Page:Ossendowski - The Shadow of the Gloomy East.djvu/199

Rh mon the soul of some hero who fell during the war with Bonaparte. The hero spirit was supposed to work miracles, to compose poems in Hindu, and to foretell the future. Soon the new-comers started their practices.

The auguries were of the most wonderful kind. Kolchak was promised victory and triumph in Moscow, almost the throne of the Romanovs. But on the sly, and with great secrecy, Timofeyev whispered into the ears of one or the other of the people unfriendly to the monarchist group and to himself that it would be wiser to leave as danger was imminent.

In this way Timofeyev got rid of several people whom he or Krapotkin disliked.

I remember one night in the house of the lawyer Zardetsky. I was invited as a "representative of science."

In a semi-dark room gathered a number of people, among whom were several foreigners. In one corner was a table behind which Timofeyev, pale and excited, was seated in a deep chair. All of a sudden he rose and again sank in the chair, as if exhausted. He opened wide his big grey eyes and started to speak with his penetrating voice of the glorious future of Siberia, of the victorious war, and the speedy advent of a famous and powerful monarch.

When the door leading from the neighbouring room opened and Zardetsky entered, the prophet exclaimed:

"And lo! there comes the great and glorious one,