“And Zamosc! Shall I shoot him before I go?”
“No, leave him to his fate.”
“But,” said Vera, placing her hand softly on Sandoff’s arm, “the sledge is sinking, and he is helpless. Give him a chance for his life.”
“The villain doesn’t deserve it,” replied Sandoff shortly, but meeting an appealing glance from Vera’s eyes he turned and waded back to the sledge. Leaning over the seat he pulled Zamosc to an upright position, and took the gag from his mouth.
“If you value your life you had better tell your friends to cease firing,” he said.
Zamosc lost no time in making good use of his voice, and he was shouting lustily for help when Sandoff regained the shore. By the aid of a huge bowlder Shamarin mounted one of the horses. As it happened to be the smaller of the two, Sandoff mounted the other, and helped Vera up behind him. A moment later the fugitives vanished over the crest of the next ridge.
A succession of thick forests and rockstrewn ravines made progress slow and painful. Day came, revealing a barren and desolate country stretching as far as the eye could reach. In front of the fugitives towered a range of lofty mountains. After three or four hours of difficult riding they reached the foothills, themselves and their horses thoroughly exhausted. Here the latter were abandoned, and the ascent was begun on foot. A long and wearisome climb brought the refugees to the top, and here their eyes were gladdened by the sight they had longed to see. The mountain and the wooded hills at its base sloped gently to the eastward for half a dozen miles, and beyond were the fair blue waters of the Japan Sea, fading away into the horizon. Near the shore lay two black objects—steamers without doubt.
It was late in the afternoon when the fugitives drew near the sea. One slight ridge crowned with pine trees lay between them and the desired goal. They crept through the valley with slow and cautious steps, fearing either to meet Cossacks who had come up the coast from Vladivostok, apprised of the situation by telegraph, or to be overtaken by Colonel Nord and his party, who for all they knew might have been following them since the previous night.
“The first thing is to get a good look at those vessels lying off the shore and discover their nationality,” said Sandoff.
At that moment a rifle shot rang sharply on the air, and was followed by a second report and a ferocious yell that came from no human throat.