San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-14

self, accelerating its speed and grazing with
a crash the perpendicular walls the project
ing portions of which it tore away. 1t en-
countered two tall pine trees which it car.
ried with it. The enormous block after
wards bounded from rock TO rock, hurting
afsr its debris; then it struck the ground
with formidable noise like a discharge of
heavy artillery.
The three men, seized with vertigo at the
sight of the gap they had made, recoiled af-
frighted, closing their eyes.
Already, around about, rolls of thunder
sped froll echo to echo, dying away in the
distance.
The Yakoute was the first who had the
courage to advance TO see the result Of the
work. Wrecks covered the ground, still
white with the snow which fell on the pre-
ceding day. The gray horse lay stretched
out and crushed. But the man-what had
become Of the man. Was he beneath the
pines, beneath the mass of the block itselfl
He had disappeared!
A woman's cries were heard. They took
the shape of a despairing call.
ut is Mile. Davidoff's voice." stammered
Yegor, pale and trembling
1.-THE poor child is frightened" observed
NJ. Lafieur. 'She. undoubtedly, believes US
in danger. Let US go and reassure her.
Now the success of your enterprise is Ger.
tain, and have only to quit you as soon as
we shall have crossed the defiles-unless
this affair-this murder-well, / am in
nice fix for an honest trader and dancing.
master! What about my Yakoute milliners,
my birch sap champagne, my glassware and
my collection for the museum of Chateau.
Thierryl"
81 was afraid of this, my dear Monsieur
Lafeur!" cried Yegor, overwhelmed with
trouble.
"Do not worry yourself for so little" re-
sumed the Partisan. What difference does
it make, if l have saved you! Well, 1 will
follow you to your journeys end! 1t will be
pleasant, indeed, for me to return to the
Faubourg Antoine by way of Kamtchatka
or the north pole! All! man holds the VIC
lin, but God directs the dance!"
81 am confoundedm
"Vive la liberte "'cried M. Lafeur. And
he added: Let US go and calm the terror
of your charming betrothed We shall find
the descent from here easier than the as
cent"
CHAPTER vIII,-IN THE FOREST OF osTRovoYE.
Meanwhile the night had come on, and
not sound troubled the profound silence,
not even the cracking of branches so fire.
quent in forests, and the mysterious whis-
pering of leaves, which suggests the secret
communings of the darkness. Yegor had
many times thrown himself on the ground
and placed his ear to the SOIL but no vibra.
ton had revealed the approach of human
being.
In this gorge, abrupt, winding, narrow,
bristling with rocks, and full of larch trees
with enormous black branches spreading
out in the gloom like immense bat wings,
the obscurity was deep. Yegor was forced
to light the small dark-lantern with which
he was provided; he fastened it to the col
lar of his dog, One might say the intelli-
gent animal comprehended the Importance
of the role entrusted to it. 1t went forward
cautiously with ears erect. From time to
time, it turned about to assure itself that its
master was following it.
Ladislas had fallen asleep in the cart;
Nadege walked beside the vehicle, and M.
Lafeur, plunged in a world of reflections
neither fowery nor joyous, brought up the
rear, with bowed head, still carrying in his
overcoat pocket his violin which he pressed
against his heart as if to warm it.
Poor NJ. Lafleur! He no longer belonged
to the dancel Alas that he who loved not
strong emotions and had created for himself
a mild and tranquil existence, he who was
saving for himself a few thousand roubles
yearly that he might go as soon as possible
to plant cabbages at Chateau-Thiery,s should
be obliged to flee like criminal, an assassin,
walking the roads-if they could be called
roads i'm the midst of the night and pur-
sued by the gendarmes
An assassin He asked himselfif he were
not one!
Had he not been an accomplicel In his
immoderate generosity had he not espoused
the cause of the fugitivesi Had he not
suggested to Yegor the idea of precipitating
the rock upon Yermac9 M. Lat1eur said to
himself that he evidently had not known
what he was doing, The strangeness of his
situation, his impulsive nature and his good
heart with its generous outbursts-he
would have preferred death to the cap
ture of his friends through his passive at
titude-such had been the moving causes
capable of impelling him to become uncon-
sciously the champion and defender Of q
criminal act.
All sorts of incoherent thoughts mingled
with each other now in his brain. He stop
ped himself, at times, upon the point of re-
tracing his steps to aid Yermac. Who
knew! Perhaps the chief Of police was not
yet deadl But would not that amount to
delivering himself up to justice, to ac-
cepting alone the responsibility of the
crime9 No; that was impossible! Then,