The open plain surrounding the cemetery was bright with flowers, and the hum of bees filled the air. It was too hot for the birds to sing. Many of the graves had black crosses at the head, and were fenced in by gaily-coloured rails. The letters I.H.S. were painted on one of the arms of the crosses, and on some of them there was a rude representation in white paint of the Lord crucified. As yet, in this far distant and isolated village, with leagues of uninhabited country surrounding it, there was no inclination to refuse burial to a Stundist. The old parish priest was willing, so that he got his dues, to let them bury their dead as they pleased. In the case of paupers, such as this dead exile must be, it was usual to let the relatives dig the grave and lay the body in it; and in course of time, when a sufficient number were interred, the funeral service was read over all the graves together. Michael and Sergius dug Marfa's grave. The women and children stood round the grave in silence, whilst the boys lowered the rude coffin into it. They were all still alive, those who had left Knishi, but they were emaciated and broken down, the shadows of their former selves. Katerina carried her baby in her arms, but the tiny face that looked up at her was starved and shrivelled, with dull, solemn eyes, and a tremulous, unsatisfied movement on the lips that would never learn to speak. Little Clava was thin and wasted, and every day made her a lighter weight for Michael and Sergius to carry across Siberia. There was no man to pray, but Matrona stood at the head of the grave, and read, in a voice faltering with old age and pity, these words— "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? "And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." So they buried Marfa thousands of miles away from her beloved home. She who had never been separated from her own people for a single day, was to lie in a grave that not one of them could visit and weep over. To-morrow they would be already miles away from this sacred spot, and the end of their journey would place still more thousands of miles between them and the lonely grave. CHAPTER XXII THE PRISON HOSPITAL