San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-21


take refuge behind the marta. 1t was but
very weak defence against such loosening
of the elements. The young girl and the
lad could breathe only with great difficulty
by holding their faces almost against the
ground.
The obscurity rendered the use of the
compass impossible, and hence Yegor no
longer knew where they were. But had he
been able to recognize his road, in what
would it have served him! They were the
playthings of the wind, which drove them
before it, preventing them from taking any
other course than its own.
The white gloom thicbened, growing more
and more Opaque. Suddenly, a half-suffo-
Gated cry, cry of desperation, rang out
from the midst Of the whirling cloud
Monsieur Lafleur Monsieur Lafieur!"
answered Yegor, Nadege and Ladislas, in
one voice.
The dark and vague profile Of marta
passed before them with giddy speed, as if
drawn along in whirlwind.
ITO the sledge!" commanded Yegor. 1--WE
must follow our friends marital"
The wind had extreme impetuosity It
swept the plain roaring strangely, howl
| ing as howl the wolves. Tekel had no need
| to excite the dogs; the poor animals shot off
| madly.
Hold me tightly" cried Nadege, drawing
| closer to Yegor; lit seems to me as if the
wind would blow me away"
After an hour of frightful traveling-an
| hour which seemed to them centuryl-the
| fugitives perceived from the scattered
bushes standing out blackly from the white
ness of the snow that they were approach
ing river; but the wind and the density OF
the snow which enveloped them had so in
creased that they could see nothing.
Suddenly, they found themselves in the
midst of a forest the tall trees of which
formed an obstacle to the mutinous blast
| and its icy breath. They asked themselves
by what miracle they had reached it, and
how it happened that they were still alive!
| Monsieur Laf1eurl" cried Yegor.
| present." answered the dancing master,
whose sledge had been the first to stop.
You have had a narrow escape, Monsieur
Lafieur," said Yegor; Il thought l would
have to wear mourning for you"
"Ah! ma foil. thought it was the end
of the world The learned say that we shall
perish by cold, and suppose the snow hur-
ricane will have its part in the closing scenes
| of the last hour"
They talked without seeing each other, in
the midst of the obscurity.
The Yakoute Tekel had, meanwhile, gath
cred alder and fir branches and kindled q
fire with them.
The fugitives uttered cries of Joy on again
seeing light and fire. They fastened to the
blaze to warm themselves-they were COW
cred with snow and scarcely recognizable !
Yermac made very strange grimaces.
"Ladislas! Where is LadislasI" asked
Nadege looking around her for the little
Pole
Alas he was not to be found He had
been torn from the sledge by the terrible
hurricane!
Yegor called Wab. He fastened his dark
lantern to the dogs collar and, after pro-
nouncing the name of Ladislas several
times, sent the animal to search for the
child.
After being gone an hour, Wab returned
alone. The animal was shaking with cold 4;
from the bloody marks on its paws, they saw
that the creature had thoroughly searched
long distance but without result. 1t had
returned to the forest that it might not per-
ish from exhaustion.
Nadege wept, repeating the name of her
adopted brother. Yegor and M. Lafleur,
silent and afflicted, thought of the poor child
lost on the frozen plain and struggling in the
darkness against the furious and icy wind,
amid the binding snow
The chief of police was touched by the
grief of the fugitives and strove to impart
to them, in regard to the lad, hope he did
not share.
The two 4akoutes prepared shelter by
making a deep excavation in the snow.
The travellers spread their coverings in it,
and took refuge there to await a lull in the
storm.
The dogs were embarrassed and grouped
themselves in circle ON the snow, in which
they dug holes to obtain warmth. A second
fire was kindled at the edge of the forest by
Yegor's order. He hoped that Ladislas
might, perhaps, be guided by the light of this
fire and reioin them
| CHAPTER XIx.-LADIsLAs AND THE GoLD-RoB-
| BERS
| When the band of gold-robbers to which
| Yermac's son belonged quilted the neigh
| borhood of the consumed forest of Os-
trovoye leaving for dead the chief of police
| Dimitri assumed the command of it.
The young man told the truth when he
assured his father that he had participated
| neither in the assassination Of Major Dob
son and his servant nor in that of the Rus
sian Khabarotf. The band had been renew
ed several times and, when it attacked the
chief of police, there remained of its former
members, upon whom the stigma of the
| murders rested only the chief Koskintine