Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-01-31

| AS the night grows darker the merriment
| wakes faster and more furious; horns are
| emptied with lightning-like rapidity; the At
taman is pressed to sing, and the Kosaks join
In the chorus. Then they dance their ma
tional dance, each man with his hands on
the launches; they bound, they stamp, they
/ clank their spurs together till the ground
! trembles and the voice of the mighty river is
/ no longer heard. Agile as frogs alternately
/ crouching on the ground and leaping into the
air, their plaits of hair swing backward and
forward with every movement heads and
heels change place with inconceivable swift
ness, till many one drops asleep In the
midst of somerSault.
! By the time the stars are all shining in the
heavens, the riverside is thickly strewn with
PROSTATE figures; and except for one or other
who murmurs in his dreams curses against
the infidel Turk, there is silence in the camp
! Then the Attaman rises slowly from beside
the low-burning camp fire, and stepping eau
tiously through the ranks of slumbering
warriors, goes to rouse his faithful steed; and
though he has been dancing and making
merry, his eye is not drowsy; and though he
has Quaffed of the spirits and of the mead,
his step is not unsteady.
! He mounts and speeds along faster than
and yet faster where the waters, cleaning
pale in the starlight, murmur and sob mid
the reeds, and nothing living is astir save the
wild fowl, startled, perchance, from her nest
II.
A wooden house, whitewashed, and with
matched roof, standing against dark oak
forest shines dazzling white in the moon
! light
1t is midnight and every one within Is
asleep-nO, not every one, for a solitary light
burns at one easement, and woman PAGES
up and down large room.
The room has got heavy wooden beams
across the ceiling, white walls, and wide
chimney place. The woman has got black
eyes and rosy, curved lips, and waist that
is round and firm. She is young and beauti-
full, but with the beauty of young matron,
not that of maiden. She resembles the
rose which is open but not yet Overblown, or
the berry which is ripe without being past its
prime. She wants but smile to make her
beauty perfect; but she smiles not; her white
brow is drawn together in an anxious frown,
and sigh escapes from her heaving breast
The spinning distatf cast on the ground and
the undistWbed couch speak alike of mind
too i'll at rest to be soothed by work or Sleep
wrapped in siumber, his even-drawn breath
ing the only sound to be heard in the quiet
ROOM But presently another sound breaks
the silence-the dogs outside have given the
alarm, and bark furiously as the galloping
noise of horses hOofs is head drawing near,
till well known voice restores them to ST.
lence, and the doors are thrown open wide to
admit the master of the house.
In another moment Ilandzia, the Attaman-
ycha (wife of an Attaman) is in her hus-
bands arms.
Dearest husbandI what joy to see thee
again. Say, wilt thou stay while with us?''
"But short, but Short my dearest / come
but to see if thou art well, to kiss thee but
once, and then say farewell. Such is the
fate of the Kosak. The King orders me to
march against the intidels; a simple Kosak
cannot disObey him, still less an Attaman.
Ilandzia, dearest, dry thy tears. If God per-
mitS / shall return here safe and well; if fate
has decreed that l shall remain yonder, I'M
der mound of earth, remember wife that
thou art the mother of my child, and bring
him up to be brave and worthy Kosak.
Farewell, farewell! my heart bleeds to leave
you both, but | dare not linger."
He bends once more over his sleeping child,
heart, and is gone again; while IIandzia sinks
down Sobbing near the couch of her son.
III.
The Kosak army have set forth on the
march-eight thousand as gallant men as
ever welded the sword and the lance. The
populace salute them loudly on their passage,
and many maiden'S heart follows them over
the frontier.
And now they have reached the enemy's
country, and everywhere their victorious
blades have made way for them. They have
passed through fertile lands teeming with the
golden grain, purple vines, and rich flocks,
and like an army of lOcuStS have they passed
on, bringing devastation and death, and leav-
ing the country behind them stripped and
naked, with smoking ruins and rihed grana-
rieS.
In vain do the Mussulmans cry out "Aman
AmanP' (mercy;) for the Kosak knows no
aman. Their cimeters cut like the blade of a
razor, and their bullets carry death all around.
The rivers run red with the blood of the
slain, and their cOrpSeS are strewn all over
the land.
And they march onward with their char
lots heaped with rich booty, with gold and
silver and precious stones, with silken scarfs
and cunningly wrought ornaments. Further
and further they advance into the Turkish
territory, further and ever eastward, for sue
| cess had made them bold; and it seemed as
though their foes had flown at their approach,
for the land which they now traverse is ST.
lent as desert; they are alone in the vast
steppe, where they neither see human
face nor hear human voice; only the wolf
howls in the far distance, and the boa Kisses
through the Stunted grass, while the light
footed sumak, the wild goat of the steppes,
bounds away scared through the silvery
sznwars, (bushes which grow in the steppes)
or the wary bustard, standing guard on a ris-
ing hillock, by its cry gives warning of the
approach of man.
And so the first breath of Winter finds the
Kosaks many hundred miles away from their
homes. Hard frOSts have rent the earth
aSunder in many places, and slight powder
ing of snow warns man and beast to draw
themselves under shelter for the Winter.
Kunicki is obliged to encamp his troops for
while and await the movements of the
enemy. He has chosen a deep sombre valley
in which to intrench his army, closed in by
rocky heights on either side; and here he
prepares TO abide until he gets further news.
The chieftains shake their heads, for they
love not this valley. Is it not justly named
| valley of misfortune? And when did it ever
bring aught but woe to whoever has set foot
in it? No traveller passes this way without
signing himself many times to keep the
spirit of evil aloof. But they dare not speak
or murnur against Kunicki's will, for In time
of war the Attaman is omnipOtent and his
word is held sacred as the word of God him.
! self