with us two months previously on his way from Orenburg with his young wife, and had put up at the house of Ivan Kouzmitch. The fortress of Nijneōzero was twenty-five versts distant from us. We might expect Pougatcheff's attack hourly. I vividly pictured to myself the fate of Maria Ivanovna, and my heart sank within me.
"Listen, Ivan Kouzmitch," said I to the commandant, "it is our duty to defend the fortress to our last breath; nothing can be urged against this. But we must think of the safety of the women. Send them to Orenburg if the road is still free, or to a distant and safer fortress where the wretches have not yet had time to penetrate."
Turning to his wife, Ivan Kouzmitch said: "See here, my little mother, how would it do if you really went away, until we have settled with the rebels?"
"Oh, nonsense!" said the commandant's wife. "Where is the fortress that is assured against bullets? Why is not Byĕlogorsk safe? God be thanked, this is the twenty-second year that we are in it. We have seen Bashkirs and Khirghis; we may overcome Pougatcheff as well!"
"Well, my little mother," reiterated Ivan Kouzmitch, "thou mayest stay on, if thou puttest so much trust in our fortress. But what are we to do with Masha? It is well if we are victorious, or if we obtain relief in time; but if the wretches capture the fortress?"
"Well, in that case"
Here Vassilissa Yegorovna became confused and stopped short, greatly agitated.
