A pause, which seemed to the woman with the glasses fixed to her eyes
an eternity, followed.
"You were just in time," continued the voice to her infinite relief.
"Courage! Fear not. Orders have been given to pick you up, with the
others along the line, when we evacuate the town by car. But tell us
what is happening."
"I can see a number of men tampering with the metals," telephoned
Stephania Ychas. "They have dismounted from their horses. One of them,
an officer, is giving orders. Yes, I can see now. They are Uhlans,
and are going to dynamite the line. There are at least twenty of
them, evidently a portion of an advance guard that has made a turning
movement round Shavli by way of the woods. Halloa, halloa! In the name
of Our Lady of Vilna, do not leave the instrument. It is a blessing
they did not begin by cutting the wire. Now they are scattering to
await the explosion. There!"--as the speaker beheld the explosion,
followed by a cloud of smoke and dust, which rose high in the air--"it
is done. Holy Virgin! They are making off now. No, the officer is
pointing here. They are coming towards me. Telephone to the nearest
military station to send me help immediately. And for the love of the
saints, come back to the instrument!"
Stephania Ychas left the receiver dangling by its cords, and made her
little home ready to withstand a siege. She locked and doubly bolted
the door, and with the object of giving the Uhlans the idea that the
place was uninhabited prepared to block up the windows with the boards
which, as in most Lithuanian country cottages, served as shutters,
fastened from the inside.
"Perhaps," she thought, "if they see the house shuttered, they will
conclude it is uninhabited and will ride away."
Unfortunately, the Uhlans rode quickly, and Stephania had more than
she could do with just one shutter, that which protected the little
window on the left of the telephone, and which, when up, plunged the
room into semi-darkness. Whilst she was fixing this barrier, the
Uhlans surrounded the house and the officer momentarily caught sight
of her. Simultaneously there came a violent knocking at the door with
the butt-end of a rifle, a command to open, and the sharp crack of a
revolver. A bullet crashed through one of the panes, traversed the
centre of the shutter-board, and buried itself in the opposite wall.
The brave woman was now back at the telephone, but not before she had
managed to make the entrance to her home doubly sure by dragging a
heavy dresser against it.
"Halloa, Shavli! You have sent for help? Thank you. They have
surrounded the house, and are trying to force an entrance. They have
discovered that I am here. But they will have a difficulty in forcing
open the door, unless----"
She paused and listened. There was a long and ominous silence, which
made her think at first that the enemy must have decided it was not
worth while to waste further time over a woman. But the hope was
short-lived. She heard a sharp command in German, the sound of muffled
voices, a burst of laughter, and the clatter of horses' hoofs around
the house. What was happening? Were they really riding off?
Again her hopes were shattered. The scampering backwards and forwards
continued, one of the horses neighed, and she imagined she could almost
hear the Uhlans' heavy breathing, sounds which brought back to her the
danger which she had hesitated to frame in words. Very soon her fears
were confirmed. A vision flashed to her brain and made her sick with
fear. A faint cracking sound broke upon her ears from several points
simultaneously, spreading until it seemed to envelope her on all sides,
and especially over her head. By slow degrees the crackling grew to a
roar, and then she fully realized what the barbarians had done.