The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1892-11-10

Moshka Umanski.
CHAPTER XXI
'BUT WHO CAN TURN THE sTREAI oFDEs-
TINY2"
How came it about that Moshka
Umanski was at Kara2 it will be asked
IT, was Fate, and who can avert
his Destiny Thus it happened. Wien
Moshka was condemned his sentence was
Sakhalin; but as was often the case with
those who were sent so far east. he was to
spend the first twelve months of his SEN
tence at the mines ofKara. Afterwards
when Aaron Arama was banished to the
convict island, message was de patched
to the Governor at Kara to say that Imam
ski was to be detained there pending fur
ther orders. No reasons were given for this
but probably somebody in power deemed,
in his supreme wisdom, that there was
danger in bringing Umanski and Arama
together in Sakhalin; for the Russian
official mind is haunted ever with fears of
conspiracy.
If an official were to see peasant
whispering confidently into the ear of his
donkey. ten to one but what that peasant
would be placed under arrest on charge
of an attempt to overthrow the Govern
ment. This is scarcely an exaggeraton,
and it serves TO illustrate the rottenness of
the Russian Government. One of the
the belief that the Jews aim at governing
the country.
To some wiseacre it seemed likely that
the young Jew and the old Jew
would concert q plan even in far-off
akhalin for the Cars downfall
This is suggestion, not a statement. II
might or might not have been SO. But
whatever the cause, thare was the fact
Moshka Umun XII was at Kara when
Rachel arrived. and therein was plainly
discernible, to all who are not blind the
mysterious workings of Fate.
Now it has already been shown that
Rachel had banished Moskka from her
dreams. Let there be no misinterpretation
of this. 1t does not in any way imply that
she had ceased to love him. But can one
love the dead? She regarded him as dead
to her; AMI out OF the charity of her heart
she had hoped that &C ual death might
like kindly friend who com orts US in
our trouble, and croons US to sleep when
we are weary, save him from the humilia-
ton and degradation of his bondage and
give him the peace which passeth under
standing.
Yet though she deemed him dead TO her,
comes she now to Kara and behold, he is
there! Was not that Fate? Now touching
and concerning him. It is notnecessary to
dwell in detail on all he had passed
through, all he had suffered and endured
since with ruthless barbarity he had been
torn from her upon whom he had
built his hopes; who was the
lie of his life and who seemed to
him, viewing her with lovers eyes, to be
touched with the radiance of heaven, and
only one degree removed from the angels
of God.
If you drag from the wall to which it
cings an ivy plant tearing out its delicate
tendrils and wounding the thousand and
one tibres with which it has identified itself
with the structure wLereon it has grown
and thrived, do you not destroy its life? 1t
does not die suddenly, but gradually.
Every day it withers alittle, as its life oozes
away through the wounded tendrils. Thus
was it with Moshka. He was like the ivy.
He seemed wounded unto death; not out
wardly wounded mind you. but in the
heart. 1t was there where the wrenched
tendrils were bleeding, and as he marched
away in his letters to the land of sorrow
most hourly that he might fall by the way
side and die, for why shou, d he cling to life
now that the essence Of his life was destroy
ed? Such were his thoughts, such his
wishes. But after all, hope dies hard in
the human heart, especially when the heart
is young.
had beaten him to the earth had passed,
Moshka began to look skyward again, and
there was born in his brain q thought that
he might yet clasp Rachel to his breast
once more and call her his own. 1t was
wild, perhaps delusive. thought, but it
had good effect, since it aroused in him
desire to hold on to life. Men had escaped
even from the remotest regions ofSiberia.
Why should not he do what other
men had done? The question shaped
itself to him. 1t rang in his ears
night and day. In far-off England he had
relatives. England was q free country.
IT, 1 ~ T,>E 81 l.
might be found living i'll unity. There
were no prosecutions, no massacres The
scales of justice were held fairly, and the
Jew and Gentle were ruled by the same
law.
To Moshka, therefore England was as
the promised land, under the crcum-
stances of his exile and misery; and could
he but succeed in getting clear of Siberia,
might he not in England enjoy that peace
and happiness that were denied him in his
native country? For could not Rachel
join him? And then, ahl then, what life
of bliss would be hisl
So that from a mere fitting phantom
that came and went at first, and seemed to
mock him, the idea grew and strengthened
until it was his one absorbing thought. 1t
brought back vigor to his muscles, strength
to his failing limbs. His dmmed eyes
grew brighter, his pale cheeks took on
color, and that thought was like c star,
that shone out ever brightly before him,
and led him on; cheering him when he
was sad, encouraging him when he falter-
ed.
1t need scarcely be said, perhaps, that at
This time he was not aware OF the terrible
evil that had fallen upon Rachel and her
father. He remembered with a vividness
that nothing could dim that dramatic
scene in the court when he was being tried,
when Rachel and Arama pleaded for him.
And il he had ever for moment doubted
the strength of her love-lhough as mat
ter OF fact he never habitat act of hers
must have built up great faith within
him which nothing could destroy.
''She loves me. he thought with a
great love that is as enduring as triple
brass; and when I am free that love shall
weld our lives in a p erfect whole"
And so he marched on, and so he thought
and hoped and dreamed. But there came
a day when Kara was reached, add anoth-
er day when he learned from some newly
| arrived prisoners that one Aaron Arama,
Jew from st. Petersburg was on his way to
Sakhalin, and with that piece of informa-
! ton the poor youths heart-cord seemed
to snap again. for he knew then that the
persecution was being pushed to degree
o inhuman barbarity, when an old man
like Arama could be sent into exile.
Then did hope wither within him; and
blank despair filled lis place, and he walled
within himself.
Never again, nev er again shall behold
Rachel" .
But the inscrutable laws of Fate were
working to different end, and once more
helookPd upon her face. But how changed
she was. Trial, hardship, and sorrow had
left their impression on her features, and
in her eyes was all expression that he could
not understand. The soft, dreamy, languid
| look that used to be theirs was theirs no
| longer; it was supplanted by a restless,
| watchul expressions; while about
her mouth were indications of some stern
| purpose.
| He noted these things but he was not
surprised at the change. Nor had he any
| difficulty in determining that she was
| jourHeying to her father and then he en-
| dured u conflict with himself on the ques-
ton whether he should reveal himself to
| her not.
'Shall l." he reasoned with himself
disturb her, and add another pang to the
many she is enduring, by reviving all the
memories of those briIht and peaceful and
| happy days, now so far off when life for
us was dream, and the world garden of
| flowers?"
| No man of good and unselfsh princi-
/ pies could put such an argument as that
hof, /,