San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-23
THE EXILES.
RUSSIAN STORY,

country became more and more level, anu
soon the glance embraced but toundra
stretching as far as the eye could reach to-
wards the sea and traversed by very great
number of small rivers.
They kept along an arm Of the Kolima,
which does not unite with the principal
course Of the river until it has formed allow
and marshy island, on the southern shore OF
which is situated the ostrog Of Niini-Kol-
imsk. Nearly hundred miles further on
the Kolima divides itself anew into two
arms The fugitives followed the right
arm, which is over five miles wide, and which
is called the .Kamennaya-Kolima. A little
further still is found a third arm which, with
the two others, forms the mouth Of the koli-
ma. This mouth Of the huge Asiatic stream
covers altogether space more than sixty
miles in width.
On the fourth day, Yegor saw young
deer that had lost it's way. 1t was the sea-
son when these animals emigrate in herds
from the frozen regions Of the north to more
temperate countries. The hair Of the deer
is of a reddish brown, but it is not rare to
see white deer all the year round. Yegor,
who had restrained Wab, always ready to
leap forward, admired the graceful bearing
and light step Of the young deer. The deer
is much more elegant than the stag. 1t Is
distinguished from the latter by having
shorter and slenderer legs, less robust
body, and less elongated neck. When it
is alone and one is in the direction opposite
to the wind, one can easily approach it.
for these animals, always frisky and prone
to play, are neither tricky nor wicked
The young fawns, which people raise on
goats milk, tame very quickly and follow
their masters with the fidelity and docility
of dog.
AS they were in need of provisions to
continue the journey, Yegor shot the young
deer and carried away the best parts of its
flesh.
Some hours later, towards the middle Of
the day and amid terrible cold, the fugitives
arrived at the mouth of the Kamennaya-
Kolima.
1.-THE sea the sea !" cried the two natives,
drawing themselves up and pointing towards
an icy stretch which was lost to the north
in the mists Of the sky.
1.-THE Arctic ocean," said M. Lafleur,
shiverlng despite himself as if before some
| thing fearful and mysterious.
|
murmured Yegor.
The Arctic landscapes are but little varied.
| In the wan and misty atmosphere there are
| no shadows; the lines of the horizon are eff,
| faced and vanish. Height and distance dc
not exist; the land and the sea, equally
white with snow, can scarcely be distin-
| guished one from the other; the innumera
BILE Irregularities and windings of the coast
seem, in these dead and desolate regions
| not to have had the time to assume decided
| and precise shapes. One might believe him
self in the midst of universe still in pro
cess of formation.
| The silence and immobility Of nature, in
the vicinity of the pole, have something
| grand and wild about them. Yegor, Nadege
and M. Lafieur, all three, were seized with
secret terror, as if upon the threshold Of
an unknown world.
| Yermac alone. inaccessible to every emo
ton, remained impossible and rigid. He
comprehended that, with the cold and the
continuous night which would shortly begin
the surveillance of which he was the objec,
would necessarily be relaxed - Could he es
cape then9 Should he strive to flee, OF
should he wait until some unforeseen even,
changed the face of things'
| Around the fugitives everything displayed
the lugubrious imprint of polar lethargy
Not sound, not cry, not a breath. 1,
was like an empty and depopulated planet
destroyed by some horrible cataclysm
| Afar, above mountains of ice-cylindrical
masses-jutting out like promontories, white
birds vague as shadows fioated slowly. sug
| costing the wandering souls of those who
are no more. The light was funereal and
so feeble that objects had neither body mol
color.
At last, the fugitives had reached the spot
where they designed to conceal themselves
| during the winter. They would erect 8
stout hut, well sheltered from the winds OF
the north. 1t was only on the arrival OF
spring that they could risk traversing the
country Of the Tchouktchis, on their way tc
| the Gulf of Anadyr.
On their hazardous journey sown with
perils of every kind, they had lost all idea
| of time.
~ would like to know what part Of the
| year it is" said M. Lafleur; ''but we have
kept no account of the days"
"This is the Goth of November" said the
chief of police, in a tone of certainty.
'Indeed!" said Yegor. 'This is the rea'
son the days are so short. Day after to-
morrow will commence night of thirty-six
days"
"A complete night!" asked Nadege, turn.
ing pale.
Complete. The sun will reappear only
on the 2Sth Of December. am fully in.
formed on that point"
''But how shall we manage to live in the