Page:Zakhar Berkut(1944).djvu/196

 their stockades, we will drive them away from them soon enough. But there’s no need to hurry. As you can see, it’s still dark. Not until it is broad daylight will we be able to find the outlet I have spoken to you about.”

“What sort of an outlet is it that can be found only in broad daylight?”

“Listen a moment, Boyarin, and I will tell you. In a section of our yard, buried beneath a covering of earth, there’s a giant flagstone. We have to find that spot, spade away the dirt, lift up the stone and we will enter a long, narrow, underground passage which will lead us out of the valley to the top, right into the Glade of Light, where you saw my father awhile ago.”

“Well then, why wait any longer? Let’s go and search for it at once!” cried the boyar.

“That’s easy enough for you to say, Boyarin, but you have forgotten something, the village was burned down, our fences and buildings burned also and all signs which would indicate the place were destroyed so that in the dark I could never find it. Besides, as I said before, why hurry when our way out is assured in broad daylight?”

“Oh well, have it your way,” the boyar consented in the end. “I’ll go and tell Burunda about this and will send someone right away to unchain you. Only remember, young fellow, you’ll still be under guard, because, to tell you the truth, neither Burunda nor I trust you completely and if there’s any trickery, you can expect certain death.”

“I realized that all along, Boyarin,” Maxim replied calmly.

The boyar went out again and soon after two Mongolian blacksmiths entered and removed the heavy chains from him. Maxim, once rid of the iron weights which had squeezed and gnawed for almost twenty-four hours not only his flesh but also it seemed his soul, felt as light as if he had been re-born.