The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1891-02-26

A RUSSIAN STORY.
CHATTER xxxII.-THE FUGITIvEs AND TEE



Yakoute guides to consent to quit the Win
ter hut and depart for Nijni-Kolimsk. Yer
mac abandoned a portion Of the provisions
they had brought especially the fish intend
ed to serve as food for the dogs, and caused
the nartas to be loaded with large quantities
of tobacco, sugar and gunpowder and some
pieces of cloth, the whole coming from the
whaler Hugo and Maria.
Nevertheless, the guides had obtained
postponement of the departure for few
days; they had now no reason whatever 20
urge for a further adjournment Besides,
Tekel and Chort had become convinced
that their employers would not return to the
hut.
They, therefore, made no further resist
ance.
The day for the departure arrived.
1t was fine winter day, entirely clear,
not too cold, and, in fact all that travellers
in such desolate regions could wish.
Yermac was radiant with satisfaction; at
last he was about to resume in regard to the
fugitives all his advantages His final or
ders given, he paid farewell visit to his
sons grave.
But when he returned what was his sur
prise? Little Ladislas was there! The
child, already informed by the Yakoutes OF
the impending abandonment of the hut, had
Immediately commanded them in the name
of Yegor Semenoff not to obey Yermac
He feigned that Yegor had sent them or
derS by him to rejoin him with the nartas
at the Bay of Kolioutchine, bringing with
them the chief of police, peac8ably or forci-
bly,.
It was in vain that Yermac, seeing ali mis-
trouble about to come to naught, strove to
resist. He was obliged to yield. The dogs
of the nartas, already turned in the direc-
tiOn of the west, were brought around to-
wards the east. The loads of the sledges
were iudiciously kept as they were by the
little Pole, who thought that the tobacco
and powder would be valuable articles of
exchange. He added only few light
garments belonging to Nadege and several
objects by which she set great store, not
forgetting the manuscript of DavidOff's last
poems.
The white reindeer was abandoned,
tri1e foundered it is true, but out of all
danger Of being sacrificed by the TchoUlkt-
CHS.
The nartas started on the journey. Wab
once more seemed to wish to act as guide.
Tt was necessary, in the first place, accord
ing to Ladislas' account, to reach the Bay of
Tchaounsk, without going too far from the
coast. Then, with the aid of the dog, they
would, perhaps, find the tracks Of Yegor
and M. Lafleur.
Nadege, unhappier than ever since the
disappearance of Ladislas and the white
reindeer, was subjected to all kinds of i'll
treatment. She passed her DAVIS over
49, %ae<s= "a
ner nights in tears. She suffered from hun
ger and cold, Disguised by the unsavory
food offered her and refusing to take place
in the common alcove. Night and day she
remained in the exterior tent, where the
cold made itself terribly felt. The poor
girl saw herself wasting away and she
thought that nothing but death could end
her woes.
One morning, the daughter of the poet
DavidOff, become the servant of a savage
with the near prospect of being his wife,
was cooking reindeer meat in a cast-irOn
pot, placed over the fire in the centre OF the
little circle of stones forming the hearth in
the midst of the tent While she watched
the boiling, with her delicate hands he
emptied the intestines of the animal, to OBJ
lain from them and put aside as delicacies
certain green particles resembling minced
spinach.
She was aided in her toll by greasy and
ul-smelling old domestic, who suffered from
very acute pains in her left side and back.
The old woman at length drew her long
Jacket over her head and, seating herself
On the ground before the young girl, begged
her by gestures to rub the affected parts of
her body The taWny skin of the invalid
could not be seen for thick coating of filth
Nadege was forced to comply with her re-
quest while serving the breakfast to the
three principal persons Of the tent, the
kamakay and his two wives, whose heads
and breasts alone protruded from the hang
ings of the alcove, the rest of the bodies,
very thinly clad remaining within.
The breakfast was composed of raw seal
liver, bowl of blood, yet warm and
smoking, from the same animal, and dish
of saur-krout N ade of fermented willow
leaves.
One of the wives, the least tattOoed, whose
name was Nuketou-the other was called
KOkerjabin-was quieting with resonant
"Ah-la-Yahl" a weeping infant at her
breast.
While eating the polar sauer-kraut, she
washed its face by licking it, precisely as
does an animal.
Three warriors, armed with pixies pointed
with walrus tusks, were present as visitors.
Seated on the ground upon skins, they ex-
changed with the inhabitants of the alcove
their reflections on the tall white stranger
with faxen hair.
In a corner, a second servant-a slave
with arms bare and red with blood to the
shoulders, was engaged in cutting slices OF
seal fish
Near her, another woman-a neighbor,
perhaps-was chewing a reindeer skin tC
give it pliancy and render it fit for the man
ufacture of boots and gloves.
Beside the platform, dozed a slut sur
rounded by a litter of pups, the plaintive
cries of which mingled tremendously with
the bowls of the frightful infant the wife Of
the chief was consoling.
The snow was falling without, sitting
every sound and scattering occasional fakes
about the hearth through the opening at
the top of the tent. The snow intercepted
the light to such an extent that the flames