"I am lost!" "What do you mean ?" demanded his wife, angrily.

"If you will go and do as I tell you there will be no danger.

Come, Mishinka," she added, tenderly; "I shall have the saddle-horse brought for you at once." When the horse arrived the woman persuaded her husband to mount the animal, and to fulfil her request concerning the serfs.

When he reached the village a woman opened the gate for him to enter, and as he did so the inhabitants, seeing the brutal superintendent whom everybody feared, ran to hide themselves in their houses, gardens, and other secluded places.
At length Michael reached the other gate, which he found closed also, and, being unable to open it himself while seated on his horse, he called loudly for assistance.

As no one responded to his shouts he dismounted and opened the gate, but as he was about to remount, and had one foot in the stirrup, the horse became frightened at some pigs and sprang suddenly to one side.