guarded.
During this time, the greatest silence was preserved. Other arrests were
to be made, and it was imperative upon the men to take every precaution
not to arouse the intended victims prematurely.

"Forward, march!" commanded one of the soldiers; and poor Podoloff,
without even daring to bid his wife farewell, was forced into the street
and carried, rather than led, to Basilivitch's hostlery.

Nine others were captured in a similar manner; nine poor wretches,
doomed to life-long misery in the copper mines of Siberia, many of them
having not the slightest idea of the nature of their offence.
Basilivitch had placed the Governor of Alexandrovsk under eternal
obligations by his patriotic devotion. Of the number captured, there
were three who had seconded Podoloff during the discussion at the inn,
the previous Sunday afternoon. The remainder were to be exiled, because
the Governor, on Basilivitch's recommendation, deemed them dangerous. A
good day's work, Basilivitch! You have done the nation a signal service,
and have rid yourself of six persons from whom you had at various times
borrowed money, and who had of late become troublesome in their dunning.
They will not trouble you from the Siberian mines.

The prisoners were thrown into two carts, which had been brought for
that purpose, and a detachment of soldiers accompanied them without
delay to Alexandrovsk. There they were put into prison for a month,
until it pleased the Governor to take notice of them. Then followed the
mere mockery of a trial, during which the prisoners were not permitted
to utter a word in self-defence, and as a fitting end to this travesty
of justice, the ten unfortunates were launched upon their weary
foot-journey to the frozen North, destined to live and die beyond the
reach, beyond the sympathy of mankind.

Let us retrace our steps and accompany the Governor's soldiers through
the Jewish quarter. The refinement of cruelty demanded from the Jews a
greater sacrifice than from the Catholics. The malefactors must be
punished through their little ones. In pursuance of a decree of the
mighty Czar, passed some years before, the Governors of the various
provinces were authorized to visit the Jewish homes, and to remove from
them all male children that had reached the age of five years.[3]

There was a twofold object in this course. Firstly, the humane Czar
desired to accustom these babes to the rigorous soldier life of Russia,
to transform the