As we approached Orenburg we saw a crowd of convicts with cropped heads,
and faces disfigured by the pincers of the executioner.[61] They were working on the fortifications of the place under the
pensioners of the garrison. Some were taking away in wheelbarrows the
rubbish which filled the ditch; others were hollowing out the earth with
spades. Masons were bringing bricks and repairing the walls.
The sentries stopped us at the gates to demand our passports.
When the Sergeant learnt that we came from Fort Belogorsk he took us
direct to the General.
I found him in his garden. He was examining the apple-trees which the
breath of autumn had already deprived of their leaves, and, with the
help of an old gardener, he was enveloping them in straw. His face
expressed calm, good-humour and health.
He seemed very pleased to see me, and began to question me on the
terrible events which I had witnessed. I related them.
The old man heard me with attention, and, while listening, cut the dead
branches.
"Poor Mironoff!" said he, when I had done my sad story; "'tis a pity! he
was a goot officer! And Matame Mironoff, she was a goot lady and
first-rate at pickled mushrooms. And what became of Masha, the Captain's
daughter?"
I replied that she had stayed in the fort, at the pope's house.
"Aie! aie! aie!" said the General. "That's bad! very bad; it is quite
impossible to count on the discipline of robbers."
I drew his attention to the fact that Fort Belogorsk was not very far
away, and that probably his excellency would not delay dispatching a
detachment of troops to deliver the poor inhabitants.
The General shook his head with an air of indecision-"We shall see! we shall see!" said he, "we have plenty of time to talk
about it. I beg you will come and take tea with me. This evening there
will be a council of war; you can give us exact information about that
rascal Pugatchef and his army. Now in the meantime go and rest."
I went away to the lodging that had been assigned me, and where
Saveliitch was already installed. There I impatiently awaited the hour
fixed.
The reader may well believe I was anxious not to miss this council of
war, which was to have so great an influence on my life. I went at the
appointed hour to the General's, where I found one of the civil
officials of Orenburg, the head of the Customs, if I recollect right, a
little old man, fat and red-faced, dressed in a coat of watered silk.