My advantage of an hour, if it had been honestly accorded me, must have
been greatly shortened by poor Shadrach’s malady, for before I had
waited half an hour I heard the sound of hoofs, and presently there came
in sight Kostigin, one of our Cossacks, mounted upon his splendid horse,
which I well knew as one of the few rivals of my Shadrach for speed and
endurance. I was sorry to see so fine an animal rushing down to possible
injury. If either must be seriously hurt, I would rather it were
Kostigin; but there was no help for it, and the beast must run the risk
to earn my safety.
Nearer came Kostigin, urging his horse. He rode as though he were riding
a great race, sitting firm and square and his eyes fixed upon a distant
point as though he hoped to catch sight each moment of my fleeting
figure.
Nearer they came, the good horse Ajax breathing audibly, but going
strongly. Then of a sudden he reached and tripped over my string-trap,
and in an instant Kostigin was flying among the trees and poor Ajax
rolling over and over among pine needles.
As for me I was up and upon Kostigin long before he had realised that a
calamity had overtaken him. I possessed myself of his sword and stood
with it at his throat, and in another moment his career would have
ended, for I could not afford to let him go.
‘Do not kill me, Chelminsky,’ he cried, ‘I should not have shot you:
there is something, besides, that I can tell you which will be of use to
you!’
‘That is an easy lie to invent,’ I replied grimly. ‘You would have shot
me, Kostigin, from behind.’
‘I swear I would not,’ he said; ‘the orders are not to shoot but to
chase you. You have been a dupe from the beginning. Mazeppa had planned
all this--do you think he did not know of your rebellion? There have
been many to keep him informed. The provocation leading to your
challenge yesterday and the comedy of this morning--all was prepared
beforehand.’
‘However that may be, my friend, I must take Ajax, by your kind
permission, and indeed I know not how I am to spare your life----’
‘There is another thing: let this buy my life for me. You are to be
chased as far as the frontier. Then you are to be taken. Arrangements
are already made: you will be surrounded and captured, kept for a year,
and then escorted to your own home in Volhynia.’
‘Why all this?’ I laughed. ‘Why chased and captured and kept? Why not
allowed to go to Moscow?’
‘As to that, only Mazeppa knows Mazeppa’s mind, but so it is. He is
jealous maybe, and would rather not have you bargaining with the Tsar
Peter against him. More than this I know not any more than yourself.’
The horse Ajax, meanwhile, had recovered his feet and stood shaking
himself at intervals, panting, but apparently unhurt. I felt him up and
down; there was nothing broken.
‘Well, take your life, Kostigin,’ I said. ‘Ride back and meet the next
man; tell him he were wiser to return with you. You will find Shadrach
yonder. Mazeppa shall yet hear of me again--tell him so, if you are bold
enough. I do not intend to be caught at the frontier. Give me your gun
and any money you have--so! Will Mazeppa murder those other fellows,
like poor Bedinsky?’
‘I do not think so. One had to die for example, he said; but, saving
your dignity, he does not regard this rebellion as very serious or
dangerous, once you are out of the way.’
‘Well, one day I may return. We shall for ever be rivals, Mazeppa and I;
to-day he wins--to-morrow it may be my turn. I think I hear galloping
hoofs. I am glad to have spared you, Kostigin, but I shall kill the next
that interferes with me. Ride back and tell him so; I do not mean to be
spied upon!’
I mounted Ajax, who was now well breathed. He moved a little stiffly at
first, but he was unhurt, and carried me well. A mile away I waited,
anxious to know whether I was still pursued; but I could hear no sound
of galloping hoofs, and presently I rode easily forward, convinced that
Kostigin had argued well, and that the pursuit was over.
Then I altered my course, and made through forest and waste until I
passed in safety into Russian territory.
But when I was nearing Moscow, riding easily through the forest near
Preobrajensky, I met with a very notable adventure, which I must here
relate.
It was very early in the morning of a beautiful summer’s day, and as I
approached within a league of the Tsar Peter’s house, the same at which
I had often visited him a year ago or more (when he had caused Mazeppa
to compete with me, and had promised that I should one day be Hetman in
virtue of the excellence of my horsemanship), I suddenly heard the
commotion of galloping hoofs, and looking out I spied furiously riding
towards me at frantic speed a half-naked youth, who seemed mad with
alarm, and rode blindly forward, scarcely seeing where he went or what
he did.
And to my boundless surprise I recognised this frantic rider for the
Tsar Peter himself--for him who is at this day known as Piotr Veleeki,
Peter the Great; whose slightest word or frown is feared or hailed by
millions of subjects; the conqueror of Charles of Sweden; a second
Alexander the Great; the maker of a new Russia; the greatest Russian
that God’s sun ever shone upon. Dear saints! when I think of all this
and then of that picture of the frightened rider, I console myself with
the thought that there are ups and downs for all men, and not only for
me!
Yes, it was the Tsar Peter himself, dressed in his night-shirt and
nothing more, frantic with terror, galloping he knew not whither.
‘Out of the way, there, or you are a dead man!’ he shrieked. ‘I will run
you through: I swear it--clear out of the way!’
I did as the Tsar bade me, but I cried out, ‘Highness, I am a
friend--Chelminsky the Cossack. Is there danger? I am on your side!’
He pulled up. ‘Yes, it is Chelminsky,’ he said, staring at me with wild
eyes; ‘but how know I that you are not for my accursed sister?’
‘I was always for thee, Tsar; my name is in the book at Preobrajensky. I
am a soldier of the Pleasure Army!’
‘True--I remember. Ride with me and I will tell you all. Are you only
arriving from Batourin? Then you know nothing. My sister, whom may the
devil claim for his own, has plotted against me. Last night the Kremlin
was full of villains assembled and paid by her to murder me. Two good
fellows deserted and warned me: by now the rest are skulking around the
house at Preobrajensky, unless my fellows have caught them. I should
have been murdered but for the warning, thanks and praise be to God the
Saviour!’ The Tsar crossed himself devoutly. It was a remarkable
sight--this panic-stricken young giant frightened into prayer, sitting
bare-legged upon his horse, in mid-forest.
I argued with him. I would go forward while he concealed himself. I
would fetch clothes for him--that was the first need, and bring back
word of what happened at the house, which, though fortified and
garrisoned very strongly, was not, said the Tsar, prepared for sudden
assault.
At first the Tsar would not tarry until I returned; but presently,
finding a portion of the forest which was so dense that he might safely
hide therein without fear of discovery, he consented to wait. Then I
rode quickly forward and reached Preobrajensky.
The garrison was in a tumult of preparation in case of attack: every
hand was busy, every face haggard and anxious; but the most anxious of
all was that of the Tsar’s mother, that good and gentle Tsaritsa
Nathalia, who was in distress because of her son’s disappearance.
‘He will go to the monastery at Troitsa,’ she said, ‘and there I shall
join him; but who shall protect him upon the way?’ Then I told the
Tsaritsa how I had seen the Tsar and had returned for clothes and for
news; but she informed me that the Tsar’s clothes had already followed
him, though probably the messenger had been so frightened that he had
turned aside from the road rather than meet me. ‘Go quickly, good
Chelminsky!’ she said, ‘and ride with him. Take others with you--I am in
dread for my poor boy!’
But when I sought the Tsar in the place where I had left him he was not
to be found, so great a coward had sudden terror made of this young
lion--he who should presently learn to roar so loudly that all the world
would be terrified at his voice!