"Well," I managed to ejaculate, standing quite still, without moving a
muscle. I saw that his attitude was one of determination, and that he
had been joined by a ruffianly-looking companion who had emerged from
the undergrowth as if by magic.
My only thought was of my past life. How had I been able to bear the
suspicion and suspense so long? I had borne it because the star of hope
had glimmered in the darkness. And now the star had vanished, and the
hope was dead. Darkness had fallen upon my soul, and a storm arose
within it like the chill whirling wind that swept across the steppe at
dead of night. I could not think; I forgot where I was, forgot
everything except my anger. My heart was full of blind despair.
I was conscious that the gaol-bird spoke. He was demanding my money,
and threatening to put a bullet through my head if I refused.
"I promised you money on condition that you took me to Sonia Korolenko,"
I answered. "I am ready to pay when you have fulfilled your part of the
contract."
Both men laughed heartily.
"We have no knowledge of her," declared the man who had been my guide.
"All we know is that you have money; if you don't hand it to us quietly
your grave will be in yonder heap of dead leaves."
"He'll be company for the others," observed the man with a fox-like
countenance, who had joined us, and was leaning upon an old Berdan
rifle.
"Then I understand you have brought me here, to this spot, on a false
pretence. You mean to rob me?" I said. "You assured me that you were
Sonia's messenger, and so implicitly did I trust you, that I left my
revolver behind at the inn."
"That is no affair of ours," answered the old scoundrel, shrugging his
shoulders unconcernedly. "Hand us over your money, and we are ready to
guarantee you safe conduct, either on into Germany or back to
Skerstymone."
"I'll pay you nothing, not even a rouble, na vodkou, until you take me
to your leader," I answered defiantly, for somehow I had from the first
been convinced of the truth of the man's assertion that Sonia was in
that neighbourhood.
"As we are unable to conduct you to the lady, whoever she is, we shall
therefore be compelled to use violence," observed my guide, glancing at
his companion, who nodded approvingly. Then, still holding the muzzle
of his weapon to my face, he added with brutal frankness: "You'd better
make the sign of the cross now, if you want to. It will be the last
chance you'll get. When a man's dead and buried he can tell the police
nothing."
Well I knew the desperate character of these brigandish nomads, and
fully recognised that they were not to be trifled with.
"The people who come to us for aid never get across the frontier unless
they part with their money first," he continued. "If they don't--well,
we put them to rest quietly and unceremoniously, and give them decent
burial. A good many of all sorts, rich and poor, lie buried in these
woods. You asked me whether it was a paying profession," he laughed.
"Judge for yourself."
He still spoke with that unaffected carelessness that had impressed me
when we had first met outside the dingy little "tractir" in Skerstymone.
"Come," cried the ragged, fox-faced man, impatiently, with an accent of
South Russia. "We have no time to waste; we have many versts before us
ere dawn."
"Then you'd better be off, and leave me to find my way back as best I
can," I said, endeavouring to preserve an outward show of calmness.
Some noise, so faint that I did not distinguish it, caused both outlaws
to hold their breath and listen. They exchanged quick glances. They
had wandered thousands of versts across the "taiga" and the steppe, and
constantly on the alert to evade Cossack patrols and police, knew every
sound of the forest. They had learnt to know the voice of the wood; the
speech of every tree. The great firs rustle with their thick boughs,
the dark, gloomy pines whisper to one another in mystery, the bright
green leafy trees wave their dewy branches, and the mountain-ash
trembles with a noise like a faintly rippling brook. They knew, to
their disgust, too, how those spies of the frontier, the magpies, hover
in crowds over the track of the man who tries in daylight to creep
unseen across the bare open steppe.
It was evident that the noise had for an instant puzzled them; yet,
after listening a moment, both became reassured, and re-demanded with
many violent threats whatever money I had upon me.
"I tell you I refuse," I answered. "If you take me to Sonia you shall
have two hundred roubles each, with twenty more na vodkou."
"Then you do not wish to live?" exclaimed the man who had so cunningly
entrapped me.
"I will give you nothing," I said resolutely.
"Then take that!" he cried, wildly, and at the same time his revolver
flashed close to my face.
The shot echoed far away among the myriad tree trunks, but the bullet
passed harmlessly by my ear.
Ere he could fire a second time I sprang upon him, and clutching him by
the throat with one hand, with the other grasped the wrist of the sinewy
hand that held the revolver. It was a struggle for life.
Again my antagonist drew the trigger, but the weapon was exploded in
mid-air. Then his companion flung himself upon me in an endeavour to
drag me off. This he was unable to do, and, apparently, fearing lest I
should succeed in wresting the weapon from his accomplice's grasp and
use it against him, he sought to stun me by raining blows with his
clenched fist upon my head.
A third time the ruffianly assassin's revolver went off with loud
report, but doing no harm. At that moment, however, I was conscious
that my strength was failing me. I was muscular, but against this pair
of hulking brutes I had no chance in a contest of mere physical power.
The repeated blows upon my skull dazed me, but hearing shouts resounding
in the darkness, I held on with grim, dogged courage, with the faint
hope that they might be Cossacks. In the dim light I could distinguish
figures moving rapidly beneath the trees. The forest seemed suddenly
alive with men, but at that instant the fox-faced ruffian, finding his
efforts unavailing, stepped back a pace or two, and lowering his rifle,
took deliberate aim at my breast.