The Severed Cord
The two brothers were now alone in the observatory. Zeno had been
carried thither and bound in the easy-chair before the great open
window. Feodor sat at his big telescope watching the anchored vessel.
At intervals as he sat he informed his prisoner of what he saw passing
on board.
"The roll of the drum is summoning the crew to evening prayer. The
fools! . . . The watch is being set for the night. . . . Now they are
hauling down the flag. . . . The captain has gone into his cabin and
his lieutenant has taken the quarter-deck. . . . Now the look-out in
the main-top is taking a pull from his bottle. In a moment he will
drop off to sleep. . . . One by one the lights are being put out; only
those from the captain's windows are now to be seen. . . . Soon they
will all be asleep--in the Lord! So--good-night!"
"And now, brother," said Feodor, "the entertainment I promised you is
about to begin. My fellows are already sitting in your long-boat and
their own skiffs. The sound of the bell is the signal that all is
ready."
With these words he left Zeno alone in the observatory and hurried
downstairs to give the signal.
With a violent effort, Zeno succeeded in getting one foot so far out
of his bonds that he could reach the ground with his heel. With this
foot he gradually pushed himself nearer and nearer to the edge of the
low open window. Then, with a desperate effort, he tilted the chair
forward, and precipitated himself and it together into the depths
beneath. For him there was neither entertainment nor spectacle any
Meantime Feodor strode down to the dining-room where he usually rang
the bell in the concealed room by means of the silken cord. He stopped
suddenly and turned pale with fear when he discovered that the cord
had been cut.
[Illustration: "The cord had been cut"]
He burst into the next room. There Mashinka's bed was empty. He
hurried into his son's bedroom. The boys were nowhere to be seen. The
open window and the rope dangling outside in the wind told him plainly
enough of their flight.
It was too late now. In vain his cry of wrath sounded through the
fortress. In vain he pierced with his sword the empty bed from which
his victim had escaped. In vain he now beat his breast for having
harboured a human feeling within it. That weakness, he now saw, had
indeed been his ruin.
In his boundless wrath he rushed up to the observatory to wreak all
his baffled vengeance on his one remaining victim. He consoled himself
with the thought that he at least could not escape.
But Zeno too had vanished. He was no longer where he had left him.
Feodor stretched his body far out of the open window and shrieked his
brother's name. There was no response but the dull dashing of the
waves against the rocks below.
When he raised his eyes again and looked towards the war-ship an icy
chill ran through his heart. The windows of the vessel were all
lighted up, and the crew were lining the bulwarks.
"Betrayed!--utterly betrayed!" he cried in despair as he cursed and
abjured the Devil and all his works. "Nay, there _is_ no Devil!--there
is nothing!--nothing!"
[Illustration]