will leave the fort to-morrow at break of day and we will go in God's
care. I have prepared something for you; eat, my father, and sleep till
morning quietly, as though in the pocket of Christ!"

I took his advice, and, after having supped with a good appetite, I went
to sleep on the bare boards, as weary in mind as in body.




CHAPTER IX.

THE PARTING.


The drum awoke me very early, and I went to the Square. There the troops
of Pugatchéf were beginning to gather round the gallows where the
victims of the preceding evening still hung. The Cossacks were on
horseback, the foot-soldiers with their arms shouldered, their colours
flying in the air.

Several cannons, among which I recognized ours, were placed on field-gun
carriages. All the inhabitants had assembled in the same place, awaiting
the usurper. Before the door of the Commandant's house a Cossack held by
the bridle a magnificent white horse of Kirghiz breed. I sought with my
eyes the body of the Commandant's wife; it had been pushed aside and
covered over with an old bark mat.

At last Pugatchéf came out of the house. All the crowd uncovered.
Pugatchéf stopped on the doorstep and said good-morning to everybody.