The governor now addressed several questions to this officer, which we understood no better than his answers; 84 we saw only that he was not a little embarrassed, and grew red and white by turns.
The governor now turned to us again and commanded us to give him the history of our flight, without omitting the most trivial circumstance. We were obliged to tell him where we were each day, and make a sketch of several localities, concerning which he seemed to be in some doubt. After he had demanded of us whether some of the guards and servants had not been privy to and aided our escape, he inquired in an earnest manner, what was the precise object of our flight.
“To return to our native land,” replied we.
“How would it have been possible to have carried out this project?”
“We intended to capture a boat somewhere along the coast, and venture in it to the nearest Russian port.”
“Could you not have guessed that as soon as your escape was known, orders would be given immediately, to watch the coast and especially all vessels.”
“Yes, we expected that, but in the course of time our enterprise might have succeeded when we least expected it.”
“But,” continued the governor, “you saw in your former journeys, that the land was covered with mountains, among which it is very difficult to travel, and that along the coast lie numberless villages, which would render escape almost impossible. Your undertaking was thoughtless and childish.”
“And yet,” replied I, “for six nights we wandered along the shore, and through these villages, without being discovered by any one. At any rate, we would leave no 85 plan untried, let it be as thoughtless, or even desperate as it may, to escape from our miserable lot, and as we had an eternal imprisonment hovering over us, we determined either to reach our homes, or find a grave among the mountains or beneath the waves.”
“Why was it necessary to go into the woods or on the sea in order to die, when you could do it very easily here?”