The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-30


duce would only be to confirm or awaken a /
Russians natural suspicion of strangers pur- |
pose in a land of their recent rule. So |
merely asked for my alternative; would they |
advise me to abandon my project, after so
much fatigue, at the moment of its anticipated |
realization2 "Well," said the one who was
evidently their chief, although his uniform
bore no signs Of it, eff your object is the |
singular one of visiting our cantOnments
and the mountain, you will find as
hearty welcome among us as If you were
armed with the authority of the Car him
self, instead of arriving as unrecommended
strangers" On this, bidding young officer
accompany as, and to see, in the mean time,
that hOIses were prepared to carry us as far as
practicable, up the mountain, he requested us
to alight, and, eXcusing his own personal at
tendance, assured us that, under the subal-
terms guidance, the whole station was open
to inspection, although" +" he said 81 fear, as
it is remote from the capital, and of little i'm
pOrtance your expectations will be dis
appointed. However, as that is one of the two
motives for your honorng us with visit
it is my duty to aid in its qualification.
With such plausible words, bowling and
smiling, he relieved himself of our presence.
The young subaltern was chary enough of
his replies to our questions, and determined
that through him we should be nothing
the wiser for our visit. He had only
recently joined from Moscow, and so knew
as little Of the place as a clod of the valley.
In fulflment Of his duty he led us to a large
gloomy looking messroom, and then to the
adjutant's office, where under promise to
rejoin us Isl chasse, 81 chasse,' he left us,
pTofessedly to see after our horses His ISL
chasse" however, became such a weary hour,
that l began to appTehend we were prisoners
condemned to solitary confinement. Happily
the door yielded to my hand and so l escaped
into the open air. / entered one block of
1,,i1 Audi
but common soldiers, who knew nothing, and
so could tell nothing.
l lighted at last by the meTest accident upon
the plausible chief He was as bland as ever
with honeyed words, in spite of my clouded
brow. / reminded him that the hours were
passing away without our realizing his pro-
mise. He looked surprised, and requested me
to explain myself. "Where are the horses"
l asked, "which three hours ago were to be
here instantly p ''Pardon me-" he re-
piled, ''yOu do not seem to be aware that,
as our settlement is small, and rarely visited,
ard the season for camp exercises closed,
our horses are all now turned adrift for
pasture. And then, as these are not of
high-bred English mettle, but are mere
mountain colts, you can easily suppose they
will make wide range in grazing, and will
need much time and many men for the
battue." "But surely" said, ''you can find
us two horses without all this ado f' He was
not certain of that. The commonest station
master throughout the Russias was compelled
to keep a certain number of horses always in
reserve. How much more necessary was this
at a military outpost But seemed to forget
that the question is not of two, but twenty
two. "Twenty-two ~ ! exclaimed, laughing
right out. "Why you would multiply our
two simple selves into as many individuals as
are contained in Spanish grandees title"
son." he replied, 1--WE must provide not for
you only, but also for your guard" "What
guard ?" l asked. "We want no guard
to the mountain side, every inch of which
is commanded by your quarters" ooh
pardon me-" he said: ''you are not so
informed Of this locality as l am. Before
reaching the ascent you would have to ride
through thick jungle, where you would
be sure to be picked off by some scoundrel
scout, unseen, without our being able to rem
der you the slightest assistance. We have no
security here but in strong pickets Even our
night sentinels are often relieved OF life before
they are relieved from duty. Rest quietly
here for tonight" he went on, "and start
fresh with the early morning. My orderly
here will show you room, and supply your
wants from our humble mess, if you do not
choose to join our table. In this out-of-the-
way place we have none of the luxuries of bed
and board-little, in fact beyond welcome. !"
As we had fed empty y-handed from the passage
of the Araxes, our inner man by this time was
in the exhaustion of famine.
Taking counsel, therefore, of our crcum-
stances, we determined to abandon the noun
tain and return to our vehicle before evening
reduced us to further ungraciOus courtesy at
the hands of these ungracOus strangers. We
lost much time in recovering our steeds and
our escort, and when these finally appeared
we saw at glance that the welcome of the
stall had been as liberal as that of the table.
Wherever we moved, every one shrunk from
our approach as though we were tainted with
the plague, and when we finally mounted to
depart no officer appeared to receive our
thanks for rare hospitality, or wish us the
glackliche ReiSe, which is the travellers right
even in barbarous lands. We rode out from
the camp, shaking its dust from our feet, as of
a city doomed to the pilgrims curse.
When we reached the station, the old Cere-
bus was waiting to receive us with the kindly
welcome of the Somavah. My spirit, chas-
tened by the SOLDERING whisper of the night,
left me poWerless for rebuke. Ihad not the
heart to chide him for his misleading counsel
of the morning. And, perhaps, after all he
was himself deceived. Hard thoughts had
brooded in my breast against him, as | rode
back disappointed from the camp. He
must, said to myself ''have known of the
non-existence of the pontoon-of the diff
Guilty of the passage--of the absence of the
Colonel from the camp, and of the consequent
reception we should experience" Nay, had
gone so far as to suppose he had assisted to it.
And So en- reUdnche, he'd mentally resolved to
show up his delinquencies in the right way,
in the right place. Now, however, better
thoughts ruled me-thOughts Of love and