They were loud in their praises of the Circassian leader—myself—and expressed a great desire to capture me; others added their less friendly hopes that I had perished in the explosion.
"It is fortunate, however," said Carlovitch, "that we have taken his two brothers, Selim and Karolyi; they, at least, have a long march before them towards the north; and, believe me, that among the snows there, with a chain to drag, and the occasional prick of a Cossack lance in the rear, their hot rebellious blood will soon be cooled in Siberia, and rendered mild as commissariat quass."
Under their shaggy beards the officers laughed at this poor joke, which made my heart almost die within me, for it acquainted me, that my two brothers, Selim and Karolyi, were captives, and that Siberia would be their doom.
A soldier now approached to announce that the body of Archipp Ossepoff had been found, shattered, scorched, and sorely mangled, but still recognisable by the medals which he had won in the Polish war.
"Then let him be buried apart from all the rest," said Carlovitch, "with all honour, and let a cross mark the spot; but first, let us put all these fellows who are lying about here under ground, before the sun attains its noon-day heat."
While lying there, receiving an occasional kick from the passing soldiers, who had long since stripped me of my splendid arms, armour, and ornaments, how terrible were my thoughts when the fierce, rough, and merciless Cossacks proceeded to open a trench beside me, and dug it deep to receive the dead. I endeavoured to stifle reflection, believing that my last hour had come; and after praying—for prayer is the pillar of religion, even as the sword is the true key of paradise—I bent my thoughts upon Basilia, who was far away at Soudjack Kaleh, and seated then perhaps in her rose garden, fanning herself with feathers, and weeping for the poor Osman she would never again behold on earth.
At last the grave was finished, and one by one the dead were flung therein, and laid in rows head and foot alternately; how heavily they fell, with their lifeless limbs and clanking accoutrements! Suddenly I felt myself seized by the neck and heels, and before I could utter a sound, they flung me into that ghastly trench on the gashed and bloody heap below, and then the shovelled earth flew fast over me.
"Stop—halt!" cried Ivan Carlovitch, who was sitting on the sward close by, smoking a magnificent pipe; "by St. George, that uppermost Tcherkesse is alive yet!"
"A matter easily repaired, my colonel!" said a Russian, raising his shovel like a battle-axe to cleave my head.
"Beware, I say!" thundered Carlovitch, and at his voice the bearded soldiers cowered like slaves before a king; "fling him out, lay him on the sward, and bring here a canteen of quass."