Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-01-22
Faf22 N1tYLworps.


Of the torrent which kept us under
ground for more than six hours 1 am no
surprised at that. :"
THAT must be it, said Sandorf
A couple of hours passed, and ther
some salt-workers as they passed the
farm without stopping We're heard to
speak about the gendarmes they had met
at the gate of the town
What town. They gave it no name.
This was not very reassuring. II
| gendarmes We're about it was probable
that they We're securing the country in
search of the fugitlves.
But" said Bathory. considering
how we escaped, they might well believe
us dead and never think of pursuit"
They will believe we are dead when
they find our bodies, answered San
dorf
There being no doubt that the police
were afoot and III search of them, they
decided TO stay till it was night. AL
though they were tortured with hunger
they dared not leave their retreat; and
they were Wise.
About five o'clock the tramp of a small
troop of horse was heard along the road.
Sandorf, who had been out to the gate
of the enclosure, huniedly rejoined his
companion and dragged him into the
darkest corner of the cellar There they
hid themselves under heap of brush
wood and remained motiouless
Half dozen gendarmes headed by a
sergeant We're coming along the road
towards the east Would they stop at
the farm? Sandorf anxiously asked. If
they searched the place they could not
fail to find them.
They halted. The sergeant and two of
the men disnounted, while the Others
remained in the sldule and received or
ders to search the country along the
canal and then return TO the farm,
where the rest would meet then at seven
o'clock.
The four gendarmes moved off imme-
diately. The sergeant and the two others
picketed their horses and sat down to
talk. From the corner of the cellar the
fugitives could hear an that passed.
Yes, We shall go back to the town
this evening and get the orders for to-
night, said the sergeant in reply to one
of the men. The telegraph may bring
us fresh instructions from Trieste"
The town in question was not Trieste;
that was one point of which Count San
dorf made note.
Are you not afraid, said the second
gendarme, that while we are looking
about here tina! the fugitives may have
got down the Quainero Canal ?"
Yes, that is possible" said the first
gendarme. for they might think it
safer than here
of they DO, said the sergeant, they
none the less risk being found, for the
whole coast is being looked after from
one end TO the other"
Second fact worth noting. Sandorf
and his companion were on the west
coast of Istrla, that is 10 say, near the
Adriatic shore, and not on the banks of
the opposite canal which runs out at
Fiume.
II think they are having look round
the salt works at Pirano and Capo
dIstria, said the sergeant. They
might hide there easily and get on board
a vessel crossing he Adrlatic and bound
for Rimin or Venice"
They had much better have waited
patiently III their cell said one of the
gendarmes phiiosophically.
" Yes, added the other, "sooner or
later they'll b. caught If they have not
fished them MP ont Of the Buco That
would finish it, though, and we should
not have to trot about the country in
all this heat.
And who saws it hasn't finished it?"
replied the sergeant. Perhaps the
Foiba has been the executioner, and
while it is in flood, the wretched men
could not have chosen worse road out
OF the donion Of Pisino
The Foiba then wus the name OF the
river which had carried off Count San
dorf and his companion. 1t was the
fortress of Pisno TO which they had
been taken after their arrest, and there
they had been imprisoned, tried and
sent need. 1t was from its donjon they
had escaped Count Sandorf knew this
town of Pisino well. He had at last
fixed on this point which was so impor-
tant for him to know, and it would no
longer bc by chance that he would cross
the Istrian peninsula, if flight was still
possible
The conversation of the gendarmes
did not stop here; but in these few words
the fugitives had learned all they wished
to know except perhaps the name
of the town by the canal on the Adriatic
coast
Soon the sergeant got up and walked
about the enclosure, watching if his men
were returning to the farm Twice or
thrice he entered the ruined house and
looked into the rooms, rather from pro-
fessional habit than suspicion. He even
came to the door of the cellar and the
fugitives would certainly have been
discovered if the darkness had not been
so great. He even entered it, and tossed
about the brushwood in the corner
with his sclbbard but without reaching
those beneath At this moment San
dorf and Bathory passed through almost
the whole gamut of anguish. They had
resolved 90 sell their lives dearly if the |
sergeant reached them. To throw
themselves on him, profit by his sur
prise to deprive him of his arms, to at.
tack him two TO one, TO kill him or
make him kill himself, they had fully
made up their minds.
At this moment the sergeant was |
called out AND he left the cellar without |
noticing any ihing suspicious. The four
gendarmcs sent off to search had Just |
to the farm. DESPITE all they |