The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-03-16


man came closer and placed his hand !
upon my shoulder.
:" Iistenl 1t is hard, it is dangerous.
CAPTURE means death Here is mon ey.
You must flee instantly the work Is
done
81 must flee Instantly And my
wife?'
81 will care for her until you re-
turn
"In single breath my brain cleared,
the dead cloud that for two days had
shadOwed it passed, and knew the man
that had worked my ruin. | was to be-
come an outlaw, in order that my wife
might be the spoil of this monster.
what power it was that held my
hands knew not. The rage in my heart,
the frenzy to seize the accursed one at
my side and tear his throat out all but
OverpOwered me, and it was only by
superhuman effort of the Will that L re-
mained silent.
"'The deed must be tomorrow con-
tinued LOdiski, and the only place
where you can find JelikOff alone is in
the bell-tOweT. Thither he goes each
evening before the curfew rings, to
watch the change of guards upon the
opposite river bank. You can conceal
yourself there, and strike him down. 1t
will be hours before he is missed, and
you have time for flight
81 bowed my head. / dared not trust
my tongue. 1t might be that | should
strike too soon. Deep within my heart
the determination to kill was well fixed!
but, unknown to my chief, the victim
had been changed.
"I will join you at the foot Of the
tower after curfew. See to it that it is
after-the endw LOdiski concluded.
'Aly blood leaped.
"'It is well,'I replied; and he left
me.
"That night | told my wife all, and
her love stood the test. Ere morning
dawned, under the escort of a faithful
servant, she was at the VOlga Dernstam
"a landing ten miles away; and when
the early sun kissed the reaches of level
land about our town, it found her upon
the deck of a river steamer, bound for
Astrachan.
"All day long l gathered my little
store of goods, and late in the afternoon
sold them for gold to afriend-a Nlhlllst
like myself--whO secretly conveyed them
to his home. Then, as the light waned
and it drew toward night, thoroughly
disguised and arme with pair of pis-
tolls and my dagger, l skirted the town,
and came at last to the lonely watch
tower where hung the great bell that
rang the curfew. Ere the ringer had
entered the tower from his supper,
was secreted in the loft near the win
dow.
"It was not my intent to kill JelikOff.
If he came could confess all, and de-
scend and weak my Yengence upon LODI
iSki below, and flee the country; or If he
came not the end would be the same.
Still bound by my oath, and envirOned
by thousand spies, | dared not flee un-
til night. And LOdiski must die.
"AlOne in the grim tower | waited,
nd ha hD 70 Ia IN A
damp wind of the steppes swept mourn
fully in and kissed my hot cheek. The
moments passed!
Suddenly nameleSs dread fell upon
me. Instinctiyely | felt the presence of
some new and near danger, end sense |
Of doom came over me, as If | listened to |
the words of the Judge who recited the |
cOndemning proofs of my falseness to |
our order. If | did not kill JelikOtf, and |
failed to find LOdiski, must die.
"QuiYeTing with this new terror, l
glanced suspiciOusly about me-intO the
deep shadows of the corners, behind the
great beams, alOft among the bats nests,
and at last beneath the mighty bell
hanging silent at my side.
"And there, lying prone upon a cross
beam directly under the great iron dome,
so close that the first swing of the pond
erOus metal would crush him, lay LODI
diski, his evil eyes fastened upon mel
He had come as spy, to know if | did
we'll my duty-that he might denOunce
me publicly as a murderer if did it, or
condemn me privately to death If L did
it not.
even as l saw him heard the step of
the Colonel on the stair, and his word to
the waiting bellman below.
"Carl. will detain you but moment.
When descend you may ring.
''MV heart ceased to heat JelikOff as
cended. | stood at his back.
"'One! two! thTee four! five! six!
sevenr
1T was the village clock. JelikOff
tnrned to descend. shrunk into the
shadow behind him. LOdiski's eyes
blaZed with baleful fire.
"JelikOff went down the stair.
''FOOl! slave! cOwardp hissed my chief,
half rising upon his hands and knees.
You die
There came creaking sound, the
great WOO len wheel above turned upon
its axis, the bats flew snaTling about,
and then the mighty bell, swinging
slowly, gained in momentum, and swept
in long arch upward. =
'LOdiski uttered single cry as the
tremendous mass poised above him. and
would have dragged himself out of its
reach, but with sudden fury l stretched
my arm like bar of steel, caught his
hair and forced him back upon the beam
and then the great bell fell as falls
the knife of the guillOtine, crushing in
to hideOus mass the body of the spy,
while its heavy knell rang with guTg-
ling shiVer far out across the barren
land, and little stream of blood, warm
and red, ran slowly down the beam and
dyed the lips and tongue of the iron
monster as he swung.
"The curfew was sounding, and l was
saved!
"Three hours later, in the silence of
the night, escaped the tower and fled.
For twentyfour hours Lodiski's death
was undiscovered, and before the truth
was known l was with my wife upon the
Caspian Sea, far out of the reach of the
| Nihilists.
81 have never seen Russia since.'