The Iola register., 1901-12-27

of the window of the berlin.
He had no time to see what It was
like, but as he dashed by he distinctly
heard this word uttered in an imperi-
Gus tone:
"Stopw
But he did not stop. On the contrary,
the berlin was soon dlstanced by the
tarantass.
1t now became q regular race, for the
horses of the berlin, no doubt excited
by the sight and pace of the others, re-
covered their strength and kept up for
some minutes. The two carriages were
hidden in n cloud of dust. From this
cloud issued the cracking of whips,
mingled with excited shouts and ex-
CARNATIONS of anger.
Nevertheless the advantage remained
with Michael which might be very i'm
portant to him If the relay were poorly
provided with horses. Two carriages
were perhaps more than the postmaster
could provide for, at least in a short
space of time.
Half an hour after the berlin was left
far behind. looking only speck on the
horizon on the steppe.
| 1t was o'clock in the evening when
Michael and his companion arrived at
the posthouse in Ichim.
The news was worse and worse with
regard to the invasion.
Here had arrived just short time
before two men.
The one was English, the other
French. Both were tall and thin, but
the latter was spllow, as are the south
ern provencals, while the former was
ruddy like q Lancashire gentleman.
The Anglo-Norman, formal, cold, grave,
parsimonious of gestures and words,
appearing only to speak or gestculate
under the influence of spring operat.
ing at regular intervals. The Gaul, on
the contrary. was lively and petulant,
expressed himself with lips, eyes,
hands, all at once, having twenty dif-
ferent ways of explaining his thoughts,
whereas his interlocutor seemed to
have only one immutably stereotyped
on his brain.
The strong contrast they presented
would at once have struck the most
superficial observer, but n physiogno-
mist, regarding them more closely,
would have defined their particular
characteristics by saying that If the
Frenchman was "all eyes" the Eng
lishman was "all cars"
In fact, the visual apparatus Of the
one had been singularly perfected by
practice. The sensibility of its retina
must have been as instantaneous as
that of those conjurers who recognize
a card merely by n rapid movement in
cutting the pack or by the arrangement
only of marks invisible to others. The
Frenchman, indeed, possessed in the
highest degree what may be called 'the
memory of the eye"
The Englishman, on the contrary, ap-
peared especially organized to listen
and to hear. When his aural appara-
tus had been once struck by the sound
of voice, he could not forget 1t, and
after ten or even twenty years he
would have recognized it among n
thousand. His ears, TO be sure, had
not the power of moving as freely as
those of animals who are provided with
large auditory flaps; but, since scien-
titic men know that human ears pos
sess, in fact, very limited power of
movement, we should not be far wrong
in affirming that those OF the said
Englishman became erect and turned
in all directions while endeavoring to
gather in the sounds in n manner ap-
parent only to the naturalist. 1t must
be observed that this perfection of
sight and hearing was of wonderful
assistance to these two men in their
vocation, for the Englishman acted as
correspondent for The Daily Telegraph
and the Frenchman as correspondent
of the-of what newspaper or of what
newspapers he did not say, and when
asked he replied in n jocular manner
that he corresponded with his cousin
Madeleine" This Frenchman, however,
beneath his careless surface was Won
derfully shrewd and sagacious. Even
while speaking at random, perhaps the
better TO hide his desire to learn, he
never forgot himself. His loquacity
even helped him to conceal his thoughts,
and he was perhaps even more discreet
than his confrere of The Daily Tele-
graph
1t is needless TO say that these two
men were devoted to their mission in
the world-that they delighted to throw
themselves in the track Of the most un-
expected intelligence; that nothing ter
rihed or discouraged them from sue
ceeding; that they possessed the i'm
perturbable sang froid and the genuine
intrepidity of men Of their calling. En-
thusiastic jockeys in this steeplechase,
this hunt after information, they leap
ed hedges, crossed rivers, sprang over
fences with the ardor of pure blooded
racers who will run "a good first" or
die.
Their journals did not restrict them
with regard to money, the surest, the
most rapid, the most perfect element
Of information known to this day. 1t
must also be added, to their honor, that