I have said that there were not half a dozen confessed nihilists
remaining at liberty in St. Petersburg, but there were hundreds, ay,
thousands of nihilistic sympathizers, and there were hundreds of others
who had become allied to the nihilists in some extrinsic way, who were
in sympathy with the order, even if only passively so. If one or more
of such were to happen along the assistance would surely be upon the
side of my enemy, and certain defeat and death would be my portion. If
a mere citizen were to interfere, the captain who still wore his
uniform, would secure the proffered aid, not I. He would be believed,
not I, and hence I understood that whatever advantage there might be in
the way of interference, was on his side. Appreciating these facts, I
exerted my strength to the utmost to turn the tide of battle in my
favor, but I could accomplish nothing. He was as strong as I, though
not more powerful, and so I relapsed again into the mere effort to hold
him helpless, and to take the chances of wearing him out before
assistance should come.
It seemed to me as though an hour passed thus; in reality, it may have
been only a few moments, for minutes are long under such circumstances;
and then there came an interruption--and a strange one.
"With whom are you struggling, Captain Durnief?" I heard a voice say.
"Zara!" I exclaimed, before Durnief could reply.
"With an assassin who has shot our horses, murdered the yemschik, and
who would assassinate you, princess," panted Durnief.
"Zara!" I called to her again. "It is I--Dubravnik."
I heard her gasp, and although I could not see her, I was conscious
that she deliberately walked around us, probably to obtain a better
view of me; and in that moment I think I doubted her; but I tightened
my grip around the man I held, and waited grimly for events to shape
themselves.
"Dubravnik?" she said, in a low tone, as if she were not convinced; but
I did not speak again; and the captain also remained silent. Minutes,
which seemed like hours, passed in another deathlike silence, broken
only by the panting of Durnief. I wondered if Zara had fainted, or had
gone for help, or what! There seemed to be no good reason for the
silence, and the waiting. Why did she not grasp the sword, and send its
point through one of us? It did not much matter to me, then, which one
she might choose for its sheath.
Soon, however, I heard a sound directly above me--a sound which a stick
might make in smiting the ground, and I felt that Durnief shuddered. In
another instant it came again, and his arms relaxed, but only to
tighten about me the more convulsively. Then a short pause, which was
followed by the thudding sound of a blow heavier than its predecessors,
and instantly following it, the tensioned muscles of Durnief relaxed.
His arms fell from their clasp around me. I pushed him aside as though
he were dead, and for a moment believed that he was; then springing
upright, to my feet, I was just in time to catch the tottering form of
my princess, who, though not unconscious, had spent her last remaining
strength in that third blow. Her left hand held Durnief's sword. In her
right was the mujik's whip, and I saw that she had used the stock of
it to aid me.