"
"What do you advise? We are entirely in your hands. The Chief of Police
told me he could trust you."
"I think it will be best to risk it," he said in Russian after a brief
pause. "We will tie up the boat, and I will go along the bank and see
what the guards are doing. You will remain here, and I shall not be
seen. The rushes and undergrowth are higher further along. But if there
is danger while I am absent get out and go straight westward until you
find the marsh, then keep along its banks due south," and drawing up the
boat to the bank the shrewd, big-boned fellow disappeared into the dark
undergrowth.
There were no signs yet of the break of day. Indeed, the stars were now
hidden, and the great plane of water was every moment growing more
indistinct as we both sat in silence. My ears were strained to catch the
dipping of an oar or a voice, but beyond the lapping of the water
beneath the boat there was no other sound. I took the hand of the
fair-faced girl at my side and pressed it.
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