was no report. Durnief did not fall, as the horses, and his
_yemschik_ had done. He stood unharmed, for the cartridge was bad,
or the chamber of my revolver was unloaded. Instantly he understood
that he had me at his mercy, and with a deadly smile upon his face he
leaped forward to run me through.

As he sprang towards me, I hurled the pistol with all my strength
towards him. It struck him squarely in the breast, staggering him, and
forcing him off his guard. Then, before he could recover, I sprang past
the point of his weapon. I seized his sword arm, by the wrist, with my
left hand, and threw my other arm around his body. We were as evenly
matched as though we had trained at weights and measurements for the
combat, and for a moment we struggled madly together, while I exerted
all my strength to bend his wrist backward, so that he would be
compelled to drop his sword.

It seems strange that such a struggle, taking place in the streets of a
great city immediately following upon the four reports of my pistol,
had not attracted attention and drawn somebody to the scene, but the
passing night had been one of terror; policemen had been called away
from their posts, and at that hour, just after dawn, when everything
was quiet, nobody heard, or if they heard, feared to come. In using all
my effort to compel him to drop his weapon I neglected the other
necessary points of the struggle, and although I succeeded in my
design, he forced me backwards at the same instant so that I fell
beneath him, but I still had my right arm tightly clasped around him,
and I hugged him to me with all the strength that I could master. With
Durnief, it was a struggle for life, liberty, and everything that he
possessed, and he fought with all the desperation of a madman. With me,
it was life, and the woman I loved, and I fought coolly, knowing that
he could not get away from me, believing that I could tire him out, and
satisfied that I could prevent him from securing his sword again. He
managed to wrench his hand from my grasp, and he struck me a savage
blow on the head with his fist, but I threw the other arm around him
then, and hugged him all the tighter, so that he was unable to repeat
the blow.

It was a strange combat. A person ten feet away could not have heard
it, for there was no sound save our heavy breathing. The snow deadened
every noise that might have been made otherwise. The air was bitterly
cold.

Presently I became conscious of