Rachmanof glared at me for a moment.
‘So!’ he said. ‘You again! Well, it is bad luck for you, my friend, that
I have caught you, for this time you shall not escape me: you have a
reckoning unpaid!’
‘Oh, I will pay it twice over, friend!’ I said. ‘Here is my money-bag!’
I tapped my sword and laughed.
‘Let the old scarecrow run,’ said Rachmanof, half turning his head
towards his companions; ‘let her pass, Cossack, she will be in our way.
Disappear you also, shameless old hag,’ he continued, wagging his finger
at the Superior. ‘A fine mother of innocent maidens, you! Fie! A man in
the house, and of all men a filthy Cossack! Fie, I say!’
‘Rachmanof,’ I muttered, ‘for that speech you shall die if I can kill
you. Go, mother, go into the ante-room, and pray your hardest that I may
kill this beast.’
‘Yes, pray your hardest,’ laughed Rachmanof; ‘he will need it!’
‘Fight in God’s name,’ said the good old woman, disappearing into the
ante-room. ‘I will pray for God’s curse upon those who invade this holy
house.’
The old doorkeeper pushed past Rachmanof and disappeared also, crying
and muttering prayers or curses, or I know not what. The two Streltsi
fellows came several steps higher towards Rachmanof.
Then the fight began without further delay.
Rachmanof made a quick lunge at me with his sword, but the blow fell
short, and I laughed aloud at him.
‘You will have to come to closer quarters, Rachmanof; there is no help
for it,’ I said. ‘It is dangerous, I admit, and mighty unpleasant, but
it must be done!’
With a curse he ran three steps upwards and lunged again. This time it
was necessary to parry, and I replied with a counter thrust which he
just, but only just, contrived to turn aside.
Then the two others came nearer, in response to Rachmanof’s orders.
‘Seize your opportunity to rush in,’ he said, ‘as soon as you perceive
an opening.’
There was a slight pause while Rachmanof and his men took breath,
watching me, and thinking how best to overpower me by combination.
Luckily, the stairs were too narrow to admit of two men fighting
abreast, else I suppose I should have been overpowered, for they were
good men, all three.
During the pause I could distinctly hear the good Superior praying
fervently in the ante-room, of which the door was open.
Then suddenly Rachmanof rushed upon me, and after him another, whose
rush was useless, however, for he found himself obliged to wait at
Rachmanof’s heels, and when he tried to lunge at me his sword nearly
pierced his friend’s shoulder.
I had the best of it as to position, and of this I was determined to
take full advantage. His rush was easily stopped, and when I assumed the
attack it was not difficult to drive him downwards, since I smote at him
from above. Step by step he descended, and his supporter was obliged to
descend also, for Rachmanof would otherwise have trodden upon him.
Nevertheless, he fought well for his ground, and did not cease striking
and thrusting at me, defending himself at the same time with great
skill.
Then I tried a trick upon my man. I pretended to stagger backwards, in
order to draw him forward with a long thrust. This succeeded. He thrust
so vigorously that he was half overbalanced, and I brought my sword
down cleaverwise upon his skull.
Down he went backward into the arms of his friend, who, however, instead
of laying him down and giving me a moment of breathing time, held him up
with his left arm and lunged instantly at me with his right. The
movement was so rapid that I could not withdraw my foot in time, and I
received a nasty dig in the soft of my leg.
But my man found he had made a bad speculation, for, rushing quickly
upon him while he still stood hampered by his unconscious companion, I
easily passed through his scrambling defence, and he dropped Rachmanof
with a curse as my sword cut through his arm.
Then he stood and stamped his feet, cursing at the pain and shouting to
the third man, who stood at the foot of the stairs, to come forward and
help slay the filthy Cossack who had wounded both himself and Vassia.
‘Better leave me alone, friend, and take these fellows away, lest a
worse thing happen!’ I cried aloud, with a laugh. ‘See what an advantage
I have in this position!--be sure I shall spit you if you come nearer!’
The fellow seemed to consider for a moment, while Rachmanof lay and
groaned and the other sat and cursed. He came close to Rachmanof and
examined his wound, which was an ugly gash in the head, and did not look
likely to have a quick mending.
‘Can you fight any more, Gregorief?’ he asked of the other fellow, who
sat and cursed with a hole in his shoulder or arm.
‘How the devil can I fight with my sword arm pierced? A pretty coward
are you to hesitate: spit the jeering beast through the stomach, and
maybe I shall be able to help in sending him on towards hell.’
Almost before he had finished speaking, the third man, the unwounded
one, made a rush upwards as though to lunge at me with his sword, but
instead of doing so he suddenly ducked his head, and, spreading himself
forward on his face, very quickly and dexterously seized my ankle, and
with a violent tug upset me, so that I fell upon the back of my head on
the stairs. It was a mighty crash, and as I fell I heard a kind of
tumult on the landing above me; but from the moment my head touched the
floor I knew nothing until I regained consciousness in the ante-room,
and observed with surprise that I lay there with Vera weeping at my feet
and the good mother praying at my head, as though I were already a
corpse.
I felt pain in my leg and pain in my left arm, and a most racking pain
in my head, so that for the first few moments I could not for my life
remember what had happened to me. ‘What is the matter?’ I asked. ‘What
has happened? Why do you weep, Vera?’
‘You have fought a great fight for us, my son,’ said the mother, ‘and
have put to flight our enemies, for which the blessing of God shall rest
upon you. Vera weeps because she fears you are sorely hurt, but I think
there is no cause for fear. You have two flesh wounds, and a terrible
blow on the back of your head has sent your wits wandering; but you will
soon be better now that you know us and can speak. Do you remember
fighting young Rachmanof and two others on the stairs?’
‘I remember now,’ said I. ‘Where are they? They have not prevailed,
mother? Oh, surely I did not allow them to pass up?’
‘No, no, all is well, my son: they have departed, all three, and his
sister is safe within. She knows nothing of the danger she has been
through this day. Do your wounds pain you?’
‘Not much. I do not remember this one in the arm. How came I by that?
After I fell?’
‘I will tell you. There was a rush of your enemies upon you, and we
heard the scuffling and cursing. Vera was alarmed for your safety, and
ran out upon the landing just as you fell backwards. When you fell the
wounded man gashed you with his sword, which entered your arm; then
Vera----’
‘No, no, mother, have pity!’ cried Vera, closing her ears with her
hands. ‘Do not speak of it. I have killed a man, Chelminsky, and I am
accursed--there! I have said it. How should God or man love a woman who
has slain a fellow creature? I tell you it is an accursed thing for a
woman!’
‘Peace, Vera, you did not kill him, for he was alive enough to walk into
the street alone. Peace, I say, child. Listen, Chelminsky, and I will
tell you all. You may, I think, under a merciful Providence, thank Vera
for your life, which was nearly taken. Vera snatched your sword, which
had fallen from your hand, and with it attacked so furiously the fellow
who had struck at you as you lay that he cried for mercy and rolled down
the stairs out of the way. Meanwhile I dragged you, with Vera’s help,
into this room, locking the door behind us. Presently, hearing the
street door open, I looked cautiously forth, and lo! our three men were
departing. One was, I think, almost or quite untouched: he it was that
supported Rachmanof, who seemed badly wounded, though he stood upon his
feet. As for him whom Vera struck at, he walked out, as I say, by
himself. Nay, Vera, be comforted, child, for now I think of it, he was
alive enough to shake his fist at me, and curse me!’ The good old woman
laughed and patted Vera, who now stopped crying.
‘Curses do not lie upon such as thee, good mother,’ I said, laughing.
‘Cheer thee, Vera! Be sure thou art not accursed. I am glad indeed the
fellow carried away a beating from thee. Did the sword bite? Did blood
flow?’
‘Nay, leave the matter, it is painful to her,’ said the older woman.
‘Vera is gentle, and has seen no blood shed up to this day. Let her be,
Chelminsky.’
‘At any rate, be thanked, both, for your good service to me!’ said I;
‘for indeed I am glad to live. Oh that you had beaten that third fellow,
Vera, even more soundly! The rascal! he threw me by a trick. I will not
rest until I have made his head buzz for him as he has made mine!’
‘Nay, that you cannot,’ said the mother, ‘for you are not fit to move,
and shall not. Are you content to lie here for a day or two days? There
is an old sister within who is clever with herbs and plasters: she will
mend you as quickly as the best of leeches.’
‘It is not necessary,’ I said. ‘I would rather go. This fellow Rachmanof
and the others will tell all the world that I was here. I should soon be
chased out.’
‘If I know mankind, they will say nothing of this day’s work. What,
three men to one, and the beaten three to brag of it? Fear not, there
will be silence.’
‘And what of Vera? Do you know these men, Vera? Would they have
recognised you?’
‘I know not who the two Streltsi were. As for Rachmanof, he would know
me, but he was dazed or unconscious, and I think he did not see or
recognise me.’
‘At any rate, I will go,’ I determined; ‘for who knows what these
fellows will do or say? Better that I should be free to act how I will
from without.’
With the words I tried to stand upon my feet; but a mist came before my
eyes, my head swam, and I fell back fainting. And there on my back I lay
for a week, almost senseless for the first half of it, but quickly
recovering throughout the last four days.
During my weakness several things happened that I knew nothing of until
afterwards. The ante-room in which I lay was kept locked on the
outside, and the key remained in the good mother’s possession, so that
no visitors were allowed to enter the chamber occupied by me.
But visitors there were, and important ones, as I must now describe.