“What o’clock d’you reckon it’ud be?” he asked suddenly.
De Richleau was hunched on the bench, his elbows on his knees. He did not trouble to look at his watch, but answered listlessly: “About six, I think.”
“Cocktail time again,” Rex yawned, “and still no cocktails. Wouldn’t it be just marvellous now to be in Paris hearing the ice tinkle in the Ritz bar.”
“I would prefer London,” said the Duke, seriously, “and a decanter of the special sherry at the Mausoleum Club.”
“Aw, hell, what’s the use — when d’you think they’ll get busy with their rotten trial?”
“I have told you before, my friend, I do not think there will be any trial. One fine morning we shall be led out into the yard and put up against a brick wall — that is, unless Simon can arrange something. You may be sure he’s doing everything he can.”
“Well, if he doesn’t make it snappy I guess he’ll miss the bus. We’ve been in this joint ten days now, and it’s six since they handed him hiis cloakroom check.”
They lapsed into silence again. The strain had told on them heavily. The sound of footsteps in the corridor at any but the usual hours when they received their meagre ration might herald the approach of the end. Each night as they dropped into an uneasy sleep they marvelled that they had survived another day, and wondered miserably if, on the morrow, they would hear the sinister order “Get your things together”, which in a Bolshevik prison in the inevitable prelude to a firing-party.
During their first days of imprisonment they had investigated the possibilities of escape, but the prison at Kiev was run on very different lines to the one at Tobolsk. Here, the prisoners were visited at regular hours during the day. They never saw their fellow captives except during the short period when they were exercised each morning, and then a squad of Red Guards were always lounging near with loaded rifles.
Their cell was searched night and morning; instead of an ordinary door it had a strong iron grating, and as a warder was always stationed in the corridor he could see what they were doing as he walked up and down. They had soon decided that escape without outside help was impossible.