re
either could utter another word was gone.

By midnight Dobri Petroff had made his rounds--now as a carter gruffly
and clumsily driving a cart and horse of which he had managed to possess
himself; anon as a stupid countryman belonging to the village on the
height, noisily wanting to know why the Turks had robbed him of the said
cart and horse, which he had conveniently tipped over a precipice, and
vowing that he would carry his complaint against the army to the Sultan
himself; once he was fain to act the part of a drunk man, almost
incapable of taking care of himself.

During his perambulations he ran frequent risk of being shot by
irascible Bashi-Bazouks or wearied Albanians; was more than once looked
on with suspicion, and frequently suffered rough treatment, but he acted
his part well. Nothing could draw from him a word or look beyond
average intelligence.

No indignity could rouse him to more than the warfare of abuse, and the
result was that long before dawn he found himself once more close to the
front.

But fortune seemed inclined to fail him here. He was creeping
cautiously among a heap of rocks when a sentinel of the advanced line of
the Turks discovered and challenged him. Petroff knew well that escape
by running would be impossible, for he was only six yards distant. He
made therefore no reply, but sank on the ground, keeping his eye,
however, sharply on the advancing sentinel. His only cause of anxiety
was that the Turk might fire at him, in which case his doom would have
been sealed. The Turk, however, preferred to advance and thrust his
bayonet into him.

Petroff had calculated on and was prepared for this. He caught the
bayonet and checked its progress between his ribs. Another moment and
the Turk lay on his back with the stock of his own rifle broken over his
skull. The scuffle had attracted the next sentry, who ran to his
comrade's assistance. The scout instantly made the best use of his
legs. He was as fleet as a mountain deer, but the rifle-ball was
fleeter. He felt a sharp pain in his left arm, and almost fell. The
alarm was given. Sentries on both sides fired, and another bullet
grazed his temple, causing blood to flow freely down his face. Still he
ran steadily on, and in a few minutes was safe within the Russian lines.

He was seized, of course, by those who first met him, and, not being
known to them, was at once carried before a captain of dragoons, who
knew him.

By t