The Sauk Centre herald., 1901-11-28

v4fE4R1Y6 caught sight or car
riage, scarcely visible
among the clouds of dust, preceding
them along the road. AS his horses
were evidently less fatigued than those
of the other traveller, he would not be
long in oyertaking it. This was neither
a tarantass nor telga, but post ber-
lin, all over dust and looking as II IT
had made long journey. The postil-
ion was thrashing his horses with all
his might and only kept them at a
gallop by dint Of abuse and blows. The
berlin had certainly not passed through
Novo-Saimsk and could only have
struck the Irkutsk road by some less
frequented route across the steppe.
Michaeps first thought on seeing this
berlin was to get in front of it and ar
rive first at the relay, so as to make
sure Of fresh horses. He said word
to his driver, who soon brought him up
with the berlin.
AS he passed a head was thrust out
of the window Of the berlin.
He had no time to see what 1t was
like, but as he dashed by he distinctly
GUS tone:
Stop
But he did not stop. On the contrary,
the berlin was soon distanced by the
tarantaSs.
1t now became 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 a cloud of dust. From this
cloud issued the cracking Of whips,
mingled with excited shouts and ex-
clamatiOnS 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
space Of time.
Half an hour after the berlin was left
far behind, looking only speck on the
horizon on the steppe. g..
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 a short time
before two men. .-+. F.
The one was English, the other
French. Both were tall and thin, but
the latter was sallow, as are the south
ern provencals, while the former was
Tuddy like Lancashire gentleman.
The Anglo-Norman, formal, cold, grave,
parsimonious of gestures and words,
appearing only to speak or gesticulate
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 diff
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 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 ears"
In fact, the visual apparatus Of the
Dne had been singularly perfected by
practice. The sensibility of its retina
must have been as instantaneous as
that Of those conjurers who recognize
q card merely by a 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
Df voice, he could not forget it, and
after ten or even twenty years he
would have recognized it among a
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-
tific 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 a 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 a 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. .
It . needless to say that these two