aven, but splendidly dressed.

There was present at that interview no one except Count Saxe, General
Bibikoff, Gaston Cheverny and myself. When Bibikoff's bandage over the
eyes was removed he found himself standing before Count Saxe, from
whose eyes sparks seemed to be flying. And then in a voice that would
have shriveled up an honest man as if he were a dead leaf, Count Saxe
said:

"If I were not more generous than you I would poniard you on the spot.
You would have enticed me to a place where I should have been bagged
like a bird. Twelve hundred men against one! Thank you, my friend.
Tell that to your commanding general, Lacy, and see what he will say
to it."

Bibikoff, barbarian that he was, withered under this reproof.

Count Saxe, however, controlled his anger enough to fool Bibikoff to
the top of his bent. He pretended to be ready to surrender; asked for
ten days in which to remove his baggage and ammunition--and Bibikoff
consented. As a matter of fact, seven days more of work would have
made us secure in that place for a year against any force that could
be sent against us.

Bibikoff agreed, and actually looked ashamed when Count Saxe
stipulated in writing that General Lacy's signature should be secured
before the agreement was binding, for he was not the man to trust to a
scoundrel. Bibikoff also consented to that. General Lacy, he said, was
two days' march behind him, and that gave us two days more. Men have
done marvels in two days.

We breathed freer. It was by that time near eleven o'clock. The sun
takes long to sink in those far northern regions, and it was yet
twilight. We dared not resume our work until it grew darker; there
were about four good hours of darkness between sun and sun.

While we were still standing on the terrace we saw a commotion on the
mainland, and heard the trampling of many horses' hoofs, as a body of
cavalry appeared on the undulating plain; and there was a darker and
more slowly moving mass of foot soldiers behind them.

Our hearts, that had been suddenly raised to heights of joy, sank to
depths of woe. Such is war--one moment changes the face of all things.
Then we heard the Russian trumpets calling to us again. For the third
time that night Gaston Cheverny was sent across the lake. He returned
with a letter from General Lacy; for he had overtaken Bibikoff, and
was on the heels of him when supposed to be two days' march behind.

Count Saxe read this letter in the same to