THE ATTACK ON THE CZAR.
Though I did not now care whether the rails were disturbed again or
not, seeing that I knew where the mechanism was and could point to my
having discovered, as the reason for what I was about to do, I kept
glancing at the spot, while I let the train approach unchecked near
enough to have all eyes drawn to my actions.
I guessed the distance which the brakes would take to act and when the
train had reached a point such as I judged necessary, I sprang on the
track between the rails and waving my arms excitedly, thundered out at
the top of my voice a warning to stop the train.
This was taken up by the soldiers who repeated the shouts and cries,
and a moment later the shrieking whistle of the engine told us the
warning had been heeded and that the brakes were on at full pressure.
With a succession of whirring, grating, rasping, grinding jerks the
train slackened quickly, and in a moment everything was plunged in
indescribable commotion. The soldiers on both sides began to close in
on the fast stopping train.
"Close ranks round the whole train," I shouted to Sergeant Grostef: and
ordered him away to bring up the men as quickly as possible.
But I had made one miscalculation that was nearly proving fatal to
everything. When I sprang on the line to stop the train, the rails had
not been moved, and even now for some reason they remained in position.
I had calculated to cause the train to be stopped so that it would
reach the false points at a slow pace, and thus be derailed close to
where I stood. I judged that the jerk with which the train would leave
the line would be sufficient to bring it to a standstill, but not
enough to overturn it; and I should thus be able to get at once to the
presence of the Emperor, and tell my story in person at the moment when
he would be most affected by the occurrence. But as the rails remained
in position--owing probably to the fact that the man operating them had
seen that the train had been stopped and deemed it best to do
nothing--there was nothing to stay the train's progress, except the
brakes.
To my horror I saw it pass me with just about sufficient speed to carry
it right into the middle of the five men who were waiting there to
murder the Emperor.
With a loud shout to the men nearest to me to follow I dashed after it,
making sure as I ran in which carriage was the Emperor.
The first of the five men planted himself right in my path, and fired
his revolver point-blank at me when I was only three or four paces from
him. He missed and then drew his sword to engage me. With scarcely a
second's delay I cut down his sword arm and a second slash at his neck
as I ran past, sent him reeling down the embankment, all but headless,
with the blood spurting from the fearful wounds I had inflicted.
My one thought was now the Emperor; and I saw that the other assassins
had discovered him in the train as quickly as I.
One of them stood with a bomb, ready poised in his hand, intending to
hurl it right into the carriage. I tore it from him and threw it with
all my force over the embankment and then plunged my sword into the
villain's heart.
[Illustration: I tore it from him.]
The bomb exploded the instant it touched the ground below, and the
effects were perfectly awesome. There was a prodigious roar; the earth
reeled as if under a heavy blow, and a number of the soldiers were
thrown to the ground; the train seemed to be shaken bodily: and before
the reverberation of the explosion ceased, the splintering of wood and
the crashing of glass, told of desperate injuries to some of the
carriages.
The saloon carriage in which the Czar travelled suffered most, and it
was so violently shaken that the windows were broken, the sides split,
and the doors jammed.
It was a moment for strong heads; and, thank God, I was able to keep
mine.
The three surviving Nihilists were among the first to shake off the
effects of the shock, and two of them made instantly for the door of
the Czar's carriage.
His Majesty had been at the window and must have seen me tear the bomb
from the man's hand; but the shock had driven him away now. Glancing
round I saw Sergeant Grostef and one or two more of my men had
recovered themselves and were running towards us. Seconds meant lives
now; and I dashed forward and sprang upon the steps of the carriage
after the two who were striving with might and main to tear the door of
the saloon open. It was partly jammed by the effects of the explosion,
and was being defended by two men, who to my surprise were His
Majesty's only companions in the saloon. I learnt the reason for this
afterwards; another instance of the damnable treachery which hedged the
Emperor round.
Those inside were like children before the maddened Nihilists; and the
door was wrenched open and the Czar's companions shot down but not
killed, just as I reached the carriage platform. I shot one of the
Nihilists instantly, but I believe the other would have succeeded in
his deadly purpose had it not been for Sergeant Grostef who entered the
carriage on my heels. He dashed forward and threw himself on the
second man and both went to the ground in a fearful struggle.
The Emperor, though as brave as a man could be, was for a moment in
complete bewilderment. Caught weaponless and menaced by what seemed
certain death, his nerves all unhinged by the explosion, his companions
struck down before his face, he had rushed away in an effort to escape
from what looked like a hellish snare, and was seeking to fly by the
other door, when the fifth of the murderous crew attacked him with
drawn sword. Seeing the man in uniform, the Czar believed that the
whole of the guard had mutinied and meant to murder him.
"Is there no one to help me?" he cried, looking round.
"Yes, to hell," growled the man, with a grim quip, as he rushed upon
him.
I had dropped my sword in entering the saloon, and my revolver had been
dashed out of my hands, so that I could do nothing but fling myself
before the Emperor, and give my body to save his.
I dashed in between them, uttering a loud and violent shout, in the
hope of attracting the man's attention to me. But he was too grim a
devil to be turned from his work; and the only effect of my
interference was to impel him to greater efforts.
But he was too late.
Taking a liberty with his Imperial Majesty, which at another time might
have cost me my freedom and perhaps my life, I pushed the Emperor
violently on one side, and threw myself upon his murderer.
The thrust that was meant for the Emperor, passed through my neck, and
I rejoiced as I felt the man's steel run into my flesh. I had saved
the Emperor's life, even if I had lost my own. Then I called to
Grostef as I felt the villain draw out the steel and saw the light of
unsated murder lust redden his eyes.
With a desperate effort I seized his blade, and though it cut and
gashed my hands through and through as the man tugged and twisted it to
wrest it from me, I held on till the villain put his foot against my
chest and dragged the weapon away, despite my most desperate effort.
Then he drew it back to plunge it into the Czar's heart. But at that
moment I saw Grostef's great blade swing in the air with tremendous
force, and sever the miscreant's head from his body.
But the Czar was safe: and as I rolled over near his feet, I rallied
all my strength for a last effort and cried:----
"God save your Majesty."
After that I had a dim feeling that good old Grostef and the Emperor
were both bending over me trying to staunch the blood that came flowing
from my throat and mouth, choking me, from the wound which the villain
had meant for the Emperor. But I had saved him and he had seen I had
saved him.
"Who is it?" I heard the Czar ask.
"Lieutenant Petrovitch, your Majesty, of the Moscow Infantry Regiment,"
answered the old soldier.
"Your Majesty, I implore you, take care. You are in an ambush of
Nihilist villains," cried some one stepping forward hastily. "I know
that man"--pointing to me--"he is the most dare-devil rebel of them
all, and has planned this business for your assassination. For God's
sake have a care. This is the most devilish snare that was ever vainly
laid."
The Emperor moved away from me quickly and looked in the deepest
perplexity from one to another of the group who had now crowded into
the carriage.
"That is a strange thing to hear," said His Majesty. "The man has just
saved my life at the infinite hazard of his own. You see him. But for
him and for this good fellow"--waving a hand toward old Grostef--"the
thrust you see there would have been in my heart."
"Yet I pledge myself to prove what I say. You know I do not speak at
random. They are probably together in this."
Old Grostef growled out a stiff oath that was lost in his beard and
then without releasing my head which was supported on his knee, he
brought his hand to the salute and said gruffly:----
"Nihilist or no Nihilist, your Majesty, the lieutenant will soon be a
dead man, choked by his own blood if his wounds are not dressed."
"There will be one traitor the less, then," said the man who had
accused me, accompanying the words with a brutal sneer.
"Oh the contrary, Grand Duke," said the Emperor angrily, "his life is
my special care. If he be a traitor it seems to me I should pray to
God to grant me thousands of such traitors in my army."
"God save your Majesty, and Amen to that," cried old Grostef, unable to
keep his tongue between his teeth at that, and positively trembling in
his excitement.
"Silence," said the Emperor. "And now let all haste be made to get on
to the city."
"As your Majesty pleases," said the man whom I guessed was the Grand
Duke against whom Prince Bilbassoff had warned me. "I will make good
my words, and we will save the life to take it."