The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1891-01-29


among the natives of the north of Siberia.
The Yakoutes did not return quickly with
their nartas loaded with food and the fugi-
tives began to lack provisions. In their
turn, they felt the rough attacks of hunger.
Then, touching combats of generosity arose
among them. M. Laheur pretended that
the cold produced in him an effect contrary
to that which it usually produces and APP
peased his hunger He insisted that Mad
eye and Yegor should take the largest
shares Ladislas devised means to make
his adopted sister believe he had eaten too
much and, with genuine self-denial obliged
her to eat the food of which he deprived
himself
Yermac much surprised to see the fugi-
tives so soon reduced to the extremities
from which he had just been relieved, stud
led with curiosity the suffering expression
of their countenances. The more they weak
ened-While he was regaining strength and
courage-the more things became equal be-
! tween him and them. His satisfaction would
have been perfect, if he had not shared the
fears of his companions in regard to the two
guides.
The fugitives sought to explain the delay
of the Yakoutes, and economical their food.
Yermac was disturbed by the prolonged alb
|
too much to Tekel's comrade concerning the
people he served.
Perhaps, afraid of compromising them
selves, the guides would not return. In that
case. Yermac regarded his fight as impos-
sible. But would not the continuation of
the fugitives' journey also be rendered i'm
possible? What could they do without their
sledges, without their dogs, and without
| provisions upon the deserted shores of the
Arctic Ocean? They would be forced to
avow themselves vanquished, incapable OF
pushing their attempt to the end, and would
be but too happy to be able to return to Yak
outsk under the protection of the chief OF
police.
The fugitives were soon reduced to dis
putting their rations with Wab and the two
Siberian dogs which Yegor had kept These
animals deprived Of nourishment, uttered
lugubrious complaints. The Siberian dogs
are accustomed to howl four times a day,
but Yegor's dogs now howled all day and
all night.
The situation of the exiles grew painful
in the extreme; and, added to this, the
biting cold occasioned them all sorts of sui
fering.
One morning, little Ladislas complained
that his feet were excessively cold, M.
| Lafleur took off his shoes and uttered a cry
on seeing that the child's stockings, frozen
to his feet, adhered to them. 1t was neces-
sary to use caution in disembarrassing him
! of the icy coverings Happily, the feet,
although stiff, were yet unframed. NJ.
Lafleur re-established the circulation of
/ the blood by rubbing them vigorously with
/ brandy.
The difficulties of life were also augment
ed by reason of the cold They were forced
to cut the meat with hatchets. If they
touched an iron utensil, without taking the
precaution to cover the hand, the contact OF
the iron with the skin produced the effect of
! burn. If Yegor, on consulting his little
compass, neglected to hold his breath, the
glass Immediately vanished beneath coat
| ing of ice Out-of-doors, their eyelids were
covered with an icy crust. Yegor's watch
would no longer CO. although he took great
care to carry it always upon him and to put
it at night under his coverings. x.
Although the fugitives were clad in fan
mel undershirts, drawers and stockings of
wool, flannel shirts, knit jackets, coats OF
heavy felt-clOth, and seal-skin pantalOOns-
Indispensable objects that Yegor had had
the foresight to purchase at the bazaar OF
Yakoutsk-and although they slept with
their clothes on and covered with furs fire.
quently the cold hunger's auxiliary, pre-
vented them from sleeping
When M. Laf1eur exposed himself to the
air, he put on cloth coat, with a veil at
tached, and covered his head with a wool
len cloth resembling huge dishevelled
wig. But his laughable attire had not the
! power to bring even a smile to the faces Of
his friends.
no 711ofO mate
sorrow. They had escaped from the cap
tivity of men only to fall into that of the
! elements.
Yet this exile, this Imprisonment in the
midst of ice and gloom, seemed to have at
fractions when compared to what Yego1
had suffered in the mines of Nertchinsk and
| Nadege in her life of Punishment. Here |
| hope sustained them, AS soon as the sun |
returned from its long journey, they could
continue their own. They compared them
selves to those heroes of fairy tales, who
await their deliverance in forest or a |
chateau where some magic power has con-
fined them. The chances of safety increased |
daily Oh that hunger had not so imperi-
ously demanded it's rights and made them
feel its tyrrany!
Happily, they had passed through the
greater portion Of that long night which |
lasts more than month. At noon, it seem
cd to them like midnight. In the south,
vacillated little twilight glimmer of pale
yellow The sun had descended so many |
degrees that it could be seen only from the
top Of q mountain more than thirty miles |
high When the moon did not appear in
the sky and when the aurora borealis was
| absent in the sonbre vault of the armament |
there were produced only from time to time
u minous rays traced by the silver track of
shooting star-a rapid fash in the midst of
the deep night, spark that fell and was
extinguished in space.
But to break the frightful silence o f the
polar night, which affected the mind still
more than the disappearance of the light, |
there was only the noise produced by the
ice blocks as they broke one against another
in the incompletely solidified places, noise
capable of making strange impression
| 1,oo,, hoard 671Tino +hic 1Ono and cold NIGHT