"
"All these men will file before you, and if you do not show me Michael
Strogoff, you shall receive as many blows from the knout as men shall
have passed before you."
On an order from Ogareff, the prisoners filed one by one past Marfa, who
was immovable as a statue, and whose face expressed only perfect
indifference. Michael was to all appearances unmoved, but the palms of
his hands bled under the nails which were pressed into the flesh.
Marfa, seized by two soldiers, was forced on her knees on the ground.
Her dress torn off, left her back bare. A saber was placed before her
breast at a few inches' distance. If she bent beneath her sufferings,
her breast would be pierced by the sharp steel. The Tartar drew himself
up and waited.
"Begin," said Ogareff.
The whip whistled through the air, but, before it fell, a powerful hand
stopped the Tartar's arm. Ivan Ogareff had succeeded.
"Michael Strogoff!"
"Ivan Ogareff!" and raising the knout, he struck Ogareff a blow across
the face.
"Blow for blow." Twenty soldiers threw themselves on Michael and in
another instant he would have been slain, but Ogareff stopped them.
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