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

| Il like YOU, am i captive here, he said.
| "They captured me as | was travelling through
| tine forest with some merchandise, and were
| going to murder me, but as begged hard for
nv life they changed their minds and de
| ciled to make NE their Waterman. But I'll
try to do whatever can for Won and help
YOU to escape Here take this knife, and cut
| the ropes that bind YOU The Old man
kicked toward her 4 knife which, with much
effort, she managed to get mold of and cut the
cords
Run for Your life, Matushka, little mother, y
| the Old man implored; do not stop; here
death is certain Run wherever you can, and
| as far as You can. You may yet escape and
| If YOU get To a place of safety pray for my
| sr,G for these robbers may yet Kill me before
| lo1~."
| Evghenil made her way out rs well as she
| could AMI ran Every mlnU,2 sine would
stumble over {. log OF stump, and now thorEs
! would tear her clothing and scratch her face
All hoiy Weary ami footsore and bleeding
,!ir kept ON and on Then sine heard faint
sounds in tie distance and the having of
,ioyi;.ounds Ncar.. .u.i nearer came the
sounds
At last she cafee up with a mouiik who was
| driving carload Of hay She told him her
/ story and begged him to take her along The
n,ouik looked grave If the robbers found
her with him they would surely kill him, lie
| said. They were the terror OF all that part of
the county "However," he added, Il can
not have you thus; I'll take the risk" Then,
hastily dsmounting he threw down a num-
Der of bales OF hay and told her TO get il and
lie down. She did so and then the moujik
| piled up the other bundles over her and, after
tying them down, he again mounted his seat,
! ii-,nt"i 4 PIPE, and drove along as though
| nothing had happened In about IN hour he
was nvcrtakcH hy half dozen rough looking
| men, who ordered him to halt He recog
Eiie;l them ms robbers and Immediately refined
"a his horses
~ here l. that woman who passed along
here. asked one of the men
"tio1 I've with YOU replied the mouiik,
feignIRg intense astonishment; this is no
piine for women. You will not find any wo-
a.en within twenty versts"
stop up Your throat" cried the first
speaker; you have got her in that hay and
Ne are going to search
The moujik thought that his last hour had
come, but did not lose his presence of mind
II YOU Btuie, buTpN lDlS nay all over
the road you will please help me to load it up
again and not let a poor man do all the work
himself. =" he said
Even the robbers smiled at the request as
tIey began pulling down the hay. Bundle
after bundle was thrown down, the moujik
calmly perched on his seat and remarking Did
not tell You that there is no woman mere"
! One large bundle covered Evghenia. and the
robbers became impatient, and called out to
the driver: Here. little father, get down
and put back YOUR hay, we have no time =
aud they hurried away
The moujlk put back the hay and drove on
l. drove slowly So Us not to reach his village
before nightfall, for he did not want any one
to know that he had brought in a fugitive
from the robbers He entered his cottage
first aud warned his family not To tell any
one Of the young lady's arrival, for he was
afraid of the revenge Of the robbers When
all was prepared he led Evghena in, and the
good housewife soon prepared her a comfort
able supper.
Thu arrangements for taking her hCme wera
soon completed In due time they arrived at
Ey@henia's native village and drove up to the
SokoIoy mansion They entered with some
wares, and after half an hour the mouIk
come uut alone. After calling at several
other houses he continued on his travels
Two months passed hut no one in the vii
iage had heard of Evghenas return, Sew
eraI strangers called and made many in
qulries about the bayar and his family, and
then Maj Norov was seen driving up to the
house. He WAS usherei Ill by Sokolov and
his wife, who asked him for news from their
daughter
oh, she is in good health and sends her
love to you, he replied, with feeling of re-
lief, for he had concluded that she had died
and that they knew nothing about her, He
added that she would have come on, too, but
thought the journey too long
He then proceede! to make himself at
home, and, after some time, knock was
heard at the door, and several gendar1nes
walked in and seized the robber chief. He
made desperate resistance, but was soon
overpowerei, and then Evghenia was led in
Then they dragged him out and put him TO
death 1t was aftcrward found that al
though the dead ataman was never a major
Vet he ha belonged to good family and
had been a lieutenant in the Caucasus He
srsS, however, a gambler and negligent in
durr For some gross violation of army
rules he had been degraded to the ranks in
the very company where he commanded
tie then deserted and ioIned band of robbers,
and after killing the ataman was elected
his successor As for the mou iik who brought
Eyghcnia home, he was presented with q
large farm. and the old Waterman in the
robbers den, he, too, was rescued, and
became Waterman in the s;okolov mansion
Adapted from New York Times
The Sc~ Reporters Idea of 1t.