Page:The Czar, A Tale of the Time of the First Napleon.djvu/153

Rh find him by-and-by.—Say, dädushka, would it not be a pity these infidel Frenchmen should enter the Kremlin without so much as a musket-shot to bid them welcome?"

"But what would you do, my son? Remember the lives of Russians are precious."

"I should peril no life which would not be just as sorely perilled elsewhere; but I think that, with the help of the workmen who are still on the spot, and a few of the lads whom I know to be ready for any wild work, I could give a fair account of some of Napoleon's advanced guard."

"Well, since Count Rostopchine has left the city, every man may do that which is right in his own eyes. Have you arms?"

"Plenty; and I, as well as the other directors nominated by the count, have his authority to distribute them as I see fit.—Ah, Pope Yefim, is that you? So you have not left us yet."

"Not yet, nor ever," said the priest as he advanced and saluted first his aged friend, then Ivan.

"I thought all the churchmen were gone already, or going to-day," observed Ivan.

"It may be so," returned Pope Yefim, "but, whosoever goes, sorrow and death remain."

"Remain!" cried Ivan. "It is their carnival."

"Well, then, may not one of God's humblest ministers remain also, to pray beside the sorrowful and to bury the dead?"

"My dear pope, the part you have chosen is noble, but most perilous."

"I scarcely think so. All civilized nations respect Religion and her ministers. I have heard that Napoleon said to one of our popes, who bravely presented himself before him to plead for his flock, 'You have done well. Your "Bog" is the same as our "Dieu."'"

"Whose altars the French have cast down, and whose worship they have forsaken; therefore they shall not prosper," said Petrovitch. He added after a pause: "My friends, I am