San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-25
CHAPTER xxvIII.-THE TcuouKToH1s.

There was no change in the disheartening
situation of the fugitives, except, apparent
ly, an alteration in the arrangements Of the
chief of police. Yermac's attitude was less
naughty. He allowed himself to be a tribe
familiar with the lad and the young girl
whom he had saved from certain death; but
the exiles felt that he maintained a reserve
from which he would not depart. His cold
kindness resembled that of a iailer to whom
prisoners are confided; his consideration
and willingness to help did not go beyond
a certain limit fixed in advance. Besides,
he persisted in refusing to touch the few
provisions which appeared upon the common
table.
In the midst of their perjury, with famine
threatening them if the Yakoutes did not
soon return, the fugitives had a stroke Of
good luck.
Wab succeeded in capturing unaided a
deer of the same species as that recently
killed by Yermac. The dog leaped at its
throat and did not let go until the animal
was strangled. This exploit accomplished.
the brave dog returned to the hut, and dis
played such a desire to have Yegor follow ii
that the young man did 80, the dog leading
him to the spot where the victim lay. The
two other dogs were keeping guard over the
precious prey. The deer was drawn tri-
u~mphantly to the hut and the dogs were not
forgotten, especially Wab.
Yermac, still infiexible, limited himself to
remarking that his deer was larger than
that killed by Wab.
NJ. Lafieur, seeing the difficulty Of placing
his hand on a bear, fell back upon the seals.
He made a harpoon and used the Siberian
dogs to discover the retreats of the amphib-
ious creatures. The dogs, gifted with keen
scent, led him to a number of those narrow
openings that the seals make in the ice and
through which they breathe-and get har-
pooned. The Partisan, despite cold and
hunger, passed days and nights in watching
for a prey that defied his inexperience as a
fisherman, as the bears had defied his lack
of skill as a hunter.
Finally. supreme succor reached the fugi-
tives one evening in the shape Of two old
Tchouktchis, male and female. Suffering
from hunger and thirst-for thirst is as i'm
perious and difficult to satisfy in these des-
erts of snow as it can be in those deserts
where the sun scorches the sands-they had
come from the Bay Of Tchaounsk and were
going along the coast in search of a station
of natives, there to beg for some provisions.
They had perceived the smoke escaping
from the roof of the hut and had come to ask
for hospitality.
"Toroma I" said they, in one voice, as they
entered. This meant good evening.
Yegor regretted the absence of his faith
full Tekel, who knew a little of the Ian
guage of the Tchouktchis, and answered at
random:
''Toromal'
From their miserable looks more than
their gestures, the fugitives understood
what they wanted, and, although the sup
ply of provisions was approaching the
end, the two poor wretches had for supper
enough to furnish he two meals of the
next day, and that succeeding, for their APP
petites seemed immense, their hunger in
satiable.
The type of these natives recalled the
Monaghan type of the old world, combined
with the type of the Indians of the north Of
America-of Behring's Strata field of solid
ice for a part of the year serving as a bond
of union between the two races as between
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