San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-05-08
WORD Is ueIu sacred as the wort OF Uod mm-

WORD Is ueIU sacred a. the wort or GOd hm-
self
And the snow creeps on steaIthlIy, wrap
ping everything around in white and weav-
ing many a shrOud and winding sheet. The
whole valley is Steeped in a dense white
mist, and the icicleS hang thickly clustered
along the black rock walls, where never a
raw of sunshine can penetrate "a melt them
away. At night the wolf growing holder,
looks down from the heights at the sleeping
army, with his eyes full of green and greedy
fire; and the birds Of prey hover overhead
and weary not of waiting, for they are pa
sent as they are cruel, and they know that
their time must come at last.
The army itself has sunk into Winter
tOrpor. A general gloom pcryades the camp.
There is no more singing and dancing, no
more feasting OF rejoicing. Moody and Shiv-
ering the men crouch together, watching
with apathetic eye the fate Of those who
daily fall liieleSS beside them, struck to the
heart by the Winters icy pOniard.
Then at last come the scouts, and report
that large horde of Iartars have been dis
tinguished lowering on the HORIZON. New
life is ditluSed into Responding ranks; the
prospect of an encounter warns each heart
and cheers each spirit; for in warfare moth
ing is so hard TO bear as suspense and mac
ton, and the bravest men that do not quail
before Tire or steel lose courage ii Obliged to
await their fate with folded arms.
At the head of his troops the AttHman adj
vanceS into the plain and ranges them for
battle, hut the willy enemy keeps out of
reach, aud evades an encounter with the
KOsaks, who are obliged at nighttall to return
to the valley without having fired a shot or
crossed a sword.
The snow is falling fast as they regain the
camp, and all night long it comes down 81
lently in large white flakes, blOtting out all
marks on the landscapes, and filling up each
footprint of man or beast with soft white fur,
till at daybreak, when the KoSaks again adj
vance to seek the foe, an mbrOken white
surface lies before them.
Thus they proceed through the silent val
ley, seeing not hundred PAGES before them
for the dense white mist which the torpid
Winter sun has not had the strength To dis
pclsc. They can see nau|ht but gray point
ed rocks on all sidc5 Of them gray rocks 10
the front, to the right and to the left of them,
all looming at them COidly through the fOg.
But now the gray rocks in front seem to as
sumo other shapes; they grow at once more
distinct and more fantastic in appearance.
No longer mere rocks, they look like phan-
toms; no longer mere phantOmS, they look
like men-like TartarS!
1t is but too true; the vast hOrdrS are rang
ed in Semicircle awaiting them. and be-
hind these are TartlrS alSO-TartalS every
where closing round them!
The white pennOn denOting the presence
of the Khan is flying overhead, and the shrill
note of the tabalSzana Ga musical inStrlment)
reSOunds from the rocks, while a hailStOrm
of poisoned arrows comes pouring in on the
KOSakS
They adjust their guns and prepare to
make a desperate resistance. Fifty times
are they forced back, but fifty times do they
advance again. Inch by inch do they fight
their way TO the entrance of the valley, and
at last they reissue from it, victorious indeed,
but with the loss of five thousand brave men.
They leave the cursed valley heaped with
the bodies of the slain, both men and horses,
a terrible and hideOus sight Here lie the
KOSak and the Tartar, clutching each other
in the last death struggle: there a grinnng
head has rolled away from its trunk; dying
horses neigh pteOusy as the rabid Vulture
bears down upon them. and everywhere the
snow has disappeared. melted away by the
warm blood and the smoking cOrpseS