With a succession of whirring, grating, rasping, grinding jerks the train slackened quickly, and in a moment everything was plunged in indescribable commotion. The soldiers on both sides began to close in on the fast stopping train.
"Close ranks round the whole train," I shouted to Sergeant Grostef: and ordered him away to bring up the men as quickly as possible.
But I had made one miscalculation that was nearly proving fatal to everything. When I sprang on the line to stop the train, the rails had not been moved, and even now for some reason they remained in position. I had calculated to cause the train to be stopped so that it would reach the false points at a slow pace, and thus be derailed close to where I stood. I judged that the jerk with which the train would leave the line would be sufficient to bring it to a standstill, but not enough to overturn it; and I should thus be able to get at once to the presence of the Emperor, and tell my story in person at the moment when he would be most affected by the occurrence. But as the rails remained in position—owing probably to the fact that the man operating them had seen that the train had been stopped and deemed it best to do nothing—there was nothing to stay the train's progress, except the brakes.
To my horror I saw it pass me with just about sufficient speed to carry it right into the middle of the five men who were waiting there to murder the Emperor.
With a loud shout to the men nearest to me to follow I dashed after it, making sure as I ran in which carriage was the Emperor.
The first of the five men planted himself right in my path, and fired his revolver point-blank at me when I was only three or four paces from him. He missed and then drew his sword to engage me. With scarcely a second's delay I cut down his sword arm and a second slash at his neck as I ran past, sent him reeling down the embankment, all but headless, with the blood spurting from the fearful wounds I had inflicted.
My one thought was now the Emperor; and I saw that the other assassins had discovered him in the train as quickly as I.
One of them stood with a bomb, ready poised in his hand, intending to hurl it right into the carriage. I tore it from him and threw it with all my force over the embankment and then plunged my sword into the villain's heart.
