Harold Lamb

“ Is it the command of the Empress that Pavel—Paul Jones—is to be slain on the road to the Black Sea?”
Neither answered, and the full red lips of the prince—lips like a woman’s they were—drew together as if he were biting them. Strelsky began to curse, then he laughed.
“Can’t you see beyond your horse’s ears, sotnik? Haven’t you silver in your wallet? See to it that the river brigands or a band of Tatars seize the American and rub him out of the world. If this happens you will be colonel of the Don regiment; if not, you would better flee to the Turks, to keep from being flayed. ”

“ Out at the mouth of the gulf gleamed the small lights of the Moslem fleet, off one of their forts, where they hemmed us in, since the mouth of the gulf, which was the only way to the sea, was narrow as a cannon shot.
Eh, it was a sad thing that happened on the Vladimir: Scores of men ranged against one, who did not understand them. Two plotters against a hero of other wars who did not know how to plot. And yet, no other man was like John Paul. The proof of it was that all eyes on the ship watched him, even when Nassau took to striding up and down the deck near us. ”

“ Edwards who was dozing in the carriage had been wakened by the jolting.
“Bandits or foemen have happened,” I explained quickly. “We can not gain the last zamora ahead of them. Our beasts are tired and theirs are fresh. What is your will?”
“That we make a stand, Ivak. Tsob-tsob, Tsoboe! Hustle! Better to make a stand and greet them with bullets than rush into these infernal gullies that lead nowhere but out into your cursed steppe.”
“And what does the admiral say?”
Edwards spoke to John Paul quickly and the American cast a glance around, apparently not in the least disturbed. ”

“ The Englishman could ride a bit, and he pulled the beast up short. But the roan knew what to do next; it wheeled against the fence and the man had to slip a foot from stirrup to save his leg from being crushed against a post. At once the fiend with four legs reared, and Lieutenant Edwards followed his hat, rolling over in the muck almost under the nose of my Kabarda.
Now few things are as pleasing to a Cossack as a bit of tricky riding. I was smiling, and the officer thought I was laughing at him, which was not so. But a man does not feel proud when he has tumbled out of a saddle. ”

“ John Paul had been watching us and he it was who gave the order in the first place. Nassau shrugged indifferently, though Alexiano grew red with rage and kept muttering under his breath. He grew angrier when it became clear that the men did not know how to form ranks. Like cows, they trampled here and there, looking all around, until the officers who came on deck began to curse. ”

“ Where the estuary joined Father Dnieper a great raft of logs was floating lazily down the river.
My Tatars were already galloping the tarantass down toward the inlet and I soon saw that they would be hidden by the trees before the riders, who had been waiting by the highway, could come up to the summit of the hill. The man who had been on watch was standing still, because I had kept to my place. If I had rushed away with the carriage he would have run up, no doubt. Skulkers are bold when backs are turned. ”

“ Don’t you skulkers know that all men who stray from their ships are to be shot? The dawn of the day after the morrow the whole fleet advances against the unbelievers.”
The sentries on the ship cursed us again, and perhaps they would have loosed muskets at us but refrained for fear of bringing out the officers who were shut up in the after cabins, debating together. We rowed away then and John Paul steered the skiff for quite a while to one side until the oars caught in seaweed and the gleam of phosphorescent salt was to be seen, flickering along the shore. ”

“ Even at sunrise many officers were being carried home from the festivities in sedan chairs and sleighs by their servants, heydukes dressed like Turks or Poles or Tatars, in turbans and pelisses with silver frogs, though why the high commanders of St. Petersburg should dress their servants like their enemies I do not know. Nor why the most trusted officers of the Empress Catherine the Great should be chosen from among Prussians, who were as stiff as lance-poles, or French, who wore white wigs. ”

“ I found the Englishman in the courtyard, in high boots and a fine blue coat. He had been at the festivity, but he was not drunk, because he was looking to the saddling of a big roan. The horse was dancing and quivering, and the grooms kept their distance from its heels.
Lieutenant Edwards took the reins, gaining the saddle in the same instant. As I live, there was a fiend in that roan. It circled and reared, and the officer’s three-cornered hat flew off into the mud. Then he lost his whip, and the roan started to bolt. ”

“ Call him Pavel. That’s enough. And don’t blab about your mission to the tavern wenches, either, Ivak.”
Evidently he thought, my brothers, that we men of the steppe talked about military affairs to womenfolk, every night, like the Muscovite officers at court. When we talk to the girls our words are otherwise.
He leaned over the side of the sleigh to whisper:
“Report to the Englishman, Edwards. But come to me—I am the ensign Strelsky of the Guards—for a final word before setting out. Don’t fail!” ”

“ A LITTLE is my life owing to my heavy sheepskin kalpack and a little to the desire of the murderers to loot before casting the bodies overboard, but much to the escape of John Paul. The raft had drifted close to the left bank of the Dnieper just before the fight, and the American had only a distance of a musket shot to swim his horse. ”

“ And that would cripple the army which was acting in concert with the fleet. Protected by the Turkish ships-of-war, the Moslem army could advance on Kherson and the Crimea and march up the Dnieper, rolling over the villages of my people.
That was why I was eager to bring John Paul to Kherson to take command. If he were a leader of men—which remained to be seen—he might make an end of chaos and win the battle upon the sea. ”

“ AND that, my brothers, is how old Ivak brought an admiral to the Russian fleet. Aye, he was a man, that Pavel, as I like to name him. Deuce take it, he was my kunak, my comrade, a galliard.
What of the battle? Nay, that tale is told by others; how John Paul scattered the Turks and burned their ships and how ill the Russians rewarded him. Am I one to read what men have written in books? I brought a leader to men who lacked a leader and what honor had I thereby? ”

“ It was true that I was next in command to our ataman, our colonel who left matters pretty much to me, as he was always riding escort to the Empress. Her majesty liked fine, tall fellows who filled their uniforms and could sit a horse. She sent for us, out of the steppe fifteen hundred versts away, to see what we were like. We Cossacks of the Don are not bad looking chaps, and we can ride better than any one else in the world. Until my father’s time we had always been our own masters, and we came to St. Petersburg to see what the Empress was like. ”

“ They were quick of wit, those two, and they saw how old Ivak had uncovered a fine snare, all the more deadly because it was sprung by a silken cord.
“If your Honor pleases,” I responded after thought, “what is in your heart toward the American? Good or ill?”
“The deuce!” Edwards frowned. “Would I have come as his aide if not honestly? Pirate he may have been, but that chapter is written. Take care what you say, Cossack!”
“Lieutenant,” I made answer, “we be three men, and the road before us is fifteen hundred versts. Wolves track us, and they be two-legged wolves. ”

“ I asked.
“As God lives, they are like two brothers! They share gold together, and they have not been parted since the Prussian rejoined the fleet, two days ago.”
“Is Nassau-Siegen a good leader, liked by all the men?”
“Nay, Ivak. You have been away too long, wooing the Russian maids! Nassau-Siegen is a courtier, and, save for Alexiano’s bands, the men of the fleet would not follow him if he had gold pieces sewn on his breeches. It is said that he pays gold to the Turks, to let the fleet sit in peace where it is. Meanwhile he crows like a cock, claiming honor for holding off the Turks.” ”

“ Carefully this time I counted over the troopers and found there were seven with the ensign included. But my Tatars had heard nine horses, and if two others had come with the company they must be in hiding in the trees beyond the firelight—spies, without a doubt, or perhaps Strelsky, or even the prince of the silver coat.
“First,” I told Borol, “I will teach you a lesson if you are not afraid to challenge a man whose arm is as long as yours.”
“Draw your steel, you hedgehog!”
“Ivak!” Edwards turned on me angrily. “My affair with the ensign does not require the aid of a clown. ”

“ For a while we delayed while the two officers talked, and John Paul went up to the tarantass and glanced inside carelessly though he could have seen little in the faint light.
“Ivak,” Edwards called to me, “here’s a —— of a mess. The American will not ride in the carriage of the Empress. He wants to make the journey in a saddle. We can not send back her Majesty’s gift.”
“Health to your Honor,” I pointed out, “In that case we can throw the luggage in the wagon and use the pack aninals as spare mounts for the servant and Tatars. Then, perhaps Pavel—Paul Jones can sleep in it when we halt.” ”

“ It surprized them that a Cossack should know what a flagship was, but we fellows of the borderland have taken oars in hand and gone out in skiffs against the fleet of the Turks and we have smelled powder mixed with salt water.
“But this plot with the wretched girl has failed,” Edwards pointed out. “His enemies are behind him, and the road is clear ahead.”
“His enemies, Lieutenant, are powerful, and Muscovite spies are whelped even in the forests of Muscovy. Avoid the cities, and use spur and whip. If you will trust me I can lead you safe to Kherson.” ”

“ A dead man can’t spend anything, even a copeck.”
The smoke had cleared away enough for me to know that the Empress had not issued the order, or the Moskyas would have been bolder with their words. Some one else had a quarrel with Paul Jones, and I thought of the English officers who loved him only as dogs love wolves, and whose ships he had burned, besides taking from their grasp a high command in the Russian service. Before his coming the Empress had listened to the advice of the English colonels of the sea when she wanted to make war with her ships. ”

“ Strelsky looked over at a high lacquer screen that stood in one corner of the chamber, and wiped the brown dust again from his chin.
“No other escort goes with you, Ivak. Haste is imperative, and you must not spare the horses. A great number of followers would delay the march.”
I bent my head as if that were most true. Instead, I was wondering why not even a vedette of hussars accompanied us. John Paul was high in favor with her Majesty, and surely the empress would not let him ride forth without a retinue. ”

“ He warded desperately with his sticker, leaning back to do so when he should have spurred his nag clear.
The shoulder of the Turani struck his pony and the man lost his stirrups, falling to earth like a clown. Such riders! I had not a moment to lose, and so kept the black dancing around the outlaw.
“Speak up, you dog!” I cried at him. “Where is your officer and the American?”
“Only a little span ahead, noble sir! Truly, it is all our officer’s doing! He came to us with papers from the government, promising many things if we would rub out—Ai-a, spare a poor chap, noble lord!” ”

“ And it is not by threats and tale bearing that a leader’s nature is made clear to all men. The crew of the Vladimir were restless because the Turkish fleet had drawn up to within striking distance, and no orders to make ready for battle had been issued. They grumbled at John Paul because he had made them stand long in ranks, but they became curious when the American, instead of going to the officers’ table, ate dinner with the men on deck. ”

“ For ages the Cossacks had fought the Turks and all the Moslems who came over the black water. Only a generation ago had the Russians built a fleet strong enough to meet the armada of the Turks and to navigate these new men-of-war they had to engage foreign officers. Many great ships with masts as tall as pines were in this fleet, which was stationed near Kherson, in the narrow gulf called the Liman, or Port, at the mouth of Father Dnieper. ”

“ And, splash, a pot-bellied fox-fur would go and drink himself to death!
So, if Pavel were a pirate, I thought that we would escort him to be hanged on a steel hook. For that is how the pirates are dealt with. Surely, then, he would 'not come to St. Petersburg.
I waited in the courtyard of the Englishman’s house until restlessness came on me, and he let me exercise the roan. Every day then I rode out to speak a word to the Don Cossacks and let them see what a fine horse was in my charge. And everywhere I asked for news of Pavel, the great pirate and found that no one had heard of him ”

“ The nearest searcher went to untie the remaining horse—one had been slain by a bullet—and I heard him say:
“His Excellency will be well content with this affair of ours if we bag the American. If our officer fails to run him down, bless us, we’ll be flayed alive.”
The threat sounded somewhat familiar to me, but just then I was sliding down the incline of the log roof. My boots struck squarely on the back of the man who was edging the horse past the lean-to and he shot into the water so swiftly that I failed to grasp his saber. The horse reared, but being uncertain of the footing did not run. ”

“ AT NIGHTFALL we ate what food was in the saddle bags, the burlaks sharing their fish 'and barley cakes with us, being only too pleased to have real coins in their belts instead of kicks and promises which they would probably have been given at Kherson. They kept at the sweeps because the current was powerful here and other craft were about. One raft, smaller than ours, kept us company, the men on it sitting by bright fires and ticking up vodka until my throttle ached. ”

“ His nerves were quivering after the ride through the fleet of the enemy.
“The admiral swears that I have plotted against his honor; he accuses me of hiring men to waylay him. As God is holy, sotnik——”
Nassau stopped, all of a sudden remembering who I was, and what he had wanted me to do. Strelsky must have confessed the whole affair to John Paul, to shield himself a little; but Nassau believed of course that I had told John Paul of the plot.
“This mad American,” he went on while John Paul rolled up his right sleeve, “accuses me of holding Lieutenant Edwards prisoner. ”

“ The Russian surgeons are good for nothing but to cut off limbs, and of what use to a man is a leg that has been cut off?
The men who returned from Kherson said that John Paul had been given a banquet by the field marshal in command of the army, but did not appear content. He had asked after old Ivak, which gratified me. My Cossacks said in the taverns of Kherson it was rumored that the admiral would never hoist his flag on the big ship-of-war that was called the flagship. This vessel was commanded by a Greek, Alexiano, who held the rank of brigadier. ”

“ The only Russian who would pass a tavern after dark would be carrying an urgent dispatch. Moreover, he had not halted for a change of mounts at this post station, and surely there was a reason for that. I swore at my oversight in not placing sentries on the high road, and then I remembered that we had no men to post as sentries.
III
A raft upon the river is made of many logs fastened together; so long as the logs hold together the raft is safe. If they drift apart there is no longer a raft.
HAVE you, my brothers, ever slain a bear with a dirk? ”