The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1892-11-10
CHAPTER Xxx.
AT THE KARA MINES.

had insulted Catherne-was ordered into
close confinement in the jealousy guarded
prison, while Catherine and Rachel were
duartered in the houses of some so-called
free convicts-that is convicts who were
ALLOW to build huts for themselves and live
q comparatively free liie free from the irk-
some restraint of the prisons. The on
ward Journey still further to the east for
those who were destined for the lower
Amoor and Sakhalin would not be COM
m enced until the spring had opened the
roads again, so that those who had not yet
reached their final destination had many
months to get over before doing so.
GATHERINGS separation from the husband
she so adored was great blow, but just be-
fore parting he had managed to say to
her:
"Be ofgood cheer, my Catherine. We
shall meet again, for cannot think that
God has forgotten us; and do not desert
Rachel She is lonely anu friendless.
Even without this expressed wish of
her husband that she should not
desert Rachel she would not have
done so; for they were more closely and
firmly knit than sever by the suffering and
the sorrow they had endured.
Rachel had borne up bravely through it
all, but it was with an inexpressible sense
of thank fulness that she found herself at
last freed from the horrors and the restraint
of the etapes and the forwarding prisons;
and yet the accommodation OF the hut in
which she now obtained shelter in Kara
was of the most meagre kind. The hut was
built of driitwood, the interst ces OF the
logs being stuffed with dried moss to keep
out the wind and the cold. There was no
other bed than that which some dirty skins
and rugs on the floor afforded, and warmth
was obtained by logs burntin hole in one
corner of the hut, the smoke finding its way
out through an opening i'll the roof If
Rachel had come suddenly to this place
from her once luxurious home in ST. Peters
burg she would have shrunk with loathing
from her surroundings, but what she had
gone through during the long journey
through Siberia made this wretched place
seem almost like little palace.
1t was still terrible trial to have to
wait there inactive amidst the Attic snow
during the long, long weeks that would
have to elapse before the first welcome notes
OF the cuckoo would proclaim that the
roads were open again. And then the sus-
pense was we'll nigh maddenit G. There
was scarcely aiminute of her waking hours
but what she thought of her loved ones,
She wondered what they were doing, how
they lived, if they thought as much of her
as she thought of them.
And sometimes there was a wordless
| PRAYER in her heart that if God had not
already taken Moshka to his rest He would
40 So lOE IubIllGSStJ GOI1A 14O4tA LCA do 4IC
| had been, and transported to one of the
most inhospitable corners of the earth, his
lite could only be one of unutterable tor
ment Better, far better therefore that he
should die. Neveri in her widest dreaming
did she deem it probable that she would
meet Moshka again on earth. And as he
could have no hope of freedom, it seemed
to her but charity to wish him dead.
In the case of:her father it was some
what different. She had got permission to
go to him; and her journey had been I'M
| dertaken with that specific purpose.
But llet not going to him be
to live with him and be with him always.
| The stern and cruel Government regula-
tions did not permit of women and children
| residing with their relatives on the bleak
Island Of Sakhalin.
In sending convicts to that in hospit table
place it seemed as if the authorities, with
| devilish ingenuity, had aimed at rendering
| the lives of the men as utterly Wretched as
it was possible to render them. The only
| modification to that was that such relatives
| rs chose of their own free will to make
their homes at Nikoaevsk, at the mouth Of
| the Amoor, Immediately opposite the
northern end of Sakhalin, from which it is
separated by a narrow straight known as
| stated intervals to pay brief visit to those
belonging to them who.were imprisoned on
| the island.
For the sake of this miserable concession
| few devoted women, with their
children, did repair to that lonely and
were deprived Of all the comforts of civil.
cation, and isolated from everything that
could make life enjoyable.
But love takes no count of cost and sui
fering. For the loved ones sake it will
face danger and privation. Shame and
| de TIL cannot deter it. For loves sake
| women have become giants in their powers
OF endurance Obstacles that would have
| daunted the bravest of men they have over
come, and, when called upon to do so,
| they have sacrificed themselves without a
moan tor those who were dear to them.
1t was hardly to be expected that one
whose beauty was so conspicuous as was
| Rachel's should, in place like Kara, es-
cape the attention of the young men. 1t
| soon spread amongst the officials that a
| young and beautiful Jewess had arrived OH
| her way to the East with a Government
| permit. She was no longer the blushing
| girl, shrinking with maiden timidity and
| bashfulness from the gaze of the curious,
as we knew her in her fathers house at St.
| Petersburg.
| Sorrow, trial, priyation, wrong, and
suffering had placed their indelible stamp
| upon her face, but she was beautiful still.
| And thus it came about that she attracted
the notice of a young sub-officer named
| Peter Balekhin, who was attached to the
| police staff. He began to secretly press his
! attentions upon her. She repulsed him.
| Then he was cowardly enough to say that
| he would get up charge against her, and
| she would be thrown into the prison, and
| perhaps kept at the mines for years. 49,
| Horrifed at this prospect, and knowing
now by bitter, experience how easily a
| charge could be trumped up, and how
utterly powerless the victim was to re ist
1t or Obtain redress, especially if the victim
| happened to be of the Jewish persuasion,
she turned in her distress to her friend and
fellow-sufferer Catherine TOR advice.
1.-THE God of Jacob pity me, Catherine"
she cried, when she had told her story;
"what shall dor
For some moments Catherine was silent.
| She saw the danger, but she rose to the
situation. and, laying her hands on Rachel's
| shoulders, she said
"You are a woman, with woman's wit.
Circumvent this man. Play with HIM;
twist him about your finger; deceive him
to his own fall. He may be of use to you
Ito us. Use him. But as Dellah betray-
ed Samson, so you can betray this dog
Peter Balakhin when the right moment
comes. Have said enough"
Yes" answered Rachel, sorrowfully,
| and though every sense she possessed re-
VOTED against the deception she would
have to practice, she knew there was no
other course, and she braced herself up for
it.
But there was another man in the settle
ment who had been attracted to her. He was
q convict, who by good conduct had earned
the right to live as free convict When
lie heard that Jewess by the name of Rach-
ell Arama had come there his heart almost
stood still with the great shock ofsurprIse.
Then wild joy thrilled his nerves, and
sent the blood couising madly though his
veins. He watched her without being
seen. He allowed weeks to elapse, and he
made no attempt to let her know the effect
her presence had upon him.
lie discovered that Peter Balakhin was
prosecuting her with his attentions. But
he remained silent. He heard his fellow
convicts comment freely on the fact that
"Balakhin was smitten with the handsome
Jewess." Still he remained silent, and yet
be watched and watched and watched
gaEed after her with passionate longing;
and murmured dark threats against Balak-
hin.
| And thename of this convict upon whom