The morning call., 1895-01-13
THE COSSACK.
Doctors Renaissance of the Russo turkish war;
Narrated by Marie de Thilo.

otber borso was killed five days ago. SO
that had Tn take this one from aihoun
the militia horses-and / have never ~ o. !,
nv life set eyes on such brute as no "
st was your own fault aller ar. ION
ought 10 have looked sharp when sou
chose him.. hoosa q
"As if / had time to pick and choose moo y.
horse at that moment. Stop mere I iO1o
Where are you going to? otraisns .ho
the swamp I'll be bound. can near ,; tno
water splashing under bis ieet' a ii''i0
more to the left please.
/ guided my horse to the leIt, and wv
became silent once more. l rackeu nt
brains trying to discover some toplc =,
conversation, but my poor aching heau
was unable to bring forth anything. -, T
What regiment do you belong toI 1
burst out at last in my despair
II am in line regiment GOOD neaV-
epsi There Is not one tiny star to pc
seen. he added. with a ha1f-smothered
sigh. %,
'What do you want to see star for?
"Why. because we're in strange place.
where it is easy enough to lose ones way,
and because he is coming after US all the
time."
knew that he was thinking of the
Turks and began to feel anxious. All my
drowsineSs vanished, and, although my
head felt hot and heavy, still the posslhll-
ity of such terrible meeting restored my
lucidity of thought. o.,
Are YOU sure we have lost our way?" L
asked my companion, timidly.
How can l tell? 1t may or may not DC
so. To the right, please, there's n hole
here. It is easy enough to lose ones way
under the circumstances. - the cou n
iry!" he suddenly burst out. giving tne
horse at the same time blow On the ose'
which made the frightened animal swerve
aside, and In doing 80 knock my leg vio-
tnv 81,
my balance and almost fell out of the sad
die, but cared little for the pa1n-in fact, L
hardly felt 1t. My teeth were chatterlng
and my heart sank with fear and anxiety.
"Where are we going TOP" said at
last. speaking with difficulty. "Hadn'
we better stop here and walt Till the
day?"
'Oh, certainly; only we might find our
selves skinned alive before morning, an
swered the COssack. grmly.
/ knew somehow that be, too, was wor-
rled and anxious. SO ] held my peace.
Silence reignad once more III the WOOD.
The only sounds we heard were the foot
steps of the horse and the cracking OF the
dead branches beneath his hOofs. Several
times we stopped to listen. The Cossack
even put his ear to the ground repeatedly.
but we could hear nothing. Once only a
Jackal howled somewhere In the distance,
but he. too, was soon silent. There was
ID Wiuu, anu tu0 DUuRuS VI buc bLcCo WCAo
perfectly still.
II suppose that our men are bivouacing
some W here" remarked my comrade.
why do You think SOP"
Because / should have heard the artil-
lery going along when l listened"
do you think the day will break sOon%
''Soon did you say?-oh, no, the nights
are long here. lost my bearings" added
he. after silence, when | stopped by
your side"
what bearings2 What do you mean p"
Il mean the direction In which l ought
to have gone on. Because you see l knew
/ had found the right road, especially as he
was lying in the right direction"
! was at loss TO understand his last
words, and asked him to explain them.
Little by little. aud not without much hest
tation at the outset. the Cossack related an
awful tale TO me. he had been tempted TO
leave mis- battalion in order to steal the
arms and the belongings of a dead Turk
ish officer. He was riding in the rear
guard when he noticed the corpse, which
lay at u short distance from the path, and
remembering that 1t would not be possible
for him TO rob the body while the others
were near he quietly disappeared into the
bush and set about the horrible work as
soon as the last man had vanished among
the trees.
But how could you do it?" cried ],
filled with horror at his tale.
"Our men used to say that one found
nice things sometimes" replied he, as if
apalogizing fer his deed.
But don't you know that you have COM
mitied great sin ?"
81 know it quite we'll, and God has pun
ished me for it" said the Cossack with
mournful sigh.
| began TO feel still more uncomfortable
after he had told me of this incident. | re-
membered now that he Had been searching
my breast pocket when l opened my eyes.