The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1892-11-03

BEAST AND FooLi'
"Beast and fool! Such an insult as that
offered to my wife, under any other cir
cumstances than those i'll which am now
placed, should cost you your life"
You threaten, do your" cried the Off
Ger, stopping suddenly in his course and
turning round like fierce hyena that was
making ready to spring upon his prey.
AYE, l threaten. and may even carry
out my threat If you be not more polite"
''Ho, guardl" called the Off; er, and two
gendarmes stepped forward; seize this
man and take him to the punishment
ground.
With a great scream of agonizing des-
pair, Catherine sprang to her husband and
threw her arms about his neck But she
was dragged ruthlessly away and hurled 10
the earth, where she lay stun
ned. Paul. knowing the uselessness OF
resistance, made none, and walked with
sullen mien and compressed lips between
the guard to what was known as the pun
ishment ground. There his ragged shirt
was stripped from his back and he was
mercilessly beaten with the kuout the of
fcer who had ordered the whipping admin
istering several blows himself.
After that terrible and cruel punishment
Paul was nolonger the same man. When
his wife got chance OF, speaking to him
she was almost frenzied with anger.
There shall be day OF reckoning for
this, she said, fiercely
"Dai Bogh" God grant iD, answered
Paul. with his teeth closely cIenched, his
eyes blazing forth fire, thereby indicating
how dangerous he had become. But
hush." he continued, mot word Let us
be like cats that watch in the dark for their
prey, silent and unheard"
Trust me, dear one" returned Catherine
with significant emphasis.
A week later Rachel passed word with
him.
"They have fogged YOU" she said in a
tone OF strong sympathy
Yes, he answered.
"They floggcd ME once in ST. Peters
burg" she continued. her face re ldening
with shame at the bare thought of that out
rage 81 had committed no crime, done
no wrong, she continued, land yet they
~ AH aSt,u4os, tsu1. TT is easy to taunt
and insult the cased lion. But sometimes
the lion breaks his bars and then-well,
then sometimes he is shot. But sometimes
the lion tears his keepers
He took Rachel's hand, pressed it. and
said in whisper; go. Let us NOT be
seen conYersing together"
It was thus that another strong bond was
forged between these people=Catherine
Rachel, and Paul, The two women were
drawn much closer together, but BY tacit
time being the subject Of their ep wrongs. FHF
At length the party went upon the
road again, and orders were given to the
convoy guard to closely watch Paul, who
was described as "a violent and dangerous
prisoner" The winter was setting In now,
and over the northern tundras the pitiless
Arctic blasts swept and brought with them
fierce storms of snow. And yet the winter
winds and the polar snow were not more
pitiless then the men who drove the exile
party over the dreary steppes at such time
OF year.
At Tomsk Rachel had met co-relgion.
ist in the person of fur trader to whom
she had told her sad story, and he had
given her fur travelling dress, so that she
might, as far as possible. be protected from
the cold; and he had also supplied her
with q considerable sum of mon ~ on her
placing in his hands an order
Tor payment from some of her
guarded with almost miserly care, for she
knew how necessary money would be-in
helping herto carry her great purpose in
to effect.
And so under more favorable circum-
stances she began that long and trying part
of the journey. After many long and
wearing march, 1rkusk, on the shores of
the Angara, which flows from the great
lake Baikal, was reached. During all the
time Paul Petrovna and his wife bad not
been allowed to speak to each other, by
way of punishment for his refractory con-
duct in Toliisk. 1t was terrible trial to
both OF them. But they madeno murmur
they uttered no conn laint They knew
that if they did complain the onlyresult
would be a further infiiction pun sliment
A o,ourn OF fortnight was spent in
1rkutsk; then such of the party as were
goitfg forward through the Trans BaikaI
to the east by way of the Kara Mines,
w n | r nT1t,nor a. fha nfcu
to be lett, once more got in motion. 1t is
forty odd miles from [rkutsk to the Great
Lake, which has a length of over
tour hundred miles Fhis Jake was
m1eHeea the march Though the awful, DIES;
the ponylpts persisted here from cold,
hunger, fatigue and disease, But Paul
and Catherine and Rachel endured the mis-
cry and the rigours of the climate. They
were sustained by something which their
wretched ow-travelers had not. That
something in each case might have been
shadowy, vague thing, as shadowy and I'M
substantial and phantom-like as a film of
breath upon polished glass. But what
ever it was it kept them up.
The great region which lies 10 the east
and north is desolate drelry region,
sparsely opulated with wretchtd roads,
If they can be called roads, and with no
proper accommodation for travellers In
summer 1t is badI in winter its aWlulness
cannot be ovorstated. t. through the In.
hospitable wildSth civilized aud Christian
Government of Russia allo VS. its subjects to
be driven like dumb cattle being AIKEN to
the slnu.hter. 1t matters not that the
SLOWS sweep down from the Arctic regions,
and that the cold times makes life we'll
nigh insuppo table. !.
On the wretthed people must go; people
who under the fostering care of good gov
eminent would become an llunorRnd credit
to tlieif'c0ufitry. But tile man, who eVen
looks angrily at the Cars cat IL liable to
be at once sent into exile, and so, noble and
| peasant, rauper and prince, are constantly
passing in stream overt the Siberian steppes
npd ub-Arctic wilderness to the living
grave of the Kara Mines, or the horrors
and purgRtory of aakhalinI while brutal,
| ignorant and stupid officials and soldiers
treat the manac,ed prisoners worse than the
| Arab slave-hunters of Equatorial Africa
treat their slaves. But while Christian
| countries combine to put down the African
| slave trade, no Government raises protest
| ing voice against the barbarities oil inhuman
Russia.
! AZ the sexile party pushed Oh their way
| the ppisohpps etapes, where every lox every
! stone, and every grain of earth is saturated
| with the contagion or deadly diseasg others
! fell by the way, and were huriedTip the
spowj and those who lived strained their
eyes YEARLY in searching the snow-povered
wastes for some signs of the end of their
| journey; and in their hearts they cried outs
"ohI Lord, how long is this misery to
last2n
I 1t was the cry of sorrow-stricken people