Switching on the electric light, he said:
"Gentlemen, I am Prince Lermontoff, in temporary charge of this
prison. The Governor is under arrest, and I regret that I must demand
your swords, although I have every reason to believe that they will be
handed back to you within a very few days after I have completed my
investigations."
The officers were too much accustomed to sudden changes in command to
see anything odd in this turn of affairs. Lermontoff spoke with a
quiet dignity that was very convincing, and the language he used was
that of the nobility. The two officers handed him their swords without
a word of protest.
"I must ask you whether you have yet received your winter supply of
food."
"Oh, yes," said the senior officer, "we had that nearly a month ago."
"Is it stored in the military portion of the rock, or below here?"
"Our rations are packed away in a room upstairs."
"I am sorry, gentlemen, that I must put you into cells until my
mission is accomplished. If you will write a requisition for such
rations as you are accustomed to receive, I shall see that you are
supplied. Meanwhile, write also an order to whomsoever you entrust in
command of the men during your absence, to grant no one leave to come
downstairs, and ask him to take care that each soldier is rigidly
restricted to the minimum quantity of vodka."
The senior officer sat down at the table, and wrote the two orders.
Pages:
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227