ud
words of command, the sound of slashing blows were heard, and the bodies
of bearded cavalrymen were visible above the heads of the crowd.

It was a squadron of Cossacks which was mercilessly hewing its way
through the crowd. The town was then actually in the hands of the
Russians, and orders had evidently been given, the better to prevent
further massacre and incendiarism, to clear the street of the fanatic
mob.

So the fierce-looking horsemen then swept the way before them clear
of all obstacles. And they did their business well; for nothing could
withstand the blows from the whips fitted at the end of the lash with
thin hard sticks, which in their hands became terrible instruments of
punishment.

Heideck suddenly saw himself free of his assailants, and as he with
Edith pressed against the wall of a house, they remained happily safe
from the horses' hoofs as well as from the blows of the knout which were
being dealt out wildly around him.

But the keen eyes of a Cossack officer had perceived the little group
amid the great heap of dead and wounded. He rode up to them, and as he
thought he recognised in Heideck's khaki dress the English uniform, he
gave certain orders to his men, the meaning of which was soon apparent
to them both, for they were at once placed between the horses of two
Cossacks, and without knowing whither they were being taken, passed
through the streets lit up by the flames of the burning houses.

XV

THE COURT-MARTIAL

The mausoleum of Anar Kali, a great octagonal building in the gardens to
the south of the town, was the place whither the Russian prisoners
were taken. Heideck and Edith Irwin were not the first that had found
quarters there; for, besides about a hundred officers, there were
already there numberless English ladies and children whose saviours had
appeared in time to rescue them from the horrible fate of Mrs. Baird and
her children. At the open door of the apartments reserved for the women
Heideck and Edith Irwin had to part. They were not allowed a long time
to take leave. But even if they had been altogether alone they would at
this moment have been scarcely able to find much to say; for after all
the exertions and excitements of the terrible day just ended such
heavy fatigue and exhaustion had overcome them that they could only
mechanically make use of their limbs; and so, instead of the passions,
hopes, and fears, with which they had been moved but a short time
p