MICHAEL STROGOFF In Five Acts and Sixteen Scenes

By Adolphe D'Ennery and Jules Verne

Etext by Dagny
  • ACT I.
  • ACT II.
  • ACT III
  • ACT IV
  • ACT V
  • Etext by Dagny
    This Etext is for private use only. No republication for profit in 
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    http://www.cadytech.com/dumas/personnage.asp?key=130
    1880
    Translated and Adapted by Frank J. Morlock C 2000
    CHARACTERS:

    Michael Strogoff
    Ivan Ogareff
    Blount
    Jollivet
    The Grand Duke
    The Governor of Moscow
    Vassily Fedov
    The Chief of Police
    Emir Feofar
    General Kizov
    Post Master
    General Voronzoff
    An Employee of the Telegraph
    First Fugitive
    Second Fugitive
    A Police Officer
    A Grand Priest
    Aide de Camp
    Second Aide de Camp
    A Tartar Sergeant
    First Traveler
    Second Traveler
    A Gypsy
    Marfa Strogoff
    Nadia Fedov
    Sangarre

    ACT I.

    Scene I. The new palace.


    A gallery with arcades splendidly lit and decorated, giving on the right to the reception rooms of the palace—to the left, the office of the Governor of Moscow. Doors to the right and left. To the left a vast bay window giving on a large balcony.

    (Diverse groups to the right, near the door, watch the dancing. The
    orchestra can be heard.)

    Aide de Camp
    The halls can hardly hold the crowd of guests!

    General Kizov
    Yes, and the groups of dancers will end by overflowing right into the gallery. It's magnificent.

    Jollivet
    Who is the traveler who would dare speak of the Russian chill?

    General Kizov
    The Russia of July is not the Russia of January, Mr. Jollivet.

    Jollivet
    Surely not, but one would think that the Governor had transported Moscow to the tropics. This winter garden which links the private apartments of His Excellency to the great reception halls is really marvelous!

    General Kizov
    What do you think of this party, Mr. Reporter?

    Jollivet (opening his notebook)
    Here's what I am about to telegraph, General. “The Governor of Moscow's party given in honor of His Majesty, the Emperor of all the Russias—splendid.”

    General Kizov
    Marvelous! The French papers are speaking well of us. It will be the same with the English papers, I think, thanks to your colleague, Mr. Blount.

    Jollivet
    The proud and irascible Mr. Blount, who pretends that England, this queen of the universe, as he calls her, and the Morning Post, the king of newspapers, as he styles it, must always know first all that happens on the terrestrial globe!

    General Kizov
    Ah, hold on, here he is.

    Jollivet
    I was speaking just now about you, Mr. Blount.

    Blount
    Oh, it was a great honor—

    Jollivet
    Why, no, no!

    Blount
    —you were doing yourself.

    Jollivet
    Thanks—he is charming. Admit, Mr. Blount, that if you have, as I don't doubt, a heart of gold, the mind is extremely tough.

    Blount
    Mr. Jollivet, when a good English reporter leaves his country, he must bring lots of money, good eyes, good ears, a strong stomach—and leave his heart with his family.

    Jollivet
    And that's the way you teach, Mr. Blount?

    Blount
    Yes! And if you will allow me—

    Jollivet
    Without the least sympathy for a colleague from across the channel?

    Blount
    If you will allow me, Mr. Jollivet, and if you don't allow me, it's all the same.

    Jollivet
    You are absolutely frank and good-natured.

    (Music outside.)

    General Kizov
    If I'm not mistaken, gentlemen, these Russians who asked to be heard at the Governor's ball are beginning their concert. I invite you to listen to this! It's very curious.

    Jollivet
    Certainly, certainly, General.

    (The General heads towards the salon, and the guests crowd around the
    door. Blount and Jollivet remain on stage.)

    Jollivet (sitting)
    My word, it's hot over there, I'm staying here. (Blount sits on the other side, pulls out his notebook and starts writing) Allow me, Mr. Blount, to risk a phrase completely French. This little party is really “charmante.”

    Blount (coldly)
    I've already telegraphed “splendid” to the readers of the Morning Post.

    Jollivet
    Very fine. But, in the midst of this splendor, there's a black spot. They are whispering of a Tartar rising that threatens the Siberian provinces. Also, I thought I must write to my charming cousin.

    Blount (frigidly)
    Cousin? Ah, Mr. Jollivet corresponds with his cousin?

    Jollivet
    Yes, Mr. Blount, yes. You correspond with your paper, I with my cousin, Madeleine. It's more gallant! Besides, she likes to be informed quickly and well, my cousin. I thought it my duty to remark to her that a sort of cloud passed over the face of the Governor.

    Blount
    On the contrary, his face was radiant.

    Jollivet (laughing)
    And you made it shine in the columns of the Morning Post.

    Blount (drily)
    What I telegraph interests my paper and myself alone, Mr. Jollivet.

    Jollivet
    Your paper and you alone, Mr. Blount? Well! That's an admission that it doesn't interest your readers!

    Blount (furious)
    Mr. Jollivet!

    Jollivet (smiling)
    Mr. Blount!

    Blount
    You are always mocking me, and I don't permit it, understand? I don't permit it.

    Jollivet
    Why, no, no!

    (The Governor, the General, guests and officers return.)

    Governor
    Bravo! Bravo! These Gypsies are really unique and deserve their reputation. (to reporters) Ah, gentlemen, you were at your post to hear them!

    Jollivet
    They are charming, Governor. It's what my friend and colleague was just now telling me.

    Blount
    Colleague, yes—friend, no.

    Governor (laughing)
    There are some pretty girls there who will make their fortune. (going towards the left after having taken the arm of General Kizov)

    Jollivet
    Say, Mr. Blount, he really does have a joyous air, the Governor. He must be terribly uneasy. What do you think of it, Mr. Blount?

    Blount (drily)
    What I think doesn't concern you.

    (They separate and mix with other groups.)

    Governor (to General Kizov)
    There's talk of a Tartar rising, General?

    General Kizov
    Yes, and perhaps, more than I care for! I wouldn't be surprised if those two reporters, after leaving this ball, go to exercise their profession of chroniclers on the other side of the frontier.

    Governor
    They know, without a doubt, this serious news of a rising which is throwing half of Asia on the other—the line is fluctuating between Moscow and Irkutsk?

    General Kizov
    Yes, Your Excellency can requisition it for the government's use and deny it to the public.

    Governor
    That's unnecessary. The important thing was that the Grand Duke, now at Irkutsk, be warned. He knows that Feofar Khan, the Emir of Bukhara has raised the Tartar population. That at his call, they have invaded Siberia. But he also knows, from our last telegram, that our troops from the Northern Provinces are now on their way to help him. He knows the exact day when this army will arrive in sight of Irkutsk, and when he must make a general sortie to destroy the Tartars.

    General Kizov
    Our troops will easily teach these hordes of savages.

    Governor
    What astonishes me is that Feofar was able to conceive the plan of rising, and put it into execution. When he first attempted to invade our Siberian provinces, he had this Colonel Ivan Ogareff to second him—who is now paying for his treason in the Citadel of Polstock—but this time, the Khan of Tartars, left to his own devices, no longer has Ogareff around him—and I cannot figure out—

    (Ivan comes from the salon and is approached by the Governor. Sangarre
    and his gypsies remain at the back. The reporters and the officers talk to each other.)

    Ivan (disguised as a gypsy and speaking in the most horrible tone)
    Governor, sir—milord.

    Governor
    What is it? Ah, it's you—old gypsy! What do you want with me?

    Ivan
    I want to ask Your Excellency if you are satisfied with the Gypsies for whom you wanted to reserve a place in the program of the festivities?

    Governor
    Enchanted, and I like to believe, that from your tone, you have no reason to complain. Well refreshed, well paid?

    Ivan
    Yes, milord, yes! Also, I didn't want to take leave of Your excellency without having humbly thanked you. Sangarre joins with me.

    Governor
    Sangarre! Ah, that pretty girl I notice over there?

    Ivan (gesturing for Sangarre to join them)
    Yes. Sangarre is the real supervisor of the gypsies, Excellency! To her belong the greatest share of the compliments you've deigned to address toward them.

    (Sangarre remains standing proudly fixed, without saying a word.)

    Governor
    She doesn't speak Russian?

    Ivan
    Alas, no, milord. As for me, an old gypsy—I am their factotum. I organize the concerts, I arrange for parties. Without me, the little troupe would often be embarrassed. It's on that subject I've come to solicit a favor from Your Excellency.

    Governor
    What about?

    Ivan
    Tomorrow, the festivities in honor of the Tsar will be finished. We'll then have nothing more to do here and our intention is to cross the frontier.

    Governor
    Ah, you want to return to Siberia?

    Ivan
    It's almost my country, Excellency. Then the frontier will be crowded with all those merchants of Asiatic origin who are returning to their provinces. They will be stopped at each moment at police posts and—

    Governor
    Well, isn't your passport in order?

    Ivan
    Doubtless, milord—but Your Excellency knows better than I that a passport in order doesn't exist in Russia. It is always missing some little thing! While if Your Excellency, who has deigned to express satisfaction with us, wished to give me a—special—adorned with his signature—with that precious talisman—no obstacle to fear and I could leave in advance, so as to prepare halting places for our troupe.

    Governor
    So be it. You and yours are brave folks who have given great pleasure to the new palace and I will refuse nothing to be agreeable to you.

    Ivan
    I humbly kiss the Hands of Your Excellency.

    Governor
    And, when do you expect to leave Moscow?

    Ivan
    Tomorrow—at break of day, milord, before the gates of the city are crowded by the thousands of foreigners who are going to leave.

    Governor
    Well, tell this pretty girl, your companion, that nothing shall delay your trip or hers. I am going, first of all, to have your passport prepared—and this one—will really be in order.

    (The Governor goes to the left. The General goes toward the invited
    guests.)

    Ivan (straightening up after having looked around to see no one
    observes him) And in a few days, I shall have crossed the border.

    Sangarre
    And it's then, Ivan, you'll be really free.

    Ivan
    Free! I am free already, thanks to you, who helped me escape from the fortress of Polstock where the Czar, whom I hate, kept me previously. It's through you, through your devoted gypsies that I've been able to correspond with Feofar Khan! It's thanks to you, finally, that I've been able to penetrate the Governor's palace, and that I am going to obtain this passport without which I'd never be able to cross the border to rejoin the armies of the Emir! Sangarre, I won't forget it.

    Sangarre
    Since the day you saved me, during that war in Khiva, when Colonel Ivan Ogareff gave back life to the gypsy the Russians were going to knout as a spy—the gypsy has belonged to him body and soul. She's become the mortal enemy of these Russians, and she hates them as much as you hate them yourself. Ivan, there's nothing of the Muscovite in you. How your shoulder still bleeds at the place where they tore off the epaulettes as my shoulder still bleeds where the knout tore it.

    Ivan
    Fear nothing, my vengeance will march in pair with yours.

    Sangarre
    Oh—I'll find that Siberian again. That Marfa Strogoff who denounced me to the Russians. I will find her even if I must go to seize her into Kolyvan which the Tartars will soon seize.

    Ivan
    As they will seize Irkutsk, led by me to the assault of that capital. Ah, cursed Grand Duke in breaking my soul, in making me prisoner—you made the first rising that I organized fail—But I am free now! Nothing can save Irkutsk, and then you can die an infamous death under the walls of the city in flames.

    Sangarre
    Yes, but we must avoid all delay, and this passport promised by the governor—

    Ivan
    In five minutes I will have it, and I will rush in a single bound from Moscow to the outposts of the Emir. Take care—they are coming.

    Governor (returning from the left with a passport in his hand)
    Here—are you satisfied? (gives passport to Ivan)

    Ivan (after reading it)
    Ah! Excellency, with such a passport, one can pass anywhere. There's nothing missing.

    Governor
    Except my signature, and I am going to sign it right now.

    (The Governor goes to the table and takes a pen. An Aide de Camp
    enters.)

    Aide de Camp
    A message for his Excellency.

    (The Aide de Camp gives a sealed message to the Governor, who reads
    it.)

    Sangarre
    But, he isn't signing it—

    Ivan (low)
    Patience!

    Governor (to the General whom he leads to the left)
    General, we were speaking just now of Colonel Ivan Ogareff?

    Sangarre (to Ivan)
    Your name!

    Ivan (low)
    Shut up!

    General Kizov
    That traitor who was deprived of his rank and condemned to death for having fomented a previous rising of the Tartars?

    Governor
    Yes, Ogareff—whose punishment was commuted by the Emperor to a perpetual detention in the fortress of Polstock. Well, he's recently escaped from his prison. Here's what they write me from the cabinet in St. Petersburg: “Ivan Ogareff has fled—we must put all our police on his track.”

    General Kizov
    We must very strictly watch the frontier, so that, without a passport, he won't be able to escape.

    Governor (sitting at the table and writing)
    Let orders be transmitted without delay. It's necessary that the Grand Duke be warned very soon, for this letter from the Minister reveals, from correspondence seized after Ogareff's escape, that this traitor's plan is to penetrate Irkutsk, and if he succeeds in it, it's death for the Grand Duke, the object of his personal hate.

    Ivan (to Sangarre)
    Why, do they know everything? Come. (approaching the Governor) Excellency!

    Governor
    What do you want from me? Who dares to—?

    Ivan
    Pardon, milord.

    Governor
    Ah! It's you! Well! Well! Wait— (he continues to write)

    Ivan (low)
    What's he going to decide?

    Governor (rising, to General)
    Send out this despatch. Thanks to it, that wretch will not cross the frontier—and you (Ivan bows) wait, here's your permit. No one will hinder your way.

    Ivan (with irony)
    Milord, you'll never know all the thanks I owe you.

    Governor
    That's fine, that's fine, go.

    Ivan (aside)
    Come, Sangarre. Free now, soon avenged.

    (Ivan, Sangarre and all the gypsies leave by the door at the left. At
    the same time as Jollivet and Blount enter from the right.

    Governor (to guests)
    Well, gentlemen, don't you hear the orchestra calling you? Are you going to allow the foreign press to say that a celebration given in honor if His Majesty didn't last until dawn? We have here, correspondents, who I am sure of it, note our least impression.

    Jollivet
    Sir, reports are curious, but not indiscreet.

    Blount
    Curious, always—indiscreet, never—the English reporters—never!

    Jollivet
    Besides, what concerns me is I count on leaving Moscow after the ball, and I beg Your Excellency to receive my sincere regrets.

    Blount
    I beg you to receive mine also, before—

    Jollivet (laughing)
    Yes, those of this gentleman—before your benevolent greeting.

    Governor
    Which way does your path take you gentlemen?

    Blount
    Me—to Siberia.

    Jollivet
    Same as me. We are going to travel together, dear colleague!

    Blount
    At the same time, yes—together, no.

    Jollivet
    Always charming, Mr. Blount!

    Governor
    Good, I understand. There's talk of agitation in Tartary, but it's not worth the trouble of your bothering about.

    Jollivet
    Pardon, Excellency, my job is to see everything.

    Blount
    Mine—to see and hear everything—before hand.

    Jollivet
    And my paper—I mean—my cousin is very greedy of the news which she will receive first.

    Blount
    The Morning Post will receive—

    Jollivet
    In advance? Impossible, dear colleague—women are always served first.

    Governor
    In any case, gentlemen, you belong to me until dawn. Indeed, I intend that having assisted at the official celebration, you shall assist at the popular celebration from the height of this balcony—which will start any minute.

    Jollivet
    So be it! We will leave tomorrow! If you will allow me, I'll make you a proposition, Mr. Blount. We are rivals.

    Blount
    Enemies, sir!

    Governor (laughing)
    Enemies!

    Jollivet
    Enemies, it's agreed.—But, let's wait to open the hostilities until we are on the battlefield. Once there, everyone for himself—and God for—

    Blount
    And God for you! For you alone! Very fine. That's the way it goes? No!—That won't go.

    Jollivet
    Then, war immediately—but I'm a good fellow. (taking Blount by the arm and leading him aside) I announce to you, little brother, as the Russians say, that the Tartars have crossed the Irtuki River.

    Blount
    Ah, you think that the Tartars—

    Jollivet
    If I tell you so, my dear enemy, it's because I've telegraphed the news to my cousin yesterday evening—at 7:45. (laughs) Ha, ha, ha.

    Blount
    And as for me, yesterday evening I telegraphed the Morning Post at 7:30. Ha, ha, ha!

    Jollivet
    I'll repay you for that, my big Mr. Blount.

    Blount
    You are still mocking, sir?

    Jollivet
    Well, no, my good little Mr. Blount. There.

    Blount
    Still mocking!

    Jollivet
    No.

    Blount (furious)
    You're mocking, I tell you! You mock, sir. You are a bad, villainous man, a nasty piece of work! You are a — (tranquilly) What do you call a person without politeness?

    Jollivet
    An impertinent.

    Blount (tranquilly)
    Impertinent. Very well! Thanks. (resuming his furious tone) You are an impertinent. Do you understand?

    Jollivet
    Very well.

    Blount
    And if you continue—

    Jollivet
    And if I continue?

    Blount
    I'll end up killing you one day.

    Jollivet
    Kill me? I don't understand—

    Blount
    Yes—kill you with a blade—

    Jollivet
    A blade? One says—

    Blount
    No. A blade or a pistol.

    Jollivet
    A second! They say a sword or a pistol.

    Blount
    Sword, you say?

    Jollivet
    Yes.

    Blount
    And pistol?

    Jollivet
    Yes.

    Blount
    Oh, very well, thanks. (in a rage again) Well, well, I will kill you with a blade—sword or pistol.

    Jollivet
    Right! You're making progress as a student, Blount. I am satisfied with you.

    Blount (mispronouncing)
    Mr. Joly-vet.

    Jollivet
    Jollivet, if you please— Joly-vet is ridiculous.

    Blount
    Then, I'll always call you Joly-vet! (forcefully) Joly-vet! Joly-vet! Joly-vet! Ah!

    The Governor (returning)
    Gentlemen, I hear the first notes of the orchestra. It's our national dance.

    Jollivet
    We are at Your Excellency's disposition.

    (As the Governor and the General are about to cross the floor, the
    Aide de Camp returns precipitously from the left.)

    Aide de Camp (low)
    Excellency, the telegraph line from Moscow to Irkutsk has been cut!

    Governor
    What are you telling me?

    Aide de Camp
    The despatches are stopping at Kolyvan—half way on the Siberian route where the Tartars are masters.

    (On a sign from the Governor the door curtains close.)

    Governor
    So, the despatch we transmitted to the Grand Duke which specified the day the relief army ought to arrive in Irkutsk—?

    Aide de Camp
    That despatch was unable to reach His Highness.

    Governor
    So! The Tartars are masters of the route! Eastern Siberia separated from the rest of the Muscovite Empire. The Grand Duke not forewarned of the day he will be relieved—when he must begin his sortie. At all price, we must— (to General) General, isn't there in the palace a detachment of couriers of the Czar?

    General Kizov
    Yes, Excellency.

    Governor (sitting down to write)
    Do you know a man in that detachment—a man who could, despite a thousand dangers, bear a letter to Irkutsk?

    General Kizov
    There's one I'll answer for to Your Excellency who has several times successfully fulfilled difficult missions.

    Governor
    In foreign parts?

    General Kizov
    Even in Siberia.

    Governor
    Let him come. (the General whispers to the Aide de Camp, who leaves by the right) He must have intelligence, courage, self-control.

    General Kizov
    He has everything required to succeed where others would fail.

    Governor
    His age?

    General Kizov
    Thirty

    Governor
    A vigorous man?

    General Kizov
    He's already proven that he can bear to the last limits hunger, cold, fatigue. He has a body of iron and a heart of gold.

    Governor
    His name?

    General Kizov
    Michael Strogoff.

    Governor
    This courier must get to the Grand Duke or Siberia is lost!

    (Michael Strogoff enters and remains motionless, military. The
    Governor observes him for a moment without speaking.)

    Governor
    Your name is Michael Strogoff?

    Strogoff
    Yes, Excellency.

    Governor
    Your rank?

    Strogoff
    Captain in the Czar's courier corps.

    Governor
    You know Siberia?

    Strogoff
    I was born at Kolyvan.

    Governor
    Do you still have relatives in that town?

    Strogoff
    Yes—my mother!

    Governor
    How long has it been since you last saw her?

    Strogoff
    Two years! But, I've just obtained a leave to go see her—and I am going to leave—

    Governor
    It's no longer a question of leave! It's no longer a question of your mother. I am going to entrust to you a letter which I charge you, Michael Strogoff, to deliver to the Grand Duke, the Czar's brother.

    Strogoff
    I will deliver this letter.

    Governor
    The Grand Duke is in Irkutsk.

    Strogoff
    I will go to Irkutsk.

    Governor
    But, you are unaware that the country has been invaded by the Tartars who will be interested in intercepting the letter—and you must get across that country.

    Strogoff
    I will get across it.

    Governor
    Will you pass through Kolyvan?

    Strogoff
    Yes, since it is the most direct route.

    Governor
    But, if you see your mother, you risk being recognized!

    Strogoff
    I won't see her!

    Governor
    You will be provided money and furnished a passport in the name of Nicolas Korpanov, Siberian Merchant. This passport will allow you to requisition post horses. It will authorize, amongst other things, Nicholas Korpanov to have himself accompanied by one or more persons as he sees fit—and he will be respected, even in the case where any governor or police chief intends to interrupt your message. You will travel, then, under the name of Korpanov.

    Strogoff
    Yes, Excellency

    Governor
    Here's the letter on which depends the life of the Grand Duke and the safety of Siberia.

    Strogoff
    It will be delivered to His Highness.

    Governor
    It may happen, that in some grave, desperate circumstance, you may be compelled to destroy it! You must, thereupon, know what it contains, so you'll have the power to repeat it to the Grand Duke if you can get to him.

    Strogoff
    I am listening.

    Governor
    Colonel Ivan Ogareff has escaped from the fortress of Polstock. He intends to penetrate the town of Irkutsk and to deliver it to the Tartars. It is necessary, then, to be on guard against this traitor. If, as we hope, this message arrives in time to be useful to His Highness, the Grand Duke is advised that a relief army will be within sight of Irkutsk on the 29th of September, and that a general sortie executed on that day will crush—between two lines— (he reseals the letter) You heard, and you will remember?

    Strogoff
    I've heard and I will remember.

    Governor
    You'll get through the Tartar lines. You'll cross them, no matter what!

    Strogoff
    I shall cross them or they will kill me.

    Governor
    The Czar needs you to live.

    Strogoff
    I will live and I will get through.

    Governor
    Swear to me nothing can make you admit either who you are or where you are going.

    Strogoff
    I swear it.

    Governor
    Leave, then, and when it's a question of overcoming the greatest obstacles or braving the most threatening perils, repeat these sacred words to yourself: “For God, for the Czar.”

    Strogoff
    “For the Nation.”

    (Strogoff leaves by the right after giving a military salute. The door
    curtains are pulled back and the guests reenter the salon.)

    Governor
    The celebration is going to take place, ladies—take your places on the balcony.

    (All go to the balcony.)

    CURTAIN

    Scene II. Moscow illuminated.


    A great concourse of people on the square dominated by the balcony.

    BALLET

    CURTAIN

    Scene III. The retreat to the torches


    The horse guards of the Preobrajenski Regiment retreat to torches, drums, fifes and trumpets.

    CURTAIN

    ACT II.

    Scene IV. The post relay.


    The stage represents the court of a post relay on the frontier. To the right, the relay house which is at the same time an inn. To the left, the house of the Chief of Police. In the background, a great highway which disappears into the mountain. A certain number of travelers are grouped in the court of the relay.

    Post Master
    The routes over the Urals are thronged. I'm hardly able to furnish horses.

    First Traveler
    And what horses! Old nags on four legs?

    Officer
    Come on, come on—passports! Passports! They'll be returned to you after they've been stamped.

    (The Officer gathers the passports of the travelers and goes back to
    the left.)

    Chief of Police
    There's an obstruction.

    Post Master
    Yes, Mr. Police Chief—and you'll have a lot to do to expedite these folks—since it's too much for me to furnish them horses! All I have left is a single relay—and that one traveled fifty versts the night before last.

    Chief of Police
    Just one?

    Post Master
    And it was retained by a traveler who arrived an hour ago.

    Chief of Police
    Who's this traveler?

    Post Master
    A merchant who's returning to Irkutsk.

    Chief of Police
    I'm going to endorse the passports and give the go ahead to all these people here. (going back into the house on the left)

    Post Master
    If we had a hundred horses in the stables, it wouldn't be enough for all.

    Strogoff
    The horse I retained?

    Post Master
    They're giving it food and drink.

    Strogoff
    In a half hour it must be harnessed to my droshky.

    Post Master
    It will be. You'll be in order with the Chief of Police?

    Strogoff
    Yes.

    Post Master
    You can have your passport taken to him in advance. He'll endorse it with the others.

    Strogoff
    No. I'll get it endorsed myself.

    Post Master
    As you wish, little father.

    Strogoff
    A bottle of kvass?

    Post Master
    Right away.

    (Strogoff sits at a table to the right, and the Post Master leaves.
    Jollivet comes on stage from the back. He is worn out and carries a suitcase in each hand.)

    Jollivet
    Oof! Another hundred steps and I will abandon my suitcases on the highway—especially this one which isn't mine. (he places one in a corner, keeps the other, and sits at a table facing Strogoff) Excuse me, sir. Hey! Why—I recognize you. You are?

    Strogoff
    Nicolas Korpanov, merchant.

    Jollivet
    Merchant—merchant like lightning. It was indeed you who passed me, two hours ago on the highway! You were in a droshky, and I was—or rather-—I no longer was—and a little place in your carriage would have done for me nicely, for I found myself in some distress.

    Strogoff
    Pardon, sir?

    Jollivet
    Alcide Jollivet, correspondent with the French newspapers, in quest of reports.

    Strogoff
    Well, Monsieur Jollivet, I deeply regret not having noticed you! Amongst travelers one must have these little services.

    Jollivet
    One must, but they don't always pay! I've been twenty versts on foot and I deserved it. A bad action never profits. Heaven punished me for taking a telega instead of a large carriage.

    Strogoff
    A glass of beer, Monsieur?

    (The Post Master re-enters with glasses and pitchers.)

    Jollivet
    Willingly.

    Post Master (to Jollivet)
    Should I reserve a chamber and take your suitcases?

    Jollivet
    Not that one, it's not mine.

    Post Master
    Who does it belong to then?

    Jollivet
    To my intimate enemy, my colleague, Blount—who must at this moment be running after me! But, I hope indeed to be gone before he arrives at the relay. By the way, a carriage and horse in an hour.

    Post Master
    There are no longer either horses or carriages available.

    Jollivet
    Good! That's all I need! Well, reserve for me the first that return from the relay.

    Post Master
    That's understood. But, it won't be until tomorrow. I'm going to get you a room.

    Jollivet
    Yes, happily I have a nice advance on Blount!

    Strogoff
    Your enemy?

    Jollivet
    My enemy, my rival! An English reporter who wants to outrun me on the road to Irkutsk and to tarnish my news! Can you imagine, Mr. Korpanov, that the only way I found to outdistance him, was to steal his carriage which was all harnessed when I arrived at the relay? He didn't have any other, and while he was paying his bill, I slid a packet of rubles in the pocket of his coachman—say his iemskik to make a little local color—and off we went. Naturally, I carried off my English friend's valise—but I will return it to him intact. Ah, for goodness sake! But for his carriage I would never see him again.

    Strogoff
    Why's that?

    Jollivet
    Because it is—or rather was—a telega! You know, a telega—a four wheeler.

    Strogoff
    Perfectly, but I don't understand.

    Jollivet
    You are going to. We left, my iemskik on the front seat, and me on the bench at the rear. Three good horses on the shaft. We bolted off like a hurricane. It was hardly necessary to stimulate our three excellent horses with the whip! From time to time a few words cast by my iemskik—Bold my doves! Run my sweet sheep! Hup, my little fathers on the left! Finally the harness strained, indeed so well that, the last night a big jolt was produced. Snap! The two trains of the carriage were separated and my iemskik, without hearing my shouts, continued to run on in the forward carriage, while I remained in distress in the rear. And that's how I had to make twenty versts on foot, my valise in one hand and that of the Englishman in the other—and that's why I can't send him back more than a half carriage.

    Post Master (re-entering)
    Your room is ready, Monsieur.

    Jollivet (leaving towards the door)
    That's fine. Au revoir, Mr. Korpanov.

    Strogoff
    Au revoir, Monsieur.

    Jollivet (coming back)
    Ah, I've found it.

    Strogoff
    What?

    Jollivet
    The true definition of a telega. It will be the last word in my next report. “Telega—Russian carriage—four wheeler on departure, two wheeler on arrival.” Au revoir Monsieur Korpanov. (goes out to the left)

    Strogoff (rising)
    Au revoir, Monsieur. A merry companion, this Frenchman!

    (Nadia comes in from the right, from the great highway. She is
    exhausted and half collapses into a bench on the left.)

    Nadia
    Fatigue overwhelms me! Impossible to go any further. (trying to get up. Sir! Sir!

    Strogoff
    Is it to me you are speaking, child? (aside) What a charming young girl!

    Nadia
    Pardon me. I wanted to ask you—where are we here?

    Strogoff
    We are at the frontier—and this is the police station.

    Nadia
    Where visas to enter Siberia are issued?

    Strogoff
    Yes—on that side, the post relay.

    Nadia (rising)
    The post relay? First, I'm going to be sure—

    Strogoff
    It's useless, child. There are neither horses nor carriages—and many hours will slip by before the Post Master can put one at your disposal.

    Nadia
    Well, I will go on foot, then!

    Strogoff
    On foot!

    Nadia
    A wagon brought me to some versts from this relay station and God won't abandon me to go further.

    Strogoff (aside)
    Poor child! (aloud) Where are you coming from?

    Nadia
    From Riga.

    Strogoff
    And you are going?

    Nadia
    To Irkutsk.

    Strogoff
    To Irkutsk! Alone! You are going without friend, without guide? To accomplish such a long, such a difficult voyage—

    Nadia
    I have no one to accompany me. Of all my family, only my father remains to me, who I am going to rejoin in Siberia.

    Strogoff
    To Irkutsk, you said! Why, that's 1500 versts more to do.

    Nadia
    Yes, it's there that for a political excuse my father was exiled two years ago. Until then, we lived happily, all three, in Riga, my father, my mother and me—in a humble home, only asking God to allow us to remain there always since it was filled with happiness. But the trial was going to come! My father was arrested and despite our supplication, he was torn from his dwelling and dragged across the frontier. Alas, my mother would never see him again. This separation aggravated her illness. Several months later, she expired, and her last thought was that I was going to be alone in the world.

    Strogoff
    Wretched child!

    Nadia
    I was indeed alone in that city, without family, without relatives. Then I asked for and obtained the authorization to go to find the poor exile in the depths of Siberia. I wrote him that I was leaving. He's waiting for me. Having gathered up the little I can dispose of, I left Riga, and here I am now on the road my father took two years before me.

    Strogoff
    But, you must cross the Ural Mountains, which have been deadly to travelers.

    Nadia
    I know it.

    Strogoff
    And, after the Urals, the interminable Steppes of Siberia. These are exhausting troubles to submit to, terrible dangers to confront.

    Nadia
    You've submitted to these troubles? You've confronted these dangers?

    Strogoff
    Yes, but I am a man. I have my energy, my courage.

    Nadia
    As for me, I have prayer and hope to support me.

    Strogoff
    Don't you know that the country has been invaded by the Tartars?

    Nadia
    The invasion wasn't happening when I left Riga. It was only at Ninji that I learned this disastrous news.

    Strogoff
    And, despite that, you continued on your route?

    Nadia
    Why, you yourself, have already crossed the Urals?

    Strogoff
    To go see and embrace my mother again, a valiant Siberian who lives in Kolyvan.

    Nadia
    Well, as for me, I'm going to see and embrace my father again. You are doing your duty, I'm doing mine, and Duty is everything.

    Strogoff
    Yes! Everything! (aside) This young girl—so beautiful—alone—with no one to defend her! (to Nadia as she heads towards the left) Where are you going?

    Nadia
    I'm going to get my visa approved. Delays are always to be feared, and if I don't leave today, who knows if I can leave tomorrow.

    Strogoff
    Hold on. I have to get mine done, too. Perhaps I can get the Police Chief to expedite yours right away, before the clock brings a mob of other travelers. Come! We are not destined to ever see each other again, but I will think often of you, and I would like to know your name.

    Nadia
    Nadia Fedov.

    Strogoff
    Nadia—

    Nadia
    And yours?

    Strogoff
    Me—I—my name is Nicolas Korpanov.

    (They go into the Police office. Blount, covered with dust, head
    enveloped with a veil in the English fashion, and remounted on a donkey arrives from the back by way of the great highway. He comes into the courtyard.)

    Blount (calling from the back)
    Innkeeper! Innkeeper! (coming forward) What a poor condition we were in, this donkey and I! Impossible to continue our voyage. (calling) Innkeeper! I was forced to take this wretched animal because someone stole my carriage and horses. And we've had such a long journey. We were both so tired. He can no longer carry me, and as for me, I cannot get off him! (calling) Innkeeper! We were so glued together, this donkey and I, that we are now just a single animal. No, a single person. (calling more loudly) Innkeeper! I am so done up. It was a (speaking to the donkey) how do you say in French? He doesn't know—a suffering of the joints. But I cannot remain on him forever. (calling very loud) Innkeeper! Innkeeper!

    Post Master (entering, followed by a waiter)
    Heavens—a traveler?

    Blount
    Yes. An abandoned traveler—all alone!

    Post Master
    Why didn't you call, sir?

    Blount (furious)
    Why didn't I call? Why, I've been yelling for more than an hour, Mr. Innkeeper!

    Post Master
    Ah! I was going to tell you—it's that I was busy in my Post Master role, which kept me from serving you!

    Blount
    Oh, very droll. So, Mr. Post Master, help me a bit to get down.

    Post Master
    He's right here. (he helps him down very carefully)

    Blount
    All right. Merci!

    Post Master
    Must I also make up a bed?

    Blount (astonished, looking at the donkey)
    What are you saying? Make up a bed for (to himself) to make up a bed—

    Post Master
    A bed for you, sir, for I'm also an hotel.

    Blount
    Oh, very well, a bed for me, and—

    Post Master (pointing to the donkey)
    A litter for him?

    Blount (laughing)
    Yes! (he hugs his donkey as the groom leads him off right) Now, I want lunch first. Then you can give me a carriage and horses.

    Post Master
    There aren't any more, sir.

    Blount
    You don't have horses?

    Post Master
    Not before tomorrow or the day after!

    Blount
    Oh, if I only had the one they stole from me!

    Post Master
    They stole from you, sir?

    Blount
    Yes, my carriage and my suitcase—and if I ever discover the rascal of a thief—

    Post Master
    What do you want for your lunch, sir?

    Blount
    You'll serve me there, on that table. — You'll serve (thinking) You'll serve lamb chops, beef steak, stockfish, potatoes, plum pudding, port and ale. Have you clearly understood?

    Post Master
    I've understood quite well. You said: beef steak, stockfish, chops—

    Blount
    Potatoes, plum pudding, ale, port and clout.

    Post Master
    But, you see, we have none of all that, sir!

    Blount
    You have nothing, and you ask me what I want?

    Post Master
    I can offer you koulbat, sir.

    Blount
    What is this thing—koulbat?

    Post Master
    A pate made with eggs and crushed meats.

    Blount (writing in his notebook)
    Oh, very well. Koulbat—write it down c, o, u—

    Post Master
    No, no, with a k.

    Blount (surprised)
    Oh, with a k—and it's good all the same?

    Post Master
    Excellent

    Blount
    Then serve koulbat. And what else do you have?

    Postmaster
    Kvass.

    Blount
    Cvass—you write c, v, a.

    Post Master
    No, with a k.

    Blount
    K again

    Post master
    Some caviar

    Blount
    With a k, still?

    Post Master
    No, with a c.

    Blount
    With a c now! And, it's still good?

    Post Master (laughing)
    It's very good, all the same.

    Blount (very serious)
    You are a happy innkeeper. You have a room for my toilette?

    Post Master
    They're going to prepare it.

    Blount
    Wait, wait—I'll pay in advance to be very sure of it.

    Post Master
    As you like.

    Blount
    How much?

    Post Master
    Two roubles for lunch, two roubles for the room.

    Blount
    There! Ah, my donkey. Give him some straw. Feed him and water him. I will take him until the next relay.

    (At this moment, Blount, who turns towards the inn, finds himself
    before the suitcase left by Jollivet.)

    Blount
    Ah!

    Post Master
    What's wrong?

    Blount
    This valise, sir, this valise—

    Post Master
    It belongs to a traveler who left it there when he arrived.

    Blount
    But, it's mine.

    Post Master
    Yours?

    Blount
    And this traveler?

    Post Master
    There he is, sir.

    Jollivet (leaving the house)
    Blount, my enemy—

    Blount (furious)
    This valise, sir, this valise—

    Jollivet (tranquilly)
    It's yours, Mr. Blount. Ah, I had plenty of trouble bringing it.

    Blount
    Carrying it off, you mean!

    Jollivet
    Oh, in error. I was going to send it to you—by parcel post.

    Blount (furious)
    Parcel post. Mister—

    Jollivet (aside)
    God, how beautiful he is—an angry Englishman!

    Blount
    And the carriage, sir?

    Jollivet
    I was going to send you half of it.

    Blount
    Half?

    Jollivet
    The other half still works.

    Blount
    So, that's the way it is, mister. Well, I will make a criminal complaint against you.

    Jollivet
    A criminal complaint—bring a criminal complaint against me—in Russia! Why don't you know the story of that servant who demanded her wages for the nursing of a child? That she gave to his parents?

    Blount
    I don't know it.

    Jollivet
    Well, the nursling was ten months when the suit was filed—and a colonel when it was decided. So, I advise you not to sue me.

    Post Master (to Blount)
    Your room is ready, sir.

    Blount
    I'm going to arrange my toilette, and I shall return to settle my score with you shortly.

    Jollivet
    I am ever ready to reimburse you.

    Blount
    No, not with money. You will pay another way, Mr. Joly-vet.

    Jollivet
    Jollivet, if you please.

    Blount (with rage)
    Joly-vet! Joly-vet! Joly-vet!

    (Blount leaves. The Post Mater begins to serve Blount's lunch.)

    Post Master
    The gentleman is going away furious.

    Jollivet
    And he'll return the same way. He's right. In his place, I would be beside myself. (to Post Master) What's that you are serving there?

    Post Master
    The gentleman's lunch.

    Jollivet
    Ah! It's his lunch? It looks good. (sits down)

    Post Master
    Excuse me, sir. I told you, this luncheon belongs to the gentleman.

    Jollivet (starting to eat)
    Well?

    Post Master
    But, sir, he paid in advance.

    Jollivet
    Ah! He paid in advance! Then, you risk nothing.

    Post Master
    But, the gentleman—

    Jollivet
    We are— It's very good.

    Post master
    But, sir, sir—

    Jollivet (eating)
    Take it easy. I'll take care of everything! Decidedly, you cook very well, sir.

    Post Master (flattered)
    Thanks for the compliment, sir.

    Jollivet
    Ah, we really are connoisseurs of cuisine, we French.

    Post Mater
    Yes, yes, great connoisseurs.

    Jollivet (eating)
    And yours, my dear fellow, is exquisite.

    Post Master
    Exquisite—really! You think that?

    Jollivet
    Exquisite, I tell you.

    Post Master
    Well, if you would like to taste this. I think you'll find it even better. (offering a second plate)

    Jollivet
    Excellent, indeed. It's fine, it's delicate, its—

    Post Master (presenting a third dish)
    Tell me now what you think of this?

    Jollivet
    With pleasure. But say, what about the gentleman?

    Post Master
    Heavens, that's right! I was forgetting its his lunch. Ah, bah! So much the worse.

    Jollivet
    By the way, what are they saying about the Tartars?

    Post Master
    That the country is completely overrun, and that Russian troops from the north won't be strong enough to repulse them. They expect a battle within two days.

    Jollivet
    Whereabouts?

    Post Master
    Near Kolyvan.

    (At this moment Blount leaves the post house.)

    Blount
    Ah, my toilet is taken care of, I am dying of hunger. (seeing Jollivet) Arrgh!

    Jollivet
    To your health, Mr. Blount.

    Blount (to Post Master)
    And my lunch? You haven't served my lunch?

    Jollivet (pointing to the empty plates)
    Indeed, it was served, Monsieur Blount, and that's what remains of it.

    Blount
    Then it was my lunch you just ate?

    Jollivet
    It was excellent.

    Blount
    It was my koulbat?

    Jollivet
    Exquisite, the koulbat!

    Blount
    You will give me satisfaction right here!

    Jollivet
    No, not here—much later, after the battle which is going to take place and which I have to report to my cousin Madeleine.

    Blount (astonished)
    The battle?

    Jollivet
    Learn, my dear colleague, that the Russian and Tartar armies are going to meet in two days.

    Blount
    Ah, very well! Wait one minute. (writing) Two armies will soon meet, continue, mister. I will follow after you.

    Jollivet
    Thanks! This battle will take place at Kolyvan.

    Blount (writing)
    At Kolyvan. Kolyvan—with a k?

    Jollivet
    With one k—yes.

    Blount
    Well, thanks. It will be by sword, right?

    Jollivet
    The battle?

    Blount
    No, our duel. But I wish to be generous and since you are giving me information for my paper, I will give you the choice of weapons.

    Jollivet
    Not at all, not at all. I don't want any favors. What is the weapon you prefer?

    Blount
    The sword, mister.

    Jollivet
    Very well! As for me, I prefer the pistol. Then we will choose the sword for you—pistol for me—and we will fight at fifteen paces.

    Blount
    Yes! How you manage this thing—you said a sword?

    Jollivet
    A sword for you.

    Blount
    And a pistol?

    Jollivet
    The pistol for me—and we will fight at fifteen paces— (he bursts out laughing)

    Blount
    But you are still mocking, Mr. Jollivet.

    Jollivet
    Believe me, little father, first we'll get to Kolyvan, and we will fight after we've informed our correspondents of the issue of the battle.

    Blount
    Yes, I will wait for you there!

    Jollivet
    If you get there before me! Which I doubt a bit—!

    (The clock strikes at this moment and all the travelers run. Nadia
    leaves the police station, holding her permit in her hands.)

    Officer (shouting)
    Passports, passports.

    First Traveler
    They re talking of really bad news, and the least delay will ruin us.

    (The agent distributes the passports.)

    Nadia
    I will go on foot to the next relay.

    (At the moment the travelers leave the court, a trumpet is heard. Some
    Cossacks appear on the highway and block all exits. The Police Chief comes out of the Police Station at the left and stops on the steps by the door. One of the Cossacks gives him a telegram. A roll of drums is heard.)

    Police Chief
    Silence! Listen everybody. (reading) “By order of the Governor of Moscow, all Russian subjects are forbidden, under whatever pretext, are forbidden to cross the frontier.”

    (Cries of disappointment in the crowd.)

    Nadia
    My God—what's he say?

    Jollivet (to Blount)
    That doesn't concern us.

    Blount
    I will pass everywhere.

    Nadia
    Sir, sir, my passport is in order. I can pass, isn't that so?

    Police Chief
    You are Russian? It's impossible.

    Nadia
    Sir, I am going to rejoin my father at Irkutsk. He's expecting me! Each day of delay is a day of misery for him. He knows I've left. He might believe I am lost in this country, in the midst of this Tartar invasion. Let me pass, I conjure you! What does the Governor care about a poor girl like me throwing herself into the Steppes. If I had gone just an hour ago, no one would have stopped me. From pity, sir, from pity!

    Police Chief
    Useless prayers. The order is precise. (to Cossacks) Place yourselves at the entry to the highway and without at least a special permit, don't let anyone pass.

    Nadia (holding him by his legs)
    Sir, sir, I conjure you, hands joined at your knees! Have pity! Don't condemn us—my father and me—to die, desperate, and so far from one another.

    Blount
    Oh, I am very moved.

    (At this moment, Strogoff emerges from the Police Station.)

    Strogoff (going to Nadia)
    Why these supplications and these tears, Nadia? What does it matter if your passport is valid or not, since we have mine—which is in order.

    Nadia (aside)
    What's he saying?

    Strogoff (showing his permit to the Police Chief)
    And, no one, do you hear, no one has the right to prevent us from leaving.

    Nadia (joyfully)
    Ah!

    Police Chief
    Your permit?

    Strogoff
    Signed by the Governor General of Moscow himself. Right to pass everywhere—whatever the circumstances and no one can forbid it!

    (The tarantas is brought to the middle of the highway.)

    Police Chief
    You indeed have the right to pass. But she—

    Strogoff (pointing to the permit)
    Authorization to be accompanied. Well, what is more natural than that—my sister accompany me!

    Police Chief
    Your—?

    Strogoff (holding Nadia's hand)
    Yes, my sister. Come Nadia.

    Nadia (seizing him)
    I am with you, brother!

    Blount
    Very proud, this merchant!

    Jollivet
    And very energetic, friend Blount.

    Blount
    I will never be your friend, Mr. Joly-vet.

    Jollivet
    Jollivet!

    Blount
    Joly-vet! Joly-vet forever!

    (Ivan enters, dressed in Russian military uniform like an officer
    traveling.)

    Ivan (to the Police Chief)
    Special permit. (showing him his permit)

    Police Chief
    Another one signed by the Governor of Moscow himself.

    Ivan
    A horse!

    Post Master
    There aren't any more.

    Jollivet
    And, if there were—

    Blount (to Jollivet)
    I would have retained them first.

    Jollivet
    And I would have taken them immediately.

    (Blount turns away in rage.)

    Ivan
    Who owns this tarentas?

    Post Master (pointing to Strogoff)
    It belongs to that traveler.

    Ivan (to Strogoff)
    Comrade, I need your carriage and your horse.

    Jollivet (aside)
    He's got nerve, this gentleman.

    Strogoff
    This horse is retained by me, and for me. I cannot, nor do I wish to, cede it to any person.

    Ivan
    I must have it, I tell you.

    Strogoff
    And, I tell you, you cannot have it.

    Ivan
    Be careful. I am a man who might take it.

    Strogoff
    Take it—from me?

    Ivan
    Yes, from you. For the last time, do you intend to give me this horse and this carriage?

    Strogoff
    No, I tell you, no!

    Ivan
    No? Well, they will belong to those of us who know how to keep them.

    Nadia
    My God!

    Ivan (drawing his sword)
    Let this man be given a saber so he can defend himself.

    Strogoff (forcefully)
    Well! (aside) A duel! And my mission, if I am wounded! (aloud, crossing his arms) I won't fight.

    Ivan
    You won't fight?

    Strogoff
    No! And you won't have my horse!

    Ivan (with even greater force)
    You won't fight, you say?

    Strogoff
    No.

    Ivan
    No—even after this. (strikes Strogoff a blow with the whip) Well, you won't fight, coward?

    Strogoff (hurling himself on Ivan)
    Misera—! (stopping and controlling himself) I won't fight!

    All
    Ah!

    Ivan
    You submit to this shame without avenging yourself.

    Strogoff
    I will submit to it. (aside) For God, for the Czar, for the Fatherland!

    Ivan
    Come, your horse is mine. (leaps into the carriage) (to Innkeeper) Pay yourself!

    (The tarentas leaves by the left.)

    Post Master
    Thanks, Excellency.

    Jollivet
    I would not have thought he could swallow such shame.

    Blount
    Ah! I feel all my blood boiling in my veins.

    Strogoff
    Ah! That man—I will find him again. (to Post Master) Who is that man?

    Post Master
    I don't know him—but he's a lord who knows how to make himself respected.

    Strogoff (leaping)
    You will allow me to judge!

    Post Master
    Yes, for these are things a man of heart never receives without returning them.

    Strogoff (seizing the Post Master violently)
    Wretch! (coldly) Get out, my friend, get out. I might kill you.

    Post Master
    Well, truly. I like you better this way.

    Jollivet
    Me, too. Courage has its seasons.

    Blount
    Never for English courage! It is always ready, always.

    Jollivet
    We will see that at Kolyvan, colleague. (turns towards the inn and goes in)

    Nadia
    This fury that shone in his eyes at the moment of the insult, this struggle against himself in refusing to fight—and now—this profound despair.

    Strogoff (seated by the table)
    Ah, I never thought that doing my duty would ever cost me so dearly.

    Nadia (looking at him)
    He's crying. There must be a mystery that I do not understand—a secret that chains up his courage. (going to him) Brother, (Strogoff raises his head) there are sometimes insults which elevate, and that one has enlarged you in my eyes.

    (At this moment Blount lets out a shout. One sees Jollivet leave at
    the back on Blount's donkey.)

    Blount
    Ah! My ass! Stop! He's making off with my ass!

    Jollivet
    I will return him to you at Kolyvan, colleague, at Kolyvan.

    Blount (overwhelmed)
    Ahh!

    CURTAIN

    Scene V.


    The stage represents a telegraph station near Kolyvan in Siberia. Door at the back giving on the countryside. To the right a small office with a small gate where the telegraph employee stays. A door to the left. The noise of the battle of Kolyvan can be heard, still dull.

    Jollivet (entering from the back)
    The affair is hot! A ball in my cap, another in my jacket. The city of Kolyvan is going to be taken by these Tartars. Still, I already have the first of this news. Got to expedite it to Paris. Here's the telegraph office. (looking) Good! The Employee is at his post and Blount is devil knows where. Things are going well. (to Employee) The telegraph is still functioning?

    Employee
    It functions to Russia, but the line from Irkutsk is cut.

    Jollivet
    The despatches still pass?

    Employee
    Between Kolyvan and Moscow, yes.

    Jollivet
    For the government?

    Employee
    For the government if there's need—for the public for pay. It's ten kopecks a word.

    Jollivet
    And what do you know?

    Employee
    Nothing.

    Jollivet
    But the despatches that you—

    Employee
    I transmit the despatches, but I don't read them.

    Jollivet (aside)
    A good character. (aloud) My friend, I desire to send my cousin, Madeleine, a despatch relating all the vicissitudes of the battle.

    Employee
    That's easy enough. Ten kopecks per word.

    Jollivet
    Yes, I know. But, once my despatch begins, can you keep my place while I go for news?

    Employee
    As long as you are at the gate the place belongs to you—at ten kopecks per word, but if you leave the place it belongs to whoever takes it—at ten—

    Jollivet
    At ten kopecks per word—yes—that's understood. I am alone. Let's begin. (writing on the tablet by the gate) Mlle. Madeleine, Montmartre Paris—from Kolyvan, Siberia.

    Employee
    That's already up to eighty kopecks.

    Jollivet
    That's for nothing. (gives him a bundle of paper roubles and continues to write) Russian and Tartar troops engage. (at this moment a fusillade makes itself heard with great power) Ah! Ah! Something new— there!

    (Jollivet leaves the gate and goes to the window at the back to see
    what's happening. Blount enters by the door at the back.)

    Blount
    Here's the telegraph office. (noticing Jollivet) Jollivet! (he goes to seize him by the collar, but getting near him, he starts to read what he's written over his shoulder) Ah—he's transmitting news—more news than mine.

    Jollivet (writing)
    Eleven o'clock. The battle has been engaged since dawn.

    Blount (aside)
    Very well. I am going to make my profit. (going to the gate while Jollivet continues to observe what's happening) (to Employee) The line's functioning?

    Employee
    Always.

    Blount
    All right!

    Employee
    Ten kopecks per word.

    Blount
    Good, very good! (writing on the notepad) Morning Post, London, from Kolyvan, Siberia—

    Jollivet (writing on his notebook)
    Enormous smoke above Kolyvan—

    Blount (writing at the gate)
    Oh, good! Enormous smoke rises above Kolyvan.

    Jollivet
    Ah! Oh! Oh! The fortress is in flames!

    Blount (writing)
    Ah! Ah! The fortress is in flames.

    Jollivet
    The Russians are abandoning the city—

    Blount (writing)
    The Russians are abandoning the city.

    Jollivet
    Let's continue our despatch.

    (Jollivet leaves the window and returns to find his place taken by
    Blount.)

    Blount
    Yes. Right now, after my despatch, you will give satisfaction to me and my hate.

    Jollivet
    But, you took my place.

    Blount
    The place was free.

    Jollivet
    My despatch had begun—

    Blount
    And mine is beginning.

    Jollivet (to Employee)
    But, you know I was ahead of this gentleman?

    Employee
    Place free, place taken. Ten kopecks a word.

    Blount (paying)
    And I will pay for a thousand words in advance.

    Jollivet
    A thousand words!

    (Blount continues writing, and as he writes, passes his despatches to
    the Employee who transmits them.)

    Blount
    The noise of the battle grows closer. At the telegraph office, the French Correspondent was watching for my place, but—

    Jollivet (furious)
    Ah, sir, in the end—

    Blount
    It hasn't ended, mister. “Ivan Ogareff, at the head of the Tartars is going to rejoin the—”

    Jollivet
    Is it finished?

    Blount
    Never finished.

    Jollivet
    You have nothing more to say.

    Blount
    Always something to say—so as not to lose my place. In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth—

    Jollivet
    Ah, he's telegraphing the Bible now!

    Blount
    Yes, the Bible, and it contains two hundred seventy-three thousand words.

    Employee
    At ten kopecks per—

    Blount
    I am giving one on account. (he gives a new roll of roubles) The Earth was formed and—

    Jollivet
    Ah, the beast! I'll know how to make you decamp. (tearing by the rear)

    Blount
    Shadows covered the face of the abyss— (continuing) 11:20—mad shouting—redoubled—a furious melee.

    (Shouts outside that Jollivet just utters beneath the window.)

    Shouts
    Death to the English. Kill! Pillage! Down with England.

    Blount
    Ah. Who's shouting that? Down with England? England will never fall.

    (Blount draws a revolver from his belt and leaves by the door at the
    back. Jollivet enters by the door at the left and takes Blount's place at the gate.)

    Jollivet
    No more difficult than that! Down with England and the English leave the gate. (dictating) At 11:25 the Tartar shells begin to pass over Kolyvan . . .

    Blount (returning)
    No one! I thought I heard— (seeing Jollivet) Ah!

    Jollivet (bowing
    Long live England, monsieur, long live the English.

    Blount
    You took my place—

    Jollivet
    It's like that—

    Blount
    You are going to give me satisfaction, mister—

    Jollivet
    When I'm finished.

    Blount
    And when will you be finished?

    Jollivet
    Much later, very much later. (dictating) The Russians were forced to fall back again. (imitating Blount's English accent) The English correspondent is on the watch to take my place at the telegraph, but he won't succeed.

    Blount
    Is it finished, mister?

    Jollivet
    Never finished. (dictating) There was a little man All dressed in gray In Paris—

    Blount (furious)
    Songs!

    Jollivet
    By Beranger! After the sacred—the profane—

    Blount
    Sir, let us fight instantly.

    Jollivet (dictating)
    Chubby like an apple Not a sou to his name.

    Employee (closing the gate abruptly)
    Ah!

    Jollivet
    What is it?

    Employee (leaving his office)
    The line is cut. It no longer functions! Gentlemen, I have the honor of saluting you.

    (The Employee salutes and goes out tranquilly. Great shouts outside.)

    Blount
    No more despatches are possible. New for us, Mister! Let's leave.

    Jollivet
    Yes, let's leave and—

    (They leave together by the rear, provoking each other.)

    Sangarre (coming from the left with a Gypsy)
    The Tartars are victorious!

    Gypsy
    Ivan Ogareff led them in the assault on Kolyvan.

    Sangarre
    Russians and Siberians are all smashed. The village is burning and fugitives are escaping in all directions.

    Gypsy (looking)
    They are going to reach here.

    Sangarre
    Yes, but that old Siberian, I finally saw again. That Marfa Strogoff, what's become of her? She was there looking at her house burning. Then, suddenly, she disappeared! Oh, I'll find her again and then!— Ah, you denounced me, Marfa, you had me knouted by the Russians. Bad luck to you!

    (Great tumult outside. The noise of firing gets closer. Refugees rush
    into the post.)

    First Fugitive
    All is lost.

    Second Fugitive
    The Tartar cavalry are sabering all the unfortunates leaving Kolyvan.

    All
    Let's flee. Let's flee.

    (They are going to flee the post in disorder.)

    Marfa (appearing at the back)
    Stop! Stop!

    All
    Marfa Strogoff!

    Sangarre (aside)
    Marfa!

    Marfa
    Cowards, who are fleeing before the Tartars.

    Sangarre (aside)
    Ah, this time you won't escape me!

    Marfa
    Stop, I tell you! Are you no longer the children of Siberia?

    First Fugitive
    Is there yet a Siberia? Haven't the Tartars invaded the entire province?

    Marfa (somberly)
    Alas, yes, since the entire province is devastated.

    Second Fugitive
    Hasn't a whole army of barbarians thrown itself on our villages?

    Marfa
    Yes, since so far as the eye can see, we only see villages in flames.

    First Fugitive
    And, isn't that army commanded by the cruel Feofar?

    Marfa
    Yes, since our rivers roll with waves of blood.

    First Fugitive
    Well! What can we do?

    Marfa
    Keep resisting—resist forever—and die if necessary.

    First Fugitive
    Resist when the father doesn't come to us and God abandons us.

    Marfa
    God is indeed high, and the father is very far. He cannot diminish the distances nor hasten the steps of his soldiers! The troops are on the march, they will arrive, but until then we must resist! Even if the life of one Tartar costs the life of ten Siberians, then let those ten die fighting. Don't let it be said that Kolyvan surrendered while one of its children remained to defend it.

    Second Fugitive
    These barbarians are twenty against one.

    First Fugitive
    And now, Kolyvan is in flames!

    Marfa
    Well, if you cannot reenter the city, fight outside. Each hour gained can give Russian troops time to rally! Barricade this post, fortify it! My friends, listen to the voice of an old Siberian woman who asks to die with you for the defence of our country.

    Sangarre

    No! It's not here you'll die. (to the Gypsy accompanying her) Stay and
    observe.

    Marfa
    My friends, you hear me, me the widow of Peter Strogoff that you knew. Ah, if he was still free, he'd put it in your head. He would lead you to combat! Listen to him, my friends, it is he speaking to you with my voice.

    First Fugitive
    Peter Strogoff is no more! Perhaps with such a chief we would have been able to rally in the steppe, and harass the soldiers of the Emir.

    Refugees
    Yes, yes—a chief. We need a chief—

    Marfa (despairing)
    All is lost.

    (Violent detonations are heard outside.)

    Jollivet (entering from the rear)
    Cannon balls are raining on the highway.

    Blount (following Jollivet)
    Forced to put off our duel!

    Strogoff (entering from the rear with Nadia)
    Here, Nadia. Here at least, you will have shelter. But, I am forced to separate myself from you.

    Nadia
    You are going to abandon me?

    Strogoff
    Listen, the Tartars are advancing. They are marching on Irkutsk! I have to get there before them. An imperious and sacred duty calls me. I have to pass, even crossing the grapeshot, even at the price of my blood, even at the price of my life.

    Nadia
    If that's the way it is, brother, leave, and may God protect you.

    Strogoff
    Goodbye, Nadia.

    (Strogoff rushes towards the door at the back, and finds himself face
    to face with Marfa.)

    Marfa (stopping him)
    My son!

    Jollivet
    Heavens! Nicolas Korpanov!

    Marfa
    My child. (to Siberians) It's him, my friends! It's my son, it's Michael Strogoff.

    All
    Michael Strogoff!

    Marfa
    Ah! You were asking for a chief to lead you in the steppes, a chief worthy of commanding you! There he is! Michael, hug me, take this rifle—kill the Tartars!

    Strogoff (aside)
    No! No! I cannot. I have sworn!

    Marfa
    Well, don't you hear me, Michael? You look at me without answering.

    Strogoff (coldly)
    Who are you? I don't know you.

    Marfa
    Who am I? You ask that? You no longer recognize me? Michael, my son!

    Strogoff
    I don't know you.

    Marfa
    You don't recognize your mother?

    Strogoff
    No—I don't know you!

    Marfa
    You are not the son of Peter and Marfa Strogoff?

    Strogoff
    I am Nicolas Korpanov. Here's my sister, Nadia.

    Marfa
    His sister? (going to Nadia) You! His sister?

    Strogoff (forcefully)
    Yes, yes, answer. Answer, Nadia!

    Nadia
    I am his sister!

    Marfa
    You are lying! I have no daughter. I have only one son and here he is.

    Strogoff
    You are mistaken. Leave me alone. (going towards the door)

    Marfa
    You shall not leave!

    Strogoff
    Leave me alone, leave me alone.

    Marfa (pulling him back)
    You shall not leave! Listen, you are not my son. A resemblance carried me away, I am mistaken, I am mad, and you are not my son. For this, God will judge you! But you are a child of our Siberia. Well, the enemy is here, and I offer you this weapon. After having disowned your mother, are you going to disown your country? Michael, you can tear my soul from me, you can break my heart, but the nation is the first mother, and a thousand times more holy and sacred. You can kill me, me, Michael, but for her, you must die.

    Strogoff (aside)
    Yes, it's a sacred duty. Yes, but I must neither stop nor fight. I have not an hour, not a minute to lose. (to Marfa) I don't know you, and I'm leaving.

    Marfa
    Ah, wretch, you've become at once and the same time, an unnatural son and a traitor to the country.

    (Heavy explosions outside. A shell falls near Marfa, the wick burning.)

    Strogoff (stepping forward)
    Take care, Marfa.

    Marfa
    May this shell kill me, since my son is a coward!

    Strogoff
    A coward! Me? See if I am afraid! (he takes the shell and hurls it out the window) Goodbye, Nadia! (he rushes out the back)

    Marfa
    Ah, I said so indeed. He's my son. He's Michael Strogoff, the Courier of the Czar.

    All
    The Courier of the Czar!

    Marfa
    Some secret mission, doubtless, carries him far from me. We will fight without him! Let's barricade the door and defend ourselves.

    (Rifle shots blaze outside.)

    Blount (putting his hand on his knee)
    Ah! Wounded!

    Jollivet (bandaging Blount's wound, despite him)
    Ah, poor Blount.

    Marfa
    Courage, my friends! Let each of us know how to die bravely, not just for the well being, but for the honor of Russia!

    All
    Hurrah for Russia!

    (The fight begins with Tartars who appear. A fog of smoke is
    overwhelming.)

    CURTAIN

    Scene VI. The Battlefield of Kolyvan


    The scene is on fire at sunset. Dead and wounded. The cadavers of horses. Over the battlefield birds of prey hover and alight on the cadavers.

    Strogoff (appearing in the rear and crossing the battlefield)
    My Mother! Nadia! They are here, perhaps among the wounded and the dead. And implacable duty imposes silence on my heart. And I cannot even search for them or help them. No. No, for God, for my Czar, for the Country!

    (Strogoff continues to march toward the right and the curtain falls.)

    CURTAIN

    ACT III

    Scene VII. The tent of Ivan Ogareff


    (Blount is half lying down and Jollivet is busy caring for him.)

    Blount (pushing him away)
    Mister Jollivet, I pray you, leave me in peace!

    Jollivet
    Monsieur Blount, I will care for you all the same, and I will cure you, despite yourself, if necessary.

    Blount
    Good care from you is odious.

    Jollivet
    Odious, but healthy! And, if I abandon you, who would care for you in this Tartar camp!

    Blount
    I warn you, that I won't be grateful for all you are doing.

    Jollivet
    Am I asking you for gratitude?

    Blount
    You've stolen my carriage, my luggage, my donkey, and my place at the gate of the telegraph. I was your mortal enemy, and I intend—

    Jollivet
    And you intend to kill me, that's understood! But, for you to be able to kill me, first I must cure you.

    Blount
    Ah, it was a great misfortune that the shell was for me.

    Jollivet
    It wasn't a shell, it was a biscayen.

    Blount
    Bis?

    Jollivet
    Cayen!

    Blount
    With a k?

    Jollivet
    No, with a c. It's a kind of grapeshot.

    Blount
    With a c. Oh, it was bad all the same.

    Jollivet
    Look, take my arm and walk a little.

    Blount (fiercely)
    No! I won't walk.

    Jollivet
    Take my arm, I tell you, or I will put you on my shoulders like a sack of wheat!

    Blount
    Oh, a sack of wheat! You insult me again!

    Jollivet
    Don't talk stupid.

    (Jollivet wants to lead Blount, but a Tartar enters and stops them.)

    Tartar
    Hold! Lord Ivan Ogareff wants to question you.

    Jollivet
    Question us? Here, Ogareff? That traitor!

    Blount
    That brigand! That bandit wants to question me!

    (Ivan, dressed magnificently as a Tartar officer appears, stopping at
    the entrance to the tent and speaking low to two Tartar officers who accompany him and then leave.)

    Jollivet
    What do I see? The man who brutally insulted the merchant Korpanov.

    Blount
    That was Colonel Ogareff! Oh, I felt a gross indignation!

    Ivan (seated at a small table)
    Approach and answer me. Who are you?

    Jollivet
    Alcide Jollivet, French citizen that no one has the right to keep prisoner.

    Ivan
    Perhaps. (to Blount) And you?

    Blount
    Harry Blount. An honest man, do you understand? A faithful subject of England, do you understand? A loyal servant of his country, do you hear?

    Ivan
    They say you were taken among our enemies.

    Jollivet (with irony)
    No—they misled you.

    Ivan
    You dare say—

    Jollivet
    I say we cannot be among the enemies of a Russian Colonel, since it was in the midst of his compatriots, among the Russians themselves, that they arrested us. You see quite well, sir, they misled you.

    Blount (aside)
    Very well! Very fine response!

    Ivan
    What motive led you to the theatre of war?

    Jollivet
    We are journalists, see. Two reporters.

    Ivan (scornfully)
    Ah, yes, I know—reporters—meaning a kind of spy.

    Blount (furious)
    Spy! Us—spies!

    Jollivet (forcefully)
    Sir, what you say is infamous, and I take as witness all Europe.

    Ivan
    What does the opinion of Europe matter to me? I will treat you as I please, because they took you among the Russians, who are my enemies, as you know quite well.

    Jollivet
    I was unaware that the Fatherland ever became an enemy of a loyal soldier.

    Blount
    It's the disloyal soldier who becomes the enemy of his Fatherland.

    Jollivet
    And that one is a traitor.

    Ivan (with rage)
    Be careful, and remember that I am all powerful here.

    Jollivet
    You ought to try to hide that.

    Ivan (with force)
    Sir! (calming down) Insult from a man of your sort cannot reach me.

    Jollivet
    That's natural enough, Colonel Ogareff. The voice doesn't descend, it rises.

    Ivan (seizing and threatening Jollivet with his dagger)
    That's too much!

    Blount (aside)
    It wasn't satisfactory at all.

    Ivan (after having replaced his dagger in his belt)
    You will pay me for this new outrage, and you will pay double. (calling) Guards! Let this man be taken out of the camp within the hour—and within the hour, let him be shot.

    (Ivan leaves with the Tartar Guard.)

    Blount (with terror)
    Shot! Shot! Shot!

    Jollivet
    I can't master my indignation!

    Blount
    Shot! That wretched rascal is going to have you shot.

    Jollivet
    Alas, yes! Nothing can save me, and the best thing is to resign myself courageously.

    Blount
    Ah, Jollivet!

    Jollivet
    You will be rid of your rival, of your enemy.

    Blount (exclaiming)
    Rid of my enemy!

    Jollivet
    It was written that our duel would never take place.

    Blount (moved)
    Our duel! Did you thing that I would ever fight with you, Jollivet?

    Jollivet
    I know that in you it was more passion than hate.

    Blount
    Ah, no! I didn't hate you. Jollivet, and if you were a little mocking, you defended me in the battle. You cared for my wound, you saved me, like a good and brave gentleman, Jollivet.

    Jollivet (smiling sadly)
    Hold on! You're not calling me Joly-vet any more, Monsieur Blount.

    Blount
    And I ask your pardon for that nasty joke.

    Jollivet
    Then, here we are friends, suddenly.

    Blount
    Oh, yes, friends until——

    Jollivet
    Until death. That won't be long, alas. And I would like, before dying, to ask a service of you, friend Blount.

    Blount (excitedly)
    A service! Oh! I promise, I swear to it in advance.

    Jollivet
    We are here, my friend, like two lost sentinels, and charged to enlighten our respective countries with the grave events which are taking place. Well, the duty I can no longer fulfill, I ask you to fulfill in my stead.

    Blount (very moved)
    Oh, yes, yes.

    Jollivet
    Will you promise me, Blount, that after having sent each of your despatches to England, you will then send them to France?

    Blount
    No, Jollivet, no, not then. I will replace you completely, and as you were more clever than I, you always sent your news first. Well, I promise I will send them to France first!

    Jollivet
    AT the same time, Blount, at the same time. I insist.

    Blount
    Yes! At the same time—only just— Are you satisfied Jollivet?

    Jollivet
    Yes, but that's not all, Blount.

    Blount
    Speak, I am listening to you.

    Jollivet
    My friend, I left a wife down there.

    Blount
    A wife!

    Jollivet
    A young wife and a little child! She's good like a saint, he's beautiful as an angel.

    Blount (reproachfully)
    Oh! You had a wife and a little baby and you left them! Oh! Jollivet, Jollivet!

    Jollivet (sadly)
    What do you want? We were poor, my friend.

    Blount (weeping)
    Poor! And then you were forced to abandon them, and as for me, I reproached you, I accused you. Oh, my friend, my dear friend! I am a very bad man, your pardon for having spoken as I have done. I ask your pardon, Jollivet, yes, I demand pardon, and when the war is over, I swear that I will go to France. I'll find your family, and I will act as a father to your little baby and as a husband—no!—as a brother to your good, pretty wife. I promise, I swear, I—

    (Blount shakes his head and embraces Jollivet. A noise of fanfare can
    be heard.)

    Jollivet
    What's that?

    A Tartar (entering)
    It's the arrival of the Emir Feofar. All the prisoners must prostrate themselves before him—come.

    Blount
    Prostrate! I don't prostrate, I'll never prostrate.

    (They go out.)

    CURTAIN

    Scene VIII. The Tartar camp.


    The stage represents a square ornamented with columns covered with a splendid awning. To the right, a magnificently ornamented throne. To the left, a tent. There is a great to do of trumpets and drums and a superb cortege, which marches to the throne. Feofar, accompanied by Ivan and all his military household, arrives in the camp. Solemn reception.

    Ivan
    Glory to you, powerful Emir, who are coming to personally command this triumphant army.

    All
    Glory to Feofar! Glory to the Emir!

    Ivan
    The provinces of Siberia are now in your power. You can push your victorious columns equally towards where the sun rises or where it sets.

    Feofar
    And, if I march with the sun?

    Ivan
    That's to throw yourself against Europe and to rapidly conquer the country up to the Ural Mountains.

    Feofar
    And, if I go towards the torch of light?

    Ivan
    That is to submit to your domination Irkutsk and the richest provinces of Central Asia.

    Feofar
    What does your devotion to our cause inspire you to suggest?

    Ivan
    Take Irkutsk, the capital, and with that precious hostage, whose possession is worth more than a province, even the Grand Duke must fall into our hands.

    Feofar
    It will so be done.

    Ivan
    What day will the Emir leave this camp?

    Feofar
    Tomorrow, for today is the celebration for the conquerors.

    All
    Glory to the Emir.

    (Blount and Jollivet enter.)

    Blount
    The Emir! I wish to speak to the Emir.

    Feofar
    What's this?

    Ivan
    What do you want?

    Blount
    I want to speak to the Emir.

    Emir
    Speak.

    Blount
    Emir Feofar, I beg—no! I advise you to listen to me.

    Feofar
    Approach.

    Blount
    I demand that powerful Feofar prevent the shooting of a gentleman.

    Feofar
    What's this about?

    Ivan
    A foreigner who dared to insult me, and whose punishment I have ordered.

    Emir
    Let them bring this man.

    (Jollivet is led forward and placed near Blount.)

    Blount
    And, if I advised you, great Feofar, to render his freedom to Mr. Jollivet, it was in the interest of you and your serenity, for if a single hair falls from his head, it puts your head in danger.

    Feofar
    And, who would I have to worry about?

    Blount
    France!

    Feofar
    France?

    Blount
    Yes, France, which will not let go unpunished the murder of a child of its own! And, I warn you, that if his freedom is not returned to him, I will remain a prisoner with him, and instead of France alone, you'll have England, too. That's what I have to tell you, Emir Feofar. Now kill us if you like!

    Feofar
    Ivan, let the words of that man efface themselves from your memory, and spare his life.

    Ivan
    But he insulted me!

    Feofar
    I wish it.

    Ivan
    So be it! Let them kick him out of the camp this very instant.

    Jollivet
    You foresee my desire, Monsieur Ogareff! I hasten to be no longer in your honorable company. Blount, I will never forget what you have done for me.

    Blount
    We are quits and very good friends, Jollivet.

    Jollivet
    And, we will continue the campaign together.

    Blount
    All right!

    (The two men leave by the back. Feofar and his officers enter under a
    tent at the right.)

    Ivan (seeing Sangarre enter)
    You see, Sangarre! The task I've imposed on myself will soon be finished.

    Sangarre
    Are you speaking of your vengeance?

    Ivan
    Yes, yes—by a vengeance that is now certain.

    Sangarre
    It will escape you, if the Grand Duke is warned in time, if a Russian courier gets to him.

    Ivan
    How will a courier pass through our armies?

    Sangarre
    There is one who, but for me, could at this moment be on the route to Irkutsk.

    Ivan
    Speak. Explain yourself.

    Sangarre
    Ivan, I am more near than you to the end each of us wishes to attain. The Grand Duke is not yet in our hands, while I have in my power that Marfa Strogoff whose death I have vowed.

    Ivan
    Finish.

    Sangarre
    The old Siberian has been talking at the Kolyvan post with many others. But, at that post, Marfa was not the only one who bore the name Strogoff.

    Ivan
    What do you mean?

    Sangarre
    Yesterday, a man refused to recognize Marfa who called him her son. He denied her publicly. But a mother is never deceived by a pretended resemblance. That man, who didn't wish to be recognized was indeed Michael Strogoff, a courier of the Czar.

    Ivan
    Where is he? What's become of him? Have they been able to seize him?

    Sangarre
    After the victory, all those fleeing the field of battle have been taken. Not one of the fugitives was able to escape and Michael Strogoff must be among the prisoners.

    Ivan
    Would you recognize him? Could you point him out?

    Sangarre
    No.

    Ivan
    I need this man! He must be the bearer of some important message. Who can make him known to me?

    Sangarre
    His mother.

    Ivan
    His mother?

    Sangarre
    She will refuse to speak, but—

    Ivan
    But I shall know quite well how to force her to do so. Let her be brought. (Sangarre goes toward the back) A courier evidently sent to the Grand Duke. He's bearer of a message! I shall have that message.

    (Nadia, Marfa, and several prisoners are brought in by soldiers.)

    Nadia (low)
    Why are they bringing us here?

    Marfa (low)
    To interrogate me. Doubtless, on account of my son, but I've understood he doesn't want to be recognized. He's already far away. They won't tear the secret from me.

    Sangarre
    Look at me, Marfa, look at me carefully! Do you know who I am?

    Marfa (looking at Sangarre)
    Yes. The Tartar spy I had punished.

    Sangarre
    And, who in her turn, holds you in her power.

    Nadia (taking her hand)
    Marfa!

    Marfa (low)
    Don't fear for me, my child!

    Ivan (to Marfa)
    Your name?

    Marfa
    Marfa Strogoff.

    Ivan
    You have a son?

    Marfa
    Yes.

    Ivan
    Where is he now?

    Marfa
    In Moscow, I suppose.

    Ivan
    You are without news of him?

    Marfa
    Without news.

    Ivan
    Who is that man, then, you called your son yesterday, at the Kolyvan post?

    Marfa
    A Siberian that I took for him. He's the second I thought was my son. Kolyvan is full of strangers.

    Ivan
    So, this young man wasn't Michael Strogoff?

    Marfa
    It wasn't him.

    Ivan
    And, you don't know what has become of your son?

    Marfa
    I am unaware of it.

    Ivan
    And, since yesterday, you haven't seen him among the prisoners?

    Marfa
    No.

    Ivan
    Listen. Your son is here, for none of the fugitives was able to escape our soldiers who encircled the post of Kolyvan. All of these prisoners are going to pass before your eyes. And, if you don't designate Michael Strogoff to me, I will cause you to perish under the knout.

    Nadia
    Great God!

    Marfa
    Whenever you wish, Ivan Ogareff. I am waiting.

    Nadia
    Poor Marfa.

    Marfa (to Nadia)
    I will be courageous. I have nothing to fear from him.

    Ivan
    Let them lead out the prisoners. (to Sangarre) And you, observe carefully to see if one of them betrays himself.

    (The prisoners file by. Michael Strogoff is among them, but when he
    passes before Marfa, she does not budge.)

    Ivan
    Well? Your son?

    Marfa
    My son is not among these prisoners.

    Ivan
    You lie! Point him out—speak—I order you.

    Marfa (resolutely)
    I have nothing to tell you.

    Sangarre (low)
    Oh, I know her, this woman! Under the whip, even expiring, she will say nothing.

    Ivan
    She won't speak, you say? Well, he will speak to her. Seize this woman and have her whipped until she is dying.

    (Marfa is seized by one of two soldiers and thrown to her knees on the
    ground. A soldier carrying the knout places himself behind her.)

    Ivan (to soldier)
    Strike!

    (The knout is raised over Marfa. Strogoff hurls himself on the
    soldier, tears away the knout, and strikes Ivan in the face with it.)

    Strogoff
    Blow for blow, Ogareff.

    Marfa
    What have you done, wretch?

    Ivan
    The man from the relay!

    Sangarre
    Michael Strogoff.

    Strogoff
    Myself! Yes, I, who you insulted, outraged. I, whose mother you intend to murder.

    All
    Death! Death!

    Ivan
    Don't kill this man! Let them inform the Emir.

    Marfa
    My son! Ah, why did you give yourself away?

    Strogoff
    I was able to contain myself when this traitor struck me. But, the whip raised against you, my mother—oh, it was impossible.

    Ivan
    Take this woman away! And let that one be searched.

    (The soldiers execute these orders.)

    Strogoff (resisting)
    Search me! Coward! Wretch!

    (The soldiers take Ivan the letter which Strogoff wore next to his
    chest. He reads it.)

    Ian
    Oh! It was just in time. This letter would ruin everything. Now the Grand Duke is mine.

    (Feofar enters with his suite.)

    Ivan
    Emir Feofar, you have an act of justice to accomplish.

    Feofar
    Against this man?

    Ivan
    Against him.

    Feofar
    Who is he?

    Ivan
    A Russian spy.

    All
    A spy!

    Marfa
    No, no—my son is not a spy! That man lied!

    Ivan
    This letter, found on him, indicates the day a relief army must arrive in sight of Irkutsk. The day when, making a sortie, the Grand Duke would have taken us between tow fires.

    All
    Death! Death!

    Nadia
    Mercy for him.

    Marfa
    You shall not kill him!

    All
    Death! Death!

    Ivan (to Strogoff)
    You hear them?

    Strogoff (to Ivan)
    I will die, but your traitorous face, Ivan, will, nevertheless and forever, bear the infamous mark of the knout.

    Ivan
    Emir, we await your justice to be pronounced.

    Feofar
    Let them bring the Koran.

    All
    The Koran, the Koran!

    Feofar
    This Holy Book has punishments for traitors and it will pronounce the sentence itself.

    (The Tartar priests bring the sacred book and present it to Feofar.)

    Feofar (to one of the priests)
    Open this book to the place where it decrees pains and punishments. My finger will touch one of the verses and this verse will contain the sentence.

    (The Koran is opened and Feofar places his finger on one of the pages.
    A priest reads the verse touched by the Emir.)

    Priest (reading)
    “His eyes will cloud up like stars under a cloud—and he will no longer see the things of this earth.”

    All
    Ah!

    Feofar (to Strogoff)
    You came to see what was happening in the Tartar camp! Look! Now our triumphant army is celebrating and the feast is taking place the must celebrate our victories!

    All
    Glory! Glory!

    Feofar (taking his place on his throne)
    And you, spy, for the last time in your life, look with your eyes.

    (Strogoff is escorted to the foot of the platform. Marfa is half lying
    on the ground. Nadia is kneeling near her.)

    CURTAIN

    Scene IX. The Tartar celebration.


    BALLET

    (After the first movement, the voice of a priest is heard repeating
    the words of the Emir.)

    Priest
    Look with both your eyes! Look!

    (After the second movement, the voice of the priest makes itself heard
    again.)

    Priest
    Look with both your eyes! Look!

    (The ballet ends. Strogoff is led to the midst of the stage. A tripod
    carrying burning coals is brought near him, and the sabre of the executioner is laid across it. On a sign from Feofar, the executioner approaches Strogoff. He takes the sabre which is heated white hot.)

    Feofar
    God had condemned this man. He says that a spy must be deprived of light. Let his sight be burned by the burning blade.

    Nadia
    Michael! Michael!

    Strogoff (turning towards Ivan)
    Ivan! Ivan, the traitor! The last threat of my eyes will be for you.

    Marfa (rushing towards her son)
    My son! My son!

    Strogoff
    Mother! Mother! Yes, yes, toward you my final glance—remain there in front of me! Let me see once more your beloved face. Let my eyes shut looking at you.

    Ivan (to Strogoff)
    Ah! You are weeping! You are weeping like a woman.

    Strogoff (controlling himself)
    No, like a son.

    Ivan
    Executioner, finish your work!

    (Strogoff's arms are pinioned by the soldiers, he is held kneeling so
    he cannot move. The incandescent blade passes before his eyes.)

    Strogoff (uttering a terrible scream)
    Ahhh!

    (Marfa falls in a faint. Nadia rushes towards her.)

    Ivan
    To death! Now, to death with the spy.

    All
    Death! Death!

    (Soldiers throw themselves on Strogoff to massacre him.)

    Feofar
    Stop! Stop! Priest, finish the verse begun.

    Priest (reading)
    “And blessed he will be, like a child, and like a being deprived of reason, sacred to all.”

    ACT IV

    Scene X.


    The stage represents a mountain on the right bank of the Angara. It is a still day.

    Ivan (to a Tartar chief)
    It's here we are going to separate from you and your soldiers—and you will faithfully follow all my instructions.

    Chief
    Count on us, Ivan Ogareff.

    Sangarre
    Where are we going now?

    Ivan
    Listen! The energy of the Grand Duke has upset all my calculations, baffled all my plans. Each day he undertakes new sorties of which the next may, perhaps, coincide with the appearance of a relief army and we will thus be caught between two fires! It's, therefore, necessary that I execute the bold plan I've conceived without delay.

    Sangarre
    And this plan—what is it?

    Ivan
    Sangarre, I will enter Irkutsk today, alone. The Russians will greet with transports of joy the one who presents himself under the name of Michael Strogoff, the courier of the Czar. So everything is indeed well contrived and my vengeance will be prompt to strike! At the hour agreed between the Emir and me, the Tartars will attack the Tchernaia gate and a friendly hand—mine—will open it for them.

    Sangarre
    Do you hope that the Russians won't defend this gate?

    Ivan
    A terrible diversion will prevent them and attract all to the Angara quarter.

    Chief
    What will this diversion be?

    Ivan
    A conflagration.

    All
    A conflagration?

    Ivan
    Which you soldiers are going to light up.

    Chief
    Us—what do you mean?

    Ivan (pointing to the river)
    See that river which spreads out and cuts through Irkutsk. It's the Angara. That—that is going to divide Irkutsk.

    Sangarre
    That river?

    Ivan
    At a moment agreed on, this river is going to roll a torrent of fire. Some stores of naphtha are drilled three versts from here. We are masters of immense reserves from Baikal, which contain the whole of this inflammable liquid. A section of wall demolished by you, and a torrent of naphtha will spread over the surface of the Angara. And the spark will inflame it and bring the conflagration into the heart of Irkutsk. The houses built on piles, the Palace of the Grand Duke himself will be consumed, annihilated. Ah, cursed Russians. You've thrown me into the camp of the Tartars! Well, I make war on your like a Tartar!

    Chief
    Your orders will be executed, Ivan, but what moment shall we choose to destroy the dam of the reservoirs of Baikal?

    Ivan
    The hour when the sun shall have disappeared over the horizon.

    Sangarre
    At that hour the capital of Siberia will be in flames.

    Ivan
    And, my vengeance will be accomplished. Let's leave now. (to chief) You will remember?

    Chief
    I will remember.

    (Sangarre and Ivan leave.)

    Chief
    Let's rest here for a half hour before the moment we must fulfill our mission.

    Sergeant
    The men can come and go?

    Officer
    Yes, but they mustn't go far. We can't have too many to overturn the dam of reservoirs of Naphtha. We'll need all the help we can get. There won't be one too many for the job.

    Sergeant
    That's fine. Go—

    (All disappear, after placing their rifles here and there.)

    Marfa (entering from the right, leaning on a stick)
    My poor child, you whose sight was extinguished staring for the last time at your mother. Where are you? What's become of you? A young girl they told me—Nadia, without a doubt—is guiding the steps of the blind. Both of them are headed towards Irkutsk and for the last month I've followed the great Siberian highway. My beloved son, it is I who betrayed you. I was unable to contain myself in finding you again. There—in front of me—and you were not able to control yourself in seeing the knout raised against me. Ah, why didn't you let them rip up my shoulders? No torture would have torn your secret from me. Come on, we must start walking again. Here I am, no more that a few versts from Irkutsk. Perhaps it is there I will find him. Come on— (she rises and starts to leave) The Tartars!

    Officer (seeing Marfa)
    Who is this woman?

    Sergeant
    Some beggar woman.

    Marfa
    I am not holding out my hand. I don't demand any pity from a Tartar.

    Officer
    You are really that proud? What are you doing here? Where are you going?

    Marfa
    I am going where those who no longer have a country, who no longer have a home, and who are fleeing invaders go. I am going on, until my strength fails me, until I fall—and until I die.

    Sergeant
    She's a real woman, Captain.

    Officer
    Who has good eyes and good ears! I don't like these prowlers who follow our rear guard. They are as good as spies. (to Marfa) Leave, and don't let me see you again or I'll have you tied to the foot of a tree and the famished wolves won't have any mercy on you.

    Marfa
    Wolf or Tartar, it's all one. To die by the blow of teeth or gunshot, little matter to me.

    Officer
    Oh, life has little price in your eyes.

    Marfa
    Yes, ever since I lost the one I'm vainly seeking—my son, that you cruelly martyred.

    (Marfa takes her stick and goes off into the night.)

    Sergeant (to officer)
    Captain, more refugees, doubtless. (pointing to Strogoff and Nadia who appear in the back)

    Marfa (aside)
    Here! My son! My son!

    Strogoff (to Nadia, who guides him by the hand)
    What is it?

    Nadia
    Some Tartars.

    Strogoff
    They've seen us?

    Nadia
    Yes.

    Marfa (aside)
    Oh! This time I won't betray myself before them. (she hides at the back)

    Officer
    Have those people approach.

    Sergeant
    Come on, approach. Approach.

    Officer
    Who are you?

    Nadia
    My brother is blind, and we've wandered, despite terrible sufferings he's undergone, a road so hard and so long that he can hardly sustain it.

    Officer
    Where are you from?

    Strogoff
    From Irkutsk, where we've been unable to penetrate, because the Tartars are besieging it.

    Officer
    And, where are you going?

    Strogoff
    Toward Lake Baikal where we will wait for Siberia to become tranquil again.

    Officer
    And it will, under Tartar domination.

    Sergeant (looking at Nadia with effrontery)
    This girl is pretty, Captain.

    Officer (to Strogoff)
    It's true. You've got a pretty companion there.

    (The Sergeant tries to approach Nadia.)

    Nadia (moving back)
    Ah! (She grasps Strogoff's hand)

    Strogoff
    She's my sister.

    Sergeant
    We could get another guide to the blind, and this pretty girl could stay in camp. (he approaches her)

    Nadia
    Leave me alone, leave me alone!

    Strogoff (aside)
    Wretches!

    Sergeant
    The young Siberian is skittish. We will see each other again, later, beautiful.

    Soldier (entering)
    Captain, by climbing a hill a hundred paces from here, you can see great mists rising in the air, and listening, one can hear the roar of cannon in the distance.

    Officer
    Those are ours, giving the assault on Irkutsk.

    Strogoff (aside)
    The assault on Irkutsk!

    Officer
    Let's see about that. (to soldier) In an hour, the moment will come to accomplish our task, and that done, we will rejoin the assailants.

    (The Officer leaves, the soldiers accompanying him. The Sergeant looks
    one last time at Nadia and leaves.)

    Nadia
    They are gone, brother. Now we can continue our route.

    Strogoff
    No! I said we were going by way of Lake Baikal. They mustn't see us take another way.

    Nadia
    We will wait, then, until they've gone a long way off.

    Strogoff
    Today is the 24th of September, and today—I must be in Irkutsk.

    Nadia
    Let us hope still! These Tartars are going to leave. Tonight, when they can no longer see us, we will try the way of going down by the river—and you can, before tomorrow, enter the city. Try to rest a little while waiting.

    (Nadia leads Strogoff to the foot of a tree.)

    Strogoff
    Me rest? And you, poor Nadia, aren't you more broken by fatigue than I am myself?

    Nadia
    No, no. I am strong—whereas you, that wound you received, that fever which consumes you—

    Strogoff
    Ah, what difference, Nadia? What difference? Let me arrive in time to the Grand Duke, and I'll have nothing more to ask of you. I wonder if my mother still exists.

    Nadia
    Before her sons that those barbarians were going to martyr, she fell senseless. But, who told you life was destroyed in her? Who told you she was dead? Brother, I believe you will see her again. (stopping and looking at him sadly) I believe, brother, that you will press her again in your arms and she will cover with kisses and tears those poor eyes whose sight is extinct!

    Strogoff
    When I placed my lips on her face, I felt her icy. When I felt her heart, it did not beat under my hand.

    (Marfa appears and approaches her son.)

    Strogoff
    Alas, my mother is dead!

    Nadia (noticing Marfa)
    Ah!

    Strogoff
    What's wrong? What's the matter with you, Nadia?

    Nadia
    Nothing, nothing!

    (Marfa kneels, and makes a sign to Nadia, who is ready to betray her,
    to keep silent. Then, taking her son's hand, she takes it weeping to her lips. Strogoff, who has extended his other arm has satisfied himself that Nadia is on his right.)

    Strogoff
    Oh! Nadia! Nadia! These kisses, these tears. This weeping I hear. It's she—it's she—it's my mother!

    Marfa
    My son! My son!

    (Strogoff and Marfa fall into each other's arms.)

    Nadia
    Marfa.

    Marfa
    Yes, yes, it's me, my beloved child, it's me, my noble and brave martyr. Let me kiss those eyes a thousand times. Those poor extinct eyes. And it's for me, because he wanted to defend his mother, that he was tortured so. Ah, why didn't I die before that fatal day? Why didn't I die? My God!

    Strogoff
    Die! You, no, no! Don't cry, my mother, and remember the words I say here: God reserves to those who suffer, ineffable consolations.

    Marfa
    What consolations are you talking to me about? To me, whose eyes must never again fix on yours without weeping?

    Strogoff
    Happiness can be found in your soul.

    Marfa
    Happiness?

    Strogoff
    God makes miracles, my mother.

    Marfa
    Miracles! What's that signify? Answer, answer—in the name of heaven.

    Strogoff
    Well—learn then. I—ah! The joy of finding you again, my mother—my—

    Marfa
    My word. The words die on his lips. He's growing pale, he's losing consciousness.

    Nadia
    It's the emotion after so much stress.

    Marfa
    We must revive him! Ah, this gourd. (she takes the gourd that Strogoff wears on his side) Nothing! It's empty. The water is down there. Go— go—Nadia.

    (Nadia takes the gourd and rushes to the rear on the road which rises
    to the right.)

    Marfa
    Michael, my child, hear me, speak to me, Michael! Say again that you pardon me for all that you've suffered through me.

    Strogoff (in a weak voice)
    Mother. Mother.

    Marfa
    Ah! He's coming to himself. (looking at the back) Nadia! Nadia!

    (At this, Nadia, who has filled the gourd, gets up. But at the same
    time the Tartar Sergeant reappears.)

    Sergeant
    The beautiful girl belongs to me.

    Nadia
    Let me alone!

    Sergeant
    No! You will come willingly or by force. (he intends to drag her)

    Nadia
    Let me alone! Let me go!

    Marfa (seeing Nadia)
    The wretch—Nadia. (running to Nadia)

    Sergeant
    Get back.

    (The Sergeant pushes Marfa away and seizing Nadia by her arm, drags
    her off.)

    Nadia (uttering a scream)
    Help me! Pity—help me!

    Strogoff
    Nadia!

    (Strogoff comes to himself, rises, then with an irresistible movement,
    grabs one of the rifles left near the tree, arms it, aims at the Sergeant and fires. The Sergeant falls.)

    Marfa and Nadia
    Oh!

    (After being stupefied for a moment, both Marfa and Nadia rush towards
    Strogoff.)

    Strogoff
    May God and the Czar pardon me. This new constraint was beyond my strength.

    Marfa
    Ah, Michael, my son. Your eyes see the light of heaven.

    Nadia
    Brother, brother! Then, it's really true?

    Strogoff
    Yes, yes, I see you, my mother! Yes, I see you, Nadia.

    Marfa
    My child, my child! What joy, what happiness, what intoxication! Ah! I understand your words, now. God—God gives the afflicted infallible consolation.

    Nadia
    But, how has it happened?

    Marfa
    And where does this miracle come from?

    Strogoff
    When I thought to see you for the last time, my mother, my eyes were flooded with so many tears that the reddened sword only succeeded in drying them, without burning my sight! And, as I had to save our Siberia, to cross the Tartar lines “I am blind,” I said. “The Koran protects me! I am blind!” and I passed.

    Nadia
    But, why didn't you tell me?

    Strogoff
    Because only a moment of imprudence or forgetfulness would have ruined you, along with me, Nadia.

    Marfa
    Silence! They are returning.

    (The Captain, followed by soldiers, arrives from the back. They raise
    the Sergeant's body.)

    Captain
    Who killed this man?

    Soldier (pointing to Strogoff)
    There's only this beggar here.

    Officer
    Let him be seized. We will take him to camp.

    Strogoff (aside)
    Take me! And my mission! All is lost.

    Nadia
    Do you know that my brother is blind?

    Marfa
    And that he cannot use that weapon?

    Officer
    Blind? We are going to indeed know if he really is.

    Marfa
    What's he going to do?

    Officer
    Your eyes are sightless, you said? Well, I want to see you walk without a guide, without support. Separate from these two women and you—march. (raising his sword)

    Strogoff
    Which way?

    Officer (holding his sword towards Strogoff's breast)
    Straight before you.

    Nadia
    My God!

    Marfa (screaming as she places her hand over her mouth)
    Ahhh!

    (Strogoff marches on the sword and stops when the point enters his
    breast.)

    Strogoff
    Ah, you've wounded me!

    Marfa (rushing to him)
    Michael! My poor son!

    Nadia
    Brother!

    Marfa (to the Officer)
    You die a murderer!

    Officer
    Then, it's one of these two women who killed the soldier!

    Marfa
    It was I!

    Strogoff (to Marfa)
    No, mother, I don't wish—I—I don't wish it.

    Marfa (aside to Strogoff)
    To save our Siberia, it's necessary that you be free. I forbid you to speak.

    Officer
    Seize that woman! Tie her to that tree and let her be shot.

    Strogoff
    Shot! You!

    Nadia
    Mercy—for her.

    Marfa
    God has counted my days. They belong to him.

    (Some Soldiers tie Marfa to the tree. Others drag off Strogoff and
    Nadia.)

    Strogoff
    My mother! My mother!

    CURTAIN

    Scene XI. The Raft


    (At the moment the Tartars are going to shoot Marfa, a raft, coming from the left appears on the Angara.)

    Jollivet
    A woman that the Tartars want to murder. Stop, wretches!

    Strogoff
    Help me—my friends.

    Officer (to Tartars)
    Fire!

    Blount
    Jollivet, fire on the soldiers! I will take care of the Captain myself. (firing)

    Officer (wounded)
    Ah!

    Blount
    Good shot, wasn't it?

    Jollivet
    Very good shot, friend Blount.

    (The Tartars surround their chief. Meanwhile, Strogoff and Nadia untie
    Marfa.)

    Officer
    Take me to the reservoir. Those are Ogareff's orders.

    (The Tartars carry the Officer off.)

    Blount, Jollivet
    Long live France! Long live England! Hurrah! Hep! Hep!

    Jollivet
    Heavens, Michael Strogoff—

    Strogoff
    Thanks, Mr. Jollivet! Thanks, Mr. Blount!

    Blount
    It was us, unfortunate blind man!

    Strogoff
    Let's not lose a moment! The raft is taking you—?

    Jollivet
    To Irkutsk!

    Strogoff
    To Irkutsk! It was heaven that sent you.

    Blount
    Yes, always very malicious, heaven.

    Marfa
    Will you take us with you?

    Jollivet
    Sure! By following the course of the Angara, we'll get to Irkutsk under cover of darkness.

    Strogoff
    Let's embark.

    Jollivet
    He is not blind.

    Marfa
    His filial tenderness saved my child. His eyes, in sending me a last adieu, were flooded with so many tears—.

    Blount
    Ah, good, very good. I understand, and I want to inform the Academy of Medicine about this matter.

    Jollivet
    Yes, yes, Blount. Red hot iron is excellent for drying tears.

    Blount
    But, insufficient to burn out sight.

    All
    Let's embark.

    (They embark.)

    CURTAIN

    Scene XII. The Shores of the Angara.


    The panorama at the rear moves little by little, while the raft remains still. One sees several sites on the shores of the river.

    CURTAIN

    Scene XIII. The River of Naphtha.


    Night has come. The current of Naphtha inflames the surface of the river. The raft, vigorously pushed, passes through.

    CURTAIN

    Scene XIV. The City in Flames


    Irkutsk is in flames. The population rushes on the banks of the river. Strogoff appears and rushes through a blazing gate.

    CURTAIN

    ACT V

    Scene XV. The Palace of the Grand Duke.


    A room of the Tchernaia gate at Irkutsk. Door at the rear, side doors, large window at the right lit by the reflection of the conflagration The Tocsin sounds.

    Grand Duke
    It must have required the hand of a barbarian to spread a sheet of naphtha on the surface of the river.

    Voronzoff
    Doubtless, the soldiers of the Emir have overturned the wall of the immense reservoir at Baikal.

    Grand Duke
    And one spark sufficed to set ablaze this naphtha and engulf in flames the houses whose piles stand in the river. The wretches, to employ such means of destruction.

    Voronzoff
    It's a war of savagery they intend to give us, Highness. They have sworn the extermination of the city.

    Grand Duke
    They are not yet masters of Irkutsk, General. Has the fire caused numerous victims?

    Voronzoff
    Almost all the inhabitants are successfully escaping.

    Grand Duke
    Let them help these poor people. Let them be lodged in my palace, in public establishments, in the homes of all those the holocaust has spared.

    Voronzoff
    All will come to their aid, Highness, and they will lack nothing. The devotion of our people equals its patriotism.

    Grand Duke
    Fine! Fine! This conflagration must be a means of diversion. Once the fire is contained, let all defenders return to the ramparts.

    Voronzoff
    On that subject, Highness, I have to make known to you a petition for which my intervention has been invoked.

    Grand Duke
    By whom is it addressed to me?

    Voronzoff
    By all the political exiles who, at the beginning of the invasion, received orders to return to the city. Your Highness knows they have already fought bravely and that their patriotism can be counted on.

    Grand Duke
    I know it. What do they demand?

    Voronzoff
    They ask that Your Highness deign to do them the honor of receiving a deputation from them.

    Grand Duke
    Who is the head of this deputation?

    Voronzoff
    An exile who has positively distinguished himself since the siege of the city.

    Grand Duke
    His name?

    Voronzoff
    Vassily Fedov. A man of valor and courage. His influence over his companions has always been very great.

    Grand Duke
    Have the deputation enter.

    (Vassily Fedov and his companions are brought in.)

    Grand Duke
    Vassily Fedov, you and your companions have been fighting bravely since the beginning of the siege. Your patriotism has never failed. Russia won't forget it.

    Fedov
    We've come to ask Your Highness to permit us to do even more for the health of the country.

    Grand Duke
    What do you wish?

    Fedov
    The authorization to form a special corps and the right to march in the first rank.

    Grand Duke
    So be it! But, an elite corps must have a leader worthy to command it. Who will be chief?

    All
    Vassily Fedov.

    Fedov
    No!

    All
    Yes! Yes!

    Grand Duke
    You hear them. It's you they have chosen. Do you accept?

    Fedov
    Yes, if the good of the country demands it. Love of country is always strong in the heart of an exile, and we ask you to march in the forefront, with the first sortie.

    All
    Yes! Yes! In the forefront

    Grand Duke
    Vassily Fedov, your companions are courageous and strong. I will double their courage and strength. I will give them the most potent of all weapons: liberty.

    All
    Liberty!

    Grand Duke
    Dating from this moment, there are no more proscribed in Siberia.

    All
    Hurrah for the Grand Duke! Hurrah for Russia.

    Fedov
    Highness, I will not be alone in my family to bless your name. I have my daughter, Nadia, who at this moment is returning a thousand versts to reach me.

    Grand Duke
    And, instead of finding a proscribed, your daughter will find a free man.

    An Aide de Camp (entering hurriedly)
    Highness—a courier from the Czar.

    All
    A courier!

    Grand Duke
    A courier has finally reached us! At last! Let him enter. Let him enter.

    (Enter Ivan.)

    Grand Duke
    Who are you? Speak! Speak quickly.

    Ivan (dressed like a Siberian peasant)
    Michael Strogoff, courier of the Czar.

    Grand Duke
    Where are you coming from?

    Ivan
    From Moscow.

    Grand Duke
    You left Moscow?

    Ivan
    The 22nd of August.

    Grand Duke
    And what proves to me that you are indeed a courier of the Czar and that you've been sent to me from Russia?

    Ivan (presenting a paper)
    This permit which is signed by the Governor of Moscow and which assures my passage across Siberia.

    Grand Duke
    But, this permit bears the name of Nicolas Korpanov?

    Ivan
    I traveled under that name in the character of a Siberian merchant.

    Grand Duke
    You have a letter for me?

    Ivan
    I had a letter written in the hand of the Governor of Moscow, but I was obliged to destroy it to protect it from the Tartars who had taken me prisoner.

    Grand Duke
    Approach. What did the letter contain?

    Ivan
    This: A relief army will arrive from the northern provinces on the 29th of September.

    Grand Duke
    The 29th of September!

    Ivan
    May His Highness act, on that day, for that day only, a vigorous sortie, and the Tartars will be crushed!

    Grand Duke
    So, what we ought to attempt today, tomorrow, and every day, can only be fatal to us? It's in only four days. Well, whatever happens, we shall try until then.

    Ivan (aside)
    And tomorrow the Tartars will be masters of Irkutsk.

    Grand Duke
    Is that all that was contained in that letter from the Governor of Moscow?

    Ivan
    No. There was also the question of a man Your Highness must be on guard against—a Russian officer.

    Grand Duke
    A Russian! An officer! What is the name of this traitor?

    Ivan
    Ivan Ogareff, now the lieutenant of Feofar and the organizer of this invasion.

    Grand Duke
    Ivan Ogareff was previously condemned by me to degradation.

    Ivan
    He's sworn to avenge himself on Your Highness and to deliver the city to the Tartars.

    Grand Duke
    Let him come, I'll be waiting for him. Ah! He indeed deserves, that wretch, the punishment which befell him, he who was later to provoke the Tartar invasion of his country.

    Ivan (coldly)
    He deserved it!

    Grand Duke
    But, tell me, what did you do to get into Irkutsk?

    Ivan
    During the last engagement, which just took place, I mingled with the defenders of the city. I announced my name, and they conducted me forthwith to Your Highness.

    Grand Duke
    You've shown great courage, Michael Strogoff. What do you demand as reward for your services?

    Ivan
    The right to fight for the defense of Irkutsk.

    Grand Duke
    You will command one of the gates of the city.

    Ivan
    The Tchernaia Gate, Highness, that which the Tartars threaten the most.

    Grand Duke
    So be it! The Tchernaia Gate.

    Voronzoff (coming from a window)
    Highness.

    Grand Duke
    What's the matter?

    Voronzoff
    It seems that the enemy is trying to get close to our ramparts.

    Grand Duke
    They'll find us ready to receive them. Come, gentlemen.

    (All leave except Ivan.)

    Ivan (alone)
    Yes, yes, noble defenders of the country. Go, invincible heroes. The hour of defeat and death will soon sound for you. And you, cursed city, burn—may your palaces be decimated by fire. Let nothing remain of your houses but ashes. It's not a city the Tartars want, it's a pile of ruins. Burn then, Irkutsk, and perish with you all that bears the detested name of Russia and Siberia.

    (An officer and Strogoff enter front of stage.)

    Officer (to Strogoff)
    Wait here. I am going to inform His Highness, the Grand Duke of your arrival.

    Strogoff
    I'll wait. But, hurry.

    Ivan (aside, at back)
    Michael Strogoff! (the officer leaves) How could he, blind, be able to get here?

    Strogoff
    There's not a moment to lose.

    Ivan
    Oh, no! Not an instant. (leaning his hand on Strogoff's shoulder) Michael Strogoff, do you recognize my voice?

    Strogoff
    Yes, it's the voice of a traitor! It's the voice of Ivan Ogareff.

    Ivan
    Ogareff, whom you won't escape this time. Ogareff, who won't be stopped by the vain command of the Koran that protects the blind. Ah, you were rejoicing, weren't you, at having arrived on time to accomplish your mission, and save Irkutsk and the Grand Duke at the same time?

    Strogoff
    Perhaps.

    Ivan
    You still hope! But know, we are alone here. Before anyone can come, my dagger will enter your breast, will tear up your heart.

    Strogoff (frigidly)
    Try.

    Ivan
    You dare brave me—when I hold you alone and defenseless. When I have only to choose the place to strike you. Ah! Now, indeed, I am going to kill you.

    Strogoff
    I'm waiting

    (Ivan approaches Strogoff, dagger raised, but the blow is deflected
    and Strogoff twists his arm.)

    Strogoff
    Well, I'm still waiting.

    Ivan
    Is this a dream? A blind man hasn't been able to make this defense.

    Strogoff (advancing on him and taking his arm)
    Then, why are you trembling?

    Ivan (trying to pull away)
    No—it's impossible.

    Strogoff
    Ivan Ogareff, your final hour has come. And, with both your eyes, look.

    Ivan
    Mercy! He can see! He can see! He can see!

    Strogoff
    Yes, I see on your traitor's face pallor and terror! I see the trace of the knout, the stigmata of shame with which I marked your face. I see the place where I am indeed going to strike you, wretch. Ah, how I am going to kill you!

    Ivan (straightening up)
    So be it! but you will strike me standing. At least I will die as a soldier.

    Strogoff
    As a soldier, you? No, you are going to die as a traitor must die, on your knees. Come, on your knees, to expiate the outrage you inflicted on me. On your knees, for having shamefully had my mother knouted. On your knees, for having betrayed your country. On your knees, wretch, on your knees!

    (Ivan tries to seize the dagger to strike Strogoff, and almost gets it
    from him. But Strogoff seizes his hand and forces it back so Ivan strikes himself and falls.)

    (The Grand Duke enters with officers, Jollivet, Blount, Marfa, Nadia,
    Fedov, etc.)

    Grand Duke
    Seize that man! (to Strogoff) Who are you? You who have assassinated a courier of the Czar?

    Strogoff
    Michael Strogoff, Highness, and this is Ivan Ogareff.

    Marfa
    Yes! Michael Strogoff, my child. Highness, you have before you devotion and treason.

    Jollivet (pointing to Strogoff)
    And devotion is here.

    Blount (pointing to Ivan)
    And that is treason.

    Grand Duke
    Who are these men?

    Jollivet (designating Blount)
    I have the honor to present to Your Highness, Monsieur Blount, a courageous Englishman.

    Blount (designating Jollivet)
    Mister Jollivet, a Frenchman—as courageous, indeed, more courageous.

    Grand Duke
    And you affirm?

    Blount
    That that one was Ivan Ogareff.

    Jollivet
    And this one is Michael Strogoff.

    Fedov
    The saviors of my daughter, Highness.

    (Cannon fire approaching.)

    Strogoff
    Listen! It's cannons thundering.

    Grand Duke
    Yes. Enemy columns are attacking the city. We must defend the ramparts.

    Strogoff
    No! Listen again! To the cannon which growls beneath our walls, a cannon further off is responding. Today is the 24th of September! That's the relief army arriving.

    All
    The relief army!

    Strogoff
    Let Your Highness make a general sortie and the Tartar army will be annihilated.

    Grand Duke
    Come on, my friends—to battle.

    All
    To battle!

    (All leave.)

    CURTAIN

    Scene XVI. The Assault on Irkutsk.


    The stage represents a plain under the walls of Irkutsk. The Tartars have been crushed, dead. The whole Russian army is on stage.

    Grand Duke
    Soldiers, thanks to the courage and devotion of Michael Strogoff, our troops have been able to effect the protection with the relief army. The Tartars are in flight. The Emir Feofar is a prisoner and Irkutsk is saved.

    All
    Hurrah! Hurrah!

    Grand Duke
    Michael Strogoff, what reward do you ask?

    Strogoff
    I want none. Highness, I have only done my duty as a soldier, for God, for Czar, for Country.

    (Fanfares blaze and Russian flags stand tall in the breeze amidst
    hurrahs.)

    CURTAIN