The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-02-02

w W Noo ~ ototOAkClCSy uio L Wao IL
clined to believe him. otis sheer non
sense" I said, ''for you to talk of setting
off for n walk of a thousand vcrsts, if 1
let you go. You might as well talk of
flying. You have not the strength to
walk ten. You would only fall by the
roac side, you miserable scare-crow, and
die in the ditch. l should be doing the
kinder thing by you if 1 handed you
over to the authorities. If l do let you
go, l must give you something to eat
first. Come with me-"
The miserable wretch hardly believed
that l really meant to feed him, and
would have u away had he dared. 1
took him into the empty house, of which
l had the key, and fetched him as much
food as l thought it safe for HIM to cat.
So there l was with an escaped con-
vict on my hands. Had l been more
prudent / should have reflected that the
fellow was most likely Il hardened
scoundrel, quite undcserving of pity,
and that his gratitude would probably
be shown either by robbing me, or if he
should happen to fall into the hands of
the police, by getting me into trouble to
save his own worthless neck. l ought
to have thought of these things; but, as
l said before, l an a soft-hearted old
fool, and neglected to do so.
l kept him in that empty house for
several days; in fact, till he had so far
recovered his strength as to be fit to go
on. Nobody knew about him, not even
the members OF my own family, for if l
was doing a foolish thing, | had sense
enough to run as little risk over it as
possible. Fcodor Stcpanovitch, for that
my convict told me was his name, en-
lightened me on some few points of his
personal history. His native village
was, he said, in the government of Via
dinner, and he had left it to get work in
the village of I~vanova, where there are
factories. Every man tries to make out
n good case for himself, so I did not
feel myself bound to place implicit re-
lance OH Fcodor's statement that he had
committed anything that could
properly be called a crime. According
to his showing, the sole source Of his
troubles had been u difference with an
ouUadnik-a police agent. l do not cx-
actiy remember the particulars. but, of
course, there was a woman in the bust
ness; blows had passed, and the oura-
mix had, by Il false charge, procured
Feeders condemnation to Siberia for
life. This, l say, was his story.
Fcodor told me that his place of exile
had been somewhere far up the country;
and of the seventies he had had to en-.
dure, and of the tyranny of officials, he
spoke bitterly. After making his cs-
cape, the prlvations and dangers he had
undergone before rcachihg Ekaterin-
burg were such as I should not have be-
licved from his words, had they not
been verified by his appearance.
For a Russian, he appeared to me to
be n not unlntclligent fellow, and l
pointed out to him the difficulties he
would find in making his way to Ivan
ova-a distance of not less than twelve
hundred vcrsts from Ekntcrinburg, as
the crow flies; and advised him, rs he
was used to mill-work. to stay and find
employment where he was. l was weak
enough to offer to help him, and see
what could be done in the way of get
ting a passport for him. But the fellow
was bent on going forward. He was re-
solved, he said, to see his family again,
and he was resolved to see Basil Maka-
rolf. This Makaroff was, 1 found, the
ouU0nik to whom Feodor attributed his
troubles, and it seemed to me that this
particular laundering to see this person
meant n craving to have his revenge. l
confess that when l had learned this
much, | felt no desire to detain my
friend Fcodor longer than was necessary.
was glad to give him something more
decent in the way of clothing than he
had brought, and q trile in money to
help him on his way, and to be rid of
him.
never expected to sec him again, nor
wished to do so; and I was somewhat
startled when a few weeks later, among
u gang of convicts which were being
marched by a guard of soldiers out of
the town on their way eastward, I rccog-
nized St%cphanovitch. I was standing
close by when he passed, and was so
much surprised to see him that I some
what imprudently, perhaps, spoke to
him by name. But, will you believe it2
the ungrateful dog stared me in the
face, and marched silently by without
word or sign of recognition.
$50 much" thought l, "for graft
tude
Some months later, when the next
summer was getting well advanced, we
had one night an alarm of fire. Many of
the newer mills at Ek%aterinburg are of
stone, but the main building of ours,
being comparatively 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 building by a range of shop
ping. This last was stone-built, but rs
ill-luck would have it, was covered with
wooden shingles.
A good many people were soon got
fOOpthnr mO2tIV orr own honHo onH 7
directed and encouraged them as we'll as
l could to get the fire under. But they
were a stolid, heavy set of fellows, those
Russians, and the way in which they
take care not to ov~er-exert themselves at
a &ra 10 nnn11uh 70 driun On b. .lsol.ao