Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-10-27

knife and succeeded, though with diff
Guilty, in disabling the two foremost o!
the assailants. The third, slightly hurt,
skunk bowling away; but few yards in
the year, the clamor of the remainder
of the fierce drove told how ruth
lessly the chase was maintained.
"There is but one thing to be done I!
muttered Edgar Marston, with groan,
as he cast despairing glance along the
road and noted that already two of the
gaunt pursuers were ne1rly abreast OF
the sledge; Vasilkof, as I reckon, is
but three versts from this, but before
we cover the two miles that lie between
us and safety, yonder brutes will drag
down our horses and have us at their
mercy. At any rate Annette must be
saved aud the wolves delayed"
He rose to his feet as he spoke, and
looked to right and left. Close to the
roadside on the left grew mighty
beech tree. Gould he set his back to
that tree, kill or cripple the first of the
| furious wolves, and swing himself UP
among the lower branches, out of reach
of the others, he might have yet a
chance of life, while the sledge would
gain SO much vantage ground that it
could not be easily overtaken Yes.
the desperate venture must be risked.
Hastily the young man kissed An
niette's cold cheek, and bidding her be
of good cheer, since he had devised a
stratagem that would outwit the wolves,
he struck the straining horses sharply
with the whip, and, with his hunting
knife between his teeth, took clear
leap over the low brushwood, and fell
on his hands and knees at the foot OF
the beech tree.
Edgar Edgar!' cried the agonized
girl, as vainly she expended her
strength in the effort to rein in the ter
riged horses. On the went, like the
wind, while the clamor of the exulting
wolves told that they had desisted from
the chase, to crowd around an easy
prey.
Goaded by terror, the horses flew
along the narrow road, which, forum
ately, at this part of it's course became
straighter than it had hitherto been,
and the light sledge was hurried along
as if it had been feather-weight over
the frozen snow. A whirl of confused
thoughts passed through the girls brain
as with relentless speed the sledge dart
ed on, farther aud farther from the
spot where Edgar Marston had sprung
out to confront what appeared to be in
evitable death.
IS For me !! for me p Annette MUIR
| INJURED, as, after last despairing effort
to rein In the unmanagable steeds, she
cast glance back ut the white road,
now cleaning, as the sledge emerged
from the woodland into the open coun-
try, in the first rays of the newly-risen
moon.
Of the dread pursuers she now saw
and heard nothing, but she shuddered
as the remembrance forced itself upon
her of the probable cause of the disap-
pearance of the wolves. Her lover
| could she doubt it ?-had purchased
her safety with his own blood. Their
i four-footed foes had beeH too many for
mortal valor to have prevailed in the un-
equal contest against their members.
| She was safe-safe-for now she was
among fields and cultivated lands again,
out of the gloomy forest, and there be-
fore her lay Vasilkof, the moonbeams
cleaning on the !, FURNISHED copper
domes of its churches; but she scarcely
realized the fact of her own escape, SO
busy was her fancy with the peril of
him whom she loved. $3.50
i . s The scared horses needed no. urging
to strain, every sinew in the race as,
snorting and gasping for breath, they
dashed into the wide strangling main
street of Vasilkof. - se tas 81
te 3 In the spacious market-place on the
public square of the town a crowd had
collected, In the midst of which the light
/ of a number of torches fell on glisten-
ing bayonets of steel and the bright
brass mountings of military accoutre-
ments. A column of the. flat capped
grey-coated infantry of the Russian
line was preparing to march, while a
cavalry escort encompassed two or three
carriages mounted on sledge-runners,
! and to each of which three or more
horses had been harnessed. Sundry
persons In authority, as their, civil or
military uniforms denoted, were bust
ling to and fro, some mounted and
others on foot, while the drums. rolled
and the trumpets of the Cossacks sent
their shril summons through the streets
as though to call the laggards who yet
fingered to the muster.
'sHalt, there halt, I say - called
out a sentinel roughly, as the sledge
that bore Annette swept like whirl-
wind across the market place, scatter
/ ing to right and left in dismay all who
barred its frantic course. And then
J. followed Babel of loud outcries OF
surprise, alarm and pity; and the pic
ture that was then presented to the
gazers, in the ruddy glare of the torch
light, was not one readily to be forgot
ten. In the sledge, still mechanically
grasping the reins. sat the terror strick-
en- girl, her face white and rigid, her
dark hair streaming loose, for the
furred hood of her mantle had fallen
back, and her beautiful head was un-
covered. IS
Among those who had been present
when the sledge crossed the square had
been the old Count and Countess Gal
1tzin. They had recognized their daugh-
ter's pallid face as she was hurried past,