rately walked around us, probably to obtain a better
view of me; and in that moment I think I doubted her; but I tightened
my grip around the man I held, and waited grimly for events to shape
themselves.

"Dubravnik?" she said, in a low tone, as if she were not convinced; but
I did not speak again; and the captain also remained silent. Minutes,
which seemed like hours, passed in another deathlike silence, broken
only by the panting of Durnief. I wondered if Zara had fainted, or had
gone for help, or what! There seemed to be no good reason for the
silence, and the waiting. Why did she not grasp the sword, and send its
point through one of us? It did not much matter to me, then, which one
she might choose for its sheath.

Soon, however, I heard a sound directly above me--a sound which a stick
might make in smiting the ground, and I felt that Durnief shuddered. In
another instant it came again, and his arms relaxed, but only to
tighten about me the more convulsively. Then a short pause, which was
followed by the thudding sound of a blow heavier than its predecessors,
and instantly following it, the tensioned muscles of Durnief relaxed.
His arms fell from their clasp around me. I pushed him aside as though
he were dead, and for a moment believed that he was; then springing
upright, to my feet, I was just in time to catch the tottering form of
my princess, who, though not unconscious, had spent her last remaining
strength in that third blow. Her left hand held Durnief's sword. In her
right was the _mujik's_ whip, and I saw that she had used the stock of
it to aid me.

"I stood for a long time, with the sword pressed against his back,
where it would have pierced his heart," she murmured in my ear, while
she clung to me. "I wanted to kill him, but I could not do it. Then I
found the _yemschik's_ whip, but I had not the strength to strike. Do
you wonder why I left the house? The _yemschik_ came to get me. He
brought a note, signed by you. It said that my brother had been
wounded, and was at my house; that it was safe for me to go there now.
I hastened. I ran to the _droshka_, and sprang inside before I knew
that it was occupied. Durnief was there. He seized me. Something was
wrapped around my head, and I lost consciousness, I think. Then I heard
sounds, as if men were fighting, and I crawled from the overturned
_droshka_, and saw you two struggling together, in the snow. I was
dazed, frightened, and very weak. I did not reme