before, on a barricade; it was Annouchka who took his place. They busied
themselves and the train started like a shot. On that curved line,
discovered at once, easy to attack, under a shower of bullets, Vlassof
developed a speed of ninety versts an hour. He ran the indicator up to
the explosion point. The lady over there continued to pile coal into the
furnace. The danger came to be less from the military and more from
an explosion at any moment. In the midst of the balls Vlassof kept his
usual coolness. He sped not only with the firebox open but with the
forced draught. It was a miracle that the engine was not smashed against
the curve of the embankment. But they got past. Not a man was hurt. Only
a woman was wounded. She got a ball in the chest."

"There!" cried Annouchka.

With a magnificent gesture she flung open her white and heaving chest,
and put her finger on a scar that Gounsovski, whose fat began to melt in
heavy drops of sweat about his temples, dared not look at.

"Fifteen days later," continued the prince, "Vlassof entered an inn
at Lubetszy. He didn't know it was full of soldiers. His face never
altered. They searched him. They found a revolver and papers on him.
They knew whom they had to do with. He was a good prize. Vlassof was
taken to Moscow and condemned to be shot. His sister, wounded as she
was, learned of his arrest and joined him. 'I do not wish,' she said
to him, 'to leave you to die alone.' She also was condemned. Before the
execution the soldiers offered to bandage their eyes, but both refused,
saying they preferred to meet death face to face. The orders were to
shoot all the other condemned revolutionaries first, then Vlassof,
then his sister. It was in vain that Vlassof asked to die last. Their
comrades in execution sank to their knees, bleeding from their death
wounds. Vlassof embraced his sister and walked to the place of death.
There he addressed the soldiers: 'Now you have to carry out your duty
according to the oath you have taken. Fulfill it honestly as I have
fulfilled mine. Captain, give the order.' The volley sounded. Vlassof
remained erect, his arms crossed on his breast, safe and sound. Not a
ball had touched him. The soldiers did not wish to fire at him. He had
to summon them again to fulfill their duty, and obey their chief. Then
they fired again, and he fell. He looked at his sister with his eyes
full of horrible suffering. Seeing that he lived, and wishing to appear
charita