bars, tentatively at first, to see what resistance they would be
obliged to overcome.
“Let me hang all this plunder over your shoulders, Ray, so as to get it
out of the way. I don’t want to put it on the dirty floor.” And Sidney
suited the action to the word and disposed of the blanket rolls and
knapsacks by turning his brother into a pack-animal.
Then he selected the bar which seemed to be thinnest at the lower end,
and began to give it quick, sharp jerks, first one way and then the
other. At first that assault made very little impression, then the bar
began to yield a trifle. Suddenly, with almost no warning, when Sidney
gave an especially strenuous pull, the iron snapped in two at the
bottom, the upper end dropped out of the hole where it had rested in
the masonwork, and the bar fell clattering to the floor.
The boys stood rigid with their hearts in their throats. The noise had
echoed back from the walls of the empty room until they were sure it
must have roused the whole town. They waited, hardly daring to breath,
listening for the sound of running feet, and then for the opening of
the door and the entrance of guards. Why _hadn’t_ he bribed that man to
let them out! Sidney thought, bitterly. That would have been a chance,
at least, and after such an alarm, of course, there would be no chance
at all.
Outside, however, the silence was not broken, but continued as profound
as before. The occasional barking of a dog only served to emphasize the
lack of other sound. As the boys waited in tense suspense, they could
hardly credit their ears which told them that the terrific clatter of
the falling bar had roused no corresponding commotion outside. After
they had stood absolutely quiet so long that the impulse to shout was
almost uncontrollable, they were convinced that no harm had been done,
and Raymond whispered to his brother,--
“This must be where the Seven Sleepers live, Sid. We’ll get away all
right and don’t you forget it.”
“The sounder they sleep the better,” replied Sidney.
With the loose iron to use as a lever the other two window bars were
quickly broken at the bottom and bent up, for they did not come loose
at the top as the first one had done. Then the boys arranged their
plans carefully so that there might be no slip.
“We’ll each sling a knapsack on,” said Sidney. “We can get out with
them on all right, and that will be the best way to carry them. Then
I’ll climb out and you pass me the beds and come yourself.”
That was easily accomplished; Sidney climbed out without mishap, and
received the blanket rolls which Raymond passed him. Then Raymond
prepared to follow. The window was large enough so that he climbed up
into it, and drawing his legs up turned around and proceeded to drop
down on the outside, feet first. But when he let himself down on the
outside of the wall, his trousers caught on the stub of one of the
bars that had broken just above the window sill. For a moment he was
suspended in the air, then the cloth gave way with a rip and he fell
with a thud in a heap on the ground.
Sidney stood waiting for his brother with the blanket rolls in his
hands. Though it was very dark, it had been so much darker inside the
building that he could distinguish objects very well. He saw that they
were in a sort of an alley, only a few feet wide, between the jail and
the next building. Toward the front of the jail it opened out into a
wider space which Sidney knew must be a street. The other way it melted
into indistinguishable blackness.
“Oh, Ray!” exclaimed Sidney when his brother came tumbling down, “I
guess we’ll wake the Seven Sleepers after all.”
As Raymond was gathering himself up from the ground a man dashed
around the front of the jail toward them.
“Come this way, Ray, I’ve got all the plunder, we can get away from
him,” cried Sidney, and he ran in the opposite direction, followed by
his brother.