'Maybe Nat Pinkerton can do that in America . . . but suppose I climb up - what then?
I'll sit up there on the roof and by that time the janitor will have called Petlyura's troops.
He's bound to give me away.
He won't forgive me for knocking his teeth in.'
And'so it was.
Through the open gateway into Fonarny Street Nikolka could hear the janitor's desperate shouts for help:
'In here!
In here!' - and the sound of horses' hoofs.
Nikolka realised that Petlyura's cavalry must have penetrated the City by a surprise move from the flank, and by now they were as far as Fonarny Street.
That's why Nai-Turs had shouted his warning . . . There was no going back along Fonarny Street now.
All this flashed through his mind before he found himself, he knew not how, on top of the pile of firewood alongside a lean-to built against the wall of the neighbouring house.
The ice-covered logs wobbled under his tread as Nikolka scrambled, fell down, tore his breeches, finally reached the top of the wall, looked over it and saw exactly the same kind of courtyard as the one he was in.
It was so alike that he even expected to see another red-bearded janitor leap out at him in a sheepskin jerkin.
But none did.
Feeling a terrible wrench in the region of his stomach and kidneys, Nikolka dropped to the ground and at that very moment his revolver jerked in his hand and fired a deafening shot.
After a moment's amazement Nikolka said to himself:
'Of course, the safety catch was on and the shock of my fall released it.
I'm in luck.'
Hell.
The gate on to Razezhaya Street was shut here too, and locked.
That meant climbing over the wall again, but alas there was no convenient pile of firewood in this courtyard.
He climbed on to a heap of broken bricks and, like a fly on a wall, started clambering up by sticking the toes of his boots into cracks so small that under normal circumstances a kopeck piece would not have fitted into them.
With torn nails and bleeding fingers he clawed his way up the wall.
As he lay atop it on his stomach he heard the janitor's voice and the deafening crack of a rifle-shot from the first courtyard. In this, the third courtyard, he caught a glimpse of a woman's face distorted with fear, which for a moment stared at him from a second-floor window and then immediately disappeared.
Dropping down from the wall he chose a better spot to fall, landing in a snowdrift, but even so the shock jolted his spine and a searing pain shot through his skull.
With his head buzzing and spots dancing before his eyes Nikolka picked himself up and made for the gate.
Oh joy!
Although the gate was locked it presented no problem, being made of wrought iron open-work.
Like a fireman Nikolka climbed up to the top, slid over, dropped down and found himself on Razezhaya Street.
It was utterly deserted.
'Fifteen seconds' rest to get my breath back, no more, otherwise my heart will crack up', thought Nikolka, gulping down air into his burning lungs.
'Oh yes . . . my papers . . .'
From his tunic pocket Nikolka pulled out a handful of grubby certificates and identity documents and tore them up, scattering the shreds like snowflakes.
Behind him, from the direction of the crossroads where he had left Nai-Turs, he heard a burst of machine-gun fire, echoed by more machine-guns and rifle volleys from ahead, from the heart of the City.
This is it. fighting in the City centre. The City's captured.
Disaster.
Still panting, Nikolka brushed the snow from his clothes with both hands.
Should he throw away the revolver?
Nai-Turs' revolver?
No, never.
He might well succeed in slipping through.
After all, Petlyura's men couldn't be everywhere at once.
Taking a deep breath, and aware that his legs were noticeably weaker and less able to obey him, Nikolka ran along the deserted Razezhaya Street and safely reached the next intersection, from which two streets branched off - Lubochitskaya Street leading to Podol and Lvovskaya Street which forked away to the right and to the centre of the City.
Here he noticed a pool of blood alongside the kerbstone, an overturned cart, two abandoned rifles and a blue student's peaked cap.
Nikolka threw away his own army-issue fur hat and put on the student's cap.
It turned out to be too small and gave him the look of an untidy, raffish civilian - a high-school expellee with a limp.
Nikolka peered cautiously around the corner and up Lvovskaya Street. At the far end of it he could just make out a scattering of mounted troops with blue badges on their fur hats. Petlyura.
Some sort of a scuffle was in progress there, and stray shots were whistling through the air, so he turned and made off down Lubochitskaya Street.
Here he saw his first sign of normal human life.
A woman was running along the opposite sidewalk, her black feathered hat fallen to one side, holding a gray bag from which protruded an anguished rooster loudly squawking 'cock-a- doodle-doo', or as it seemed to Nikolka 'pet-a-luu-ra'!