The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-01-09

and be was resolved to see Basil Makaroff.
This Makarof was, / found, the OGrddink
to whom Feodor attributed his troubles,
and it seemed to me that this particular
hankering to see this person meant crav.
ing to have his revenge; &c, confess that
to detain my friend Feodor longer than
was necessary. was glad to give him
something more decent in the way of cloth
ing than he had brought, and a trif1e in
money to help him on his way. and to be
rid of him.
l never expected to see him again, nor
wished to do so; and l was somewhat
startled when few weeks later, among a
gang of convicts which were being
marched out of the town on their way
eastward, / recognized Stepanoyitch. /
was standing close by when he passed,
and was 50 much surprised to see him that
somewhat imprudently. perhaps, spoke
to him by name: But. will you believe it!
the ungratefel dog stared me in the face,
and marched sullenly by without word or
sign of recognition. $50 much" thought
1, "for gratitudew
Some months later, when the next sum.
mer was getting well advanced, we had
one night an alarm Of fire. Many of the
newer mills at Ekaterinburg are Of stone,
but the main building of ours, being COM
paratively old, was of wood. 1t was a
thing to blaze up like a box OF matches. 1t
was not, however, in the main building
that the fire had broken out, but in some
sheds connected with the main buildings
by range of shopping. This last was
stoneb built, but, as i'll luck would have it,
covered with wooden shingles.
A good many people were soon got to-
gether, mostly our own hands, and
directed and encouraged them as well as l
could to get the fire under. But they were
q stolid, heavy set Of fellows, those Rus
SLAMS, and the way in which they take care
not to over-exert themselves at a fire is
enough to drive an Englishman wild. Yet
there were some few who worked well, and
one fellow in particular. ! noticed q rag
ged fellow, beggar took him to be, who
really worked splendidly, and in a way
that ought to have made many of those
whose daily bread depended on the exist
ance Of the mill ashamed of themselves.
What between the apathy OF those lazy
| scoundrels generally and want of water,
| it was soon plain that the sheds which
were on fire could not be saved, and that
what we had to look to was the mill itself.
| The danger Of the main building was in-
| creasing every moment, for the fire was
beginning to make its way along the shin.
| gled roof Of which spoke.
could see what had to be done-those
shingles had to be stripped off. had a
ladder reared against the building, and
| called for volunteers to mount it. The
| height of that roof from the ground was
| considerable, and the fire was every mo-
| ment getting more and more hold upon it.
To strip off the shingles would be hard
job and hot one, and it is not to be de-
MED, q dangerous one. Not one OF those
| cold FLOODED rascals who had eaten our
bread for years would come forward.
! stood at the foot of the ladder, and told
| them was going myself. offered twenty
roubles-fifty roubles-to any man who
would help me. But it was of no use.
Just when was about to mount alone.
the ragged stranger.feliow, whom l had
before observed working so vigorously,
| came running up. He had been too busy
| in another place to know what was going
| forward sooner. That was scarcely a
| time for taking any particular notice of
| peoples looks, yet I had an impression
that he was not altogether q stranger to
me.
He looked mp to the roof. The delay OF
those few minutes had given fearful adj
| vantage to the fire. "There is death up
there" he said; sis saving this mill 90
gerry important to your"
ut it is burned am begghr. Every
| kopeck / am worth is in it. a hundred
| roubles il you will help me save It'll"
1--WE can talk of the reward afterward,n
ladder like cat.
| Twas following. too eagerly. perhaps, to
be careful, and l am a heavy man.
round broke, and down came, with knee
| 80 much twisted that ] could scarcely
stand. 1t was no longer in my power to
| climb to the roof.
But from where propped myself against
q wall, could see that ragged fellow, who
was up and doing enough for three or four
| ordinary men. You should have seen how
| he sent the shingles rafting down. Seen
| from below, he seemed at times to be work.
! ing with fire all around him, but he went
| on without minding it. never saw an
| Englishman-let alone a Russian-go to it
with q better will. / heard the people
round me say that he worked more like a
| fiend than q mortal man-and SO he did.
He handled the burning wood as though
his fingers had been iron instead. of flesh
| and bone, and scarcely seemed to shrink
| from the flames that blazed up round bis
| face. He never appeared to rest or stay
for breath until he had succeeded in cut
ting OF the communication between the
| fire and the mill.
made the men below set the ladder rs
handily as they could for him to get down,
and he did his best to reach it, But he
must have been quite used up, besides
being pretty much blinded and suffocated
with the smoke. Anyway, be lost his
footing. and down he went through the
| rafters, and crashed among the burning
rubbish below. It was an ugly fall.
We got him out as well as we could; and
snch q scorched, smoke blackened,
smashed-up copy of Gods image should
never wish to see again. But he was still
alive, and to the proposal to carry him
straight to the hospital, said, mo; take
him into my house, So they took him in.
After we had got the fire quite under,
and made all safe about the mill, limped
| to the side of the bed where they had laid
the poor fellow. He had come round bit
by that time. He tried to open his eyes,
but it seemed to me that the fire and smoke
had not left him much power of seeing
with them. He spoke, however, more
distinctly than might have been expected,
and his first question was whether the mill
was safe.
told him that owing to his pluck it was
/ was surprised to find that he recognized
my voice, and still more when he named
my name. lyon do not know me-" he
said-and, indeed, it was not likely that
any one should know such a crushed and
shapeless mass of cinder as he was-"You
do not know me-Feodor Stepanovitch.
They caught me and took me back I