The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1878-07-03

| A0eoP uOHg lutIt DtlOW-IbFcISG eQ-
gines !" / called out; but scarcely had
done so before to my utter amazement
the travelling bishop drew from beneath
his purple-hemmed cassock silver
whistle, and blew a long, shrill note.
The effect of this signal-call was magical
in its rapidity, Wading waist deep in
the water, the raftworkers whom we
had taken in at Stostizta hurried to shore,
scrambled up the slippery bank, and
rushed like SO many tigers upon the
escort that guarded the prisoners. ~
"Hal traitors Gut the Williams DOWN.
thundered the Russian major, whisking
out his saber and aiming heavy stroke
at the first assailGnt who ~ ahed him;
but cudgel parried the blow, and in
less time than it takes to tell it the Off
Ger was disarmed and dragged from his
saddle. OF the nine Cossacks, eight
were dismounted and bound without
any serious resistance, but the ninth
eluded the hands that clutched a. his
bride, fred, wounding the man near
est to him, and wheeling his shaggy
steed, rode off at a gallop, pursued by a
storm of pistol-balls and curses.
"Help captain cap" gurgled in
choking accents well-known voice; and
1 looked round, to see Macgregor
vainly struggling in the grasp of three
ecclesiastical students, one of whom
held him by the throat. Another of
these interesting neophytes was pl essing
the muzzle of revolver to the forehead
of the.sacred hemlsman; while five or six
had found their way to the engine-room,
to judge by the sounds of scuffling that
proceeded from the hatchway.
"Secure him |" cried the false bishop,
pointing to me, and three young fell
lows, all well armed, and all with their
black robes disordered and revealing
the very secular garb which they wore
beneath, rushed upon me. Bewildered
as I was, the English instinct of giving
as good as I got, prompted me. One
antagonist, stunned by q well-directed
blow, dropped like an OK beneath the
pole-axe; second was tripped up, and
the pistol wrested from his grasp; but
then fash of binding FIRE glared before
my eye, and next all grew black and
hushed and quiet, and the very world
seemed to swim away from me as 1
| tainted
When regained my senses it was
night. The stars were twinkling above
us, and the wash and ripple of the river
were the first sounds which reached my
dulled ear. How my head ached | The
throbbing pains it occasioned me made
me try to lift my hands to my brow; but
could not stir. was bound and help
less, and Igroaned aloud.
els it you, Capt Burton?" said
lugubrious voice near me. "Deed, then,
but I'm glad to hear ye speak, though
it is that way, for thoch ye were
dead"
"What has happened, Mac ?" 1 asked
feebly. "Can you not help me get up
Who boarded us-pirates, Or"
"Nae pirates, captain" interrupted
the mate. "The jobs poleetical one,
nae doubt ; and Sharpe himself was
saint to you fause-tongued loon O. a
bishop, as he ca'ed himself, the ring
leader O. the gang. And as for helping
ye, laddie, how can l do it, seeing lie
here, tied neck and heels, like calf for
the shambles? Brown, and the fire
man, and the rest of the crew, are all in
irons be ow, with the matches battened
down over them. The overseer and the
raft-laborers have run off, frightened,
puir chiefs, out O. their bits O. wits,
and the major and his Cossack reivers
are about as comfortable, Captain Bur-
ton, as oursells. Our best hope is in
the coming O the police"
But alas when the police and mill
tary, in the gray dawn, came tagging
up in obedience to the summons of the
olitary Cossack who had ridden off un-
harmed, we found that from the Polish
frying-pan we had been promoted to the
Russian fire. The major, who had
passed some hours in impatient dur
ance, tied to O willow tree, with a gag
between his teeth, and cord around his
wrists, actually foamed with rage when
we were hustled into his presence.
"But for your help, English hounds,
he reiterated, "yonder rebel scum
could not have interfered with the
emperor's justice. Prisoners have been
rescued, loyal soldiers have been
bruised, disarmed, and deprived of
their horses. T myself - Here, cor
poral take the scoundrels away. They
shall suffer for the success of their
rascally accomplices.
Macgregor and Brown, being able to
walk, were sent off to Kew, each with
his right wrist chained to the stirrup-
leather of a mounted policeman, while
I, on account of the weakness caused by
a severe blow on the head inflicted with
the butt-end of pistol, was conveyed
in jolting country cart to Tchernigov,
where was duly lodged in prison.
Very bitter were my reflections as I
lay on my hard pallet-bed, watching the
scanty sunbeams that played upon the
barred window of my cell, and listening
to the shrill squeaks and pattering feet
of rats distressingly tame, that haunted
the jail. What was to dop My en-
ployers would probably supersede me
as commander of the Fair Helen. OF
Siberia I had no serious fear, but long
imprisonment might end only in expul-