"Well, you know the fellow's history, Mikail, and that he had murdered nine people he had lived among and who trusted him. What could one expect from a villain like that?" "Oh, I know he is a bad one," Mikail said, "but I did not think he dare take the risk." "I don't suppose he thought there was much risk, Mikail. If I had been asleep he would have stabbed you to the heart, and when we found you dead in the morning who was to know what prisoner had done it?" "Well, it was a lucky thought my putting you next to me, young fellow; I meant it for your good not for my own, and now you see it has saved my life." "A kind action always gets its reward, Mikail--always, sooner or later; in your case it has been sooner, you see. Now I shall go off to sleep, for I feel as drowsy as if I had been up for the last three nights." CHAPTER X PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT. The next morning Godfrey and Mikail were by the doctor's orders carried to the hospital and placed in a comfortable and well-arranged ward. "You won't have to be here many days," the doctor said when he came round the ward. "I only had you brought here because the air is sweeter and better than it is in that room you were in." An hour later the governor with a clerk came in. Mikail was first called upon for his statement, which was written down by the clerk. "Had you any reason for supposing that the man had any special enmity against you?" the governor asked. "Only because of that flogging he had for the row in the ward last week, sir." "Ah, yes, he was one of those who attacked you then and was flogged; that accounts for it." Then Godfrey gave his account of what had happened. "Did you observe anything that made you specially watchful?" the governor asked. "I thought perhaps one of them might try to take revenge on Mikail, sir. One or two of them were very sullen and surly, and would, I thought, do him harm if they had the chance; but I suspected this man more than the others because he seemed so unnaturally pleasant, and as I had heard him boasting about the things for which he is here, I thought he was more dangerous than those who grumbled and threatened." The governor nodded. "Yes, he is a thorough-paced villain; you have done very well, young man, and I shall not forget it." Five days later there was a stir in front of the hospital, and Mikail, whose bed was by the side of the window, raised himself on his elbow and looked out. "It is a punishment parade," he said; "I expect they are going to flog Koshkin with the _plete_. No governor of a prison is allowed to do that until the circumstances of the case have been sent to the governor of the province, and the sentence receives his approval; that is no doubt what has caused the delay. All the prisoners are mustering."