Page:Ossendowski - From President to Prison.djvu/312

300 "He is already a dead man," a young, red-haired prisoner put in. "Until the evening he will perhaps continue to hope that the Governor will not confirm the sentence &hellip; and in the night. &hellip; Oh, comrades, it is terrible, terrible to have to live through such a night of torture, when waiting for death!"

After a few moments the Ivans appeared and entered the separate cage set apart for the prisoners in irons. They marched one behind the other, in repulsive, almost terrifying line—and Shilo was the last. He had already mastered his emotions and walked with his usual step, carrying his head high and looking straight into the eyes of everyone.

"It is for to-morrow," he said, coming up to Mironoff and Boitsoff.

"We have heard."

"The judges ended things for me to-day, ended them once for all &hellip; they condemned me."

"Well?" came almost involuntarily from the old, experienced prison wolves.

"The gallows," whispered Shilo, and quickly turned away to attempt to walk up and down in his usual manner; but something drew him back close to the others, as though he were afraid to remain with his own thoughts.

"The lawyer who defended me did it well, saying that I was justified in killing the traitor; and, when sentence was passed, he promised to write for me a petition for amnesty."

"They will commute the death sentence to hard prison," Mironoff responded in a half-hearted way, not daring to look straight at the condemned man.

"They will hang me," Shilo replied with conviction. "If there is no word to-night, then it is the end. Well, after all, I must perish sometime."