The Red Symbol Part 38

"My G.o.d, how they hate me!" I heard Loris say softly. "Yet, I have escaped them once again; and it is well; it could not be better. I am free at last!"

CHAPTER XL

A STRICKEN TOWN

We rode on, avoiding the village, which remained dark and silent; the sleeping peasants had either not heard or not heeded the sound and shock of the explosion.

When we regained the road on the further side, two mounted men awaited us, who, after exchanging a few low-spoken words with the Pavloffs, fell in behind us; and later another, and yet another, joined us in the same way.

It must have been about one in the morning when we reached the village half-way between Zizcsky and Zostrov, where Mishka and I had got the last change of horses on our journey to the castle. Here again all was dark and quiet, and we rode round instead of through the place, Loris and I, with the Pavloffs, halting at a little distance, near a small farmhouse which I remembered as that of the _starosta_, while our four recruits kept on.

Mishka rode up and kicked at the outer gate. A light gleamed in the yard and the _starosta_, yawning and blinking, appeared, holding a lantern and leading a horse.

"The horses are ready? That is well, little father," Mishka said approvingly.

"They have been ready since midnight, and the samovar also; you will drink a gla.s.s of tea, Excellencies."

As he led out the other three horses in turn, a lad brought us steaming gla.s.ses of tea, and I was glad of mine, anyhow; for the night, though still and clear, was piercingly cold.

"The horses will come on, with four more recruits, after a couple of hours' rest," said Loris, as we started again.

We kept up an even pace of about ten miles an hour till we had traversed about half the remaining distance, picking up more silent men on little s.h.a.ggy country horses till we rode a band of some fifteen strong.

I think I must have fallen half asleep in my saddle when I was startled by a quick exclamation from Loris.

"Look! What is yonder?"

I looked and saw a ruddy glow in the sky to northward,--a flickering glow, now paling, now flas.h.i.+ng up vividly and showing luminous clouds of smoke,--the glow of a great fire.

"That is over Zizscky; it was to-night then, and we are too late!"

We checked instinctively, and the Pavloffs ranged alongside. We four, being better mounted, were well ahead, and the others came straggling in our rear.

"They were to defend the synagogue; we may still be in time to help,"

said Pavloff.

"True, we four must push on; these others must follow as they are able, and tell the rest as they meet them. Give Stepan the word, Mishka,"

commanded the Duke.

Mishka wheeled his horse and rode back, and we pressed forward, increasing the pace to a gallop. Within an hour we had covered the twenty versts and were on the outskirts of the town. Every instant that awful glow grew brighter, and when we drew near we saw that half the houses in the Jewish quarter were ablaze, while horrible sounds came to us,--the noise of a devils' orgy, punctuated irregularly by the crackle of rifle shots.

"They are holding the synagogue," Loris said grimly. "Otherwise the firing would be over by this time."

The straggling street that formed this end of the town was quiet and deserted, save for a few scared women and children, who were standing in the roadway, and who scurried back to their houses at the first sound of our horses' hoofs.

"Dismount, and turn the horses loose!" Loris commanded. "We shall find them later, perhaps; if not, well, we shall not!"

We hurried along on foot, and a minute or two later we entered the Jewish quarter and were in the midst of a h.e.l.lish scene, lighted luridly by the glare of the burning houses. The road was strewn with battered corpses, some lying in heaps; and burly _moujiks_, shrieking uns.e.xed viragoes, and brutal soldiers, maddened with vodka, delirious with the l.u.s.t of blood and pillage, were sacking the houses that were not yet ablaze, destroying, in insensate fury, what they were unable to carry off, fighting like demons over their plunder. Here and there were groups of soldiers, who, though they were not joining in the work of destruction, made no effort to check it, but looked on with grim jests.

I saw one present his rifle, fire haphazard into the crowd, and yell with devilish mirth as his victim fell, and the confusion increased.

His laugh was cut short, for Loris knocked the rifle out of his hand, and sternly ordered him back to the barracks, if that was all he could do towards restoring order.

The man and his comrades stared stupidly. They did not know who he was, but his uniform and commanding presence had their effect. The ruffians stood at attention, saluted and asked for orders!

"Clear the streets," he commanded sternly. "Drive the people back to their quarter and keep them there; and do it without violence."

He stood frowning, revolver in hand, and watched them move off with sheepish alacrity and begin their task, which would not have been an easy one if the soldiers had been under discipline. But there was no discipline; I did not see a single officer in the streets that night.

"Are you wise?" Mishka growled unceremoniously, as we moved off. I saw now that he and his father were also in uniform, and I surmise that every one who saw us took the Grand Duke to be an officer in high command, and us members of his staff.

We had our revolvers ready, but no one molested us, and as we made our way towards the synagogue, Loris more than once repeated his commands to the idle soldiers, with the same success.

Barzinsky's inn, where Mishka and I had slept less than a fortnight back, was utterly wrecked, though the fire had not yet reached it, and in a heap in the roadway was the corpse of a woman, clad in a dirty bedgown. Her wig was gone and her skull battered in, but I knew it was the placid, capable, good-tempered landlady herself. The stumps of her hands lay palm down in a pool of blood,--all the fingers gone. She had worn rings, poor soul.

But that was by no means the most sickening sight I saw on that night of horror!

We reached the square where the synagogue stood, and found it packed with a frenzied, howling mob, who were raging like wolves round the gaunt weather-worn stone building. There was no more firing, either from within or without.

The gla.s.s of the two small windows above the doorway--whence, as I learned later, the defenders had delivered the intermittent fusilade that had hitherto kept the mob at bay--was smashed, and the s.p.a.ce filled in with hastily fixed barricades. The great door was also doubtless strongly barricaded, since it still withstood an a.s.sault with axes and hammers that was in progress.

"They shoot no more; they have no more bullets," shrieked a virago in the crowd. "Burn them out, the filthy _zhits_."

Others took up the cry.

"Burn them out; what folly to batter the door! Bring straw and wood; burn them out!"

"Keep away,--work round to the left; there will be s.p.a.ce soon," growled Mishka, clutching me back, as I began to force my way forward. "Do as I say," he added authoritatively.

I guessed he knew best, so I obeyed, and edged round on the outside of the crowd.

Something whizzed through the air, and fell bang among the crowd, exploding with a deafening report.

A babel of yells arose,--yells of terror now; and the mob surged back, leaving a clear s.p.a.ce in which several stricken figures were writhing,--and one lay still.

"Fly!" shouted a stentorian voice. "They are making bombs and throwing them; fly for your lives. Why should we all perish?"

I was carried back in the rush, and found myself breathless, back against a wall. Three figures cleared themselves from the ruck, and I fought my way to them.

"Well done, Mishka,--for it was thou!" exclaimed Loris. "How was it done?"

"_Pouf_, it was but a toy," grunted Mishka. "I brought it in my pocket,--on chance; such things are useful at times. If it had been a real bomb, we should all have entered Heaven--or h.e.l.l--together."

"Get to the steps; they are coming back," cried Loris.