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much alarmed."
"He has conquered me!" he repeated. "I am lost!"
"What do you mean?" demanded his wife, angrily. "If you will go and
do as I tell you there will be no danger. Come, Mishinka," she added,
tenderly; "I shall have the saddle-horse brought for you at once."
When the horse arrived the woman persuaded her husband to mount the
animal, and to fulfil her request concerning the serfs. When he reached
the village a woman opened the gate for him to enter, and as he did so
the inhabitants, seeing the brutal superintendent whom everybody feared,
ran to hide themselves in their houses, gardens, and other secluded
places.
At length Michael reached the other gate, which he found closed also,
and, being unable to open it himself while seated on his horse, he
called loudly for assistance. As no one responded to his shouts he
dismounted and opened the gate, but as he was about to remount, and had
one foot in the stirrup, the horse became frightened at some pigs and
sprang suddenly to one side. The superintendent fell across the
fence and a very sharp picket pierced his stomach, when Michael fell
unconscious to the ground.
Toward the evening, when the serfs arrived at the village gate, their
horses refused to enter. On looking around, the peasants discovered
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