The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1891-01-08
\ THE EXILES.'
AYRUSSIAN STORY.

The ch1o1 OF pC1lc6 Was S6dIou, do Ou I1o
preceding days, in M. Lafeur's marta. The
fugitives were fast leaving in the distance
the settlement where they had been so hos
pitably received.
Why had not Yermac followed up his res
olution to betray them? Because the chief
Metek, upon whom he had counted, had not
returned. He had been compelled to re-
sumo the journey with his companions
without opposition, seeming very unim-
portant parsonage beside the all-powerful
chaman.
The nartas were speeding along the very
steep right bank of the Kolima, going in the
direction of Nijni-Kolimsk, the travellers in
tending to pass this last Russian station.
Yermac thought he would be set at liberty
when the fugitives reached the frontiers OF
the country of the Tchouktchis.
In the middle Of the day. the weather sud
denly changed; grayish mists arose from be-
hind the wooded hills left by the travellers
on their right.
These mists indicated the approach of
pourga, tempest peculiar to the Siberian
regions and one of the greatest obstacles to
a winter journey across the solitudes OF
snow Like the norther of the southern
ATTITUDES, the pourga often comes on unex-
pectedly without the least warning and
passes, sometimes for more than week,
through successive phases of violence and
fury.
Ordinarily, this tempest is not accom-
panied by fall of snow, but it is character
lied by immense whirling masses of snow
which the wind tears from the plains and
tonndra3 and which II transports afar. in
thick and suffocating clouds which prevent
one from seeing at distance of four PAGES.
The air is literally INSTRUCTED with thick
fakes, which, in a few seconds, wall up, SO
to speak, ones eyes and nostrils. The force
of the wind renders standing upright an I'M
possibility. Advancing in such weather IS
Aot to be thought of, and the unfortunate
surprised by one OF these tempests can only
bury himself under his furs behind his
sledge and wait there without other shelter,
shivering and benumbed with cold, for days
and nights, until the wind weakens. If,
before that hour Of deliverance, his pro
visions give out, ali his efforts to escape
from death will be useless, the frightful
hurricane bearing away whatever cries he
may utter. Worn out with cold, lassitude
and hunger he sinks beneath the snow, the
white winding-sheet of which speedily
marks with slight undulation the place of
his final repose.
The black cloud, which for an hour had
hung about the horizon, spread rapidly to-
wards the south and enveloped with sombre
mists the last glimmers of the Arctic twi-
light. The wind, loaded with hoarse bel
lowings brought from the ice-foes and ice
fields of the Polar Sea- hurled itself upon
the plain raising whirlwinds of snow, which
e. ALL
ness towards the thick of the advancing
tempest
Yegor had scarcely time to order the two
nartas to be brought together before the
hurricane burst upon the fugitives. Soon
every sound was lost in the roar of the
tempest, while the snow in fal1y clouds alb
sorbed the air and impeded respiration
Yegor and Nadege could no longer see
even their team of dogs, and, in the brief
pause they made a short time afterwards to
assure themselves that no one was missing,
they perceived that the second sledge, in
which were M. LafeUr and Yermac, had not
followed them Five minutes, ten minutes
elapsed and still the two men did not come.
They uttered cries and Yegor discharged
his pistols. He despatched Tekel as far
back as he dare go, but the Yakoute return
ed, saying that he could not see two PAGES
before him and that the gale had effaced all
traces of their passage.
Yegor desired to wait, hoping that the de-
iayed sledge would rejoin them. He adj
vised Nadege and Ladislas to descend and
take refuge behind the marta. 1t was but a
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 thickened,' growing more
and more Opaque. Suddenly, a half-suffo-
Gated cry. a cry of desperation, rang out
from the midst of the whmling cloud.
monsieur Lafeur! Monsieur Lafeur!"
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 sledget" commanded Yegor. 1--WE
must follow our friends marital"
The wind had extreme impetuosity 1t
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
close- TO Yogor; 1T seems to me as if the
wind would blow me away"
After an hour Of frightful traveling-an
hour which seemed to them century 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 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 La1eur" cried Yegor.
present! !" answered. the dancing master,