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Rh removed from here—or he may even himself have the cleverness to break his neck! Then the sentence of the tribunal will be lighter for us."

None of us had any illusions about the leniency of the sentence that would be meted out, and practically all of us expected it would be at least banishment up through the Yakutsk region along the Lena to some of the penal colonies in the tundras of the Arctic region. Such sentences always meant that the condemned were banished to these wild regions for their whole life, yet that hope which never dies always offered the possibility of an amnesty, if the Tsar should have a son or if some other great and happy event in the State life should occur. Consequently, we all prayed that Nicholas might be richly blessed with male offspring and, at the same time, we felt that there existed a reasonable hope of a sweeping political amnesty; for, in spite of the transitory ascendancy of the monarchical reaction, all of thinking Russia had been demanding this for a long time and would probably not abandon their deep-seated desire before the temporary check.

"At the most we shall have a journey to the north, at Government expense and shall return eventually," I assured my companions. "I have never yet been in those parts and am curious to have a look at them."

"In general, banishment is better than prison," added Lepeshinsky, "as you can move about and do not always have a soldier with a bayonet, a gendarme or the prosecutor chaperoning you."

"Or His Excellency Ivanoff," muttered Nowakowski, who nourished a rich hatred for this man who had tormented us so effectually. "I prefer to meet General Taptyguine in the Yakutsk taiga every day than this