Page:Ossendowski - From President to Prison.djvu/213

Rh will be a school for future revolution against the reign of His Majesty the Tsar!"

This was a great faux pas on the part of the Prosecutor, who, carried away by his own eloquence and his desire to evince his loyalty to the Throne, gave us a sentence that became the strongest element in our defence. Our lawyers at once profited by the error and turned our adversary's own words against him to disprove his assertion about our anarchism and the losses we had caused the Government.

On the judges' bench sat the five members of the military court, presided over by their chairman, while ranged behind them were General Ivanoff and his Staff with Colonel Fiedorenko, all sitting in easy chairs below the picture of Tsar Nicholas II. As our counsel finished his clever use of the Prosecutor's gratuitous material, some of the judges were seen to smile slightly, as they watched the Prosecutor, in evident discomfiture, bending over his documents and thumbing them page by page, as though in search of some important matter he had missed. Fiedorenko threw a quick glance at their oratorical champion, which boded no good for him, and leaned over to whisper something to General Ivanoff, who turned red with anger and began pulling expressively his long black beard.

"I have nothing further to say," the Prosecutor stammered, as he put his documents in his brief-case.

"We also rest," our lawyers announced.

"Accused," said the Chairman of the Court, "you have the right to be heard before the bench announces its decision."

I had to speak first and did so briefly, closing with the words:

"The Prosecutor was honest enough to testify to the