XIII.

I did not see the beginning of the drama, for immediately after my return home I fell into a death-like slumber, which lasted more than fifty hours. No one could have kept about after such a spiritual storm.... When I awoke, I was so weak that only with labour could I move a few paces; my whole body trembled unceasingly.... I had absolutely no other desire but for repose.... After I had somewhat recovered, I went to sleep again until the next morning.

Now I once more felt comparatively strong, although my arms and legs still trembled. My hostess--a German woman, long ago deserted in this town--gave me an account of the atrocities perpetrated by the Tartars. As I went out, the town seemed to be dead. In the streets there still lay numerous horrible, mutilated corpses; the shops were closed; here and there houses were demolished. As far as I could learn, in =Tiflis= the Tartars had done even worse.... Here in Baku they had fired the boring-wells of the Armenians; from these the fire had spread to the rest, so that the entire petroleum industry was ruined, and 10,000 men were out of work.

All this, however, made no impression on me. A frightful relaxation and apathy had taken possession of me; I felt neither pain, nor pleasure, nor sympathy. It was the reaction following the previous hypertension of the nerves.

I cared no longer to stay here, and I resolved to return to Kiew, and later to Warsaw or to Lodz.