The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1877-04-27

not desire to cause you any needless an
noyance. Should you refuse, your irons
must remain on until the governor Of
Minsk-"
"Minskp' repeated, half-stupified.
The junior of the two officers who had
arrested me, and who stood beside his
reeking horse, smiled.
/" 1t is the nearest fortified place which
you will pass" he said: 81 for need not
tell you, Count Ladislas, that we are
anxious to get you sale across the Bug,
and out of Poland. VIII you give your
parolew
And then flashed upon me, all at
once, the key to the enigma that had
perplexed me. / had been arrested in
place of my friend and entertainer, whom
| had suspected, rather than knew, to be
mixed up in one of those wide-spreading
conspiracies in which Poles are so often
concerned, and whose heart 1 was aware
was better than his head. AS the glare
of the torches fell upon us could even
guess the cause of the mistake, for in the
hurry of leaving the theater 1 had put
on the counts loose overcoat of rich
sables instead of my own, while in height
and figure we were alike. l had the
presence of mind to repress the indignant
protest as to my nationality which was
on my lips.
l will give my parole, since you ask
it," l said, cOncealing my face as if to
hide my emotion, and the chain which
fettered my hands was at once removed.
at will no longer, count, be necessary
that an officer should accompany you,"
said Lieut.. Imkoff, civilly. Will you
drink some brandy before starting? The
night is cold, and the stage a long one."
l shook my head, and made no artic-
ulate reply, glad as 1 should been of the
proposed dram of coarse corn brandy,
and chilled as l was by the unusual ex-
posure to the keen night wind. But l
feared to show my face, least the mistake
should be found out too soon for my
friends safety. The driver clutched the
reins, while grim Cossack corporal took
his seat beside me, in the place lately
occupied by the Warsaw police-agent.
The other troops were in their saddles.
@ Forward, there Push on, men !"
cried the lieutenant, in Russian, and off
we set. amidst bowling wind and whirl-
ing snowf1akes.
1t was not until Stanislawow was left |
behind, and / and my wild guards were |
far on the road, that began to reflect |
that, in providing for the security of |
Count Ladistas, had perhaps seriously |
my own. My strategem |
had succeeded. My first captors were |
that it was the rich young |
Polish landowner whom they had des- |
patched on the dismal journey to Siberia;
and in all likelihood the marriage next |
would take place without in
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 1 but keep up the de-
ceptiOn for another twenty-fo hours,
Ladislas and his bride would be safe
across the frontier.
But what would become of me, or how
would the Russian authorities regard the
author of their discontinue True, /
1ad been arrested in sheer ignorance of
he blunder which promised to be so
profitable to my friend; but | had a fair
chance of declaring who | was, and had
chosen wilfully, it might be said, to mis-
cad the imperial police. / had heard
most residents in Russia had heard-ugly
tories as to what can be done in Mus
,ovy, when it is no longer needful to hide
he hand of steel with the glove of
'elvet. Yet / resolved to play out my
art so long as l deemed it indispensable
o the safety of Count Ladislas, and
painfully addressed myself to confront
he hardships of the long and arduous
ourney that lay before me. ,
That terrible night, and the dark and {
tormy day that followed it; 1 think of 7
hem yet as of some hideous dream; of
he snow, the cutting blasts. the toll to t
,:ce way through the drifts, the black s
the mounted escort, ex- c
hanged at every second stage for fresh
'ossacks and the intensity of the cold, '
-hich so benumbed my limbs that. when t
Iinsk was reached / could not stand, I
nd had to be carried into the presence f
the governor, the frozen effigy of a
ian. Feebly l made my protest was v
Iugh Forster, British subject. had I
roken no law, infringed no rule / f
aimed my liberty, and. after a most /
we're cross-examination and detention t
three days, 1 obtained it, but only in t
qualified form, being sent back under
cort, to Warsaw. and thence, after a
gOrous course of questioning, con-
lcted to the frontier. '
LUCKY IOI you, MT. OrSJer, SAID Il
le superior officer of police, who had r
ept me in his charge as stepped into f
Ie railway carriage, with my through s
cket to London between my fingers, +
that you are British subject" n
l thought so, too, but augured we'll \
r the safety of Count Poniatowski <
ON the very fact of the irritation r
hich the authorities displayed; and a
deed, year afterwards had the
easure of receiving the hearty thanks q,
my friend and his beautiful wife on
e occa ion of their visit to England
here had been, understood, much
smay and no small apprehensions when =,
had been missing at the marriage cere- -
ony, but fortunately bride and BRIDE
DOM were out of Russia before tie mis- q
ke was discovered, and it was not diff F
1t for the count, who henceforth alb F
red politics, to make his peace with 7
e czar. / have never been in Russia =
ice. N