"Then will you take this Russian girl to her home, Sengoun?" he asked.
And added in a low voice: "She is one of your own people, you know."
"All right," said Sengoun blissfully. "I'd take the devil home if you
asked me! Besides, I can talk to her about my regiment on the way.
That will be wonderful, Neeland! That will be quite wonderful! I can
talk to her in Russian about my regiment all the way home!"
He laughed and looked at his friend, at Ilse Dumont, at the drooping
figure he was to take under his escort. He glanced down at his own
ragged attire where he stood hatless, collarless, one sleeve of his
evening coat ripped open to the shoulder.
"Isn't it wonderful!" he cried, bursting out into uncontrollable
laughter. "Neeland, my dear comrade, this has been the most
delightfully wonderful night of my entire life! But the great miracle
is still to come! Hurrah for a thousand lances! Hurrah! Town taken by
Prince Erlik! Hurrah!"
And he seized the young girl whom he was to escort to her
home--wherever that hazy locality might be--and carried her in his
arms to the taxicab, amid encouraging shouts of laughter from the line
of cavalrymen who had been watching the proceedings from the corner of
the rue Vilna.
That shout of Gallic appreciation inflamed Sengoun: he reached for his
hat, to lift and wave it, but found no hat on his head. So he waved
his tattered sleeve instead: "Hurrah for France!" he shouted. "Hurrah for Russia! I'm Sengoun, of
the Terek!--And I am to have a thousand lances with which to explain
to the Germans my opinion of them and of their Emperor!"
The troopers cheered him from their stirrups, in spite of their
officers, who pretended to check their men.
"Vive la France! Vive la Russie!" they roared. "Forward the Terek
Cossacks!"
Sengoun turned to Ilse Dumont: "Madame," he said, "in gratitude and admiration!"--and he gracefully
saluted her hand. Then, to his comrade: "Neeland!"--seizing both the
American's hands. "Such a night and such a comrade I shall never
forget! I adore our night together; I love you as a brother. I shall
see you before I go?"
"Surely, Sengoun, my dear comrade!"
"Alors--au revoir!" He sprang into the taxicab. "To the Russian
Embassy!" he called out; and turned to the half fainting girl on the
seat beside him.
"Where do you live, my dear?" he asked very gently, taking her icy
hand in his.