The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-06-20
A LUCKY RUSSIAN.

verse. Owned and managed by the Rus
sian government, they constitute IN en-
tire city and are fortified like a fort
against the rest of the world.
Russian sheet iron, as every n
knows, is the strongest and best pro-
duced by any nation, and the process of
its manufacture is ~jealously guarded by
the authorities. One who enters the
service of the company never again sees
the outside world. He gives up every
thing-freedom, family, friends, all for
the sum of a few pitiful rubles a month
delivered where he chooses. He is there
i'm the works, but he might as well be in
his grave. Not a word can be obtained
concerning him, and should he live 20
years after entering the service or die
the next day not even his family would
be the wiser, unless the stoppage of the
monthly stipend revealed the fate of the
man. Once in awhile one tries to es-
cape; not often, however, for they are
always caught and always shot-as q
warning to others-for the attempted
treachery.
1t was a crisp October night in the lit
tie village of Obyinsk, about 200 miles
from the great iron works. The weather
wa sharp, the trees and vegetation
turned to a reddish brown-all but the
lichens and moses, which seemed to
crouch into the very powders in their
effort to shield themselves from the keen
wind, sweeping knifelike from the
covered Ural.
Petroff Norvitski entered his poor hut
M his wife Katrina placed their scant
supper of dry bread and potatoes on the
little fir table, on which flickered and
flared a bit of candle end stuck in a gourd
for candlestick.
81 am tired through, wife," said he,
land will go to bed, but cheer up before
I go; sunshine is always back of the
clouds. True, the crops have failed and
lean get no work, bat the Blessed Vir-
gin will surely see us through the win
ter"
+ AND with a tender kiss to wife and
babies Petrof sought the rest he so much
needed. He shut his eyes, but not to
sleep, and only to turn over and over in
his fevered brain the probability Of see
ing his family starve and freeze. He
was brighter, more hopeful, when he
rose next morning, but any one could
have seen that his cheerfulness was
mostly assumed. Eating his breakfast
one potato again-Petroff kissed the
babies more tenderly than usual, and
evading his wifes questions as to where
he was going he babe her keep up her
heart and once more left the house.
But once out of sight of her eyes he
flung himself down by the roadside, and,
strong man as he was, he bowed his
head in his hands and sobbed like a child.
But Petroff was a sturdy fellow, and
after a few moment given to %uncontrol.
liable grief he wiped away his tears and
strobe down the highway. From time
to time he begged a bit of bread from
passing serf, and when nightfall settled
over the valley crawled into a thicked
and sunk into a heavy sleep. The SUI
was peeping bold and brassy over tn,
Ural mountains before he awoke and
stiff and sore began again his tramp to
ward the iron works. 1t had crossed thu
meridian, the shadows were lengthen
ing, and still not a morsel of food ha,
passed his lips this day, every one o
whom he had begged a bite needing i
for their uses.
Suddenly to the right a gunsho
sounded. and a ptarmigan fell within
reach.
"A providence for met' cried PETROL
joyously seizing and thrusting it unde
his jacket and looking about him {
make sure that the sportsman had miss
ed the effect Of his shot. As soon as b
dared he stopped made a fire and cool
ed the bird, and though he ate it with
out bread or salt it gave him strengt
10 keep his way. Sleeping in the Nigh
air had stiffened and made his bone
ache, so he had decided that he woul
not again try the thicket If he could hel
it, and as night had come on dark an
murky he began to look about him Il
q place OF shelter. He was then, thong
he did not know it, passing the estate
the celebrated Comte Romanoff.
Looming through the darkness stoc
the great turreted castle with its battl
Inented walls and close by the highws
q barn, into which Petroff slippt
through an open window and stretcht
himself on the sweet smelling hay, b
troubles for the time forgotten in slul
Der.
1t was pitch dark and close on to mi
might when the sound of voices rous
him-suppressed voices talking In ca
fions tones, which at once awakened /
suspicious. He lay still and listened.
@But this isn't the stable a voice
the door murmured complainingly.
mo, devil take it,"ireplied anoths
II took the wrong turn; the stables a
back of the castle. Come ON. Getthr
Of the best horses and bring them to /
rate by the lodge,.a tidy addition, y
know, to the ransom we will get for /
cnptnfe Of Romanoff. 1t is 10 o'clock no
We mustN be at the rendezvous by
Hurry; we have no time to lose here"
Noryitski lay still till the sound Of tn