The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-07-03

bis dteAppearance Cneef uP, my sWest
Il ID not like you togiys way. You are
20 brave and ssnsibla Al the world
knows that!"
II can bear ascertained calamity"
zaid Door mother. "When one knows
the full extent of the trouble, it can bs
borne more easily. II is the uncertainty
Of this that has unnerved me- But you
are right. We ought still to hope, my
Boris. / will be brave. Twill hope a.
you do We will not despair until we
have done all that there 10 to be done.
What shall be our FIRST movef Come,
tell me. You have done me good al
ready. Thank God that have still
brave son. What ia 10 be donef'
"Percy Is coming to help me tomor-
row or next day, l said. II thought
it would be as'wel to have him here.
You know him and like him." .
"Kind Percyl" murmured mother.
"He is q friend indeed. ''---
"And meanwhile shall go to Erin
Okla by the very first train can catch
tomorrow morning in order to make in
quiries on the apot. Whom did you send
from heref'
1.-THE second coachman, Pavel, an
honest fellow. He knows the keeper,
Armin, and interviewed him at Erin
Okla. Armin could give him no salts
faction"
II shall see Armin for myself and
many other people BESIDES" ! said. II
shall make preliminary inquiries to.
morrow and then come back for Percy
and continue them together with him."
"But have you any sort Of notion as
to what casAshave occurreds That Is
what is 60 dreadful to me that I cannot
imagine what nature of calamity could
possibly have happened to him. ] feel
40 helpless about it."
II cannot, really, until I have made
Inquiries, dear mother. 1t is possible
that poor father may only have fallen
from the train en- route and rolled down
an embsnkment You have not seen the
line to Erinofka. It is mere toy rail-
way, with a gauge but three feet wide
and tiny carriages like small buses
with balconies. The train rune most
sssteadily, and father might have fallen
asleep and been jerked from the bal
cony without any one seeing. He might
have lain stunned until some one found
and took him into shelter. The finder,
unaware of his name. would be unable
to communicate with his friends, and
poor father still too i'll perhaps to give
him any information. That is at least
a theory and would account for the abb
sence Of news. Then there is another
thing that might possibly have hap
pened, though I admit it does not seem
very likely
"Go on. Boris, tell me everything
you have thought of, said poor moth
er, who wept quietly through my some
what grewsome recital. "How dreadful
to think that my poor dear Vladimir
may be lying even now unconscious,
and we unable to help him because ig-
norant where to look for him-God
grant it is not thatl"
"He will have found kind friends,
never fear" l said, "but my other
theory is less painful to contemplate l
told you the worst first. It is this: Fa-
ther Is well known and known to be
rich too. 1t may be that some wretched
fellows, desperate perhaps for want Of
money, may have formed band, like
Greek brigands, to abduet him. If so,
they will send deputation one day..
presently, or message, claiming sum
Of money for his ransom"
sis that possible, here in civilized
Russian said mother wistfully. II
have never heard Of anything of the
kind, have your At all events, not in
this part of Russia"
Twas obliged to confess that ! had
not.
"But we must not reject the idea on
that account. We must weigh and in
vestigate every notion either Of us has,
however wild or impossible it may be. "
Eyes, yes, that is true. We will not
leave stone unturnedl" said mother.
l Travelled up to Erinofka the next
morning. could not help thinking, as
stood upon the balcony outside the lit
tie railway carriage, that any one tired
from a hard days shooting over the
moors and leaning on the rail as I now
leaned might most easily be pitched out
by jerk Of the train. Jerks, violent
ones, were common enough, for the
train was but a makeshift thing and
the line very narrow and badly laid. It
had been made for the sole use of a fac
tory Of some sort, close to Erinofka, the
manufactured goods being sent by its
means to st. Petersburg, while the raw
materials were carried up from town to
the works.
Accidents were Of frequent occur
renee, though the train went so slowly
that personal injury was rare. Passen-
gers were allowed to use the line, which
was thus most useful for my father and
his fellow sportsmen. He might easily
have fallen out then. But in that case
would not Hulbert-who was shooting
with him that day, as I had ascertained
have known Of 1t either at once or
when the train arrived at st. Peters.
burg2 AT any rate, he would have miss
ed my father and have given the alarm.
As matter of fact, and as I discovered
presently, Hubert had remained behind
for another day sport when my father
returned, Hubert returning on the
Thursday and father on the Wednesday,
90 thai the accident-if it happened
would have occurred without Hubert
knowing anything about it,
l found Armin, the keeper at the
lodge It was from him that learned
that father had started for home earlier
than Hubert. He had done so, Armin
explained, because he had found that
the birds were still so small that he did
not care to shoot them. Armin had been
away in town when our man came to
make inquiries. 1t was Spiridon that
the man had interviewed.
"Did you see my father off on the
Wednesday, Armin ?" asked him. Ar
min reflected. No, he said presently,
he had not. He had been out on the
moors till late with Mr. Hubert. If
our men had been told that the count
returned with Mr.. Hubert, it was
mistake.
uTba count left ma early in fine day. "