Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-05-14


not quite melted. but in tho valleys she
grass was growing
VERY early the convicts were led out
to work. rs they are always led by the
elder and the soldiers who encircled
them with their guns like a chain.
Then Wasil Semionitsch struck mp
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,
singr The elder himself approaches.
Sing in Christus' name your song,
Semionitsch. or have you only been
tempting us.'
'sHe refused again and again. AT last
he said TO the elder. 'Feodor Wasilitsch,
don't appeal to me like that for IL
sing that song now. upon my word, I'll
escape.
''The elder laughed. Why should he
not? Six years had he passed in prison.
A hundred times had he scorned to fly,
and here pc said it aloud before the sol
diers, and could he really mean it, 1t
was jest Very well. they said. fly.
but sing first.
"And the other repeated his speech:
! tell you frankly am not TESTING. I'll
escape. II is this way. ! will sing, but
ON condition that you lay me low with
O bullet Do net use the butt Of your
guns. that may not turn into Grip
plel'
"The elder continued to laugh Very
we'll. said he, "a bullet will serve us
better. II will reach You with the liv-
ing hand, not like the butt endl'
"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
cd to the base OF the mountain. If You
ascend II. the Tajga extends behind.
"And so Wasil Semionitsch calls his
aooompanist to him, and what they
made out between them remains a Sc
cret. An agreement or "A silent under
standing. know not. They sing. they
60 singing, and everybody listens.
''Now they reach tho shaft They de-
scend, one after the other. The other
conviots stand still or sit down at the
edge of the shaft. The soldiers form
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 the
shaft and sing their song, Wasil Semio-
nitsch takes high note, rising ever
higher. and his acoompanist 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 ac-
companist ON this side, Wasil Semio-
nitsch ON the other. The one ascends
slowly, then sits down. The other, I'M
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 a
shrill voice, 'Esoapedl'
"Not until then, when the chain
struck with olanking sound ON the rock
below, when he screamed out-not I'M
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 marvelousp' he
quickly interrupted me. 81 reached
there the day after, when the oomman-
dant was examining the elder. Did you
not all see it, you blockheads?'
"'We did. your highness.
Well. and yet he escaped? And
you were all witnesses of his fiight?'
I've were, your highness.
"'Well, then, how did it happen?'
Don't know, your highness. He
misled us--cast darkness upon our
senses.
'Fie. dunderheadP
"The commandment was quite scarlet
with anger and perspired prodigiously.
Thereupon he detailed the occurrence to
AAO. ISL tHnt tOO uo
said. All tell the same story. | have
been vexing myself with the case for 81
hours, and the only thing can hear is,
"he misled us-cast darkness on our
senses. " Just think Of it'll He sang song
to them, and they prick up their ears
and godaft It's enough to drive man
crazyP
noi.uR &c al. I knew him, and there he
stood actually like a 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-fled-the 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.
New Zealand commentaries the love
Of the Dutch explorers for their native
country. There is district in Holland
known as Sealand.
Linsey woolsey was first made at the
town of Linsey. in Suffolk, England,
lbout 1880.
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