The Osceola times., 1888-04-14

skobeleff, having fired bullet through o
mirror at an aristocratic party, had been de-
pryed Of bis command, and knew that he
had got to do some daring deed Mt the be-
ginning of the war with Turkey, then Just
coming on, to get himself reinstated in the
royal favor In order to succeed, he would
need some comrades skilled in horseman-
ship, and of un liinching courage, and he at
once thought that the American cowboys
would he just the men for him He was
about to speak to them, when loud cry
arose, and the scenery and stage were seen
TO he on fire. At once, from every quarter,
arose the shrleks of women and the shouts
OF men
Within IF seconds the front of the
parquct was absolutely empty, save for
the three Americans and the two officers,
sSoAeleff and Krapotkin, who had retained
their seats with imperturbable coolness
Little Bricks said TO Macy, in quiet way:
Reckon thar amt much show for Us,
| Duckaro, unless thar's door under that
| stage" Tn n, as he glanced around at the
| demoralized crowd behind them, he added
with come wonder: swell, swar, ef THAI
aint't two real men at last"
He referred to the two officers who now
rose slowly from their seats and came to-
wards the strangers
Skobelen WAS rs cool rs n cucumber, as III
hel ont his hand TO Little Bricks, and said
In excellent English, or rather shouted int,
his ear
You are molodwtz-a brave fellow
How came you here? What brought you tc
| Russia, meany"
Little Brlcks, grasp ng the hand extended
rs IL it had been that of a comrade, yelled
| blck his answer in the others ears
Game 30 see the Grand Duke Alexis
Met him on the plains We three helped
him his first buffalo hunt Asked us to call
on him, If we ever came to Roosha Got on
a tear aud came Here ws air Know any
thing about the Grand Duke, stranger,"
"Ihe Grand Duke is at Sebas .opol. You
know he is in the navy, not tho army You
will not be able to do any thing with him in
this war, gentlemen. You had better come
with me Here is my card If we get out Of
this fire alive, call at that hotel in tho morn
Ing. Is that understoody"
Little Bricks nodded, and Just at that
moment Krapotkin touched Skobeleff on the
arm, and pointed out that, under the stage
the door by which the orchestra went out
and in. was wide open, and looked black,
ns II there was no fire, in that direction.
The gesture was sufficient, and skobelefi
touched the three cowboys successively,
nnd pointed them TO the doof
Then Jacques Dardeville screamed into
6kobeleff's ear:
go and find II it leads out anywhere,
and wc'll bring some girls out that wayn
Skobe!ef nodded assent, and darted
down to the opening. In few moments
he came back to shout in his companions
ear:
1T leads into an open court If there Is
no jam We can get out quite a number"
Then the five men left their place of safe
ty, and advanced to the back of the shrek
ing, struggling mass of humanity. that was
nowsurging around the foot of the bal ;ony.
The fire on the stage had spread by tho
curtain. over the roof Of the theater, and
was already licking at the curtains OF the
boxes
skobelef, surveying the scene with un-
diminished coolness. pointed to the great
entrance door, which could still he seen
through the smoke, and roared into Darde.
yillc's ear:
Blocked tight Get them back"
So saying, they began to pull at the terror
stricken ones that they saw running to and
fro in the rear of the crowd, and pointed
Uul, ny gteluTtt, tUc uark uOoT un1cr tne
stage; but by the time they had escorted
about a score OF ladies off in this way, the
fire had crept so near the stage door that
the next-comers shuddered and shrank
back from the apparent danger Skobelef
yelled in Macy's ear:
We've saved ali we can. Take another
girl apiece and let us go rhie Ue eai."
The Americans nodded silently, and each
man looked about for n woman 10 save,
when they heard great cry behind them,
which was followed by crash Looking
round, they saw that part OF the roof had
fallen in sparks on the crowd, and that all
hopes Of escape seemed to bo cut off; but
they heard Skobelef say aloud in English:
Courage, my friends II we get ont OF
this, you are tho boys | want TO have with
me-" The continuation of this thrilling
historical narrative of The Cowboy Cos
sacks is given in number thirteen of the
New York Ledger. the great family story
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