CHAPTER VII.
THE ASSAULT.
That night I neither slept nor undressed. It was my intention to proceed early in the morning to the gate of the fortress through which Maria Ivanovna would have to pass, so that I might take leave of her for the last time. I felt within myself a great change; the agitation of my soul was far less burdensome to me than the melancholy into which I had lately fallen. With the grief of separation there was mingled a vague, but sweet hope, an impatient expectation of danger, a feeling of noble ambition.
The night passed away imperceptibly. I was just about to leave the house when my door opened, and the corporal entered the room with the information that our Cossacks had quitted the fortress during the night, taking Youlai by force along with them, and that strange people were riding round the fortress. The thought that Maria Ivanovna would not be able to get away filled me with alarm. I hurriedly gave some orders to the corporal, and then hastened at once to the Commandant’s quarters.
Day had already begun to dawn. I was hurrying along the street when I heard someone call out my name. I stopped.
“Where are you going?” said Ivan Ignatitch, overtaking me. “Ivan Kouzmitch is on the rampart, and he has sent me for you. Pougatch[1] has come.”
“Has Maria Ivanovna left the fortress?” I asked, with a trembling heart.
“She was unable to do so,” replied Ivan Ignatitch; “the road to Orenburg is cut off and the fortress is surrounded. It is a bad look-out, Peter Andreitch.”
We made our way to the rampart, an elevation formed by nature and fortified by a palisade. The inhabitants of the fortress were already assembled there. The garrison stood drawn up under arms. The cannon had been dragged thither the day before. The Commandant was walking up and down in front of his little troop. The approach of danger had inspired the old warrior with unusual vigour. On the steppe, not very far from the fortress, about a score of men could be seen riding about on horseback. They seemed to be Cossacks, but among them were some Bashkirs, who were easily recognized by their hairy caps, and by their quivers.