The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-08-17
A SILVER RUBLE.
part II. PLAYED IN MANY ADVENTURES
A STORY OF LIFE IN THE ORIENT.

was in November, 1874, that I succeeded
aiming an appointment that took me tar
|of the beaten track of the general trav-
Owing to the influence of an old
nd in St. Petersburg was appointed to
post of experimenting engineer to one
he steamboat companies trading on the
|,or river, in Eastern Siberia; and the
Il letter which reached me in London
flying my promotion also contained in,
|ctions for my immediate departure to
up my duties at B.adivostook. the
pany's headquarters on the Pacific
/. had been expecting this jour
for some days, and. consequently
preparations ] had to make before
ling were soon completed. Within
from the receipt of that letter I was
!. Petersburg; thence travelled to Mos
and Mini, and at this latter place COM
ced the long sleigh journey down the
"a river to Perrin; then on by single
of rail to Ekaterinburg, finding myself
st within Siberia, and at tho beginning
10 strange journey across the thousands
niles of snow and ice dividing me from
destination.
ter waiting at Ekaterinburg for few
spent in purchasing a suitable sleigh
laying in stock of comforts to be used
he road. I eventually started. This
on the 10Th of December, 1874. The
few days was great hardship to me,
was unaccustomed to the cramped po-
Ia necessitated by the size of my sleigh,
the humping and swinging motion
we trotted at a good pace over
frozen snow road, kept the sleep
stmas eve we had left the last posting
le at which We had changed horses
miles behind us, and I was settling
blf in the fur rugs preparatory for a
nights journey, in fact, l was just
ping off into a restless sleep, when
b! went something under me, and in
rent l found myself half buried, head
Inward, in the snow. With some diff
succeeded in extricating myself
on rising to my feet, surveyed the
with anything but pleasurablx feel
There. a few yards off, sat my dros-
nan ruefully rubbing himself, appar-
with view of finding out if and
10 he was hurt. Close beside him lay
and paraphernRlia strewn around.
two horses stood quietly looking on,
too glad, 7 suspect, of an excuse for a
I could hardly help laughing, al
Oh our position was anything but en-
le. Here we were some miles from the
est post house, the night coming on
BLY,, and the Thermometer any number
grees below zero.
lowing it was useless standing there
king, soon had my driver ON his legs
b, and found, greatly to my relief, that
as none the worse fer his shaking. We
set about righting the sleigh, and
able to see the cause of our mishap.
IRON shoe of one of the runners had be-
unfastened at the front end, and fall
the ground had ploughed its way
until, meeting a harder frozen part
he track it had stopped lis altogether,
the result I have described. Having
the cause, it did not take us long to
matters to rights, but, considering it
Sc to push on with the runner unpro-
q, I decided to retrace the road to our
stopping station. get things put right,
start fairly again IN the morning.
Ter two hours walking we reached the
wooden house, and with some trouble
eeded in waking the owner; and we
had the horse comfortably stabbed in
OuuAOuoO nAAN OuA60AvCo oAPpAACA WALL
for the night. In the morning, after
kfasting early, the horses were har-
ID, and I proceeded to settle our bill of
|uble. Among the change for the note
d given him, the landlord gave me q
ruble piece, which noticed had
rently been roughly engraved; and on
ming it closer, found that not only
pierced near the rim for a cord to
Through, but that on the reverse some
or owner had cut as if with knife,
outline of Greek cross. I did not
much attention to this at the time; but
ing it curious, I placed it apart from
psf of my money, intending to keep it
nemento of our overnight adventure.
zen, after many weeks and sundry adj
res and hardships. I reached Bladi-
ok, came upon this ruble in empty
pc pockets of my clothes. and being
struck by its peculiar appearance, I
ed to keep it as q curiosity; and often
I look at it, and wonder what man
q man it was, and the reason he
have had for treating ruble in that
Ter.