Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1885-11-12

gold, potent everywhere, Is doubly
powerful on the Muscovite side of the
Niemen River. Ii took trouble anC
care, and, what was worse. much Loss
OF time, before, by duplication anC
strategy, 1 could gain the ear of some
one who could really help me in pro
curing the rare favor of personal in
terview with the Emperor.
Importantly prevailed; day was
fixed, and i found myself admitted
into the jealousy guarded palace Of
Gatchina, and led into the presence Of
the master OF so many millions.
have but a dim recollection of my con.
versation with the autocrat, whose
lightest word could give me back the
betrothed husband that ] had lost
That knelt at the Cars feet know
well, and that l spoke with an earnest
eagerness that seemed to carry convic.
ton can believe.
Ny entreaties were not in vain.
pleaded so we'll that when I left the
Emperor l carried in my hand full
and free pardon for Count Ivan Car
lovitch. signed by the Gear. MY
brother had been waiting for me with
out, and as we drove back from the
palace TO the railway station he seemed
scarcely as elated as l had expected
him TO be.
"lt's very far to Siberia" said Paul,
shaking his head, "and even with your
strange success. Marianne. l feel un-
easy about Carlovitch, poor fellow!
just before you came out, Prince Ga
! litzian - we both remember him rs at
| tanhnH In tho RnCSian En,l.aoou
passed in and stopped to shake hands.
He is fresh from his regiment, in Xiii
va or the Caucasus, and said that he
saw Count Ivan near Orenberg with
the chain gang. in bad health, evident T.
~, and low spirits. 1t Is terrible
Journey that lies before him."
"rhe more need" said l. mastering
ali my courage and speaking as con-
iidently as could, Ito overtake and
save him. Who in this empire can
dare to withstand the Emperor's com.
mandP Only let us hasten, and all
will be well"
Russia, however, as l found, is the
land of procrastlnation and OF official
delays. The pardon had been OBJ
tanned, but IL was not until after
bribery and repeated visits that /
could procure the needful permission
to set out on such pilgrimage as that
which lay before me, and which needed
the consent of both civil and military
authorities. Much precious time was
therefore consumed, and when the
start took place and Asa was reached,
i found that, once off the railroads,
the most provoking impediments
a t.rnd thn nf N trau aInr
Now all the post horses were kept in
reserve to accommodate some general
and his staff bound for Turkestan; now
the means of transport were requisi-
toned for the transport of stores or
artillery; while floods rendered rivers
unfordable, and violent storms of
sleet and hail, in that capricious eli
mate, appeared to alternate with the
parching heat of the glaring sun.
Pauls bright, active good humor, and
my lavish expenditure, could scarcely
cope with the sluggishness of a popu-
lation unable to understand why any
one should be in q hurry, or should do
to-day what could possibly be put Off
until to. morrow. For the mere priva-
tons of such journey, the heat, the
cold, the scanty quarters, and coarse
fare at the crowded post houses, L
cared little. But / was more i'm
pressed by the gloomy view which all
with whom / conversed seemed to
take of the prospects of the captives
whom they saw only too often
marching past on the long and painful
route that led to Eastern Siberia.
"They die like lambs In a snow
storm, the delicate ones do" said one
talkative German innkeeper, between
the puffs of his pipe, ''plodding, as
they do, for five months sometimes, in
irons, footsore and ill-fed; now SILVER
ing in the blast, and now scorched by
the sun. Then, they get so little
sleep, driven. as they are, ut the bayo-
nets point by the guards, into the
stone towers that have been built at
every score or so of ver5ts, and where
there Is not even room to lie down on
the bare ground. No wonder that
those rough monuments of willow
branches nailed together, of which,
Fraulein, you must have noticed
plenty, stand dotted all along the
road across the steppes, from the Ural
range 10 Irkutsk, and each of these
marks out a convict's lonely grave"
It was sad to hear this and many
other such boding, If well meant re-
marks. made by those who knew the
country better than could do; and
have no doubt but that my brother
heard more than he cared to tell me
as to the sufferings of the prisoners,
very often innocent victims OF private
malignity or oflicia! mistake, who were
driven like wearied cattle toward the
mines IN which they were to work out
their sentence. Bribing; persuading,
commanding, using every faculty with
which nature had gifted me, pushed
on, travelling faster-as the Cossack
Positions declared than ever had
been done, save by those who had the
badges of imperial authority enforced
by the military lash. met with no
Miniature, for sweeter tempered pop
ulation can hardly exist; but laziness,
prejudice and Oriental fatalism SEEM
ed to be like barriers across the road.
It was very difficult to be quick whore
centuries of tradition had taught the
people to be slow, and that brandy
and sleep, wrapped in sheepskins be-
side the heated stove of tough yellow
bricks, comprised all human happi-
ness. / heard. however, that the car
AVIAN of captives, OF which Ivan was q
member, was yet in front Of me; and as
fast as | could followed.
How shuddered after the German
inn-keeper's speech, as / marked the
frequent erections Of boughs or strips
of willow or birch bark rudely nailed
together, that occurred at intervals!
Each of these was tombstone. saw,