Shortly after my trial a feverish1 anxiety set in at the Odessa prison: the Minister of Justice was expected. Of course, everything except the straw and the tub was taken out of my cell; and one day the great man appeared, attended by an imposing2 suite—the governor of the town among the rest. As soon as Nabòkov saw me he greeted me by name, which seemed to excite the governor’s interest in no small degree.
“Your Excellency is pleased to recognise Deutsch?”
“Oh yes; we have met in Petersburg,” answered Nabòkov in an agreeable tone, as if recalling a meeting in some elegant drawing-room instead of in a prison. He then turned to me, to tell me that he had received my petition, and had “reported to His Majesty3”; but the Tsar had pronounced that as a former member of the army I must go before a court-martial, and therefore that had been the only course. The manner in which I was lodged4 seemed to strike the minister unpleasantly, for he looked round my cell, and asked if I were properly treated and had no complaints to make. I now learned that my transference to Moscow was decided5 on; that I was to winter there, and remain until the journey to Siberia was possible.
The way in which the minister had spoken to me seemed to have made a powerful impression on the prison authorities; for scarcely had “His Excellency” left the place 95than the governor hastened to my cell, and took me to one much more comfortable, where were a good bed, a table, and a chair.
“A report has been made to His Majesty himself about you!” I was therefore a person of consequence, and the governor’s official soul was troubled. I was offered books from a lending library, and was henceforth treated with marked civility. Of course, I knew that this alteration8 really proceeded from orders given by the three functionaries9 spoken of in a previous chapter, who had been the cause of my former ill-treatment. This is a striking example of the arbitrary way in which prisoners are used.
I had not much longer to enjoy these marks of favour. A fortnight later I was informed that a party of convicts would start for Moscow that evening. I was to accompany them, and accordingly must assume the convict garb10. After eighteen years I think of that day with a shudder11.
First of all, I was taken into a room where was stored everything necessary to the equipment of a convict under sentence. On the floor lay piles of chains; and clothes, boots, etc., were heaped on shelves. From among them some were selected that were supposed to fit me; and I was then conducted to a second room. Here the right side of my head was shaved, and the hair on the left side cut short. I had seen people in the prison who had been treated in this fashion, and the sight had always made a painful impression on me, as indeed it does on everyone. But when I saw my own face in the glass a cold shudder ran down my spine12, and I experienced a sensation of personal degradation13 to something less than human. I thought of the days—in Russia not so long ago—when criminals were branded with hot irons.
A convict was waiting ready to fasten on my fetters14. I was placed on a stool, and had to put my foot on an anvil15. The blacksmith fitted an iron ring round each ankle, and welded it together. Every stroke of the 96hammer made my heart sink, as I realised that a new existence was beginning for me.
The mental depression into which I now fell was soon accompanied by physical discomfort16. The fetters at first caused me intolerable pain in walking, and even disturbed my sleep. It also requires considerable practice before one can easily manage to dress and undress. The heavy chains—about 13 lbs. in weight—are not only an encumbrance17, but are very painful, as they chafe18 the skin round the ankles; and the leather lining19 is but little protection to those unaccustomed to these adornments. Another great torment21 is the continual clinking of the chains. It is indescribably irritating to the nervous, and reminds the prisoner at every turn that he is a pariah22 among his kind, “deprived of all rights.”
The transformation23 is completed by the peculiar24 convict dress, consisting—besides the coarse linen25 underclothing—of a grey gown made of special material, and a pair of trousers. Prisoners condemned26 to hard labour wear a square piece of yellow cloth sewn on their gowns. The feet are clad in leathern slippers27 nicknamed “cats.” All these articles of clothing are inconvenient28, heavy, and ill-fitting.
I hardly knew myself when I looked in the glass and beheld29 a fully30 attired31 convict. The thought possessed32 me—“For long years you will have to go about in that hideous33 disguise.” Even the gendarme34 regarded me with compassion35.
“What won’t they do to a man?” he said. And I could only try to comfort myself by thinking how many unpleasant things one gets used to, and that time might perhaps accustom20 one even to this.
My own clothes I gave away to the warders, and any possessions of value—watch, ring, cigarette-case—I sent by post to relations. I kept only my books. I had been given a bag in which to keep a change of linen; and into it I also put a few volumes of Shakespeare, Goethe, Heine, 97Molière, and Rousseau, thus completing my preparations for travelling.
PRISONERS MARCHING THROUGH THE STREETS OF ODESSA
To face page 96
Evening came. The officer in command of the convoy36 appeared in the prison courtyard with his men and took the party in charge. I was conducted to the office. A statyehny spìsok[41] is prepared for each individual convict, in which his name and place of exile are entered, and also a list of the exciseable things he takes with him. In the statyehny spìsok of each political prisoner his photograph is pasted, and in mine there were two.
The officer carefully went through all these dossiers. We were then arranged in processional order. The soldiers surrounded us; the officer lifted his cap and crossed himself.
“A pleasant journey! Good-bye!” called out the prison officials.
“Thanks. Good-bye!” cried the officer. He then gave the signal to start, and off we marched at a slow pace to the station.
On account of the conditions attached by the Grand Duke of Baden to my extradition37, I had till now been treated sometimes as an ordinary criminal, sometimes as a “political”; but from the moment I joined this convoy I was treated frankly38 as a “political.”[42] This being so, I was not placed among the ordinary criminals when we reached the train, but was put in the compartment39 reserved for the escort. Here there was a fair amount of room, and one could be pretty comfortable, while the others were packed like herrings in a barrel; but, on the other hand, the society of the soldiers was not very enlivening, as they dared not exchange a word with me in presence of the officer.
98After four-and-twenty hours we arrived at Ki?v, where we were to have a day’s rest. We got out of the train, were formed up in procession, encircled by the soldiers, and marched by a roundabout way through the suburbs to the prison.
A strange emotion possessed me, when, after years of wandering both in Russia and abroad, I once again passed through the streets of my native town. I had not been here since I had fled from prison in 1878, six years before; and now I returned in chains, with the ominous40 yellow diamond on my back, a convict doomed41 to years of exile.
“Get on, get on! Mind what you’re about!” I heard a rough voice say, and felt a poke7 in my back from the butt-end of a rifle.
“This is the beginning,” I thought, and pictured all the humiliation42 and suffering that lay before me. However, the officer had remarked the incident, and coming up, reprimanded the soldier who had hustled43 me.
When we came to the prison gate the convicts were told off one by one like sheep, and let through the door in turn. I was taken straight to the office. Here everything was altered, and everywhere faces were strange to me. Fat old Captain Kovàlsky was gone, and the rest of the staff had been changed too.
“It was from this prison you escaped?” asked a haughty-looking man in uniform, the new governor, Simàshko. I assented44.
“Ah, you managed that very cunningly!” said he, laughing.
In reality the thing had been very simple. One of my comrades, named Frolènko, had provided himself with a false passport, and had got employment in the prison; one night he took Stefanòvitch, Bohanòvsky and me away disguised as warders.[43]
99After the usual formalities I was led away to my cell, and as I passed along the corridors I noticed that structural45 alterations46 had been made everywhere. The cell in which I was installed was unusually large, and was almost filled up by the wooden bedshelves; apparently47 it was generally used for a large number of prisoners temporarily confined there, and had now been assigned for my sole occupation, so that I might not be left among the other convicts.
The prison of Ki?v has an interesting history in connexion with the “politicals.” Many episodes—not always entirely48 tragic—in the revolutionary movement have taken place there; indeed, in that respect scarcely any other Russian prison except the Fortress49 of Peter and Paul can equal it. Above all, it has been the scene of frequent escapes. Besides us Tchigirìners, in the same year the student Isbìtsky and an Englishman named Beverley 100attempted an escape. They had scooped50 out a tunnel under the wall, and were actually already free, when a sentinel espied51 them and fired. The Englishman fell dead, and Isbìtsky was caught. Four years later another student, named Basil Ivànov, escaped with the help of the officer in command of the guard, a certain Tìhonov, a member of the Naròdnaia Vòlya. Shortly before my arrival, Vladìmir Bìtshkov also disappeared from Ki?v prison in a very mysterious way, and so far as I know a certain much-esteemed authority has to this day not solved the riddle52 of that, and is probably still racking his brains over it. Finally, in August, 1902, eleven “very important” prisoners escaped from Ki?v, nine of them having been arrested early in the year, and two the year before. These prisoners were allowed to take exercise every evening in the prison courtyard, in presence of only one warder. They and their friends knew that one of the surrounding outer walls, beyond which were fields, was unguarded on the outside. They were provided secretly with an iron anchor weighing twenty pounds, and with an improvised53 ladder made of strips of sheets. At a given moment some of the prisoners muffled54 and gagged the guard, and tied him up before he could give the alarm. In the meantime others formed themselves into a living pyramid, and thus managed to fix their anchor to the top of the prison wall, so that they could fasten to it their ladder for ascending55 and a rope for descending56 on the other side. That after they were actually free they could manage to hide in the town, and afterwards all get away safely, was due to the sympathy of the general public, many members of which not only helped the fugitives57 by deed, but also subscribed58 together a considerable sum to assist the escape. It is noteworthy that from first to last in this affair no one was killed or hurt, nor a drop of blood shed.
But these prison walls have also witnessed sadder scenes. Many revolutionists have passed their last hours within 101them, waiting to be led to the scaffold. Still greater is the number of those who have left this place to tread the path to exile and the Siberian prisons. Only the Fortress of Peter and Paul, the gaol59 at Odessa, and perhaps the Warsaw citadel60, can for memories like these compare with the prison of Ki?v. Here too, more than anywhere else, have conflicts taken place between the imprisoned61 revolutionists and the authorities. The tradition as to these occurrences remains62 unbroken; every “political” cherishes the memory of the “old times”—i.e. the exceptionally stormy years 1877-9. The young generation speaks of them as the “heroic ages”; and not only the prison staff, but even the ordinary criminals (who are employed here in the domestic labour of the place), relate stories of them. The authorities have never succeeded in uprooting63 the independent spirit that flourishes within these precincts, and the door had hardly closed behind me when I had a proof of it.
“The ‘politicals’ beg that you will be so kind as to write down your name, in what case you are implicated64, and where you were sentenced,” I heard a voice at the door say. I stepped nearer, and saw it proceeded from one of the ordinary criminals, who was speaking through the peephole. When I answered that I had nothing on which to write, he instantly produced a pencil and a bit of paper, and poked65 them through to me.
I stated shortly who I was, and begged my comrades to let me know in return who and how many they were, and concerned in what cases. The same man came back almost immediately with a reply, which ended with the words: “You will soon hear particulars verbally from our ladies.”
And sure enough I soon heard a woman’s voice bidding me climb up to the window. I did so; but as I then found that there was no way of opening it, I wasted no time, simply proceeding66 to smash two panes67 of the double windows. Outside stood two ladies, wives of 102political prisoners, by name Paraskovya Shebalina[44] and Vitolda Rechnyèvskaia. They were taking exercise in the courtyard of the women’s quarters, and my window being close to the wall separating the two yards, we could easily communicate. I thus heard full details about the imprisoned “politicals,” who were not few in number, as a trial had just taken place in the Ki?v courts, at which twelve persons had been sentenced: four of them, including Shebalìn, to penal68 servitude, and his wife to exile, on the sole ground that in their house type had been discovered with which a pamphlet was to be secretly printed. We were, however, suddenly interrupted in our talk by the appearance of the assistant governor.
“What’s all this? You’ve broken the window?”
“Yes,” said I; “why haven’t you proper fastenings, so that they could be opened?”
“Well, you will suffer for it; you will be frozen with cold to-night.” And in fact there was a sharp November frost. He then turned to the two ladies, and bade them go away, as it was entirely against rules to wait about at the door. Here, however, he met his match; for the two turned on him, requesting him to be off himself, and not disturb us. Paraskovya Shebalina especially was most energetic in her treatment of him. She was a lively and charming young lady, whom the atmosphere of a prison had rendered so nervously69 excitable that the mere70 sight of an official would send her into a passion, which led to endless contests.
Vitolda Rechnyèvskaia shared the captivity71 of her husband. They were a very young couple, married only a few days before their arrest. Thaddeus Rechnyèvsky[45] was twenty-one years of age; he had just left the school of jurisprudence in Petersburg University when he was 103arrested, and was now (1884) under examination as to his association with the Polish Socialist72 “proletarian” party, whose members were prosecuted73 at Warsaw in 1885.
Besides the above mentioned, who were either condemned to banishment74 or still under examination, there were in the prison a number of people who were to be exiled by “administrative methods.” There had been riots in Ki?v University shortly before this, in consequence of which the University was closed, and many of the students were imprisoned.
New facts and impressions crowded upon me, and it was late before I lay down. I threw over the plank-bed the sheepskin that had been given me, and covered myself with my great-coat. The night was frightfully cold, and the wind whistled through the broken window. I put my bag under my head, but the French and German classics it contained did not make a very comfortable pillow, and it was long ere I slept. Suddenly I was awakened75 by a terrific hullabaloo. I ran to the door, and called to the warder to know what was happening. After some time he turned up, and I learned that the criminals in the next room had been having a tussle76; one of them had hidden away a few roubles, and the others having seen it, had tried to murder and rob him. He had succeeded in keeping them at bay and calling for help.
“That’s the way that lot always go on!” remarked the warder composedly, and returned to his post and his nap. There were no further consequences of the scrimmage; with an “I’ll teach you!” the warder had separated the combatants, and the thing was at an end. He never even reported the occurrence, it was such an everyday event.
Next morning the governor came hurrying to me, and said that the colonel of gendarmerie was coming to visit me. This was Novìtsky; I did not know him personally, but many amusing stories were told about him in our circles. He arrived, accompanied by his adjutant, put the usual question—“Have you any complaint to make?”—and 104then began to chat. It was pure curiosity that had brought him. I remember he wanted to know if, when abroad, I had come across Debagòrio-Makriyèvitch, who had been imprisoned at Ki?v in 1879 and condemned to penal servitude; but on his way to Siberia had “swopped” with one of the ordinary criminals, and so escaped. When I said I had seen him in Switzerland, Novìtsky overwhelmed me with questions: “Now tell me, how is Vladimir Kàrpovitch? What is he doing over there?” One would have thought Makriyèvitch was at least one of his relations; he spoke6 of him familiarly by his Christian77 name and his father’s name.[46] Like Colonel Ivànov in Petersburg, who had known my old companions, he too went off into praises of them; though all the while he was doing what he could to bring two of Makriyèvitch’s comrades to the scaffold.[47] They are easy-going people, these ornaments78 of officialdom!
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1
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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3
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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4
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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functionaries
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| n.公职人员，官员( functionary的名词复数 ) | |
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garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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anvil
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| n.铁钻 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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encumbrance
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| n.妨碍物，累赘 | |
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chafe
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| v.擦伤；冲洗；惹怒 | |
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lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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accustom
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| vt.使适应，使习惯 | |
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torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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pariah
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| n.被社会抛弃者 | |
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transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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gendarme
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| n.宪兵 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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convoy
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| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
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extradition
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| n.引渡（逃犯） | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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structural
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| adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的 | |
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alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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48
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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50
scooped
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| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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51
espied
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| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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53
improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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55
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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gaol
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| n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢 | |
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citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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uprooting
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| n.倒根，挖除伐根v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的现在分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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implicated
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| adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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prosecuted
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| a.被起诉的 | |
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banishment
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| n.放逐，驱逐 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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tussle
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| n.&v.扭打，搏斗，争辩 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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