San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-29

by a useless and dangerous struggle"
sab! this is, perhaps, the last day we
shall pass upon this shore, Yegorl But,
what if it should be an enemy-a Russian
vessell"
LET us, hope for the best" answered
Yegor. His voice trembled, for he also en-
tertained the fear felt by Nadege.
"When shall we know what fate Is in re-
serve for US 2" asked Nadege.
''This evening, tonight, or tomorrow
morning at the latest, according to the diff
Guilty of the navigation amid the ice. 1 will
go to the ship in the b~aydare."
"But if they should keep you-a prisoner
lost to me, to usa"
"Reassure yourself, Nadege. You look at
everything in the worst light"
''No; l do not wish you to leave will
go with you. We will take the emeralds
and offer them for our ransom"
go with me-in the bsydare, a boat that
the smallest shock might send to the bot
TOMB
II have shown enough courage heretofore
to warrant you in trusting me at the last
moment. On seeing both of us, perhaps,
they may be touched by our so little merit
ed misfortune"
~ will go alone, Nadege; that l am fully
resolved upon" said Yegor, firmly.
"You would expose yourself too much by
doing that, Yegor," said M. Lafeur, who
had advanced sufficiently to hear the con-
versation between the two young people. II
will 60 on board the shipl"
"Youl" cried Yegor and Nadege, in one
voice.
Certainly. I have nothing to fear. Am
I not a F~renchmanl l will make a recon-
noissance."
This will be, I hope, the last service that
we shall receive from you, my dear Mon
sieur Lafeur," said Yegor, grasping the
Parisian's hand.
''The last service" responded the latter,
in a tone of protest. 'Ah! l hope notl"
Yegor wished Nj. Lafieur to take Nadege
back to the hut, in order that she might
rest from her excitement and prepare her
self for whatever might happen. AS to him,
he would remain at his post of observation.
In the evening, Nadege and M. Lafleul
were compelled to come and tear him
away from it. The ship was moored to an
ice field, as near as possible to the shore OF
the bay.
The next day, at dawn, M. Lafleur and
Tekel, drawing the baydare over the ice
along the coast, advanced towards the YES
sci. When openings in the ice field pre-
scented themselves, the baydare was set
afloat and did its office. M. Lafieur, on
quitting the hut, had been much surprised
to misr Yermac, whom be wished to make q
last effort to persuade to abandon at the
| sauna t;,,a both ptiocia ond tho HiSapraaahle
vocation he followed.
Although not a sailor, M. Lafieur, on
approaching the ship, very quickly recog
nized its nationality. 1t was an Austrian
vessel.
He reached the ship with his baydare
skillfully handled by Tekel. The first face
he saw on board was that Of the chief o.
police.
Yermac had, in fact, decided that the fug
itives should be bafied, and had gone to in
form the captain of the foreign vessel Of hi:
situation and that Of the exiles. He finished
by demanding his aid.
To reach the ship. the chief Of police had
been compelled to make, in the midst Of the
night, long windings about the broken ice
fields. In the morning, he hailed the SHY
a short distance away and a boat was low
cred to meet him, which twenty times wa:
nearly crushed by the ice blocks. M. Laf
leur found the captain informed Of every
thing.
This captain, who had nothing very terri
BILE about him, was a young man, full Of fire,
Of Russian nationality but commanding ar
Austrian ship from the port of Trieste, sem
to Behring's Strait to meet Nordenskiold by
some ship-owners Of that city. These ship
owners, knowing, thanks to the letters Of
the Swedish navigator which had reached
Europe through some Tchouktchis and the
Siberian posts, the happy result of q voyage
which opened to commerce all the rivers Of
Siberia and immense beds of ivory in the
Archipelago of Lyakhoff, had decided tc
choose without loss of time some point on
the coast of Behring's Strait for the estab.
lishment Of a commercial depot, a maritime
station, where whale oil could also be man.
ufactured.
The first paragraph Of the instructions OF
the captain Of the Austrian ship directed
him to meet the illustrious navigator when
he quilted the strait, where he had win.
| tered since the 9th Of September of the
preceding year, blocked in by the ice
had he been only a few hours earlier, he
could have passed through the strait in open
water.
Meanwhile, Yegor and Nadege, who also
had noticed the absence of the chief Of po-
lice, began to be seriously disturbed. Seated
upon the shore, they watched with terrible
anxiety for the return of M. Lafieur. Lad.
islas was beside him. When they saw that
the Partisan was returning to land in a
boat tanned by a number Of sailors, which
made a turn to follow a narrow channel