to tell you, Monsieur; but I, who have
robbed so many, was robbed myself."

"Do you suspect anybody?" was Nello's next question.

The man uttered a fierce imprecation. "Yes, I do; I suspect one of my
so-called pals. As captain I took the biggest share when we agreed to
separate. I caught his eye fixed upon me with a very sinister look. My
theory is that he followed me at a safe distance and saw where I was
lodged. He was well aware of my habits; he knew I should be pretty
fast asleep. He climbed up through the window, Monsieur, and took
every copper. I was too drunk to hear him. If I had been in my sober
senses, I would have strangled him, and added one more crime to the
many committed by Ivan the outlaw." He ended with a defiant grin, that
showed a row of strong white wolfish teeth.

Nello mused for a little space. The man might be speaking truth; he
was half disposed to think so. On the other hand, he might be telling
him a tissue of lies.

"Why are you not armed?" he asked suddenly.

"I have a pistol, Monsieur, but it is empty. I could find no place in
which to buy cartridges. See for yourself."

He fumbled in his pocket and threw down the weapon on the ground.
Nello picked it up cautiously; it was, as its owner had truly
declared, harmless.

A grim smile crossed the young man's countenance, but he did not for a
second relax his vigilance. This ruffian of the highway was, no doubt,
as cunning as he was plausible.

"If your pistol had been loaded, I expect you would have extorted
money from me instead of begging it."

Ivan the outlaw shook his big head. "Under ordinary circumstances,
yes, Monsieur. Adversity has taught me not to stand upon ceremony. But
when I saw your lips moving in prayer before the ikon, I would not
have harmed a hair of your head. You would have been sacred."

Truly a strange being, imbued with the ever-present superstition of
the Russian peasant, thought Nello to himself.

"And you want money from me. Of course you know what my duty is, as a
peaceable man who has no sympathy with robbers and assassins?"

"Certainly, Monsieur. If you don't choose to shoot me in a vital
spot and so insure my death, you ought to maim me to prevent me from
moving, leave me here and go and fetch the police from the village
to take me into custody." The man had spoken so far in a low,
imperturbable voice; then at the end he lashed himself into sudden
fury and shrieked out.

"It's a toss of a copper to