“It is time for action,” the horseman said.  “To-morrow you will come boldly at twelve o’clock to my house, and demand to see me on important business.  You will be shown to my room, where two officers who I wish to have as witnesses will be present.  You will then state to me that you wish to make a denunciation of your master, Count Preskoff.  I shall ask what you have to say, and tell you that you are of course aware of the serious consequences to yourself should such statements be proved untrue.  You will say that you are aware of that, but that you are compelled by your love for the Czar, our father, to speak.  You will then say that you have heard the count using insulting words of the Czar, in speaking of him to his wife, on many occasions, and that since his return, on one occasion, you put your ear to the keyhole and heard him telling her of a great plot for a general rising of the serfs, and an overthrow of the government; that he said he had prepared the serfs of his estates in the north for the rising; that those of his estates here would all follow him; that many other nobles had joined in the plot, and that on a day which had not yet been agreed upon a rising would take place in twenty places simultaneously; and that the revolt once begun he was sure that the serfs, weary of the war and its heavy impositions, would everywhere join the movement.  I shall cross-question you closely, but you will stick to your story.  Make it as simple and straightforward as you can; say you cannot answer for the exact words, but that you will answer that this was the general sense of the conversation you overheard.  Now, are you sure you thoroughly understand?”

“I quite understand, my lord,” the man said humbly, “and for this your Excellency has promised me?”

“Five hundred roubles and your freedom.”

“But when am I to be paid?” the man said doubtfully.

“Do you doubt my word, slave?” the horseman said angrily.

“By no means, your Excellency.  But things might happen, and after I had told my story and it had been taken down before witnesses, your Excellency’s memory might fail.  I should prefer the money before I told my story.”

The horseman was silent a moment.

“You are an insolent dog to doubt me,” he said in an angry tone; “but you shall have the money; when you call to-morrow the sergeant of the guard will have instructions to hand you a letter which will contain notes for five hundred roubles.”

“I thought,” the man said, “your Excellency said gold.  Five hundred roubles in notes are not worth two hundred in gold, and you see I shall have much to do to earn the money, for I may be sent to St. Petersburg and cross-questioned.  I may even be confronted with my master; and after it is over and I am freed, I must, in any case, leave this part of the country, for my life will not be safe for a day here.”

“Very well,” the count said, “you shall have a thousand roubles in paper; but beware! if you fail me or break down in cross-examination, you shall end your life in the mines of Siberia.”