Connecticut western news., 1895-06-27
semionitsch. or have you only been

tempting us?'
 He refused again and again. At last he said to the elder, 'Feodor Wasilitxeh, don't appeal to me like that. for if l sing that song now. upon my word, I'll escape ..
 'The elder laughed Why should he notf Six years had he passed in prison. A hundred times had he scorned to fly. and here es said it aloud before the sol diers, and could he really mean itf It was jest Very we'll, they said, fly, but sing first.
 And the other repeated his speech: I tell you frankly am not testing. I'll escape. It is this way. I will sing, but on condition that you lay ms low with a bullet Do not use the butt of your guns. that I may not turn into a orip- ple!'
 "The elder continued to laugh Very we'll, said he a bullet will serve us better. It will reach you with the hv- ing hand, not like the butt endf
 While they were talking in this way they were not far from the shaft It is . sort of open passage that pene- tratea 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 Taiga extends behind.
 ''And so.Wasil Semionitsoh calls his aooompanist to him, and what they made out between them remains se- 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 8 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 theirson Wasil Semio- nitsoh takes a high note, rising ever higher. and his aooompanist holds his. The one pauses, and the other takes the note And they so sing together that one is often pu zzled 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. un- deterred. 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 be 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 a wide curve and screams in a shrill. voice, 'Escapedr
 Mot until then, when the chain struck with olanking 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 An, seek the wind in the fieldl
 '.That was the song of the Falcon.
 "But then," said, "the soldiers
 "Ah, that is the marvelous!" he quickly interrupted me 'I reached there the day after, when the oomman- dant was examining. the elder. Did you not all see it, you blookheads?'
 "'We did, your highness'
 Well, and yet he escaped? And you were all witnesses of his fights
 "'We were, your highness-'
 "'Well, then. how did it, ,happen?
 Don't know, your highness- He misled us-oast darkness upon our senses
 'Fie, dunderheadp
 '"The oommandant 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 21 hours, and the only thing can hear is, ''he misled us-oast darkness on our senses. !" Just think of itl He sang Q song to them, and they prick up their ears and go daft It's enough to drive a man crazyP
 The elder was . good man; no block head at all 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-the Fal con-
 ''Do you see, little father. what sort of voices we have in the Kara?" So the intendant concluded his story. the German.