The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1876-08-25

men, stamped into the half dried mud
of "A shallow watercourse, and with a
wave of his hand toward distant
wreath of blue smoke, sure sign Of 4
bivouac fire, he received from me the
glittering eagles, wrapped the gold in
a scrap of raw sheepskin, and thrast 1t
into the salt-gourd that dangled by Il
thong from his waist, and then, with
grin Of devastating, trotted of home
wards
/ had not ridden half a mile towards
the campfire before / saw approaching
me, at a numbering amble, ungainly
enough, but swift and silent. some two
score Of laden camelS, urged on by four
horsemen whose lances and the black
Tartar caps they wore suggested their
nationality as Mongolian. Two of
them, rs soon as they espied me, dash
ed at me, with loud eXecrations and
cries of Feringhee! Russky! kill
kill"
My revolver was out in moment,
and the sight of it produced some eff
feet on the wild riders, for they wheeled
off TO right and left, galloping round
me in circles, still brandishing their
spears, until third horseman spurred
forward, calling out something which
seemed as if by magic TO suspend their
murderous intentions, and then rode
quietly up 10 my side, and held out his
bony hand for me to shake.
"Brother!" be said, in a strange Jar
gen of mingled Turkish and Russian;
every good friend, Batuschkal Has
I EnrrltSh 4 Ord fnt.ornsfan ,Nnn,. Etpr,
/ / looked at the mans broad flat face,
and did indeed recognize Tartar of
the name above mentioned, whom
had, year before, bought of, at an
expenditure of some shillings sterling,
from a COssack patrol about to hang
him on dwarf oak for being captured,
red-handed, as a sheepstealer. He had
since then work, d for us, as porter,
for some months in kiachta, but the
vagrant instinct was too strong in Sing
81, and he had to throw up his employ
ment and fled TO the steppe.
The other three Tartars became ami
cable enough when they found that
their companion hailed me a. friend,
and gathered from the rascals' talk
that they had been acting as guides 10
the Cherinsk caravan, and had seized
an opportunity of making off with forty
camels and their loads, with which, as
| made out. they intended TO join their
cousins the robber Mongols All this
Sing-Si, whose moral fibre was of the
cOarsest, related rs an excellent Joke
but when he learned that | was on my
way to join those whom he had Just de-
serted, his countenance assumed
graver expression.
"Hark We, English Lord" he said,
cautiously, as the others began 10 goad
on their camels with blows and ance-
pricks, ''we Of the steppe love a friend
as we hate foe. Sing-Si does not want
his former protector 10 leave his bones
to bleach on the plains, with those of
yonder unblessed ones" and he shook
his fist al the far-off smoke; "and sure
rs death their shroud % spinning fast. p"
"What do you mean?' l asked anx-
iously.
II mean," Kissed out Sing-Si, put
ting his ugly face close to mine, ''that
We Of the old Tartar stock have no
cause TO be fond of the Muskov, and a
pretty trick we have played them. Hist
did YOU never hear Of the snow-hood?"
/ had, in the course of my residence
in Siberia, heard vague stOyes Of such
phenomenon of the far northern
steppes, and | nodded, waiting to hear
more.
"The Russians will feel IL sOon."
chuckled Sing-Si; "the blind moles
Already the wind is from the north,
already the threads of the Fatal Spin
ners span the sky, and we have led them
where there are no mountains to break
the fury Of the blast; no barrier 10 check
the rush of the white wave that shall
overwhelm man and beast. Away,
Englishman, whip and spur, as v u
love your life, for even here you are not
safe, and ride to the left, mark me,
westwards, to the shelter Of the hills.
As for me, 60"
And, squirting his rough pony, off he
clattcred in pursuit Of his party. Irode
at a brisk hand-gallop towards the
campfire. The snow flood There
crowded on my mind all the tales that |
had ever heard, of caravans, OF solitary
hunters, or of attachments Of troops,
overtaken by the resistless drift on those
illimitable plains, where not tree. not
hillock, existed to stem the violence
of the wind. And As | sped on, felt
convinced that Sing-Si's warning was a
true one.
On reaching the encampment found
m predictions of impending evil re-
ceived very much as were those of Cas-
sandra in old Troy. Count Annenkof,
vain young officer of supreme scorn
for civilians and foreigners, ridiculed
my advice, and declined to regard my
informant Sing-Si as any thing but a
scoundrel who had absconded with a
portion of the harVaVe