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He was a great bear of a man, with a goatlike face, very dirty and unshaven, but splendidly dressed. There was present at that interview no one except Count Saxe, General Bibikoff, Gaston Cheverny and myself. When Bibikoff's bandage over the eyes was removed he found himself standing before Count Saxe, from whose eyes sparks seemed to be flying.
I was taken to Colonel Pintsch, who reiterated to me his story about being a part of Bibikoff's force, which was a lie on the face of it, and a Courland lie at that. And then, some breakfast having been given us, we were suffered to depart. Schnelling went with us to guide us through the gloomy mazes of the forest.
"Would not you have done the same? At all events, we got three days' travel away from Mitau, when, on the evening of the third day, we were apprehended by these rogues. They professed to be a part of General Bibikoff's army, but I knew from the beginning that they were merely highwaymen. They sent the post-chaise back, and forced us to march on foot with them.
We had exactly three horses champing quietly in the courtyard, and nineteen men, not counting Gaston Cheverny, needing to ride to save their skins. And before we could draw breath, the open place in front of the drawbridge grew black with men; the restless, serpentine shadows were, in truth, Bibikoff's Russians. In half a minute our men were tugging at the chains of the drawbridge.
We mounted, and set forth in the dewy morning the Russians civil enough, but General Lacy keeping out of sight for very shame at Bibikoff's conduct, with which he was perfectly well acquainted. They gave us good horses. Count Saxe rode ahead, with Mademoiselle Capello, Gaston Cheverny and me following, and Beauvais behind.
This precious gang of rascals, who impudently claimed to be a part of General Bibikoff's force, had all served some time or other as soldiers, all wore uniforms, and knew perfectly well how to take care of themselves nay, how to make themselves at ease, as far as their circumstances permitted.
So he wrote that Bibikoff's arrangement was void; that Count Saxe must retire at daylight; that he, Lacy, declared upon his honor he had four thousand men at hand, and if compelled to attack, no quarter would be given.
This Schnelling had the impudence to claim to be a part of Bibikoff's force, and when Count Saxe asked him what he was doing holding prisoners for ransom, the rascal replied that the money was to be applied for a fund of defense against Count Saxe!
His sentence was pronounced: death, commuted by Prince Bibikoff's intercession to hard labor for life in Siberia. He was degraded from the nobility, to which order, like half the inhabitants of Poland, he belonged, and condemned to make the journey in chains.
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