I put on the touloup, and mounted the horse, Savelitch getting up behind.
"There, sir," said the old man, "dost thou not see that I have not uselessly bowed down before the rascal? Thief though he be, he has felt somewhat ashamed, although this huge Bashkir nag and the sheepskin touloup are not worth one half of what the vagabonds have stolen, and what thou thyself hadst given him; and yet they may prove of service, even a few hairs off a vicious dog!"
CHAPTER X.
THE SIEGE.
As we approached Orenburg, we passed a crowd of convicts with shaven heads, and faces disfigured by the tongs of the executioner. They were at work on the fortifications, under an escort of garrison invalids. Some were employed carting away the rubbish which filled the ditch, others, with spades, digging the earth; on the ramparts were masons carrying bricks and repairing the walls. We were stopped by the sentries at the gate, who demanded our passports. Upon hearing that I had come from the fortress of Byĕlogorsk, the sergeant conducted me straight to the general's residence.
I found him in the garden. He was examining the apple-trees which had been ripped by the blasts of autumn, and, assisted by his gardener, was carefully enveloping them in straw. His countenance was serene,
