Page:Ossendowski - From President to Prison.djvu/190

178, "my master was arrested during the night and taken to prison."

Jumping into a drosky, I made the round of the residences of all my former associates but, alas, I found no one at home, for all of them had been arrested in the same manner. For the moment I alone was left at liberty; and now I understood the full meaning of the visit of Zaremba and von Ziegler, especially the nervous haste of the second warning of this morning.

However, I did not attempt to leave Harbin, as I felt it only right that I should remain to do what I could for my imprisoned associates and to share with them whatever fate our concerted acts might have in store. Without leaving my house I waited until midnight, wondering when the next development would come. At this hour, while I was seated at the desk in my study, I saw through a window the face of a soldier and his shining bayonet. I arose and went into the drawing-room, only to find the same outlook there, a soldier outside each window. Just as I was saying to myself that they had probably completely surrounded the house, the bell in the vestibule rang, followed by the cry of my frightened servant and the clatter of swords and spurs, as some gendarmes and agents of the political police appeared in the hall.

Then followed quickly a minute search of the whole house and the writing of the official report with all its details of whether I knew how to read and write, whether I was baptized, and the like. An hour later the iron door of a cell in the military prison clanged with a dull sound of finality behind me and, through the little barred aperture in the middle, a guard began staring at me.

"Fifty-three days as President of the Russian Far East, then prison! From President to prison—a dramatic and exciting way, though short withal!"