New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-31

oonsenuont neglect of his military duties, ne nao
actually dared TO indulge in the heihous i,,ics
Of dabblng-very mildly. be " saiu,I ~, Pinnes
and but that he had friends In hign p'a'o i
would probably have been transle' &c, Central
IBERIA instead Of, as was the case' W
Asia. - ~, ho,t IN purge
himseIf OF his youthful b6tses, ana gIauu o,,;,
acquired the reputation OF Zea'"u 'd aotitude
officer He soon developed ma. a.uraiIv a
for dealing with Asiatics, having na,u ",.y S.r
| nrettv talent for diplomacy OF the RUSSIAN VI ~,
which simply consists In secretly oo',s ,na
you have openly PROMISED no, 20 gS, n acauir-
| inc tongues BY dine OF these accomprshne,ns
he had successfully engineered one or two ,,ae ne
delicate operations so that IN cou se m VI on tho
had risen 10 be secret intelligence omcs' VI ,a,I
IiiimaIavan border-a post ne had nled 50 w.
that IT had been almost oihcialiy hotn. .ant MS
Thai II ne proved successful in MS presen. nv.
| sion of adding to the British coinp"cd''U,n2 on
! their frontier he would be recaneo " Hu'''
and reinstated in his old regiment. nc IN
Stephanor had Lot the slightest DOUBTS as W
lis success; he knew wen en n%ar"1 o00 breech-
loading rifles with an. munition for tne st .i
and 600 rupees a month as long as tney cu"' ~
| ned offensive operat ons against the En6l ~
Nile would have proclaimed war against Ma
homet himself and although they mad iorpIuu ra
his entrance into their country Wtn a Va. Sc, the
cert than four men, he felt no HlssNuns a ancns
| score OF his personal safety. he Wds 80
| TONED TO dealing with lawless AsiaticS, a''u
was besides, brave man, rather e"Jo,e
spice Of danger in MS WORN 49, ~ roy
! tbough their road lay along track 50 "o,l'
! ne only TO admit Of their riding IN single lit III,
! track moreover, with high panhs c,anha
| fringed with pine scrub on either sne-o'epna
no0 rode unsuspiciousy along, foloWlhs tme
J nIoddinC shoulders of the Pathan guide Whiie
! his mind weared, like lis body. by -FOUR ions
davs in the saddle, had ceased to take note Vi
! the present. and was occupied VIII" ''e'' wa
! ciderations Of the future. ,,. oy
This time six months hence" he thought, i
shall he back in st Petersburg wlln 'ne ran I'm
of colonel and-who knows?-perhaps a,oeou. e.
camp TO the car. All how good II VIII DE ~
frd ones self once more among civilized people
and away frorn the savages with whom nave nave
mixed for the last nine years! ihen WI,
/ marry nv cousin Olga, who must De OF age
now and whose estates must have lncreaseu
enormously in value since her fathers deatn'
and ! will obtain long leave. ana go 10 faiIs'
and Monte Carlo, and BiarritZ, untll the ti'ne
/ when our Government thinks fit for us to take
! India BY then | may perhaps be genera OF
division and Crash, To this day StepnanoH
! can hardly explain what happened. he hau d
mcmentary awful glimpse of great oiack-
| bearded man leaping onto him from the top OF the
| bank with such impetus as to nearly pear mn
and his horse to the ground, and the next mo
| inent ne was seized from behind in viselike
grip a sack was drawn over his head and ms
! hands were bound behind him. Blinded and
! powerIess 10 move, and absolutely bewlldereu
by the suddenness of the attack, he could on'y
| ST. still and listen as in dream to the souhu Oh
/ struggling men and trampng horses penilu
! him but this soon ceased. once rifle cracked.
and he heard two three cries from MS men,
and then, in theScomparative stiffness that foi-
lowed ne vaguely recognized that they hao peen
| overcome and were being bound like himself;
/ ard PRESENTLY his horse, evidenty led pes""Sh
! two men began to move slowly forward
Stephanof was brave man, and had raced
| death many times. yet as he was led helpless
| along. blinded and half-stifled by the sack IN
which his head enveloped. his hands tied
! behind his back and his feet bound under ms
! horses belly. he can hardly be blamed FOR Sc,
| cretly giving way to despair he recognized
! ,bo he bad trickpQ Dy the DlltIS, ne re-
fected not without rnisgvngs. On their charac-
| ter notorious even among Afridis for treachery
and cruelty, and Of heir boast that no white
man had ever entered their country since Alex
| auder the Great and he cursed the i'll fate that
! was to rob him possibly of life and certainly
! of success. at the very moment when the latter
had seemed fairly within his grasp Perhaps
his bitterest reflection was that he had num-
Der Ct important papers about his person-se-
cret instructions and dsI atches his own notes
and diary etc. and, although ne always look
the simple precauton OF copying these INTO
| French-a language by no means current IN
! Central Asid-yet he was sufficiently conversant
with the Afridi character to know that they
never destroy documents. and the thought that
his papers might one day drift into the hands OF
some stray British Official was almost more than
! the wretched MAJ could bear and he promised
! himself that Re would make supreme effort at
all costs 20 destroy them wher opportunity
might offer
But it seemed as though there was to be no
| end to his ill-luck: for when. after about an
hours painful ride. they came to a halt and he
was lifted off his horse and carried into build
ing his captors' first act carefully to di-
vest him Of his uniform. even down to his boots.
and the unhappy Stephanoff felt instinctively
| that his papers were lost to him forever.
Then. and not till then the covering re-
moved from his head, when he found himself
seated on pile of rugs and sheepskins in
| large empty room. apparently forming part OF
| one Of the ruined towers not uncommon in parts
of Afghanistan and the neighboring countries
Around him a group Of beetle-browed Pa