Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-11-13

escaped.
With the approach of summer dashing
cavalry officer, ACCOMPANIED by two body
servants, arrived in the village and staid over
for several days TO rest He vas tail, well
built, and sported an immense mustache that
looked formidable under pair of stern eyes
He was Maj Ivan Michailich Morrow, a cav
airy officer from the Caucasus, who had FIRE
guently met the wild CrcasSian tribes, and
had had his right hand disabled by a sabre
cut in an engagement He had resigned
from the army, and, after travelling for some
time, he was going to attend to his estates il
province of Smolersk He bore letters Of
Introduction from several old army friends
of Alexander Vasilovitch Sokolov, and was
at once invited to make the Sokolov man
sion his home during his sojourn The few
days which Maj Morrow expected to spend at
Semenov were prolonged TO weeks. He had
u fair education, and, though his manners
were not always very polished. this was &C
counted for by his long camp life and wild
associations i'll the Caucasus One dav he
asked for the hand of Evghenia, and. after
consultation between the parents and the
young lady, 1t was given him. The wedding
was celebrated with great pomp.
As the fall approached Maj Norov became
impatient to go home He also received IA
number of messages Urging him to return,
and his servants complained that they
were growing homesick. So several
wagons were loaded with furniture, and
the major and his happy young wife started
on their journey 10 his home After
two days travel Evghenia asked her husband
why the party kept going further into tia
depths of the forest and id rot take the road
that was most freguented by travellers, He
made some joking reply which seemed to sat
isfy her. On the third day, in the afternoon
she heard a shrill whistle coming from the
thckest part of the forest, and it was
promptly responded 10 by one of the servants
Evghenia felt ashamed to show her fear
Then another whistle, and another, to which
tine servants responded Evghenia asked her
husband what it all meant.
"Oh, nothing, nothing, he replied Don't
b. afraid. Am | not with YOU"
She looked into his face His expression
was changed Those ewes looked fierce and
cruel. She had seen them before, long ago,
but wherei Then she remembered The
next moment a dozen men sprang out of the
wood into the road and loudly cheered the
major as their ataman or chief Their num-
bers swelled to nearly thirty as desperate
looking cutthroats as ever roamed through a
h. ian forest After greeting their ataman
and their fellow-robbers who had been act
ing as his servants, the members of the band
turned their attention to Evghenia-
"Ah ha, barina, they cried tauntingly, so
we have got you at last. You would cut off
our ataman's hand, would You! You thought
YOU had marri d a ma jor and land owner
Yes, we are all majors and land owners, for
we own all this forest, and there is no one to
dispute our title. Wen give you dose of
your own medicine"
So saving one of the foremost robbers
roughly ordered her to get out of the car
riage She looked at her husband and bitterly
upbraided him.
Even if you are u robber," she said, Ere
member | am your wife. and You are the
chief and should not allow your men to i'll
suit me-
The ataman looked troubled and seemed 10
relent. but the robbers quickly caught his
meaning and shouted to him: Remember
your oath to bring this woman here TO take
vengeance on She is no more your wife
than she is ours, and if YOU interfere we will
make it worse for YOU than for her."
The atainan thought that by gaining time
lir could save his wife So ina quick, military
- -,vc the order to march home The
travellers got out of the carriage, which. with
the wagons, mysteriously disappeared in the
forest Evghenia was dragged, rather than
led, and after an hours travel the party
halted near mound which did not differ in
appearance from many other mounds that
they had passed. A skiilfully contrived
path in the mound, which was completely
concealed from view by bushes and trees, led
10 Il spurious room or cave which communi-
Gated with other and smaller apartments. A
large pile of logs burned brightly in the
center, and all around were piles OF goods,
ornaments, and provisions, while guns,
swords, daggers and axes hung against the
walls. Into this place Evghenia was dragged.
Several men of the gang bound her hands and
feet. Then the robbers sat down around the
fire and began to talk over their ad-
ventures, seasoning their stories with copious
draughts from q barrel of vodka The laugh
ter becme boisterous and the talk more san
culinary and fiercer as they recounted their
bloody deeds.
Suddenly peculiar signal was heard out
side, and all started. The signal was re-
peated, and robbers sprang to their arms.
The watchers had seen q rich caravan ap-
preaching The robbers rushed out, seem
ingly forgetting their captive.