The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-07-06

Mother waa eoslvibes u that Psscy snA
81 had, a. have said, struck the trail Of
the mystery at Erinofka. and this opin.
Ion received kind Of terrible con6rma-
ton q few days later when. walking in
the Nefsky with Percy, ! met Hubert,
the Englishman, who. with father and
another, rented the shooting Of that
splendid moor.
Hubert was dscorously sympathetic
about our family trouble, for of course
he knew Of 1t. though we carefully pre-
served ii from becoming matter OF
general knowledge and little tattle.
Then he told me that he had Just been
to Erinofka, and that an extraordinary
and horrible murder had been commit
ted in the village. No stranger had been
+ eeen about the place, 1t was said, YET
one of the villagers had been stabbed
dead In his hut--heaven only knew why
or by whom, for he hadn' an enemy In
the world.
Ny heart almost stopped beating
whom heard this / glanced at Percy
and caught his eye. His face had sud.
denly gone quite pale; 80, be said after
ward had mine.
-"What is it," said Hubert. care
you one who can't bear to hear Of blood
shed : I'm sorry told you.
II don't like horrors" I said, "but
do 60 ont what was the poor fellow
like Did you 60 and see hint"
II did, as 1t happens A small fellow
with bald head, rather little eyes and
q longish beard. )"
1t was our mysterious informant to
the life.
Then his tale had been true. and the
unfortunate fellow had actually met
his doom for breaking faith with his
terrible employers. How did the rascals
know that he bad broken faiths Was
it our faulty God Forbid I had tried
my best to shelter him. 1t was his own
fault. He ran the risk with his eyes
open. Probably the poor wretch did not
really believe the threats Of those fear
full people whom he had driven to Ba-
tsiota.' ''''' - g..
s% And these were the very persons into
whose bands father must have fallen. II
it were indeed 60, then God help him!
We decided to tell mother nothing Of
this last development, for it could only
! brighten and shock her and would do no
good.
But wa persuaded her to allow MS to
engage the services of a private detect
i've. one who should be entirely uncon-
nected with the police. II we could find
| A suitable person, we explained, be
could 20 to Erinofka and take up the
| trail where we had lost IT, We were
| known there now and would be taken
| In nj every t,1rn bv those, or their
agents, whose interest 1t was to keep
The trnth from M. A professional de-
tert;ve wonld be far more likely to
manage successfully this delicate mat
ter of clew hunting than we should.
somavbat regretfnlly. NV mother
aureed To allow ma 10 employ such a
man, and by dint of many inquiries we
hit upon a young fellow, by name Bo-
rofsky, who suited us very well.
Borofsky was not very much older
than I. He may have been 90, at most,
while nv age was Just 10 and Percy 8
about the same not a very aged trio to
undertake and conduct 80 delicate an in
ouiry as this of ours.
He dined with us on the evening Of
his engagement, and we talked over the
entire subject. Borofsky thought well
of the work we had done at Erinofka.
We had hit upon the right track, no
Doubt. he said. But probably the ras-
calls who had druggsd and carried fa-
ther off had long since placed him in
safety, and even if we could follow the
trail as far az ST. Petersburg we should
lose it there.
"But what do you suppose they
wanted with the count, Mr.. Borofsky p
asked Percy. money, by way of ran
som, or whata'
"Heaven knowsl" said Borofsky.
"That is one Of the things we must find
ont"
Then onr friend startled US by saving:
"By the way the pristaf of the police
danartmnnt Of this district mentioned
vonr father To me TODAY. was at the
office on another matter of business
which does not concern this affair.
What do Won think the pristaf said ?"
II am sorry you spoke to the police
.hont nv father" u replied somewhat
warmly. at ia the yery thing we are
irving to avoid"
a. did mt belieye me, It was thu
nristaf who mentioned him, apropos Of
nothing particu]ar, and, mind you,
tbongh am no great lover of the DO
l;ce I am ready to admit that theil
svstem il marvellous and they general
" know where to lay their hands upo1
any given person. I was not speaking
of your father, nor had mentioned
him. But the pristaf said, You are Il
undertake business for Count Landrinof
Borofsky, conclude, since you hav'
been for two days in communication
with the young count (They watcf
us. Won see, these fellows.) 1T is ode
that the old bird should have gone *
IL. .no,,;r;,, ~ Tondop