people arrested me.

"What business?" asked he. I did not know what to answer. Pougatcheff
thinking that I would not speak before witnesses gave a sign to his
comrades to leave. All obeyed except two. "Speak before these," said
he; "conceal nothing from them."

I glanced at these intimates of the usurper. One was an old man frail
and bent, remarkable for nothing but a blue riband crossed over his
coarse gray cloth cafetan; but I shall never forget his companion. He
was tall, of powerful build, and seemed about forty-five. A thick red
beard, piercing gray eyes, a nose without nostrils, marks of the
searing irons on his forehead and cheeks, gave to his broad face,
pitted by small-pox a most fierce expression. He wore a red shirt,
a Kirghis robe, and wide Cossack pantaloons. Although wholly pre-
occupied by my own feelings, yet this company deeply impressed me.
Pougatcheff recalled me to myself quickly.

"What business brought you from Orenbourg?"

A bold idea suggested itself to my mind. It seemed to me that
Providence, leading me a second time before this robber, gave me the
means of accomplishing my work. I decided to seize the chance, and
without reflecting on the step, I replied:

"I am on the way to the fortress of Belogorsk to liberate an oppressed
orphan there."

Pougatcheff's eyes flashed. "Who dares to oppress an orphan? Were he
seven feet high, he shall not escape my vengeance. Speak, who is the