CHAPTER XIV THE NIGHT OF THE FIFTH OF OCTOBER
IVAN OGAREFF'S plan had been contrived with the greatest care, andexcept for some unforeseen accident he believed that it must succeed.It was of importance that the Bolchaia Gate should be unguarded oronly feebly held when he gave it up. The attention of the besiegedwas therefore to be drawn to another part of the town. A diversion wasagreed upon with the Emir.
This diversion was to be effected both up and down the river, on theIrkutsk bank. The attack on these two points was to be conducted inearnest, and at the same time a feigned attempt at crossing the Angarafrom the left bank was to be made. The Bolchaia Gate, would be probablydeserted, so much the more because on this side the Tartar outpostshaving drawn back, would appear to have broken up.
It was the 5th of October. In four and twenty hours, the capital ofEastern Siberia would be in the hands of the Emir, and the Grand Duke inthe power of Ivan Ogareff.
During the day, an unusual stir was going on in the Angara camp. Fromthe windows of the palace important preparations on the opposite shorecould be distinctly seen. Numerous Tartar detachments were convergingtowards the camp, and from hour to hour reinforced the Emir's troops.These movements, intended to deceive the besieged, were conducted in themost open manner possible before their eyes.
Ogareff had warned the Grand Duke that an attack was to be feared. Heknew, he said, that an assault was to be made, both above and belowthe town, and he counselled the Duke to reinforce the two directlythreatened points. Accordingly, after a council of war had been held inthe palace, orders were issued to concentrate the defense on the bankof the Angara and at the two ends of the town, where the earthworksprotected the river.
This was exactly what Ogareff wished. He did not expect that theBolchaia Gate would be left entirely without defenders, but that therewould only be a small number. Besides, Ogareff meant to give suchimportance to the diversion, that the Grand Duke would be obliged tooppose it with all his available forces. The traitor planned also toproduce so frightful a catastrophe that terror must inevitably overwhelmthe hearts of the besieged.
All day the garrison and population of Irkutsk were on the alert. Themeasures to repel an attack on the points hitherto unassailed hadbeen taken. The Grand Duke and General Voranzoff visited the posts,strengthened by their orders. Wassili Fedor's corps occupied the Northof the town, but with orders to throw themselves where the danger wasgreatest. The right bank of the Angara had been protected with the fewguns possessed by the defenders. With these measures, taken in time,thanks to the advice so opportunely given by Ivan Ogareff, there wasgood reason to hope that the expected attack would be repulsed. Inthat case the Tartars, momentarily discouraged, would no doubt notmake another attempt against the town for several days. Now the troopsexpected by the Grand Duke might arrive at any hour. The safety or theloss of Irkutsk hung only by a thread.
On this day, the sun which had risen at twenty minutes to six, set atforty minutes past five, having traced its diurnal arc for elevenhours above the horizon. The twilight would struggle with the nightfor another two hours. Then it would be intensely dark, for the sky wascloudy, and there would be no moon. This gloom would favor the plans ofIvan Ogareff.
For a few days already a sharp frost had given warning of theapproaching rigor of the Siberian winter, and this evening it wasespecially severe. The Russians posted by the bank of the Angara,obliged to conceal their position, lighted no fires. They sufferedcruelly from the low temperature. A few feet below them, the ice inlarge masses drifted down the current. All day these masses had beenseen passing rapidly between the two banks.
This had been considered by the Grand Duke and his officers asfortunate. Should the channel of the Angara continue to be thusobstructed, the passage must be impracticable. The Tartars could useneither rafts nor boats. As to their crossing the river on the ice, thatwas not possible. The newly-frozen plain could not bear the weight of anassaulting column.
This circumstance, as it appeared favorable to the defenders of Irkutsk,Ogareff might have regretted. He did not do so, however. The traitorknew well that the Tartars would not try to pass the Angara, and that,on its side at least, their attempt was only a feint.
About ten in the evening, the state of the river sensibly improved, tothe great surprise of the besieged and still more to their disadvantage.The passage till then impracticable, became all at once possible. Thebed of the Angara was clear. The blocks of ice, which had for some daysdrifted past in large numbers, disappeared down the current, and five orsix only now occupied the space between the banks. The Russian officersreported this change in the river to the Grand Duke. They suggested thatit was probably caused by the circumstance that in some narrower part ofthe Angara, the blocks had accumulated so as to form a barrier.
We know this was the case. The passage of the Angara was thus open tothe besiegers. There was great reason for the Russians to be on theirguard.
Up to midnight nothing had occurred. On the Eastern side, beyond theBolchaia Gate, all was quiet. Not a glimmer was seen in the denseforest, which appeared confounded on the horizon with the masses ofclouds hanging low down in the sky. Lights flitting to and fro in theAngara camp, showed that a considerable movement was taking place. Froma verst above and below the point where the scarp met the river's bank,came a dull murmur, proving that the Tartars were on foot, expectingsome signal. An hour passed. Nothing new.
The bell of the Irkutsk cathedral was about to strike two o'clock inthe morning, and not a movement amongst the besiegers had yet shown thatthey were about to commence the assault. The Grand Duke and his officersbegan to suspect that they had been mistaken. Had it really been theTartars' plan to surprise the town? The preceding nights had not beennearly so quiet--musketry rattling from the outposts, shells whistlingthrough the air; and this time, nothing. The officers waited, ready togive their orders, according to circumstances.
We have said that Ogareff occupied a room in the palace. It was a largechamber on the ground floor, its windows opening on a side terrace.By taking a few steps along this terrace, a view of the river could beobtained.
Profound darkness reigned in the room. Ogareff stood by a window,awaiting the hour to act. The signal, of course, could come from him,alone. This signal once given, when the greater part of the defenders ofIrkutsk would be summoned to the points openly attacked, his plan was toleave the palace and hurry to the Bolchaia Gate. If it was unguarded, hewould open it; or at least he would direct the overwhelming mass of itsassailants against the few defenders.
He now crouched in the shadow, like a wild beast ready to spring onits prey. A few minutes before two o'clock, the Grand Duke desiredthat Michael Strogoff--which was the only name they could give to IvanOgareff--should be brought to him. An aide-de-camp came to the room, thedoor of which was closed. He called.
Ogareff, motionless near the window, and invisible in the shade did notanswer. The Grand Duke was therefore informed that the Czar's courierwas not at that moment in the palace.
Two o'clock struck. Now was the time to cause the diversion agreedupon with the Tartars, waiting for the assault. Ivan Ogareff opened thewindow and stationed himself at the North angle of the side terrace.
Below him flowed the roaring waters of the Angara. Ogareff took a matchfrom his pocket, struck it and lighted a small bunch of tow, impregnatedwith priming powder, which he threw into the river.
It was by the orders of Ivan Ogareff that the torrents of mineral oilhad been thrown on the surface of the Angara! There are numerousnaphtha springs above Irkutsk, on the right bank, between the suburbof Poshkavsk and the town. Ogareff had resolved to employ this terriblemeans to carry fire into Irkutsk. He therefore took possession of theimmense reservoirs which contained the combustible liquid. It was onlynecessary to demolish a piece of wall in order to allow it to flow outin a vast stream.
This had been done that night, a few hours previously, and this was thereason that the raft which carried the true Courier of the Czar, Nadia,
and the fugitives, floated on a current of mineral oil. Through thebreaches in these reservoirs of enormous dimensions rushed the naphthain torrents, and, following the inclination of the ground, it spreadover the surface of the river, where its density allowed it to float.This was the way Ivan Ogareff carried on warfare! Allied with Tartars,he acted like a Tartar, and against his own countrymen!
The tow had been thrown on the waters of the Angara. In an instant, withelectrical rapidity, as if the current had been of alcohol, the wholeriver was in a blaze above and below the town. Columns of blue flamesran between the two banks. Volumes of vapor curled up above. The fewpieces of ice which still drifted were seized by the burning liquid, andmelted like wax on the top of a furnace, the evaporated water escapingin shrill hisses.
At the same moment, firing broke out on the North and South of the town.The enemy's batteries discharged their guns at random. Several thousandTartars rushed to the assault of the earth-works. The houses on thebank, built of wood, took fire in every direction. A bright lightdissipated the darkness of the night.
"At last!" said Ivan Ogareff.
He had good reason for congratulating himself. The diversion which hehad planned was terrible. The defenders of Irkutsk found themselvesbetween the attack of the Tartars and the fearful effects of fire. Thebells rang, and all the able-bodied of the population ran, some towardsthe points attacked, and others towards the houses in the grasp of theflames, which it seemed too probable would ere long envelop the wholetown.
The Gate of Bolchaia was nearly free. Only a very small guard had beenleft there. And by the traitor's suggestion, and in order that the eventmight be explained apart from him, as if by political hate, this smallguard had been chosen from the little band of exiles.
Ogareff re-entered his room, now brilliantly lighted by the flames fromthe Angara; then he made ready to go out. But scarcely had he opened thedoor, when a woman rushed into the room, her clothes drenched, her hairin disorder.
"Sangarre!" exclaimed Ogareff, in the first moment of surprise, and notsupposing that it could be any other woman than the gypsy.
It was not Sangarre; it was Nadia!
At the moment when, floating on the ice, the girl had uttered a cry onseeing the fire spreading along the current, Michael had seized her inhis arms, and plunged with her into the river itself to seek a refugein its depths from the flames. The block which bore them was not thirtyfathoms from the first quay of Irkutsk.
Swimming beneath the water, Michael managed to get a footing with Nadiaon the quay. Michael Strogoff had reached his journey's end! He was inIrkutsk!
"To the governor's palace!" said he to Nadia.
In less than ten minutes, they arrived at the entrance to the palace.Long tongues of flame from the Angara licked its walls, but werepowerless to set it on fire. Beyond the houses on the bank were in ablaze.
The palace being open to all, Michael and Nadia entered withoutdifficulty. In the confusion, no one remarked them, although theirgarments were dripping. A crowd of officers coming for orders, and ofsoldiers running to execute them, filled the great hall on the groundfloor. There, in a sudden eddy of the confused multitude, Michael andthe young girl were separated from each other.
Nadia ran distracted through the passages, calling her companion, andasking to be taken to the Grand Duke. A door into a room flooded withlight opened before her. She entered, and found herself suddenly face toface with the man whom she had met at Ichim, whom she had seen at Tomsk;face to face with the one whose villainous hand would an instant laterbetray the town!
"Ivan Ogareff!" she cried.
On hearing his name pronounced, the wretch started. His real name known,all his plans would be balked. There was but one thing to be done: tokill the person who had just uttered it. Ogareff darted at Nadia; butthe girl, a knife in her hand, retreated against the wall, determined todefend herself.
"Ivan Ogareff!" again cried Nadia, knowing well that so detested a namewould soon bring her help.
"Ah! Be silent!" hissed out the traitor between his clenched teeth.
"Ivan Ogareff!" exclaimed a third time the brave young girl, in a voiceto which hate had added ten-fold strength.
Mad with fury, Ogareff, drawing a dagger from his belt, again rushed atNadia and compelled her to retreat into a corner of the room. Her lasthope appeared gone, when the villain, suddenly lifted by an irresistibleforce, was dashed to the ground.
"Michael!" cried Nadia.
It was Michael Strogoff. Michael had heard Nadia's call. Guided by hervoice, he had just in time reached Ivan Ogareff's room, and entered bythe open door.
"Fear nothing, Nadia," said he, placing himself between her and Ogareff.
"Ah!" cried the girl, "take care, brother! The traitor is armed! He cansee!"
Ogareff rose, and, thinking he had an immeasurable advantage over theblind man leaped upon him. But with one hand, the blind man grasped thearm of his enemy, seized his weapon, and hurled him again to the ground.
Pale with rage and shame, Ogareff remembered that he wore a sword. Hedrew it and returned a second time to the charge. A blind man! Ogareffhad only to deal with a blind man! He was more than a match for him!
Nadia, terrified at the danger which threatened her companion ran to thedoor calling for help!
"Close the door, Nadia!" said Michael. "Call no one, and leave me alone!The Czar's courier has nothing to fear to-day from this villain! Let himcome on, if he dares! I am ready for him."
In the mean time, Ogareff, gathering himself together like a tiger aboutto spring, uttered not a word. The noise of his footsteps, his verybreathing, he endeavored to conceal from the ear of the blind man. Hisobject was to strike before his opponent was aware of his approach, tostrike him with a deadly blow.
Nadia, terrified and at the same time confident, watched this terriblescene with involuntary admiration. Michael's calm bearing seemed to haveinspired her. Michael's sole weapon was his Siberian knife. He did notsee his adversary armed with a sword, it is true; but Heaven's supportseemed to be afforded him. How, almost without stirring, did he alwaysface the point of the sword?
Ivan Ogareff watched his strange adversary with visible anxiety. Hissuperhuman calm had an effect upon him. In vain, appealing to hisreason, did he tell himself that in so unequal a combat all theadvantages were on his side. The immobility of the blind man froze him.He had settled on the place where he would strike his victim. He hadfixed upon it! What, then, hindered him from putting an end to his blindantagonist?
At last, with a spring he drove his sword full at Michael's breast. Animperceptible movement of the blind man's knife turned aside the blow.Michael had not been touched, and coolly he awaited a second attack.
Cold drops stood on Ogareff's brow. He drew back a step, then againleaped forward. But as had the first, this second attempt failed. Theknife had simply parried the blow from the traitor's useless sword.
Mad with rage and terror before this living statue, he gazed into thewide-open eyes of the blind man. Those eyes which seemed to pierce tothe bottom of his soul, and yet which did not, could not, see--exerciseda sort of dreadful fascination over him.
All at once, Ogareff uttered a cry. A sudden light flashed across hisbrain. "He sees!" he exclaimed, "he sees!" And like a wild beast tryingto retreat into its den, step by step, terrified, he drew back to theend of the room.
Then the statue became animated, the blind man walked straight up toIvan Ogareff, and placing himself right before him, "Yes, I see!" saidhe. "I see the mark of the knout which I gave you, traitor and coward! Isee the place where I am about to strike you! Defend your life! It is aduel I deign to offer you! My knife against your sword!"
"He sees!" said Nadia. "Gracious Heaven, is it possible!"
Ogareff felt that he was lost. But mustering all his courage, he sprangforward on his impassible adversary. The two blades crossed, but at atouch from Michael's knife, wielded in the hand of the Siberian hunter,the sword flew in splinters, and the wretch, stabbe
d to the heart, felllifeless on the ground.
At the same moment, the door was thrown open. The Grand Duke,accompanied by some of his officers, appeared on the threshold. TheGrand Duke advanced. In the body lying on the ground, he recognized theman whom he believed to be the Czar's courier.
Then, in a threatening voice, "Who killed that man?" he asked.
"I," replied Michael.
One of the officers put a pistol to his temple, ready to fire.
"Your name?" asked the Grand Duke, before giving the order for hisbrains to be blown out.
"Your Highness," answered Michael, "ask me rather the name of the manwho lies at your feet!"
"That man, I know him! He is a servant of my brother! He is the Czar'scourier!"
"That man, your Highness, is not a courier of the Czar! He is IvanOgareff!"
"Ivan Ogareff!" exclaimed the Grand Duke.
"Yes, Ivan the Traitor!"
"But who are you, then?"
"Michael Strogoff!"