Page:Ossendowski - From President to Prison.djvu/194

182 repulsive. They even made air raids by crawling up the ceiling and bombing directly down upon me from this vantage point.

"Listen!" I exclaimed to the soldier, "there are too many inhabitants in this cell and there is really no place for me."

"It is not allowed to talk. I——" he began and stopped.

"You will shoot," I answered, finishing his sentence for him. "Very well, but let it be at all these unlicensed intruders."

At this the soldier turned away and laughed in suppressed tones for quite a moment and, when he appeared again at the little grille, his face was less threatening and even a bit merry.

Finally the grey dawn began creeping into the cell. After having covered the whole room with its filmy veil of black, the lamp gave one last death-gasp and went out. The night raiders withdrew their fleets. The soldier on guard was changed; a bugle was heard; the heavy tramp of soldiers' boots sounded down the corridor; shouts, laughs, short, sharp words of command and the rattling of kettles mingled with the noise of passing men to tell me that the soldiers were returning to the guardroom with their tins of tea, Again I heard a distinct command and, following it, the words of the morning prayer chanted by the soldiers:

"O Lord, save Thy people &hellip;"

These words had a strange significance here, where it was really only the Almighty who could save the prisoners shut in this awful hole.

Though I was hungry and thirsty, I did not want to ask for anything, not only because of my pride but also