The conspiracy against Liberius is a failed attempt by partisans to bargain with the Whites by capturing their own commander, or killing him if capture proves impossible. Yurii Andreievich overhears the plan while hidden nearby, recognizes the danger it poses, and tries to intervene; the plot is ultimately exposed and its participants arrested. The episode turns the disorder within the camp into a struggle over loyalty, survival, and the authority of a commander whose discipline has made him hated by some of his own men.

Discovery in Hiding

Yurii Andreievich has been resting in concealment when a nearby, muffled conversation wakes him. He has not been noticed, and he understands that even a small movement could betray his presence and put his life at risk. Remaining still, he listens closely enough to recognize that the speakers are discussing a secret and illicit plan, though he cannot hear every exchange.

Several voices belong to familiar camp followers: Goshka Riabikh, Sanka Pafnutkin, Koska Nekhvalenykh, and Terentii Galuzin. Zakhar Gorazdykh is also present. He has been involved in the affair of brewing vodka, but is not then being prosecuted because he has denounced other offenders. The unexpected participant is Sivobluy, a bodyguard from the elite Silver Company, whose closeness to the commander has earned him the nickname “The Hetman's Ear.” His presence makes the conspiracy appear to reach beyond the camp’s habitual troublemakers.

Bargaining with the Enemy

The plotters are negotiating with delegates from the enemy’s forward positions. The delegates speak so quietly that Yurii Andreievich cannot make out their words; he infers their participation from the pauses in the whispers. Zakhar Gorazdykh does most of the audible talking and appears to be directing the meeting.

Gorazdykh describes the partisans as trapped and needing to earn a pardon. The Whites, he says, want Liberius alive, and he presents the arrival of their commander as an opportunity to carry out the plan. When the others correct his confused name for the man, Gorazdykh does not catch the correction. The exchange conveys both the conspirators’ desperation and the rough, disorderly character of their preparations.

Gorazdykh’s proposed method is to lure Liberius to a ford that night, where the conspirators can fall on him together. The enemy delegates want him taken alive and tied up, but Gorazdykh also declares that he will kill Liberius himself if the capture fails. The plan thus contains two possible outcomes—surrender to the Whites or death—while the enemy’s representatives are meant to assist in its execution.

Motive and Intended Intervention

Gorazdykh portrays Liberius as a hypocritical obstacle to the men’s way of life. He mocks the commander’s strictures against swearing, drunkenness, and relations with women, and claims that Liberius would turn the partisans into monks. This is the rationale Gorazdykh offers for removing him: a mix of resentment toward his rules and the promise of a pardon from the enemy. The account does not establish that every conspirator shares precisely the same motive, but it shows the commander’s discipline as a point of conflict within the camp.

Yurii Andreievich identifies the target of the plot and reacts with horror and indignation. His alarm is sharpened by the fact that he has often wished his tormentor dead himself; recognizing the conspiracy nevertheless makes him seek to prevent it. He decides to return to Kamennodvorsky, report the plan without naming names, and warn Liberius. But Kamennodvorsky has already left. Only his assistant remains, watching a smoldering fire so that it will not spread, and Yurii Andreievich cannot deliver his warning to him.

Exposure and Aftermath

The planned attack does not take place. The conspiracy is already known, its details are disclosed that day, and the plotters are seized. Sivobluy’s apparent betrayal of the commander is reversed when it becomes clear that he had been acting as an agent provocateur. For Yurii Andreievich, this revelation does not relieve the episode’s ugliness: it leaves him more disgusted.

The event resolves the immediate threat to Liberius without establishing that Yurii Andreievich’s attempted warning caused the exposure. Its structure instead emphasizes how little the hidden listener can control: he discovers a plan that could cost him his life to reveal, makes a decision to intervene, finds the person he sought gone, and learns that the conspiracy has been uncovered by other means. The camp’s internal opposition to Liberius is real, but the apparent participation of his trusted bodyguard proves to have been part of the effort to expose it.