Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1899-02-23

Prince. He hight be able to give the
police information which would lead 10
the discovery Of the secret prison. Inc
! Car would be conveyed elsewhere.
and detained in custody until ne
! pledged his word in the most pubic
way 10 grant our country a Constitu-
ton such as you have in England.
| That is all. We would not even ask
for an act of indemnity for ourselves.
Let them catch us afterwards II they
cam
.sro me the whole scheme seems
wholly impracticable," i said. after a
pause. 10 take part In such a piot
seems like running ones head into a
moose. You will have to lay hands on
the monarch in his w palace.
Perhaps so. But eyen then the
scheme need not be wholly impractic-
able. We have no better friends any
where than in the palace of the Gar
scarcely knew whether % believe
This statement, but did not care 10 ar
cue the matter further. My brain a
! fatigued. as If | had been hard at work
for some hours. | felt the need of rest,
and yet | knew that / could not sleep
until | had at least one soEe way to-
wards deciding the question that lay
| before me. So | fortified myself with
n modest portion Of Scotch" and. fiIl-
ing my pipe, retired to the space abaft
the wheel, and sat down to think the
matter out
As TO the moral aspect of the ques-
ton. l vas not disposed TO make too
much of the objection that what was
proposed was a crime. l was not a
Russian subject; TO me the person OF
the RusSiah emperor was no more sa-
cred than the person of any other
man. Again. l did not propose TO lay q
finger on His Majesty. but merely to
become an accessory after the fact. by
screening those who had carried him
off. | confess that. considering the OBJ
ject of the conspirators was simply to
gain such a degree of liberty for their
fellow-countrymen as our English fore
fathers fought for, my conscience did
not regard my completely in the plot as
a very serious offenSe. often doubted
whether in the court of ethics il were
an offenSe at all.
The real difficulty lay in the danger,
the extreme danger Of the undertaking.
For If the imposture should be discov-
cred before 1 escaped. nothing could
save my life; and Of taat / vas well
aware. And as / was totally unac-
quainted with the plans by which the
Nihilists proposed TO carry out the alb
duction-supposing they had any,
which l very much doubted-it was
impossible for me to gauge the extent
Of the danger. For aught l knew. L
might not be merely running a risk,
but mourning a certainty of dying a vi
olent death at the hands Of the public
eNecutioner.
That is a prospect which may well
make any man pause. But, on the 9TH
er side, there was the ruin which
threatened the girl l loved. So long as
her father lived she was safe. But /
could not allow her to choose between
positive restitution and marrying a
man she disliked.
Mott was impossible. / had made
up my mind. And then / knew that
in reality it had been made up long
ago. In the depth Of my heart | had
known all along that, even putting
aside the possibility of my succeeding
in the task. accomplishing the release
vi Abt did ~ hiAhi VIZ
Princess Irene for my bride, l could
not have left her to the fate Won
Mitschka had sketched out.
The moment / confessed that my
mind was made up, my resolution was
taken, | experienced a great exhilara-
ton and lightness Of spirits. So far
from the danger lettering nae, / actu-
ally thought of il as an additional at
traction. / could have shouted out an
old drinking song that l hummed to
myself as I went to bed.
That night / slept soundly; and in
the morning I told Won Mitschka that
/ had resolved 10 accept the offer of
the Committee on certain conditions.
Won Mitschka leaped TO his feet, and
held out his hand, which l grasped in
mine. / saw that he could not speak,
and / was surprised ut the emotion he
exhibited. / had no idea that Ae had
so thoroughly set his heart on the sue
ceSS of this plot. He wrung NV
hand in silence: and when | reminded
him that my consent could only be
given on certain conditions. he turned
on me with a smile. as much as TO say
they would be granted at once.
First of all" l said, II make it a
stipulation that under no circum-
stances. aud under no excuse Of SUI
prema lex or anything else. is personal
injury to he offered to the Car. He Is
to be well treated. and accorded the re-
spect due to his station"
Granted"
Secondly, he is not to be detained in
custody under any circumstances fer a
longer period than six months. If he
holds out that time, you must let him
20. OF course, he may be led To sup
pose that his Imprisonment will last
till he yields to your demands"
Won Mitschka reflected a moment,
and then he smiled and repeated,
Granted"
And in the third place. IL I do all
that is required of me, and the plot
fails through no fault of mine. you
must hberate Prince Kropenski all the
Granted said the chief. for the
third time. And now" he added. slet
NE tell you that you have made a very
had bargain. We do not consider the
liberty of Prince Kropenski as at all OF
equal value to the great service you
are going to render us. We always in