The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1890-11-06
!. THE BXILES.
A RUSSIAN STORY.
CHAPTER vI.-THE ESCAPE

pea OF OKnOUSk ana even from hduUCudCka
came fur-hunters loaded with spoils and
searchers for the tusks of the walrus and
mammoth.
Yegor Semenoff took advantage of the op
portunity offered to purchase provisions and
garments indispensable to the execution OF
his project.
But, though he acted with the utmost
prudence, the chief of police Yermac, who
watched all his actions with the evident de-
sire of taking him in fault, knew that the
governors secretary had made considerable
purchases.
Further, the authorization of marriage de-
manded of the Car had arrived and had
passed through the hands of the chief OF
police, who could not comprehend why the
young couple did not hasten to profit by it.
What could be their motive except to free
themselves by flight? The former Iprav
snik of Nertchinsk well knew the repug
nance felt by the exiles for contracting these
marriages which bind the future of the
children they may have. His attention re-
doubled and took the character of veritable
surveillance.
Yegor did not confne himself to procuring
what could assure materially the success OF
his attempt He studied infinitely all the
maps of the country he could procure, ques
toned the merchants and hunters, and
learned the language of the natives. Atlast
he found himself prepared to adopt the fol
lowing plan:
Furnished with passport from the gov
ernor for himself and his betrothed, he
could, at the commencement of the journey.
take advantage of the relays of horses es-
tablished upon the right bank of the Lena
as far as the spot where the Aldan flows
into the great Siberian river. AT Adam
skoi, town situated at the mouth of the
Aldan, he would find horses purchased by
M. Lafeur, and Yakoute guide, selected by
the same M. Lafeur, whose kindness was
ineXhauStible.
The Partisan, in his hatred of tyranny OF
every kind, had placed himself entirely at
Yegor's disposal. He was to go on before
in the little cart serving to transport the
merchandise in which he dealt. Besides
the camp tent the provisions and the winter
garments, he was to take the little Pole
They could leave YakOutsk without exciting
the least suspicion-such was their belief at
any rate.
M. Lafeur would accompany the fugitives
to the Verkho-Yensh Mountains. This
chain of mountains crossed, the exiles were
to hide in one of the impenetrable forests
which cover the region beyond, there to
await the first SHOWS.
They counted upon winter as an auxiliary
to level the roads, freeze the rivers and
cover their flight with it's darkness. 1t was
only with a sledge that it was possible for
them to go towards the north as far as
Nijni-Kolimsk, the last Russian town, stu
ated at the point where the Kolima pours
the tribute of its waters into the Arctic
Ocean, and not far from the polar regions
where the immortal Nordenskiold was able
to confirm his discovery of the northeast
passage.
According to the calculations of Yegor
Semenoff, they could hope with the favor
OF the long winter night, to penetrate to the
country of the Tchoukchis. Although the
tribes of these natives are not equally hos
pitable, Yegor did not shrink from the diff
culties he might encounter when this mo-
ment should come; nothing could ever ap-
proach the infamous life of a convict from
which he was escaping.
Among the Tchoulzchis it was already lib
Grafton; it would only remain to find the
means of reaching Behring's Strait on the
return of the summer season and OF the
free waters, which bring yearly into that To-
cality American and English whalers.
The interesting daughter of the poet Davi-
doff, in whose eyes YegOr assumed unnatu-
raj proportions drew from her chaste love
all the stimulants capable of increasing the
ardor of the man who was about to expose
his life for her, wishing to relieve her from
the shame of being an eXile's daughter. She
could not forget that Yegor, thanks to the
favor he enjoyed with the governor, had
ameliorated and rendered supportable her
situation, and that it was, above all, to fulfil
the sacred promise made to the dying old
poet that he aspired to liberty.
Yegor already caught a glimpse of that
liberty
But besides this seductive prospect, what
terrible punishment in case of failure, what
dolorous expiration! Yegor, in his moments
of weakness, remembered the convict dis
figured with sulphuric acid whom he had
seen on arriving at the Oukboul mines, ex-
posed to every kind of insulting treatment.
What fate, if he failed, was he preparing for
poor Nadege and little Ladislas! For him.
self an ignominious death and for them a
prison, that is to say, death also, slower but
as sure!
AT last, he could hesitate no longer!
One evening, in the early part of Septem-
Der, when the temperature was quite mild,
Yegor and Nadege quilted Yakoutsk. Yegor
had spoken for long while to the family of
the governor of a two or three days. trip
that he wished to make upon the right bank
of the Lena which was still unknown to
him; he came very near having for a COM
panion on his journey the governors eldest
daughter, who, more than once, had, on SIM
liar occasions, imposed herself upon him.
The fugitives took hired boat to cross
the Lena, which is encountered with little
islands dividing it into several arms. One
of these arms of the river was not less than
three miles wide.
Grave and serious, as at the commence
ment of perilous enterprise, they saw re-
cede without the least Joy the sad capital
with its broad deserted streets, its dull
habitations ensconced behind high wooden
enclosures, the belfrys of the four or five
churches, and, towering little above the
miserable huts, the convent and the bazaar.
The night was clear and starry. There
was not sound in the country, not shadow
behind them. Soon, in the east, a faint, gray
10 70 ho