The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-10-05
THE NEW ORLEANS DEMOCRAT, SUNDAY oc1oBER s. 1879

lest The miserable state Of the road, how,
ever, the inpsnetrable darkness which seemed
to swallow me up, the bouRhs and tnorns
which dashed and tore my face-all this or.
crested my proGress and ut least u quarter pf
nh hour had passed before / succeeded ia
reaching the spot whence supposed the
scream to have proceeded.
All there was still and solitary and dark MS
death. Even Goyrilytch had disappeared, be-
ing unable to follow me In my headlong run.
The night had regained that oppressive, sol
emn catm which had for moment been dis
turbed Not living being g. ened TO be In
tho forest. The river flowed black, still ana
deep ut my feet. stood motionless and list
enad, holding nay breath. Not sound; no
sign Of life.
Whereto had a,l the women disappeared I
Had oil this horrible procession been dream,
or were the wotaen really witches, and had
the earth swallowed them mp opened my
blind lantern. No, ii had not been dream
On The spot on which stood tho ground had
evidently been freshly t1odden BY g great
number Of feet, md few boughs Of fir trees
were singed by TIE torches passing under
neath them. Guided by my lantern, Gavri-
| lytch appeared In tho circle oil light shed by
"Wal, BURN" he asked, "haye you found
sornethiug2'
| Nothing Mt all."
LOOK here, hto continued, pointing 70 n
spot sonle distance on beneath the trees;
there they have left tbslr pillow. They must
X.
witches, or else they would not have He'd 50
quickly"
After searching once more In vain all
around the place for soEae token OF what had
happened, we went home. That was unable
to sleep that hight need hardly be mentioned.
Soon after dawn went to the village to re-
lieye the doctor. There had been no new cases
during the night, SO that ne enjoyed godd
rest. / told him HI about the events 81 the
night. He was visibly struck by my descrlp-
tion of the ceremony had witnessed, but rid
iculed my fears concerning what had hap
peued In the wood.
"You know, my dear follow" he exclaimed,
"yoti must feel nervous this morning after ill
these horrors. Go home aud lie down. am
as Ssh us 81 rose. mud can very well manage
onr palients alone for once. with the help OF
our admirable Sister Of Charity, Mashka'
at first protested, but feeling really far
from well, ultimately obeysd md went to
bed. ] had just fallen into n refreshing sluln--
Der when the voice Of the doctor awakened
me. When J. opened my eyes he came up TO
the bedside
Excuse me for disturbing YOU" he said
but all this seems 80 very strange. Tel nae,
have you seen Mashka tonight among al
these women2'
Nor ! answered Indignantly, show can
you think Of such q thingW
well the fact Ia she has disappeared She
has not been home the whole night, and no.
body has seen her since last evening"
"DoctorP | exclaimed. that scream we
HehIu III tiie loIFSb. LII WIS sile, LleIe Gall ~
no doubt of it,
LET us hope for the best" the doctor an
swcred In an earnest voice.
During tho day we had all the nelghborhood
soarcheI. but In vain. Mashka WAS not to be
found. Ws attempted cautiously to make
some inquiries In the village about the events
of the night, but equally without any result.
/ asked Of the bnlitf whose pillow 1t was had
seen standing In the wood He had o ready
answer ut hand. The plow belonged to Nikitu
Matveleff, who had left IL in the wood because
1t was nearer to his field.
Thus day after day passed without bringing
the slightest intelligence Of the missing
woman, and, strange to say, since that very
night the epidemic seemed to lose its perni-
eious character, and three weeks later 1t dis
appeared entirely.
About tho same time report came from the
district town that dead body had been
washed to the bank OF the river by this cur
rent. 1t was the body of a woman in an adj
vanced state Of decomposition An inquest
had been h,lrredy held, and the unknown
corpse buried as quickly as possible
In the village of Dubrovo the old men and
women put their heads together Of an evening
md whisper to one another that Gods mercy
was again with them, since the village had
been purified OF the presence OF Its only sinful
woman~-[ Now York Sun.