Читать книгу Ivan the Serf - Austin C. Burdick - Страница 7

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RURIC was not unmindful of how much might depend upon the proper management of the character he had assumed, and he did all in his power to appear the clumsy peasant he would have people take him for. He saw the party of soldiers that were approaching him, and his heart beat quick as he saw that one of the officers from the capital accompanied them. He knew that officer.

"Let us cross over," he whispered to Ludowitz. "There is one with those soldiers who knows me. If he should recognize me we are surely lost."

"No, no," said the captain. "Hide your face all you can, and keep boldly on. They may suspect us if we evade them. If they speak to us I will answer them. I have been in such passes before, and I know something of them."

By this time the soldiers were close at hand, and the fugitives turned out to let them pass. Ruric bowed his head and drew his great basket forward. His heart may have beat painfully, but he showed no outward tremor. They met—and they had passed—and then the officer turned and hailed them.

"Stop, there, fellows," he cried. "Have you seen any soldiers about here?"

"Yes," returned Ludowitz, with a strong Pskovian idiom, "we saw some about here, and they went into an old huckster's shop some way up on this side of the street. They seemed to be in a terrible hurry—what are they after?"

"No matter. But hold, perhaps you may know something."

And thereupon the officer described Ruric's appearance very minutely, and then asked the seeming peasant if he had seen such a person.

"No," said Ludowitz. "We came in before daylight this morning, and I am sure we didn't meet any body on the road. But I hope you'll catch him, for I don't like to see the proud ones escape and the poor ones die."

During this colloquy the count had stood with his dirt-begrimmed face turned towards part of the soldiers, but carefully hidden from the officer. He came nigh exposing himself when his person was being so minutely described, for it appeared to him that those who were looking upon him must see through his disguise; but he was not suspected, and ere long he was once more on his way down the street with his companion close by his side.

At length they turned off into a narrow passage-way, and here they started into a brisker pace. They met many persons, but no more soldiers, and in half an hour they were clear of the town, and had struck into a road that led to the westward across the Yamburg marshes.

"Now," said Ludowitz, "we have a fair road before us, and it is not more than ten miles to the Balki. If we are not followed all will be well."

"Let us throw aside our baskets," suggested Ruric, "for mine is more of a burden than I find comfortable."

"Wait till we reach yonder stream," returned Ludowitz, "and then we will sink them. There may be danger in leaving them by the road-side, for we know not how soon we may be followed."

Accordingly, when they came to the stream, they procured some stones and sank their baskets, and then they moved on more easily. At the distance of about five miles they came to a spot where the road wound around the foot of quite a hill, and upon this hill stood a windmill. The fugitives had joined the western side of the hill, and were thinking of stopping a few moments to rest, when they were startled by the sound of horses' hoofs behind them. From the tread they could tell that there were a number of them coming, though they were yet at some distance.

"They must be after us," said Ruric, stopping and listening to the sound.

"It may be so, and it may not," returned Ludowitz; "but I think it most probable that we have been suspected. At all events we had better seek some place of refuge."

The road, after it swept away from the foot of the hill, was built for more than two miles over a low, quick marsh, so that to keep on in that direction, was out of the question. The only place of an available kind was the mill, and thither the fugitives quickly turned their steps. It was a stone building as far as the tower, and combined the mill and dwelling all under one roof. The mill was now in motion, and hurrying up the hill, Ludowitz entered just as the horsemen appeared at the bend of the road.

"In, in quick!" he cried out to Ruric, "or we shall be seen."

But the warning was of no use, for the pursuers had stopped and were gazing up at the mill, and they must have seen the fugitives ere they got into the building. There were two outer doors to the building, one that led to the mill-room, and at which the disguised men had just entered, and the other at the back side of the dwelling department. The miller was a small, middle-aged man, and he was not a little surprised at the sudden appearance of the two fleeing peasantry.

"Hark ye," uttered Ludowitz, addressing the startled man, "if you value your life, don't you make a movement to oppose us. Only keep quiet, and you shall not be harmed."

The poor fellow was too much frightened to offer any resistance, and without waiting to hear if he would make any reply, Ludowitz sprang towards the back door to bolt it, at the same time directing Ruric to fasten the door of the mill-room. The captain found an old woman and a boy in the kitchen, but he quieted their fears as well as he could, and by the time he had returned to the mill, the soldiers were at the door. They knocked and demanded admittance in the name of the emperor.

"I will speak to them," said Ludowitz, turning to Ruric with a deep expression of countenance; "but before I do so, I wish to know your mind. Are you determined to stand by your liberty?"

"I have been most unjustly condemned to death," returned the count, with a flashing eye, "and I have, with the help of yourself and Ivan, thus far escaped the power of the imperial lion. I shall not allow him to place his claws upon me again. If I am carried back to St. Petersburg, it will be my dead body they shall carry. I am ready to defend myself, Ludowitz, to the last drop of my blood."

"Good," uttered the captain, extending his hand, "and you shall find that I will stand by you. Now let's go up stairs, and I will see what's to be done."

The miller was kept quiet by being made to feel that his life would answer for his conduct, and he was directed to bring the woman and child into the mill and keep them there. After this the two fugitives went up into the loft back of the tower, where there was a small square window that overlooked the spot upon which the horsemen stood. Ludowitz looked out at this window and asked what was wanted.

"We want the two peasants that left Kolganp this morning, one of whom we believe to be the Count Feodor Ruric, and the other the captain of the vessel that brought him from St. Petersburg," was the answer of the officer who led the party, which consisted in all of five men.

"Ah, that's the very chap," cried one of the soldiers. "That's the very one we spoke with this morning. Of course the other one must be with him."

"Hark ye, fellow," resumed the officer, "we are after you with an order direct from the emperor. Will you deliver yourselves up, or shall we have to resort to force?"

"Now, hark ye," returned Ludowitz, in a firm, defiant tone, "whoever we be—for there are two of us—if you want us you must take us; but yet I should advise you to turn about and go back, for I tell ye now, we are determined to lose our lives before we lose our liberty."

"Come down, and open the door quickly, or we'll burst it open, and, dead or alive, you are ours. Down, I say, or the worst shall be your own."

"Stand ready, count," whispered Ludowitz, "for the pinch has come. They will force the door easily if they try. Cock your pistols, and stand by to take my place."

As the captain spoke, he turned once more to the window and looked out.

"Are you going to surrender?" asked the officer.

"This is my answer," returned Ludowitz, and as he spoke he aimed his pistol and fired. The aim was sure, and the officer reeled in his saddle. Another pistol was as quickly and as truly aimed, and a second soldier fell from his saddle.

Ludowitz had to drop his head now, for the three remaining men had drawn their own firearms, and two pistol-balls came whizzing through the window. After this, everything was quiet for a few moments, and then the voices of the soldiers could be heard. They were going to enter by the house window.

"Quick, quick!" whispered Ludowitz, who had had time to reload but one of his pistols. "Let's make for the window, and we'll shoot them as they come."

So the fugitives started at once for the dwelling, where they arrived just as one of the soldiers had beaten open the sash, and was putting his head through. Ruric took his turn now, and with an unerring aim he sent a ball through the fellow's brain. On the next instant Ludowitz sprang forward. He felt sure that he should find a mark for his pistol when he reached the window, and he was not mistaken. He fired and then sprang back, and the movement was so sudden and adroitly made that those upon the outside had no chance to either defend themselves or take revenge.

"We have but one left now," cried Ruric, drawing his second pistol. "Let's open the door and go out."

"Come on," returned the other. "By the fates, fortune favors us. Every shot has told. What a glorious fortress this old mill makes."

The door—the mill-door—was unbarred, and Ludowitz looked out just as the live soldier had mounted and was making off.

"Fire at him if you like."

"No," returned Ruric. "Let the poor fellow go. I would not shed blood unnecessarily. He cannot return to Kolganp in time to send any more pursuers after us, for we shall have horses now."

"Right," responded Ludowitz. "Two of these horses will carry us to the Balki in less than half an hour, if we put them to it."

Then turning to the trembling miller, he added:

"You must excuse us for the liberty we have taken with your place, but men in our situation have no choice. But here is a golden imperial. That's more than you can make here in a month, at grinding corn. You must make the best excuse you can to the officers, if they come here after us."

"O mercy," cried the affrighted man, with his hands clasped, "they will swear that I helped you, and then I shall be hanged."

"But you must tell them that you didn't help us."

"And then they wont believe me. O do me one more favor before you go. Lash the old woman into a chair, and tie my hands behind me. I'll tell them you did it, and then they'll believe me."

Both Ludowitz and Ruric smiled at this proposition, but it was by no means a bad one, and they hastened to carry it out. Both the miller and the woman were securely bound, and as the child was not old enough to help them, he was left free. The bodies of the dead soldiers were left where they had fallen, and having secured two of the horses the fugitives mounted and set off at a gallop. It was just about noon when they reached the little bay of Balki, and there they found the schooner safely riding at single anchor. The horses were set at liberty, and ere long Ludowitz once more stood upon the deck of his own vessel, with the count by his side.

"Now for a breeze to carry us out of this," uttered the captain, as he placed his hand upon the wheel and looked around upon the crew.

"If we can only run clear of the imperial vessels till dark, I'll ask no more. To the windlass, now, all hands, and heave that anchor up as though there was a life at stake in every turn."

In less than half an hour the little vessel was walking out from the bay as though she knew the wish that lay in her commander's soul, and with a fresh breeze from the eastward she leaped off towards the Baltic like a bird. Ruric stood by the taffrail and watched the receding shore, and he had plenty of material for reflection. He thought of the strife through which he had just passed, and of the cause in which it had occurred, and he felt that in all that had transpired, he had no cause to blame himself. His soul was all honor, and yet he felt not that he had cast any stain upon the name he bore. The land grew faint and dim, and at length it mingled with the sky, until the horizon showed nothing but a line of water upon which to rest. Was that the last of Russia? Should he never again see the land of his birth? Such were the questions that arose in his mind as he gazed off to where he had seen the last of his native shores, and if there was one thought to give him pain, it was that he was leaving the spot where reposed the bones of his earthly kin. But his thoughts were not long to remain fixed upon the point he had left in the past, for there was before him a theme of vast moment, and when at length he turned towards the west, he gave his thoughts up to that subject which involved the time to come—that time through which it seemed that fate alone was to guide him, and in which happiness could only lay in hope.