ticks, like ox-goads, made to fit
the bayonets; others fitted short handles to their scythes, while
others carried short heavy sticks, to which again bayonets were
fitted. A hundred of those dressed as soldiers were to carry their
muskets, and, under the orders of one of their leaders, to march
boldly down the street, so timing their arrival as to reach the square
just at the time at which the execution was to take place, while the
rest were to mix with the crowd.

Late at night the news was brought to them that proclamations had been
posted through the town, saying that the execution would take place at
eight in the morning in the grand square. Orders had been issued, it
was learnt, that 1000 troops should be present, and the others were
ordered to be in readiness in their barracks, in case any sign of
popular feeling should be manifested. As it was evident, therefore,
that no soldiers in uniform would be loitering in the street, it was
determined that the 250 men so dressed should march together to the
square with their arms.

In the morning the insurgents, in twos and threes, started for the
town, and joined the town's-people assembling in the great square.
Across the square, within thirty or forty paces of one side, was
formed up a strong battalion of Russian infantry, the rest of the
square being occupied by the town's-people, all of whom had attired
themselves in mourning. In the centre of the square, behind the
soldiers, a scaffold had been erected, as by the sentence of the
court-martial the count was to die by hanging.

The midshipmen and their friends made their way through the crowd to
the front, the latter giving way upon a whisper being circulated that
an attempt was to be made to rescue the prisoner, and the 250
insurgents were soon gathered in a close body in front of the soldiers
standing before the scaffold. Each man had his scythe or bayonet
hidden under his long coat, the leaders grasping their pistols. The
men had been ordered to refrain from any expression of excitement, and
to assume, as far as possible, a look of quiet grief. Behind the
infantry were a number of mounted officers, among whom General
Borodoff, the governor of the town and district, was pointed out to
the midshipmen, and near the general, under a strong guard, the
prisoner was standing. All the insurgents, with the exception of those
forming the first line, quietly fitted their scythes and bayonets to
the handles and waited the s