was that we had fallen in with a detachment of the army, and the officer
in charge persuaded me to join him, and it seemed to me I was bound in
honour to serve the tzarina.

So all that winter, and right on till the spring came, we pursued the
rebels; and still Pugatchéf remained untaken; and this war with the
robbers went on to the destruction of the countryside.

At last Pugatchéf was taken, and the war was at an end. A few days later
I should have been in the bosom of my family, when an unforeseen
thunderbolt struck me. I was ordered to be arrested and sent to Khasan,
to the commission of inquiry appointed to try Pugatchéf and his
accomplices.

No sooner had I arrived in Khasan than I was lodged in prison, and irons
were placed on my ankles. It was a bad beginning, but I was full of hope
and courage, and believed that I could easily explain my dealings with
Pugatchéf.

The next day I was summoned to appear before the commission, and asked
how long I had been in Pugatchéf's service.

I replied indignantly that I had never been in his service; and then
when I was asked how it was he had spared my life and given me a
safe-conduct pass I told the story of the guide in the snowstorm and the
hair-skin _touloup_.

Then came the question how was it I had left Orenburg, and gone straight
to the rebel camp?