s only
equalled by the Inquisition, he had wrung confessions from women and
afterwards had them shot and buried. At Petersburg they knew these
things, but he had actually been commended for his loyalty to the Czar!

And now that he had been hurriedly moved to Ostrog the people knew that
his order to the Cossacks was to massacre the people, and more
especially the Jewish portion of the population, without mercy.

Where was Bindo? I wondered.

"Krasiloff is here!" said a man whose face was smeared with blood, as he
stood by me. "He intends that we shall all die, but we will fight for
it. The Revolution has only just commenced. Soon the peasants will rise,
and we will sweep the country clean of the vermin the Czar has placed
upon us. To-day Kinski, the Governor, has been fired at twice, but
unsuccessfully. He wants a bomb, and he shall have it," he added
meaningly. "Olga--the girl yonder with the yellow hair--has one for
him!" and he laughed grimly.

I recognised my own deadly peril. I stood revolver in hand, though I had
not fired a shot, for I was no revolutionist. I was only awaiting the
inevitable breaking down of the barricade--and the awful catastrophe
that must befall the town when those Cossacks, drunk with the lust for
blood, swept into the streets.

Around me, men and women were shouting themselves hoarse, while the red
emblem of terror still waved lazily from the top of the barricade. The
men manning the improvised defence kept up a withering fire upon the
troops, who, in the open road, were afforded no cover. Time after time
the place shook as those terrible bombs exploded with awful result, for
the yellow-haired girl seemed to keep up a continuous supply of them.
They were only seven or eight inches long, but hurled into a company of
soldiers their effect was deadly.

For half an hour longer it seemed as though the defence of the town
would be effectual, yet of a sudden the redoubled shouts of those about
me told me the truth.

The Cossacks had been reinforced, and were about to rush the barricade.

I managed to peer forth, and there, sure enough, the whole roadway was
filled with soldiers.

Yells, curses, heavy firing, men falling back from the barricade to
die around me, and the disappearance of the red flag, showed that the
Cossacks were at last scaling the great pile of miscellaneous objects
that blocked the street. A dozen of the Czar's soldiers appeared
silhouetted against the sky as they scra