A flight from Siberia
Wacław Kajetan Sieroszewski was a Polish writer, Polish Socialist Party activist, and soldier in the World War I-era Polish Legions. For activities subversive of the Russian Empire, he had spent many years in Siberian exile.
Excerpt:
I cannot bear it any longer. It is crushing my life out, I tell you. As I pace to and fro in my hut of an evening my brain whirls and I feel my heart well-nigh bursting. It is driving me mad. You say we shall fail. Well, we may, but what if we succeed? You say we shall perish; what of that? As it is, we are perishing.
And better men than we have died, and the world has gone on just the same. If they capture us, we shall go to prison. But look around you; are we not in a prison already? Bars and walls are not wanting here. A prison? Ay, and a tomb as well! " He spoke thus, controlling his agitation by a strong effort, as he walked with liis two companions along a narrow path over a frozen lake covered with snow. Upon its margin, the little town of Jourjuy lay all around them, plunged in darkness and sleep. "It is true," he went on to say, " that there is somewhat more of variety in the prospect; and our prison, too, has a higher roof," and he waved his hand carelessly to the sky overhead, bright with thousands of stars. ( They halted. One of the listeners, a man in a sheepskin coat, which was thrown over his shoulders like a Roman toga, followed the gesture and glanced upwards; whilst the other, who was muffled to the eyes in a thick shawl, stood apathetically looking out over the valley at the rising moon.
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