Maxim." The Corporal of the Cossacks smiled. "Gentlemen, let us do
our part; be vigilant, post sentries, establish night patrols; in case
of an attack, shut the gates and call out the soldiers. Maxim, watch
well your Cossacks. It is necessary to examine the cannon and clean
it; and above all to keep the secret, that no one in the fortress
should know any thing before the time."

Having given his orders, Ivan Mironoff dismissed us. I went out with
Alexis, speculating on what we had heard. "What do you think of it?
How will this end?" I asked him.

"God knows," he replied, "we shall see. At present there is no
danger." And he began, as if thinking, to hum a French air.

Notwithstanding our precautions the news of the apparition of
Pougatcheff spread through the fortress. However great the respect of
Ivan Mironoff for his wife, he would not reveal to her for anything in
the world a military secret. When he had received the General's letter
he very adroitly rid himself of Basilia by telling her that the Greek
priest had received from Orenbourg extraordinary news which he kept a
great mystery. Thereupon Basilia desired to pay a visit to Accouline,
the clergyman's wife, and by Mironoff's advice Marie went also. Master
of the situation, Ivan Mironoff locked up the maid in the kitchen and
assembled us.

Basilia came home without news, and learned that during her absence
a council of war had been held, and that Polacca was imprisoned in
the kitchen. She suspected that her husband had deceived her, and
overwhelmed him with questions. He was prepared for the attack, and
stoutly replied to his curious better-half: