The Banner-Democrat., 1892-11-26
A WOLF HUNT.
In Which an Austrian Princess
Took a Prominent Part

For many years public interest has
been drawn toward that portion of
Austrian Poland which would consti-
tute the battle ground in the event of a
war with Russia Beyond the track or
ken OF the ordinary tourist, and COM
paratively undisturbed by the shrek
and rattle of the railway trains, it has
remained terra incognita to all ex-
cept the officers and troops charged
with the duty of guarding the frontier,
and to the few great mobiles who dwell
in grandeur in the magnificent Castles
which here and there crown the rocky
eminences and dominate the boundless
steppes- The boundary line between
Austria and Russia is closely guarded
by regiments of Cossacks on one side
and by Austrian lancers on the other,
and the surrounding country, being ex-
trcmely wild and but sparsely populat-
cd by half-civilized peasantry, and
being, moreover, infested with wild
beasts, the life of the officers detailed
for frontier duty is often fraught with
much danger and adventure.
A few years ago, in the month of Au-
gust my regiment. the -th lam
GERS, was ordered to leave its pleasant
quarters in Vienna and proceed to
w for the purpose of relieving the
- regiment of lancers on the Rms
sian frontier, and four weeks later we
reached our station on the border of
the steppes. The country appeared ex-
tremely desolate. with villages few
and far between; immense plains of
grain and grass; large swamps of |
reedy wilderness and gloomy forests of |
pines, through which the wind moaned |
piteously. The village where we were
quartered was rather picturesque. The
peasants huts, built on both sides of n
broad, muddy road, were painted blue.
yellow or pink, and were shaded bv
groves OF birches and willow trees.
The nearest town was q nineteen
hours ride over execrable roads, and
when finally reached was but a miser-
able place, which did not repay the
long journey. When we arrived at our
destination we looked rather disconso-
lately at the bare, damp, wooden bar
racks which our predecessors had left
n very unprepossessing condition,
and we should have given up the at
Tempt of ever hoping to make our
abode even moderately habitable had ,
= not eenfor the cheerful and light j
hearted manner in which young Prin- ,
'ess M, the wife of our colonel, who I
aad been adventurous enough to ac- I
company her husband into this vol :
lutary exile, accepted all the hard :
hips OF the situation. The young prin- ;
'ess, who was of French birth, had !
'een married at sixteen to our colonel. 7
'r1nce M, and at the time of which 4
am writing was about eighteen wears I
ia. She was a small, slender, lovely I
nri' with fair. white skin, golden 6
'rown hair, large, dark gray eyes and 4 y
ragile frame, which, however, seemed s
teeled against any kind of fatigue. :
ne was one of Empress Elizabeth's 4
avorite ladies in waiting, and It was v
My with difficulty that she had 1
ntained from her imperial mis- o
ress permission to follow her :
usband into the wilds of Poland. :,
he said that she considered il to a
her duty to come with us, and to n
heer us in our despondency. God h
less her for her unselfshness and d
,urage in comingi For the months 3
hich we spent on the frontier would I,
ave been weli-nigh unbearable with Il
at her constant and untiring efforts to a,
AXE both soldiers and officers look at D
'e bright side of things. When she ap- v
Jared among us with her memories Of in
iris, her joyful animation, her sweet Of
y. silvery voice and her great eyes ca
arkling alike with mirth and with ST,
aith, every face frightened, and the to
Hest hours were changed into an
cams Of wonderland. How could we la
mplain Of the privations which this CO
tied court beauty accepted SO uncom- an
lin'ngly and with such happy gracc9 sci
9 arranged her suite Of miscrs bls de-