Zoiloff

“ When Zoiloff came I explained my views, putting bluntly the alternative of fight or flight, and he was all for fighting. But he shook his head gloomily at the chances.
“We have left to the last the most hazardous work of all,” he said, “and yet in some respects the most important. I mean the winning over of some of those men, the politicians, the men of tongues not deeds, whose names are most before the public. They are the most dangerous of all to meddle with, and yet without them I fear for the result. And we cannot draw them to us until we can show that the army is on our side.” ”

“ I thundered again; and word by word he told us that he heard me declare that we were Russian agents, and all that followed.
His fear of the death that he believed imminent was sickening to behold, and made me anxious to close the scene.
“You have heard this wretch’s confession, gentlemen; what say you?”
“He must die!” cried Zoiloff. “In the name of the Czar I claim his life. Every Russian interest in the country is in peril while he lives.” ”

“ The men seeing him coming were instantly filled with alarm, for my work had told its tale well enough on their nerves, and after making a show of resistance and firing their carbines at him with scarcely a pretence of taking aim, they plunged their spurs into their animals and shot away trying to lead the other horses with them. But Zoiloff gained at every stride, and when he fired his revolver after them they cast off the led horses and themselves fled for their lives in sheer scatterbrained fright. ”

“ A second volley was fired, but not until we had already passed the frontier; and I did not draw rein till I was nearly to the crest of the hill and within sight of the Servian station-house over the crest. Then I found that Zoiloff was not so close to me as he should have been, and I halted to wait for him. Below him I saw the officer and two of the men had mounted and were in hot pursuit.
Zoiloff was leaning forward curiously in the saddle, sitting very loosely, and his horse could hardly move. I rode back to him, filled with alarm. ”

“ Poor, brave, noble Zoiloff, lying in that far away lonely grave!
In the other picture Spernow and I are again among the chief figures, but not alone now. Nathalie is by his side, Christina by mine. Again there is the same priest and the same choir, but we stand in the lofty chancel of a stately church, and the words are not of death but of marriage. Around us a small group is gathered, well-wishers, relatives, and friends, with faces bright with gladness and tongues eager to burst out with noisy congratulations and fervent wishes for our happiness. ”

“ We were riding at a brisk canter, and did not rein up until they challenged us. Seeing Zoiloff’s uniform they saluted him, but the leader turned to me and asked for my permit.
“I am on special service,” I said quietly, producing the permit. He read it, returned it to me, drew back for us to proceed, and we cantered on without having wasted a minute.
“You had your wits about you when you got that paper,” said Zoiloff, laughing. “If those fellows had only known what that special service was, we should have had a brush with them. Let’s hope that those at the barrier will be as easily satisfied.” ”

“ Zoiloff’s suggestion that General Kolfort might know of the secret passage gave me a twinge of uneasiness, and as I paused to open the little door of outlet my fears were more than verified, for I heard the cries of men as they entered the passage from the house end. I held a revolver ready as I slipped out into the night, and at a little distance to the left I caught sight of a couple of men, just perceptible as shadows in the gloom. ”

“ I gave no sign of even having heard her, and watched in silence as the carriage drove off.
“There goes our last hope,” said Zoiloff, looking moodily after the carriage, as though he would have [165] given all he was worth to have dashed after it, and have torn the Countess out of it back to captivity.
“Now let us consider what to do next,” I replied.
“There is nothing to do next, or after,” he said, in the same moody tone. “When such a woman holds the future of our scheme in her hands we can do nothing but prepare for the worst, and look out for the best means of escape. ”

“ You’re sure to kill him.”
“He shall have a chance to save his life. We’ll have swords. But, mind, the fight is to be to the death. No stopping for a trickle of blood!”
“That’s the spirit I like,” cried Zoiloff bluntly; and then we discussed the plan I had suggested. He told me where I could sleep and he and Spernow could find me in the morning. ”

“ I said.
“Ah, you don’t know my countrymen,” exclaimed Zoiloff, whose eyes shone and sparkled with the fire of feeling. “They have been crushed under the curse of the Crescent; they have groaned under the oppression till the fire of patriotism has flickered low indeed, for there seemed no gleam of hope; they have suffered, God alone knows how bitterly and drearily, till the iron was like to enter their souls and corrode every generous instinct and fervour ”

“ Zoiloff and Spernow came and stood by me, as I waited, sword in hand, to know if the fierce combat was to go on still further. Then his chief second crossed to us, and in a formal tone said:
“My principal can fight no longer.”
“Is the hurt dangerous? Will he die?” I asked, and the man glanced at me in evident surprise at the concern in my tone.
“Not necessarily. The wound is severe, but the doctor says the artery has not been touched.” Then after a pause he added, as if in involuntary compliment to the skill I had shown: “It is surprising that the fight lasted so long, Count Benderoff. ”

“ And with a bow as formal as his tone he went back to the others.
[200] “We may go,” said Zoiloff; and I handed him my sword and then dressed.
“I am glad you wounded him. I feared you were going to let him kill you. He tried his utmost, and you had one very narrow escape,” said Zoiloff. “But now, where are we to go?”
“I should like first to make quite certain about the nature of his wound. Will you question the surgeon yourself? Spernow and I will wait by the horses.”
“What of your own wounds? Won’t you have them dressed? Better run no risks.” ”

“ I cried to Zoiloff, as I pointed this out to him. “The place is made for us and couldn’t be better. We’ll time our visit when the men are just at breakfast yonder, and, if a couple of our fellows can steal up unseen, that big door can be slammed, and there won’t be more than half a dozen left for us to deal with about the house. We shall cage the old fox to a certainty. Let Spernow and two men creep along this way and down under cover of those trees to the entrance to the yard, and post themselves there. ”

“ Zoiloff arrived while I was in this rather gloomy, meditative mood.
“I have been speculating all the night whether I should find you here, Count, for I could not learn from the men who came to your house whether they had caught you or not. They were wild at not finding you there, and ransacked the place from cellar to roof; and almost the first place they searched was that underground passage. I concluded, of course, that they [189] would have men posted at the other end, and feared therefore that they had got you in a trap. How did you escape?” ”

“ I cried hotly.
“It would be reckoned a smart Russian trick,” said Zoiloff drily.
“Then, we’ll checkmate it. We’ll have enough men here to make my arrest impossible; or, better still, perhaps I’ll pass the night somewhere else. You and Spernow can arrange all the preliminaries of the meeting, and appoint a meeting somewhere to-morrow morning, but not fix the actual ground until that appointment is kept by him and his seconds only. I will be where you can readily fetch me.”
“Good! Yes, we’ll do that. You’ll have choice of weapons. What shall they be? I should choose pistols. ”

“ But it took some moments to get Zoiloff to see the uselessness of such an attempt—moments that could ill be spared, seeing all that we had yet to do. But I was firm, and he gave in at length.
“Take our men and secure those fellows in the barn, or we shall have them breaking out. Find the best horses you can, too, and have them into the carriage as quickly as possible, and I will see the Princess and [264] tell her to be ready at once. We dare not waste a minute or all will be lost.” ”

“ Our congratulations poured upon him, and then Zoiloff and I went away, that he and the little Broumoff might be together. It was the best reward we could make him just then.
“Those men will try back when they find he’s fooled them,” said Zoiloff, “and we had better be ready.” ”

“ Perhaps half a mile, or maybe a mile.”
“Ride on at once and overtake Markov, and warn him to draw into cover. Off with you! We must find out who the horsemen are and their strength,” I added to Zoiloff.
“There is a small wood there, which will do for cover, Count,” he replied instantly. “Let the men ride there and take our horses, while you and I stay on foot to watch the newcomers.”
[255] I told Spernow to post the men in the covert, and Zoiloff and I lay down in some bushes to wait for the pursuers. ”

“ We had been together about half an hour, discussing eagerly the news which Spernow had brought, when Zoiloff arrived. His face showed that he too had passed anxious hours since we parted. I received him with a laugh and rallied him upon his looks, and then told him the news.
He had not the same intense personal interest in it that I had, and he received it very differently; though his friendship made him understand my feelings.
“It is her first step,” he said, gravely. “We must act warily.”
“A necessity for others besides ourselves,” I retorted. ”

“ We have a leader in you who will carry us far, and whom all will come to trust as I do;” and Zoiloff gave me his hand, holding mine in a grip that trembled under his excitement.
There was, however, a source of danger that these two knew nothing of, and I could not tell them—the fear of the Countess Bokara’s violence. ”

“ I went to Zoiloff to consult.
My plan was to make a rush upon the men and drive them away sufficiently far to admit of our horses being put in the cart, and then risk the chances of flight. He agreed readily, for the inaction was vastly less to his mind than any fighting, and we made our preparations accordingly.
“We are seven to their nine or ten, say. The leader lies there wounded, you have disabled a second man, and they have sent away probably two and certainly one; and as we are armed and they are not, and we shall catch them unawares, we can certainly beat them off. ”

“ They are troopers; and I can count a dozen of them. Tell Markov to drive like the wind. They’re after us.”
A bend in the road at that moment cut off our view, and almost directly afterwards Markov turned away to the left into a narrow lane, putting his horses to the gallop.
“We shall have to fight for it, Count,” cried Zoiloff. “There didn’t seem more than a dozen troopers that I could see, and, with Spernow, we shall be six. We can hold them at bay in this narrow lane, and perhaps drive them off.” ”

“ Zoiloff, I am going to speak as a friend. No one can see the end of this business of ours. We may find ourselves face to face with the troops and may have to risk an encounter with them. For me it does not [252] signify. I am an Englishman and can scramble out of the mess somehow. For these men here there is no great danger either. Old Kolfort won’t deal harshly with servants who can plead that I forced them into it. But with you it is all different. You are an officer, and to fight against the troops is an act of deadly treason—mutiny probably, punishable with Heaven knows what penalties. ”

“ We arranged that I should be the head of the organisation, with Zoiloff next in charge under me; and he threw himself with keen ardour into the work.
“I cannot tell you how glad I am to have you with us in this, Count,” he said, when we had debated and settled details. “Now that you have come, you seem to be just the man we were waiting for; and this place of yours will be a magnificent rendezvous.”
“Shall we have many join us?”
“We do not want too many, but all will be carefully picked, and every man will be one wielding influence over others.”
“How will General Kolfort view the scheme?” ”

“ I wouldn’t have believed even a Russian would have done such a thing.” A speech that set me wondering.
“They won’t cross Zoiloff,” whispered Spernow to me as I was dressing, rapidly. “He’s a demon at the business. I’m glad I brought him.”
“What did he mean about ‘even a Russian?’” I asked.
[59] “He hates ’em as much as I do. I’ll tell you another time,” replied Spernow.
“I congratulate you, Count Benderoff, on a lucky escape. That man meant to murder you; and Dimitrieff ought to be ashamed of himself for not speaking out plainly. ”

“ I was wounded again; but, fortunately, malice, or fear, or too great glee, made him over-confident, so that his aim was awry, and, instead of piercing my heart, his sword glanced off my ribs, inflicting another flesh wound, but barely more than skin deep.
“I RAN MY SWORD THROUGH HIS NECK.”—Page 199.
“This can’t go on,” growled Zoiloff in my ear, during the pause. “You could have killed him half a dozen times. We shall be here all day.” ”

“ There was going to be a tussle after all, it seemed.
“You have your pistols. If anyone tries to stop us, you have my orders to fire—but only at the horses, mind. Follow me close.”
We were on a small heath, and I pricked my horse into an easy canter in the direction I had to take to get to the place of which Zoiloff had told me.
“Halt! Who goes there?” and the horseman checked his steed with a rattle of steel that told me he was a cavalryman.
“A friend,” said I, but not drawing rein.
“Halt!” came the cry again. ”