Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1892-12-29
drawn up'n marching oroer, the Office,

drawn up IN marching order, the Office
called out hoarsciy to the co victs:-
"stroisa" (.orm my "Ready; march.
Then The chained convicts moved il
close column. ianked on either side by tn,
SO dicrs The women who were able tt
bring ng up the rear were morePISoldicrs
Paul Perovna did not ride, nor did his
Catherine. But occasionally as they halle,
on the road Tor rest they were enabled tt
exchange lew words. ana Catherine badt
him be of good cheer, for All artelS would
(1An nrtel is a secret union, formed witt
the vowed object Of carrying out some ac
OF vengeance. 1t will be explained more
fully Ia er on.) be ormed, and then he
hour of vengeance would strike. Pau
smiled grimly at thisand he muttered il
respnn>e-
''Ye.; there shall! be day of reckoning
0 course Ivan Alexieff accompanied the
party; and as he was under no restriction.
save such as applied to every Individual
who :ormed one OF marching party, he
found ample opportunity to converse with
Rachel. and he renewed his p otes,ations o
love She no l"n-,er ch- cked him, nc
longer told him there Guild be no reel.
procity., She knew how useless it was to
duso. He would not be influenced by
anything she SAID One day, hen he had
tried in vain to draw trom'her some ex.
preston rnat he might constr1o in hN
favor, he exclaimed:
"Ah, how cruel you are! What sacri-
fees would 1 not make for you, ans yet
you give me no sign that n,ny hope"
AS she turned and looked at him she laid
her hand upon his arm and said.
all that l have suffered has made
me SO. You say y"u would make
any sacrifice Tor me. Do you remember
your oath in st. Petersburg?"
II do"
"You promised to make sacrifice should
demand
Il did"
She turned away from him for a few mo-
ments as if some passing emotion had over
come her. And when she looked at him
again her eyes were moist, and i'll solemn
tone. she said this to hint
Ivan AlcXici1, we are approaching the
end of our long and trying journe.A and
about to enter upon another act 0 the stir
ring drama in which we have taken part.
Be ore it is too late, would besecch you
TO accompany me no farther. | cannot be
indifferent to your feelings, lnsrnslble 10
your future happiness; therefore t is that |
ask you now, plead to you, to leave me,
lest the sacrifice may demand of YOU
br ngs Il curse upon both OF us. There ore,
instead Of sailing with MS down the moor
to Niko,nevsk, strike south, and i'll Il lew
days you can reach Nladivost"ck, aud
thence proceed to any part you like"
II should. indeed. be a poor
fool" he exclaimed, 'if, after oil |
have gone through and endured on your
account, turned craven now at the last
hour and deserted you. No, Rachel, | go
on even though death, with uplited spear.
stands in my athway. know not, care
not, what the end is so long as i am with
YOU. Perhaps this is madness; but il it is
prefer TO remain mad rather than be-
come sane again.
1T must be so; it must he SO then," she
murmured rather to her eli than as if adj
dressing him. and signing deeply. Then
she added, 1T is fate, and late is not our
own making
And now after another days march the
last stage of the weary journey was enter
ed upon. The party reached a place on
the Amoor River. called ka- akevich,
where they embarked on board the convict
barge that was to convey them to their dcs
tination. And two days later. when the
east was grey and gloomy and the west was
dyed with crimson and gold as the sun
sank, the barge anchored at the lonely sta
ton of Nikolacvsk, ut the mouth ofthe
Amoor, and across the narrow Gull of
Tartary the dr. airy and drsolatc Island Of
Sakhalin doomed grimly in the fading
light