The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-12-13
A TEST OF NERVE.
In Which Many a More Experienced
Man Than Our Hero Might
Have Failed.

&OORo composing O6oUhAtOo 4AAJ
He asked Krasinski, the commandment
of the l~ancers, to find him a brave and
intelligent young man. Two days after
ward the commandment brought the
prince a young man of his corps, for
whom he pledged his life. His name
was Leckinski, and he was but eighteen
years old.
Murat was moved at seeing so young
man court SO imminent a danger, for if
he were detected his doom was sealed.
Murat could not help remarking to the
Pole the risk he was about to run. The
youth smiled.
"Let your imperial highness give M
my Instructions" answered he respect
fully, "and 1 will give a good account
Of the mission / have been honored
with"
The young prince augured favorably
from the young mans modest resolu-
ton. The Russian ambassador gave
him his dispatches; he put on a Russian
uniform and set out for Portugal.
The first two days passed over quietly,
but on the afternoon of the third Leck-
inski was surrounded by a body of Span
iards, who disarmed him and dragged
him before their commanding officer.
Luckily for the gallant youth it was
Castanos himself.
Leckinski was aware that he was lost
if he were discovered to be a French
man; consequently he determined on
the instant not to let a single word of
French escape him, and to speak but
Russian and German, which he spoke
with equal fuency. The cries of rage
of his captors announced the fate which
awaited him, and the horrible murder
of General Rene, who had persisted in
the most dreadful fortunes but a few
weeks before as he wa going to join
Junot, was sufficient to freeze the very
blood.
"Who are your' said Castanos in
French, which language he spoke per-
fectly well, having been educated in
France.
Leckinski looked at the q~uestioner,
made a sign and answered in German,
81 do not understand you."
Castanos spoke German, but he did
not wish to appear personally in the
matter and summoned one of the officers
of his staff, who went on with the ex-
animation. The young Pole answered
in Russian or German, but never let a
single syllable of French escape him.
He might, however, easily have forgot
ten himself, surrounded as he was by a
crowd eager for his blood, and who
waited with savage Impotence to have
him declared ~guilty-that is, a French
man-to fall upon him and murder him.
But their fury was raised to a height
which the general himself could not con-
troll, by an incident which seemed to cut
off the unhappy prisoner from every
hope of escape. One of Castanos' aids de
camp, one of the fanatically patriotic
who were so numerous in this war, and
who from the first had denounced Leck-
inski as q French spy, burst in the room,
dragging with him a man wearing the
brown jacket, tall hat and red plume of
a Spanish peasant.
The officer confronted him with the
Pole and said:
"Look at this man, and then say if it
is true that he is a German or a Rus
sian. He is a spy, l swear by my SOUL"
The peasant meanwhile was eying the
prisoner closely. Presently his dark eye
lighted up with the fire of hatred.
"Es Frances, he is a Frenchman!' ex-
claimed he, clapping his hands. And
he stated that having been in Madrid a
few weeks before he had been put in
requisition to carry forage to the French
barrack, and, said he, 81 recollect that
this is the man who took my load of
forage and gave me a receipt. 1 was
near him an hour and recollect him.
When we caught him I told my comrade
this is the French officer I I delivered my
forage to-"
This was correct. Castanos probably
discovered the true state of the case, but
he was a generous foe. He proposed to
let him pursue his journey, for Leckinski
still insisted he was a Russian, and could
not be made to understand a word of
French. But the moment he ventured
a hint of the kind, a thousand threaten
ing voices were raised against him and
he saw that clemency was impossible.
But" said he, evil you then risk a
quarrel with Russia, whose neutrality
we are SO anxiously asking for?'
''No," said the officer, 'sbut let us try
this man."
Leckinski understood all, for he was
acquainted with Spanish. He was re-
moved and thrown into a room worthy
to have been one of the dungeons of the
snquisition in its best days.
When the Spaniards took him prisoner
he had eaten nothing since the previous
evening, and when his dungeon door
was closed on him he had tasted for
eighteen hours. No wonder then what
with exhaustion, fatigue, anxiety, and
the agony of his dreadful situation, that
the unhappy prisoner fell almost sense
less on his hard couch. Night 0
closed in and left him to realize in it's
gloom the full horror of his hopeless
situation. He was brave, of course, but
to die at eighteen-'tis sudden. But
youth and fatigue finally yielded to the
approach of sleep and he was soon buried
in profound slumber..
He had slept perhaps two hours when
the door of his dungeon opened slowly
and some one entered with cautious
steps, hiding with his hand the light of
a lamp. The visitor bent over the pris-
oner's couch, the hand that shaded the