Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1895-06-15
FROSTBURG, Md. SATURDAY, Is, 1895

"And SO it went on until spring came,
and the Tajga awoke and became lively.
But one must know what the Tajga is
in spring!
well, it was spring. spring morn
ing, warm and bright. The snow had
hot quite melted, but in the valleys the
grass was growing.
VERY early the convicts were led out
to work, as they are always led by the
elder and the soldiers who encircled
them with their guns like chain.
"Then Wasil Semionitsch struck up
his favorite song, My Little Falcon
Flies, but he soon broke off All had
begun to prick up their ears.
"And now they began to plead. Sing,
singv The elder himself approaches.
Sing in Christus' name your song,
Semionitsch, or have you only been
tempting us?'
"He refused again and again. At last
he said to the elder, 'Feodor Wasilitsch,
don't appeal to me like that, for If l
sing that song now, upon my word, I'll
escape.
1.-THE elder laughed. Why should he
not? Six years had he passed in prison.
A hundred times had he scorned to fly,
and here be said 1t aloud before the SOL
diers, and could he really mean it? 1t
was jest Very we'll, they said, fly,
but sing first.
"And the other repeated his speech:
I tell you frankly am not jesting. I'll
escape. 1t is this way. will sing, but
on condition that you lay me low with
q bullet. Do not use the butt of your
guns, that l may not turn into Grip
ple!'
1.-THE elder continued to laugh. Very
we'll, said he, "a bullet will serve US
better. 1t will reach you with the liv
ing hand, not like the butt end!'
"While they were talking in this
way they were not far from the shaft.
1t is sort of open passage that pene-
trates the earth where the gold is dug.
The shaft was long and deep and extend
ed to the base of the mountain. If you
ascend it, the Tajga extends behind.
"And so Wasil Semionitsch calls his
accompanist to him, and what they
made out between them remains Sc
cret. An agreement or silent under
standing, know not. They sing, they
go singing, and everybody listens.
"Now they reach the shaft They de-
scend, one after the other. The other
convicts stand still or sit down at the
edge of the shaft The soldiers form a
chain all about them, the guns in their
hands, the butt at their feet-every
thing proper. They peer into the open
ing and listen.
And the two walk slowly along tho
shaft and sing their song Wasil Semio-
nitsch takes a high note, rising ever
higher, and his accompanist holds his.
The one pauses, and the other takes the
note. And they SO sing together that
one is often puzzled whether it is one or
the other-just like one voice. Now
they approach the end Of the shaft, and
the drift again leads upward, and as
they ascend so rises their song, the &C.
companist On this side, Wasil Semio-
nitsch on the other. The one ascends
slowly, then sits down. The other, un
deferred, climbs upward faster and
faster. The song dies out.
''Then suddenly before the eyes Of all
he quickly chambers up the mountain
side. He is on the peak. Unobserved he
had rid himself of his chains. He holds
them in his hands. He swings them
above his head and casts them far from
him in wide curve and screams in n
shrill voice, Escaped!
mot until then, when the chain
struck with clanking sound on the rock
below, when he screamed out-not un-
til then was the charm broken which
his song had cast upon them all. Quick
the guns to the eye. They fire. All, seek
the wind in the field!
"That was the song of the Falcon"
"But then," said, "the soldiers -
"Ah, that is the marvelous!" he
quickly interrupted me. II reached
there the day after, when the comman-
dant was examining the elder. Did you
not all see it, you blockheads?'
"'We did, your highness.
We'll, and yet he escaped? And
you were all witnesses Of his flight?
We were, your highness.
"'Well, then, how did it happen?'
" Don't know, your highness. He
misled us-cast darkness upon our
senses.
"'Fie, dunderbeadp
1.-THE commandant was quite scarlet
with anger and perspired prodigiously.
Thereupon he detailed the occurrence to
me. Isn't that too remarkable?' he
said. All tell the same story. have
been vexing myself with the case for 81
hours, and the only thing can hear is,
she misled us-cast darkness ON our
senses. Just think of it'll He sang song
to them, and they prick up their ears
and go daft. It's enough to drive man
crazyl'
1.-THE elder was a good man; no block
head at all. I knew him, and there he
stood actually like wooden image and
stared at the commandant That worthy
purposely for my benefit called up all
the soldiers. All of them told the same
story. And he was gone-fed-th Fall
con.
"Do you see, little father, what sort
of voices we have In the Kara?" So the
intendant concluded his story. From
the German.
Warmed by Their Dollars.
i Il