About a fortnight before my removal to Odessa she had been tried before a court-martial; and as she was not of age, had “only” been sentenced to twenty years’ penal servitude in Siberia. Footnote 36: See note, p. 43. Footnote 37: See later, chapters xvii, xix, xxi, xxvi, etc. CHAPTER X A BRAVE OFFICER—MY MILITARY SERVICE—THE TRIAL—FURTHER EXAMINATIONS On one of the first days of my imprisonment in Odessa I had a small passage-at-arms. I was pacing my cell, when I suddenly heard voices raised outside the door. I went and looked through the peephole. It was the officer of the day on his rounds of inspection, and he seemed to be questioning one of the soldiers about his duties. I was going to draw back again, when the words, “Get away from there, you scoundrel!” struck my ears; and only after a moment did I realise they were addressed to me. I was extremely surprised, for the officers generally behaved quite politely to the “politicals.” I instantly withdrew from the door without a word, but I resolved to teach this gentleman a lesson in manners. So that evening, when the deputy-governor paid his usual visit to my cell, accompanied by the officer, without appearing to notice the latter I asked if prisoners were forbidden to look through the peephole. “No, of course not,” said the deputy-governor. “How could anyone prevent you?” “Then, will you please tell me if a prisoner should be abused by an officer for doing so?” “Certainly not.” I then related what had occurred, and requested the official to give me particulars in writing next morning as to this officer’s name and position, so that I should know how to state my complaint about him. Next day my gendarme told me this promising young lieutenant had been round more than once during the night, telling him and the policeman what they were to say if there were any inquiry. Evidently the young fellow was in some trepidation, as he had thus humbled himself before his inferiors. I felt rather sorry for him, and thinking he had a sufficient warning, I took no further steps in the matter. My case, meanwhile, was running its course. About the middle of September the examining magistrate read me the document that was the outcome of his labours. According to paragraph so-and-so of the statute-book, it set forth, he must hand me over to the Prosecutor of the Military Court. I at once entered a protest, calling attention to the extradition treaty, which enjoined my being tried by the ordinary civil law, not by any special tribunal. Whereupon the magistrate showed me a paper, in which the Minister of Justice informed him that after the conclusion of the examination he must act according to such and such a paragraph, which enacted that crimes committed by any person belonging to the army must be dealt with by a court-martial. “When the crime of which you are accused was committed,” said the magistrate, “you were serving in the army.”