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Updated: May 21, 2025
Now and then the sullen boom of a great gun told of the fell work that the forces had assembled there to execute. "We are ordered to the front to-night, Dobri," said Nicholas, as he entered his tent hurriedly, unbuckled his sword, and sat down to a hasty meal. "Our spies have brought information that Osman means to play his last card. Our field telegraphs have spread the news.
He looked unsteadily round him for a moment, and then sank backward with a long-drawn sigh. Close to him, under a heap of slain, Dobri Petroff himself lay. For a long time he was unconscious, and had been nearly crushed to death by the weight of those above him.
"My friends," returned the colporteur, holding up the volume from which he had been reading, "this is not only my Bible, it is also yours, the same that is read in your own churches, only rendered into your own modern tongue." At this point Dobri Petroff, who, I observed, had been listening keenly to what was said, started up with vehemence, and exclaimed "If this be true, we can prove it.
Marika was only too glad to grasp at and hold on to the hope thus held out feeble though the ground was on which it rested, and it need scarcely be said that she went about her hospital duties after that with a lightness and joy of heart which she had not felt for many a day. Dobri Petroff's recovery was now no longer doubtful.
"Yes, yes," returned Marika, with a look and tone of despair, "I know that Dobri is dead; I saw my darling boy slain before my eyes, and heard Ivanka's dying scream; no wonder that my brain has reeled so long. But I am strong now. I feel as if the Lord were calling on me to go forth and work for Himself since I have no one else to care for. Had Giuana lived I would have stayed to nurse her, but "
Disguised as a Bulgarian rustic, Dobri Petroff left the Russian camp, passed the outposts, and, under cover of the fog, gained the neutral ground between the two armies. Of course the sentries on both sides were numerous as well as vigilant especially so on such a night. It therefore behoved him to advance with extreme caution.
It chanced that night, after the men were rolled in their cloaks, that Dobri Petroff found himself lying close to Andre under the same bush. "You don't sleep," he said, observing that the young soldier moved frequently. "Thinking of home, like me, no doubt?" "That was all nonsense," said the youth sharply, "about the cow, and your mother and sister, wasn't it?" "Of course it was.
Deep was the feeling of pity which Nicholas felt when the scout told him, in a few sternly-uttered sentences, what had occurred at Venilik; and when Dobri expressed a desire to attach himself to Nicholas as his servant, the latter was only too glad to agree. Each knew the other well by report, and felt that the connection would be mutually agreeable.
The great hacked sword whistled for a few minutes round the scout's head so fast that it required his utmost agility to parry cut and thrust with his rifle, but a favourable chance soon offered, and he swung the stock of his piece at his adversary's head with such force as to break the sword short off at the hilt. The Nubian sprang at Dobri like a tiger.
Dobri said he supposed you would think he was dead, but he isn't, and I can assure you looks as if he didn't mean to die for some time to come. They are both very low, however, about the loss of their children, though they still cling fondly to the belief that their little girl Ivanka has not been killed."
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