The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1891-01-15

distinguished from the latter by having
shorter and slenderer legs, a less robust
body, and less elongated neck. When it
is alone and one is in the direction opposite
to the wind, one can easily approach it,
for these animals, always frisky and prone
to play, are neither tricky nor wicked.
The young fawns, which people raise on
goats milk, tame very quickly and follow
their masters with the fidelity and docility
of a dog.
AS they were in need of provisions to
continue the journey, Yegor shot the young
deer and carried away the best parts of its
flesh.
Some hours later, towards the middle of
the day and amid terrible cold, the fugitives
arrived at the mouth of the Kamennaya-
Kolima
1.-THE sea! the sea! |" cried the two natives,
drawing themselves up and pointing towards
an icy stretch which was lost to the north
in the mists of the sky.
1.-The Arctic ocean," said M. Laf1eur,
shiverng despite himself as if before some
thing fearful and mysterious.
ssThey will not come here to search for US I"
murmured Yegor.
The Arctic landscapes are but little varied.
In the wan and misty atmosphere there are
no shadows; the lines of the horizon are eff
faced and vanish. Height and distance do
not exist; the land and the sea, equally
white with snow, can scarcely be distin-
guished one from the other; the innumera-
BILE irregularities and windings of the coast
SEEM in these dead and desolate regions,
not to have had the time to assume decided
and precise shapes. One might believe him
self in the midst of a universe still in pro-
cess of formation.
The silence and immobility of nature in
the vicinity of the pole, have something
grand and wild about them. Yegor, Nadege
and M. Lafleur, all three, were seized with
a secret terror, as if upon the threshold of
an unknown world.
Yermac alone. inaccessible to every emo
ton, remained impossible and rigid He
comprehended that, with the cold and the
continuous night which would shortly begin,
the surveillance of which he was the object
would necessarily be relaxed. Could he es-
cape then! Should he strive to fee, or
should he wait until some unforeseen event
changed the face of things!
Around the fugitives everything displayed
the lugubrious imprint of polar lethargy.
Not sound, not cry, not a breath. 1t
was like an empty and depopulated planet
destroyed by some horrible cataclysm.
Affair, above mountains of ice-cylindrical
masses-jutting out like promontories, white
birds vague as shadows f1oated slowly, sug-
costing the wandering souls Of those who
are no mere. The light was funereal and
SO feeble that objects had neither body mol
color
AT last, the fugitives had reached the spot
where they designed to conceal themselves
during the winter. They would erect a
stout hut, well sheltered from the winds of
the north. 1t was only on the arrival Of
spring that they could risk traversing the
country OF the Tchouktchis, on their way to
the Gulf of Anadyr.
On their hazardous journey sown with
perils of every kind, they had lost all idea
of time
81 would like to know what part of the
year it is, +" said M Lafeur; "but we have
kept no account of the days"
''This is the goth of November" said the
chief Of police, in a tone Of certainty.
''Indeed?" said Yegor. ''This is the rea.
son the days are so short. Day after to-
morrow will commence night Of thirty-six
days"
IA complete night?" asked Nadege, turn.
ing pale.
complete. The sun will reappear only
on the 28th of December I am fully in.
formed on that point"
"But how shall we manage to live in the
darkness g" demanded Nadege.
''The night will not be as dark as you
imagine, Mademoiselle," said M. Lafeur,
''Thanks to the power of the refractiOn and
the cleaning whiteness of the snow, as well
as the frequency of the aurora borealis, the
gloom will be supportable. We shall also
have the moon, which will make us ten
visits every twenty-four hours. What we
have to fear are the excessive cold and
lack of provisions. We are now but six,
since the poor little lad has not rejoined u.s."
Don't count me i" said the chief of police,
dryly.
why not?"
''Now that my arm is cured, shall make
it point not to accept for a single day long
er anything whatever from you. Alone, !
shall find way to procure my food. | do
not wish to embarrass you"
Gas YOU please" said Yegor. ''MOnsieur
Yermac," added he, ''you shall have your
liberty when we abandon this spot early in
the spring That is if you do not prefer to
accompany us to the Cuff of Anadyr, where
we shall quit simultaneously Siberia, Rus
STA and Asiaw
''That remains to be seen !" muttered Yer
mac in a low tone.
ITO be continued)