to the judgment hall, where the officers had already
assembled, and where the governor soon afterwards made his appearance.
There was not the slightest change visible in his countenance; he
seemed as pleasant and unruffled as ever, and showed no displeasure at
our behavior. As soon as he had taken his seat, he inquired, with his
accustomed good humor, what were the motives of our flight? I remarked
to him that I wished, first of all, to declare that I alone was
responsible for the course we had pursued, and that it was against
their will that my companions had obeyed my orders; if they had
refused to do so, they would be liable to severe penalties, if we ever
returned to our native land. Therefore, though the Japanese should
kill me, they ought not to harm a hair of their heads. The Bunjo
replied, in the coolest manner possible, that if the Japanese
considered it necessary to take my life, they could so without my
putting them in mind of the fact; if, on the contrary, they did not
deem it advisable to do so, all my entreaties would avail nothing. He
then repeated his question.

"We fled," replied I, "because we had not the slightest prospect of
ever being set free; on the contrary, every day showed us more clearly
that the Japanese were determined never to release us."

"Who told you that? Have I ever hinted to you that we would always
hold you prisoners?"

"The orders from the capital," replied I, "forboded no good."

"Whence do you know that?"

"The officer here present, whom we instructed in the Russian language,
gave us good ground to suppose so."

The governor now addressed several questions to this officer, which we
understood no better than his answers; we saw only that he was not a
little embarrassed, and grew red and white by turns.

The governor now turned to us again and commanded us to give him the
history of our flight, without omitting the most trivial circumstance.
We were obliged to tell him where we were each day, and make a sketch
of several localities, concerning which he seemed to be in some doubt.
After he had demanded of us whether some of the guards and servants
had not been privy to and aided our escape, he inquired in an earnest
manner, what was the precise object of our flight.

"To return to our native land," replied we.

"How would it have been possible to have carried out this project?"

"We intended to capture a boat somewhere along the coast, and venture
in it to the nearest Ru