Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-04-25
MEMPHIS TENN: WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 25 1871


and off we set, amidst bowling
wind and whirling snowhakes.
1t was not until Stanislawow was
left behind, and my wild guards
were far on the road, that / began
to reflect that, in providing for the
security Of Count Ladislas, / had
perhaps seriously compromised my
own. My strategem had succeeded.
My first captors were convinced
that it was the rich young Polish
landowner whom they had dis
patched on the dismal journey to
Siberia; and in all likelihood the
marriage next morning would take
place without interruption, and the
newly-wedded pair start for Italy,
unsuspicious Of the danger which
had threatened their happiness with
shipwreck at the very outset of life's
voyage. Could | but keep up the
deception for another twonty-four
hours, Ladislas and his bride would
be safe across the frontier.
But what would become of me.
or how would the Russian authori.
ties regard the author of their dis
comfture? True, | had been ar
rested in sheer ignorance of the
blunder which promised to be SO
profitable to my friend; but l had
fair chance Of declaring who ]
was, and had chosen wilfully, it
might be said, to mislead the i'm
perial police. | had heard-most
residents in Russia had heard
ugly stories as to what can be done
in MuScOvy, when it is no longer
needful to hide the hand of steel
with the glove of velvet. Yet |
resolved to play out my part so long
as | deemed it indispensable to the
safety Of Count Ladislas, and man
fully addressed myself to confront
the hardships of the long and ar
duous journey that lay before me.
That terrible night, and the dark
and stormy day that followed it; l
think of them yet as of some
hideous dream; Of the snow, the
cutting blasts, the toll to force a
way through the drifts, the black
pine-woods, the mounted escort,
exchanged at every second stage
for fresh Cossacks and the intensity
of the cold, which so bcnumed my
limbs that, when Minsk was reached
| could not stand, and had to be
carried into the presence of the
governor, the frozen effigy of a man.
Feebly | made my protest. l was
Hugh Forster, a British subject.
had broken no law, infringed nc
rule. l claimed my liberty, and,
after a most severe cross -examina-
ton and detention of three days,
| obtained it, but only in a quail.
fed form, being sent back under
escort, to Warsaw, and thence,
after a rigorous course of question
ing, conducted to the frontier.
Lucky for you, Mr.. Forster
said the superior officer of police,
who had kept ME in his charge as
| stepped into the rajlway carriage.
with my through ticket to London
; between my fingers, "that you arc
a British subject"
l thought so, too, but augured
: well for the safety of Count Ponia.
towski from the very fact of the
irritation which the authorize;
displayed; and, indeed, a year af-
) terward | had the pleasure of re-
ceiying the hearty thanks of my
friend and his beautiful wife on the
occasion of their visit to England
There had been, | understood,
much dismay and no small appre.
hension when l had been missing
at the marriage ceremony, but for
tunately bride and bridegroom were
out of Russia before the mistake
was discovered, and it was not diff
cult for the count, who henceforth
abjured politics, to make his peace
with the czar. | have never been
in Russia since.