And Platoff answers: "I want nothing from Your Majesty for myself,
since I eat and drink what I please, and am content with all things:
but I am come to report to you concerning that nymfozoria which has
been found. It was thus and so," says he, "and this is what took place
before my own eyes in England--and there is a tiny key with it, and I
have the very melkoscope with which it can be seen, and with the key
the nymfozoria can be wound up through its belly, and it will skip over
any space you like, and make variations in all directions."
They wound it up, and it began to leap, and Platoff says: "This,
Your Majesty, is really a very delicate and interesting bit of work,
but it is not meet that we should view it with ecstasy of spirit
only; we must also submit it to Russian inspection in Tula or in
Sesterbek,"--Sesthoryetzk was still called Sesterbek at that time,--"to
see whether our artisans cannot surpass this, so that the English may
not exalt themselves above the Russians."
"Thou sayest well, valiant old man, and I commission thee to establish
this matter. This little box I do not want at present, in all my
anxieties, therefore do thou take it with thee; and stretch thyself
not again upon thy couch of vexation, but go thou to the peaceful Don,
and hold there with my men of the Don internecine converse with regard
to their life and loyalty, and as to what pleaseth them. And when thou
shalt pass through Tula, show thou this nymfozoria to my Tula artisans,
and bid them meditate upon it. Say to them from me that my brother
marvelled at this thing and praised the people who made the nymfozoria
above all others; but I am convinced that my own people are no worse
than they. They will not let my words pass unheeded, but will make
something."
V
Platoff took the steel flea, and as he passed through Tula on his way
to the Don he showed it to the Tula gunsmiths and repeated to them the
Emperor's words, and they asked: "And now, what shall we do about it,
Orthodox believers?"
The gunsmiths replied: "We are touched by the gracious word of the
Emperor, _batiushka_,[19] and we can never forget him, because he
places reliance upon his own people; but what we must do in the present
case we cannot say in one minute, because the English nation also
is not stupid, but even tolerably cunning, and their art hath much
sensible contrivance. With that," said they, "we must cope after due
reflection, and with the blessing of God. But if thou, gracious master,
like unto our gracious Sovereign, hast confidence in us, then do thou
go to thy home on the quiet Don, but leave this flea with us, just
as it is, in its case, and in the Imperial golden snuff-box. Take thy
pleasure upon the Don, and heal the wounds which thou hast accepted
for the sake of the Fatherland, and when thou returnest through Tula,
halt and send for us. By that time, God granting, we shall have devised
something."
Platoff was not wholly satisfied that the men of Tula should demand
so much time, and moreover, that they should not say plainly just
what they intended to make. He questioned them this way and that, and
craftily engaged them in conversation in all sorts of manners, after
the fashion of the Don; but the Tula men did not yield to him one whit
in cunning, for they had suddenly caught an idea which they could not
even hope that Platoff would believe in, and they desired to execute
fully their daring plan, and then hand it over.
Said they: "We do not ourselves know, as yet, what thing we shall
undertake; only, trust in God, and perchance the Imperial word will not
be put to shame through us." And thus did Platoff use crafty mental
shifts, and the men of Tula likewise.
Platoff shifted and shuffled, shifted and shuffled, and perceived,
at last, that to out-shift and out-shuffle a Tula man was beyond his
powers; so he gave them the snuff-box with the nymfozoria, and said:
"Well, there's nothing else to be done; be it according to your will.
I know you--what sort of fellows ye are--but there's nothing else to
be done; I trust you, only look to it that you will not exchange the
diamond, and will not spoil the delicate English work, and that you
will not be long about the job, for I travel fast; two weeks will not
have passed before I shall return from the quiet Don to Petrograd, and
then you must, without fail, let me have something to show to the
Emperor."
The gunsmiths reassured him fully.
"We will not injure the delicate work," said they, "and we will not
exchange the diamond, and two weeks is time enough for us; and against
that occasion of your return you shall have _something_ worthy to show
to the Emperor's Magnificence." But, all the same, they did not say
precisely what that _something_ was to be.