The captain chirruped to his horse and the squad of Cossacks trotted off toward the barracks across the prison square, while the lieutenant pushed on without a glance at Sandoff and soon disappeared around the corner of the stockade.
The alarm and consternation of the latter at what he had just heard may be easily imagined. As he turned hurriedly a log was thrust endways through the hole behind him, and was followed an instant later by Shamarin.
“Have you heard?” whispered Sandoff huskily. “Our escape will be discovered. They will enter the cell in a few moments.”
“Yes,” said Shamarin coolly, “I heard all. I am sorry now that I wasted so much time with that fellow in there. I wanted to make sure that he would not alarm his companions and put them on our track. I have him nicely gagged and bound. Now my trouble goes for nothing. But don’t despair, Sandoff. We will make good use of what time we may have. Here, help me to put this log in place—then we will be off.”
Sandoff lent a willing hand, and the break in the wall was soon roughly closed up.
“They will find that fellow long before morning,” said Shamarin. “He is in no danger of being buried alive. Are you ready now? Just keep that Cossack coat and rifle. They may do you good service in the future. I will carry the other bundle, and the knife and wedge. We may need them all. Is the breast of that coat you have on filled out with cartridges?”
“Yes,” replied Sandoff, making a hasty examination.
“Good!” said Shamarin. “It is a strong point in our favor to have firearms. That rifle may save us from starvation—and from Cossacks,” he added significantly.
Then, with a last glance at the gloomy prison, they quickly crossed the street, and plunged in among the rows of squalid huts, keeping a sharp lookout for danger. But on such a stormy night no one was abroad except in the vicinity of the prison, and after winding in and out among the narrow streets of the settlement, the fugitives reached the suburbs. Presently they came to the bank of the Kara River, where they stopped for a breath of free air—the first they had enjoyed in two long years.
“It is possible that the lieutenant has changed his mind, and won’t enter the cell until morning,” said Shamarin, at this point, “but we won’t take any chances. The snow is now about half a foot deep, and it is not coming down fast enough to conceal our tracks in case our flight is discovered within the next hour. We should be traced to this point at once.”