A HUNTING PARTY.
Two days later Robson, an English merchant who had been one of the most
intimate of Godfrey's acquaintances, and to whom he had confided the
truth about his arrest, said to him:
"You are not looking quite yourself, lad."
"Oh, I am all right!" he said; "but it is not a pleasant thing having
had such a close shave of being sent to Siberia; and it isn't only that.
No doubt the police feel that they owe me a grudge for having been the
means of this fellow, whoever he was, slipping through their fingers,
and I shall be a suspected person for a long time. Of course it is only
fancy, but I am always thinking there is some one following me when I go
out. I know it is nonsense, but I can't get rid of it."
"I don't suppose they are watching you as closely as that," Mr. Robson
said, "but I do think it is likely that they may be keeping an eye on
you; but if they are they will be tired of it before long, when they see
that you go your own way and have nothing to do with any suspected
persons. You want a change, lad. I have an invitation to join a party
who are going up to Finland to shoot for a couple of days. It is more
likely than not that we shall never have a chance of firing a shot, but
it will be an outing for you, and will clear your brain. Do you think
you would like it?"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Robson, I should like it immensely. Petrovytch
was saying this morning that he thought I should be all the better for a
holiday, so I am sure he will spare me. I am nothing of a shot, in fact
I never fired a shot at game in my life, though I have practised a bit
with the rifle, but I am sure it will be very jolly whether we shoot
anything or not."
"Very well, then, be at the station to catch the seven o'clock train in
the morning. It is a four hours' railway journey."
"Is there anything to bring, sir?"
"No, you can take a hand-bag and sleeping things, but beyond a bit of
soap and a towel I don't suppose you will have need of anything, for you
will most likely sleep at some farm-house, or perhaps in a woodman's
hut, and there will not be any undressing. There are six of us going
from here, counting you, but the party is got up by two or three men we
know there. They tell me some of the officers of the regiment stationed
there will be of the party, and they will have a hundred or so of their
men to act as beaters. I have a spare gun that I will bring for you."
The next morning Godfrey joined Mr. Robson at the station. A Mr. White,
whom he knew well, was one of the party, and the other three were
Russians. They had secured a first-class compartment, and as soon as
they started they rigged up a table with one of the cushions and began
to play whist.
"You don't play, I suppose, Godfrey?" Mr. Robson said.
"No, sir. I have played a little at my father's, but it will be a long
time before I shall be good enough to play. I have heard my father say
that there is better whist at St. Petersburg than in any place in the
world."
"I think he is right, lad. The Russians are first-rate players and are
passionately fond of the game, and naturally we English here have had to
learn to play up to their standard. The game is similar to that in
England, but they score altogether differently."
The four hours passed rapidly. Godfrey sometimes looked out of the
window at the flat country they were passing through, but more often
watched the play. They were met at the station by two of Mr. Robson's
friends, and found that sledges were in readiness and they were to start
at once.
"We have ten miles to drive," one of them said. "The others went on
early; they will have had one beat by the time we get there, and are
then to assemble for luncheon."
The road was good and the horses fast, so that the sledges flew along
rapidly. Most of the distance was through forest, but the last half-mile
was open, and the sledge drew up at a large farm-house standing in the
centre of the cleared space, and surrounded at a distance of half a mile
on all sides by the forest. A dozen men, about half of whom were in
uniform, poured out from the door as the four sledges drew up.
"You are just in time," one of them said. "The soup is ready and in
another minute we should have set to."
The civilians all knew each other, but the new-comers were introduced to
the Russian colonel and his five officers.
"Have you had any luck, colonel?" Mr. Robson asked.
"Wonderful," the latter replied with a laugh. "A stag came along and
every one of us had a shot at it, and each and every one is ready to
take oath that he hit it, so that every one is satisfied. Don't you call
that luck?"
Mr. Robson laughed. "But where is the stag?" he asked, looking round.
"That is more than any one can tell you. He went straight on, and
carried off our twelve bullets. Captain Fomitch here, and in fact all my
officers, are ready to swear that the deer is enchanted, and they have
all been crossing themselves against the evil omen. Such a thing was
never heard of before, for being such crack shots, all of us, of course
there can be no doubt about our each having hit the stag when it was not
more than a hundred yards away at the outside; but come in, the soup
smells too good to wait, and the sight of that enchanted beast has
sharpened my appetite wonderfully."
Godfrey entered with the rest. Large as the farm-house was, the greater
portion of the ground-floor was occupied by the room they entered. It
was entirely constructed of wood blackened with smoke and age. A great
fire burned on the hearth, and the farmer's wife and two maids were
occupied with several large pots, some suspended over the fire, others
standing among the brands. The window was low, but extended half across
one side of the room, and was filled with small lattice panes. From the
roof hung hams, sides of bacon, potatoes in network bags, bunches of
herbs, and several joints of meat. A table extended the length of the
room covered with plates and dishes that from their appearance had
evidently been brought out from the town, and differed widely from the
rough earthenware standing on a great dresser of darkened wood extending
down one side of the room. At one end the great pot was placed, the
cloth having been pushed back for the purpose, and the colonel, seizing
the ladle, began to fill the earthenware bowls which were used instead
of soup plates.
"Each man come for his ration before he sits down," he said. "It would
be better if you did not sit down at all, for I know well enough that
when my countrymen sit down to a meal it is a long time before they get
up again, and we have to be in the forest again in three-quarters of an
hour."
"Quite right, colonel," one of the hosts said; "this evening you may sit
as long as you like, but if we are to have another drive to-day we must
waste no time. A basin of soup and a plate of stew are all you will get
now, with a cup of coffee afterwards to arm you against the cold, and a
glass of vodka or kümmil to top up with. No, colonel, not any punch just
now. Punch in the evening; but if we were to begin with that now, I know
that there would be no shooting this afternoon."
"What are the beaters doing?" Mr. Robson asked as they hastily ate their
dinner.
"They have brought their bread with them," the colonel said, "and our
friends here have provided a deer almost as fine as that which carried
off the twelve bullets. It was roasting over a fire in the forest when
we went past, and I saw some black bottles which I guessed were vodka."
"Yes, colonel, I ordered that they should have a glass each with their
dinner, and another glass when they had done this afternoon."
"They would not mind being on fatigue duty every day through the winter
on those terms," the colonel said. "It is better for them than
soldiering. We must mind that we don't shoot any of them, gentlemen. The
lives of the Czar's soldiers are not to be lightly sacrificed, and next
time, you know, the whole of the bullets may not hit the mark as they
did this morning."
"There really is some danger in it," Mr. Robson said to Godfrey, who was
sitting next to him; "in fact, I should say there was a good deal of
danger. However, I fancy the beaters all throw themselves down flat when
they hear the crack of the first rifle."
"I see most of them have got a gun as well as a rifle."
"Yes, there is no saying what may come along, and, indeed, they are more
likely to get birds than fur. I was told there are a good many elk in
the forest, and the peasants have been bringing an unusual number in
lately. A friend of mine shot two last week; but as our party did not
get one in their first drive they are not likely to get any afterwards.
Occasionally in these big drives a good many animals are inclosed, but
as a rule the noise the soldiers make as they move along to take up
their places is enough to frighten every creature within a couple of
miles. I told you you were not likely to have to draw a trigger.
Expeditions like this are rather an excuse for a couple of days' fun
than anything else. The real hunting is more quiet. Men who are fond of
it have peasants in their pay all over the country, and if one of these
hears of a bear or an elk anywhere in his neighbourhood he brings in the
news at once, and then one or two men drive out to the village, where
beaters will be in readiness for them, and have the hunt to themselves.
"I used to do a good deal of it the first few years I came out, but it
is bitter cold work waiting for hours till a beast comes past, or trying
to crawl up to him. After all, there is no great fun in putting a bullet
into a creature as big as a horse at a distance of thirty or forty
yards. But there, they are making a move. They are going to drink the
coffee and vodka standing, which is wise, for after standing in the snow
for four hours, as they have been doing, they are apt to get so sleepy
after a warm meal that if we were to stop here much longer you would
find half the number would not make a start at all."
The sledges were brought up, and there was a three miles drive through
the forest. Then the shooters were placed in a line, some forty or fifty
yards apart, each taking his station behind a tree. Then a small bugler
sounded a note. Godfrey heard a reply a long distance off.
Three-quarters of an hour passed without any further sound being heard,
and then Godfrey, who had been stamping his feet and swinging his arms
to keep himself warm, heard a confused murmur. Looking along the line he
saw that the others were all on the alert, and he accordingly took up
his gun and began to gaze across the snow. The right-hand barrel was
loaded with shot, the left with ball. Presently a shot rang out away on
his right, followed almost immediately afterwards by another. After
this evidence that there must be something in the forest he watched more
eagerly for signs of life. Presently he saw a hare coming loping along.
From time to time it stopped and turned its head to listen, and then
came on again. He soon saw that it was bearing to the left, and that it
was not going to come within his range. He watched it disappear among
the trees, and two minutes later heard a shot. Others followed to the
right and left of him, and presently a hare, which he had not noticed,
dashed past at full speed, almost touching his legs. He was so startled
for the moment that the hare had got some distance before he had turned
round and was ready to fire, and he was in no way surprised to see it
dash on unharmed by his shot. When there was a pause in the firing the
shouting recommenced, this time not far distant, and he soon saw men
making their way towards him through the trees.
"It is all over now," Mr. Robson shouted from the next tree. "If they
have not done better elsewhere than we have here the bag is not a very
large one."
"Did you shoot anything, Mr. Robson?"
"I knocked a hare over; that is the only thing I have seen. What have
you done?"
"I think I succeeded in frightening a hare, but that was all," Godfrey
laughed. "It ran almost between my legs before I saw it, and I think it
startled me quite as much as my shot alarmed it."
The bugle sounded again, and the party were presently collected round
the colonel. The result of the beat was five hares, and a small stag
that had fallen to the gun of Mr. White.
"Much cry and little wool," Mr. Robson said. "A hundred beaters, twenty
guns, and six head of game."
Another short beat was organized, resulting in two stags and three more
hares. One of the stags and the three hares were placed on a sledge to
be taken back to the farm-house, and the rest of the game was given to
the soldiers. A glass of vodka was served out to each of them, and,
highly pleased with their day's work, the men slung the deer to poles
and set out on their march of eight miles back to the town.
"They will have done a tremendous day's work by the time they have
finished," Godfrey said. "Eight miles out and eight miles back, and
three beats, which must have cost them four or five miles' walking at
least. They must have gone over thirty miles through the snow."
"It won't be as much as that, though it will be a long day's work," the
colonel said. "They came out yesterday evening and slept in a barn.
Another company come out to-night to take their place."
It was already dark by the time the party reached the farm-house, and
after a cup of coffee all round they began to prepare the dinner. They
were like a party of school-boys, laughing, joking, and playing tricks
with each other. Two of them undertook the preparation of hare-soup. Two
others were appointed to roast a quarter of venison, keeping it turning
as it hung by a cord in front of the fire, and being told that should it
burn from want of basting they would forfeit their share of it. The
colonel undertook the mixing of punch, and the odour of lemons, rum, and
other spirits soon mingled with that of the cooking. Godfrey was set to
whip eggs for a gigantic omelette, and most of the others had some task
or other assigned to them, the farmer's wife and her assistants not
being allowed to have anything to do with the matter.
The dinner was a great success. After it was over a huge bowl of punch
was placed on the table, and after the health of the Czar and that of
the Queen of England had been drunk, speeches were made, songs were
sung, and stories told. While this was going on, the farmer brought in a
dozen trusses of straw. These his wife and the maids opened and
distributed along both sides of the room, laying blankets over them. It
was not long before Godfrey began to feel very drowsy, the result of the
day's work in the cold, a good dinner, the heated air of the room and
the din, and would have gladly lain down; but his movement to leave the
table was at once frustrated, and he was condemned to drink an extra
tumbler of punch as a penalty. After that he had but a confused idea of
the rest of the evening. He knew that many songs were sung, and that
everyone seemed talking together, and as at last he managed to get away
and lie down on the straw he had a vague idea that the colonel was
standing on a chair making a final oration, with the punch-bowl turned
upside down and worn as a helmet.
Godfrey had not touched the wine at dinner, knowing that he would be
expected to take punch afterwards, and he had only sipped this
occasionally, except the glass he had been condemned to drink; and when
he heard the colonel shout in a stentorian voice "To arms!" he got up
and shook himself, and felt ready for another day's work, although many
of the others were sitting up yawning or abusing the colonel for having
called them so early. However, it was already light. Two great samovars
were steaming, and the cups set in readiness on the table. Godfrey
managed to get hold of a pail of water and indulged in a good wash, as
after a few minutes did all the others; while a cup or two of tea and a
few slices of fried bacon set up even those who were at first least
inclined to rise.
A quarter of an hour later the sledges were at the door, and the party
started. The hunt was even less successful than that of the previous
day. No stag was seen, but some ten hares and five brace of grouse were
shot. At three o'clock the party assembled again at the farm-house and
had another hearty meal, terminating with one glass of punch round; then
they took their places in their sledges and were driven back to the
town; the party for St. Petersburg started by the six-o'clock train, the
rest giving them a hearty cheer as the carriage moved off from the
platform.
"Well, have you enjoyed it, Godfrey?" Mr. Robson asked.
"Immensely, sir. It has been grand fun. The colonel is a wonderful
fellow."
"There are no more pleasant companions than the Russians," Mr. Robson
said. "They more closely resemble the Irish than any people I know. They
have a wonderful fund of spirits, enjoy a practical joke, are fond of
sport, and have too a sympathetic, and one may almost say a melancholy
vein in their disposition, just as the Irish have. They have their
faults, of course--all of us have; and the virtue of temperance has not
as yet made much way here. Society, in fact, is a good deal like that in
England two or three generations back, when it was considered no
disgrace for a man to sit after dinner at the table until he had to be
helped up to bed by the servants. Now, White, you have got the cards, I
think."
Godfrey watched the game for a short time, then his eyes closed, and he
knew nothing more until Mr. Robson shook him and shouted, "Pull yourself
together, Godfrey. Here we are at St. Petersburg."
Three days later, when Ivan Petrovytch came in to breakfast at eleven
o'clock--for the inmates of the house had a cup of coffee or chocolate
and a roll in their rooms at half-past seven, and office work commenced
an hour later--Godfrey saw that he and his wife were both looking very
grave. Nothing was said until the servant, having handed round the
dishes, left the room.
"Has anything happened?" Godfrey asked.
"Yes, there is bad news. Another plot against the life of the Czar has
been discovered. The Nihilists have mined under the road by which he was
yesterday evening to have travelled to the railway-station. It seems
that some suspicion was felt by the police. I do not know how it arose;
at any rate at the last moment the route was changed. During the night
all the houses in the suspected neighbourhood were searched, and in the
cellar of one of them a passage was found leading under the road. A mine
was heavily charged with powder, and was connected by wires to an
electric battery; and there can be no doubt that had the Czar passed by
as intended he would have been destroyed by the explosion. It is
terrible, terrible!"
"Did they find any one in the cellar?" Godfrey asked.
"No one. The conspirators had no doubt taken the alarm when they heard
that the route was changed, and the place was deserted. It seems that
the shop above was taken four months ago as a store for the sale of coal
and wood, and the cellar and an adjoining one were hired at the same
time. There was also a room behind the shop, where the man and woman who
kept it lived. They say that arrests have been made all over the city
this morning, and we shall no doubt have a renewal of the wholesale
trials that followed the assassination of General Mesentzeff, the head
of the police, last autumn. It is terrible! These misguided men hope to
conquer the empire by fear. Instead of that, they will in the end only
strengthen the hands of despotism. I have always been inclined to
liberalism, but I have wished for gradual changes only. For large
changes we are not yet fit; but as education spreads and we approach the
western standard, some power and voice ought to be given to all
intelligent enough to use it; that is to say, to the educated classes. I
would not--no one in his senses would--give the power of voting to
illiterate and ignorant men, who would simply be tools in the hands of
the designing and ambitious; but the peoples of the great towns, St.
Petersburg, Moskow, Kieff, Odessa, and others should be permitted to
send representatives--men of their own choice--to the provincial
councils, which should be strengthened and given a real, instead of a
nominal, voice in the control of affairs.
"That was all I and thousands like me ever wished for in the present,
but it would have been the first step towards a constitution which the
empire, when the people become fit for it, might enjoy. That dream is
over. These men, by their wild violence, have thrown back the reforms
for half a century at least. They have driven the Czar to war against
them; they have strengthened the hands of the men who will use their
acts as an excuse for the extremest measures of repression; they have
ranged on the other side all the moderate men like myself, who, though
desirous of constitutional changes, shrink with horror from a revolution
heralded by deeds of bloodshed and murder."
"I quite agree with you," Godfrey said warmly. "Men must be mad who
could counsel such abominable plans. The French Revolution was terrible,
although it began peacefully, and was at first supported by all the best
spirits of France; but at last it became a hideous butchery. But here in
Russia it seems to me that it would be infinitely worse, for it is only
in the towns that there are men with any education; and if it began with
the murder of the Czar, what would it grow to?"
"What, indeed!" Ivan Petrovytch repeated. "And yet, like the French
Revolution, the pioneers of this movement were earnest and thoughtful
men, with noble dreams for the regeneration of Russia."
"But how did it begin?"
"It may be said to have started about 1860. The emancipation of the
serfs produced a sort of fever. Every one looked for change, but it was
in the universities, the seminaries, and among the younger professional
men that it first began. Prohibited works of all kinds, especially those
of European socialists, were, in spite of every precaution at the
frontier, introduced and widely circulated. Socialistic ideas made
tremendous progress among the class I speak of, and these, by writing,
by the circulation of prohibited papers, and so on, carried on a sort of
crusade against the government, and indeed against all governments,
carrying their ideas of liberty to the most extreme point and waging war
against religion as well as against society.
"In the latter respect they were more successful than in the former,
and I regret to say that atheism made immense strides among the educated
class. They had some profound thinkers among them: Tchernyshevsky,
Dobroluboff, Mikhailoff, besides Herzen and Ogareff, the two men who
brought out the _Kolokol_ in London in the Russian language, and by
their agents spread it broadcast over Russia. The stifling of the
insurrection in Poland strengthened the reactionary party. More
repressive edicts were issued, with the usual result, that secret
societies multiplied everywhere. Then came the revolution and commune in
Paris, which greatly strengthened the spread of revolutionary ideas
here. Another circumstance gave a fresh impetus to this. Some time
before, there had been a movement for what was called the emancipation
of women, and a perfect furore arose among girls of all classes for
education.
"There were no upper schools or colleges open to them in Russia, and
they went in enormous numbers to Switzerland, especially to Zurich.
Girls of the upper classes shared their means with the poorer ones, and
the latter eked out their resources by work of all descriptions. Zurich,
as you know, is a hotbed of radicalism, and those young women who went
to learn soon imbibed the wildest ideas. Then came a ukase, ordering the
immediate return home of all Russian girls abroad. It was undoubtedly a
great mistake. In Switzerland they were harmless, but when they returned
to Russia and scattered over the towns and villages, they became so many
apostles of socialism, and undoubtedly strengthened the movement. So it
grew. Men of good families left their homes, and in the disguise of
workmen expounded their principles among the lower classes. Among these
was Prince Peter Krapotkine, the rich Cossack Obuchoff, Scisoko and
Rogaceff, both officers, and scores of others, who gave up everything
and worked as workmen among workmen.
"Innumerable arrests were made, and at one trial a thousand prisoners
were convicted. So wholesale were the arrests that even the most
enthusiastic saw that they were simply sacrificing themselves in vain,
and about 1877 they changed their tactics. The prisons were crowded, and
the treatment there of the political prisoners was vastly harder than
that given to those condemned for the most atrocious crimes, as you may
imagine when I tell you that in the course of the trial of that one
batch I spoke of, which lasted four years, seventy-five of the prisoners
committed suicide, went mad, or died. Then when the authorities thought
Nihilism was stamped out by wholesale severity the matter assumed
another phase. The crusade by preaching had failed, and the Nihilists
began a crusade of terror. First police spies were killed in many
places, then more highly placed persons, officers of the police, judges,
and officials who distinguished themselves by their activity and
severity. Then in the spring of last year Vera Zasulitch shot at General
Trépoff, who had ordered a political prisoner to be flogged. She was
tried by a jury, and the feeling throughout the country was so much in
favour of the people who had been so terribly persecuted that she was
acquitted. The authorities were furious, and every effort was made to
find and re-arrest Vera; and a verdict of the court acquitting many of
the accused in one of the trials was annulled by the Czar.
"Well, you know, Godfrey Bullen, I am not one who meddles with politics.
You have never heard me speak of them before, and I consider the aims of
these men would bring about anarchy. An anarchy that would deluge the
land with blood seems to me detestable and wicked. But I cannot but
think the government has made a terrible mistake by its severity. These
people are all enthusiastic fanatics. They see that things are not as
they should be, and they would destroy everything to right them. Hate
their aims as one may, one must admit that their conduct is heroic. Few
have quailed in their trials. All preserve a calmness of demeanour that
even their judges and executioners cannot but admire. They seem made of
iron; they suffer everything, give up everything, dare everything for
their faith; they die, as the Christian martyrs died in Rome,
unflinching, unrepentant. If they have become as wild beasts, severity
has made them so. Their propaganda was at first a peaceful one. It is
cruelty that has driven them to use the only weapon at their disposal,
assassination.
"One man, for example, in 1877, Jacob Stefanovic, organized a conspiracy
in the district of Sighirino. It spread widely among the peasants. The
priests, violating the secret of the confessional, informed the police,
but these, although using every effort, could learn no more. Hundreds of
arrests were made, but nothing discovered. Learning that the priests had
betrayed them the peasants no longer went to confession, and to avoid
betraying themselves in a state of drunkenness abstained from the use of
brandy; but one man, tired and without food, took a glass. It made him
drunk, and in his drunkenness he spoke to the man who had sold him
spirits. He was arrested, and although he did not know all, gave enough
clue for the police to follow up, and all the leaders and over a
thousand persons were arrested. Two thousand others, who were affiliated
to the society, were warned in time and escaped. You can guess the fate
of those who were captured.
"Last year, three months before you came here, General Mezentsoff, the
head of the police, was assassinated, and since then we know that it is
open war between the Nihilists and the Czar. The police hush matters up,
but they get abroad. Threatening letters reach the Czar in his inmost
apartments, and it is known that several attempts have been made to
assassinate him, but have failed.
"One of the most extraordinary things connected with the movement is
that women play a large part in it. Being in the thick of every
conspiracy they are the life and soul of the movement, and they are of
all classes. There are a score of women for whose arrest the authorities
would pay any money, and yet they elude every effort. It is horrible.
This is what comes of women going to Switzerland and learning to look
upon religion as a myth and all authority as hateful, and to have wild
dreams of an impossible state of affairs such as never has existed in
this world. It is horrible, but it is pitiable. The prisons in the land
are full of victims; trains of prisoners set off monthly for Siberia. It
is enough to turn the brain to think of such things. How it is to end no
one can say."
But it was only in bated breath and within closed doors that the
discovery of the Nihilist plot was discussed in St. Petersburg.
Elsewhere it was scarcely alluded to, although, if mentioned, those
present vied with each other in the violence of their denunciation of
it; but when society from the highest to the lowest was permeated by
secret agents of the police, and every word was liable to be reported
and misinterpreted, a subject so dangerous was shunned by common
consent. It was known, though, that large numbers of arrests had been
made, but even those whose dearest friends had suddenly disappeared said
no word of it in public, for to be even a distant acquaintance of such a
person was dangerous. Yet apparently everything went on as usual: the
theatres were as well filled; the Nevski as crowded and gay.