"A political prisoner walking about I Arrest the chief con
- stable ! " '
I got weary at last of his eloquence. I turned to him and said :
'Do your duty by all means, but please spare me your sermons.
From what you say I see that you expected me to bow to you ; but I am not in the habit of bowing to strangers.'
My friend was flabbergasted.
That is the rule all over Russia, as a friend of mine used to say : whoever gets rude and angry first, always wins. If you ever allow a Jack in office to raise his voice, you are lost : when he 3· A great revenue was derived by Government from the sale of spirits.
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hears himself shouting, h e turns into a wild beast. But if you begin shouting at his first rude word, he is certain to be cowed; for he thinks that you mean business and are the sort of person whom it is unsafe to irritate.
The chief constable sent my keeper to enquire about the horses ; then he turned to me and remarked by way of apology :
'I acted in that way chiefly because of the man. You don't know what our underlings are like - it is impossible to pass over the smallest breach of discipline. But I assure you I know a gentleman when I see him. Might I ask you what unfortunate incident it was that brings you . . .'
'We were bound to secrecy at the end of the trial.'
'Oh, in that case . . . of course . . • I should not venture . . .' -
and his eyes expressed the torments of curiosity. He held his tongue, but not for long.
'I had a distant cousin, who was imprisoned for about a year in the fortress of Peter and Paul ; he was mixed up with • . . you understand. Excuse me, but I think you are still angry, and I take it to heart. I am used to army discipline; I began serving when I was seventeen. I have a hot temper, but it all passes in a moment.
I won't trouble your man any further, deuce take him I'
My keeper now came in and reported that i t would take an hour to drive in the horses from the fields.
The chief constable told him that he was pardoned at my intercession; then he turned to me and added :
'To show that you are not angry, I do hope you will come and take pot-luck with me - I live two doors away; please don't refuse.'
This turn to our interview seemed to me so amusing that I went to his house, where I ate his pickled sturgeon and caviare and drank his brandy and Madeira.
He grew so friendly that he told me all his private affairs, including the details of an illness from which his wife had suffered for seven years. After our meal. with pride and satisfaction he took a letter from a jar on the table and let me read a 'poem'
which his son had written at school and recited on Speech-day.
After these flattering proofs of confidence, he neatly changed the conversation and enquired indirectly about my offence; and this time I gratified his CUiiosity to some extent.
P R I S O N A N D E X I L E
191
This man reminded me of a justice's clerk whom my friend S.
used to speak about. Though his chief had been changed a dozen times, the clerk never lost his place and was the real ruler of the district.
'How do you manage to get on with them all ?' my friend asked.
'All right, thank you ; one manages to rub on somehow. You do sometimes get a gentleman who is very awkward at first, kicks with fore and hind legs, shouts abuse at you, and threatens to complain at headquarters and get you turned out. Well, you know, the likes of us have to put up with that. One holds one's tongue and thinks - "Oh, he'll wear himself out in time ; he's only just getting into harness." And so it turns out : once started, he goes along first-rate.'
3
On getting near Kazan, we found the Volga in full flood. The river spread fifteen versts or more beyond its banks, and we had to travel by water for the whole of the last stage. It was bad weather, and a number of carts and other vehicles were detained on the bank, as the ferries had stopped-working.
My keeper went to the man in charge and demanded a raft for our use. The man gave it unwillingly ; he said that it was dangerous and we had better wait. But my keeper was in haste, partly because he was drunk and partly because he wished to show his power.
My carriage was placed upon a moderate-sized raft and we started. The weather appeared to improve; and after half an hour the boatman, who was a Tatar, hoisted a sail. But suddenly the storm came on again with fresh violence, and we were carried rapidly downstream. We caught up some floating timber and struck it so hard that our rickety raft was nearly wrecked and the water came over the decking. It was an awkward situation; but the Tatar managed to steer us into a sandbank.
A barge now hove in sight. We called out to them to send us their boat, but the bargemen, though they heard us, went past and gave us no assistance.
A peasant, who had his wife with him in a small boat, rowed up to us and asked what was the matter. 'What of that ? ' he said.
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'Stop the leak, say a prayer, and start off. There's nothing to worry about ; but you're a Tatar, and that's why you're so helpless.' Then he waded over to our raft.
The Tatar was really very much alarmed. In the first place, my keeper, who was asleep when the water came on board and wet him, sprang to his feet and began to beat the Tatar. In the second place, the raft was Government property and the Tatar kept saying, 'If it goes to the bottom, I shall catch it I' I tried to comfort him by saying that in that case he would go to the bottom too.
'But, if I'm not drowned, batyushka, what then ? ' was his reply.
The peasant and some labourers stuffed up the leak in the raft and nailed a board over it with their axe-heads ; then, up to the waist in the water, they dragged the raft off the sandbank, and we soon reached the channel of the Volga. The current ran furiously.
Wind, rain, and snow lashed our faces, and the cold pierced to our bones ; but soon the statue of Ivan the Terrible began to loom out from behind the fog and torrents of rain. It seemed that the danger was past ; but suddenly the Tatar called out in a piteous voice, 'It's leaking, it's leaking I' - and the water did in fact come rushing in at the old leak. We were right in the centre of the stream, but the raft began to move slower and slower, and the time seemed at hand when it would sink altogether. The Tatar took off his cap and began to pray ; my servant shed tears and said a final goodbye to his mother at home ; but my keeper used bad language and vowed he would beat them both when we landed.
I too felt uneasy at first, partly owing to the wind and rain, which added an element of confusion and disorder to the danger.
But then it seemed to me absurd that I should meet my death before I had done anything ; the spirit of the conqueror's question - quid timeas? Caesarem vehisl - asserted itsel£;4 and I waited calmly for the end, convinced that I should not end my life there, between Uslon and Kazan. Later life saps such proud confidence and makes a man suffer for it ; and that is why youth is bold and heroic, while a man in years is cautious and seldom carried away.