The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-12-18

Il nave 10 neeu 10 QueslloH Nou'
said he. Speak, Ivan. You will flnd
here cars very ready to listen to you
This is what have to make knoWr'
to YOU" answered Ogareff.
Ivan Ogarcff spoke in the Tartar Ian
guage, giving to his phrases the EN-
1hatic turn which distinguishes the Ian
guagc CT the orientals.
This is not the time for unnecessary
words. What have done at the head
of your troops you know. The lines Of
the Ichm and the Irish are now in
our power. and the Turcoman horse
men can battle their horses in the now
Tartar waters. The Kirghiz hordes
rose at the voice Of Feofar-khan, and
the principal Siberian route from lchlm
to Tomsk belongs to you. You can
therefore push on your troops as well
toward tie east, where the sun rises, as
toward the west. where he SETS
But the armies of the sultan OF st.
Petersburg:' said Feofar-khan, desig-
mating tie emperor Of Russia by this
strange title.
"You have nothing to fear from them,
either from the east or from the west"
replied Ivan Ogareff. The invasion
has been sudden. and before the Rus
sian army can succor them lrkutsk or
Tobolsk will have fallen into your pow
er. The cars troops have been over
whelmed at Kalyvan. as they will be
everywhere where yours meet them
"And what advice does your devotion
to the Tartar cause suggestF' asked
the emir after few moments silence.
"Nly advice" answered Ivan Ogareff
quickly, sis to march to meet the sun.
1t is to give the grass of the eastern
steppes to the Turcoman horses to con-
sumo. 1t is to take Irkutsk, the capital
Of the eastern provinces, and with it a
hostage the possession of whom IS
worth q whole country: In the place
Of the czar the grand duke, his brother,
must fall into your hands"
This was the great result aimed at
by Ivan Ogareff. TO listen to him one
would have taken him for one Of the
cruel descendants Of Stephen Razine,
the celebrated pirate who ravaged
southern Russia in the eighteenth CEN
tury. To seize the grand duke, murder
him pitilessly, would fully satisfy his
hatred. Besides, with the capture OF
Irkutsk, all eastern Siberia would pass
under the Tartar dominion.
at shall be thus, Ivan," replied Feo-
far.
sWhat are your orders"
To-day our headquarters shall be re-
moved to Tomsk.''
Osarefr bowed, and, followed by the
housch-begui, he retired to execute the
emir's orders.
AS he was about to mount his horse
to return to the outposts tumult
broke out at some distance, in the part
of the camp reserved for the prisoners.
Shouts were heard and two or three
shots fired. Perhaps it was an attempt
at revolt or escape, which must be sum-
marily suppressed.
Ivan Ogareff and the housch-begui
walked forward a few steps, and al
most Immediately two men, whom the
soldiers had not been able to keep back,
appeared before them.
The housch-Degui, without more IN
| formation, made q sign which was an
order for death, and the heads OF the
two prisoners would have rolled on the
ground had not Ogareff uttered q few
words which arrested the sword al
ready raised.
The Russian had perceived that these
prisoners were strangers, and he or
dered them to be brought up to him.
They were Harry Blount and Alcide
Jolivet.
On Ogareffs arrival in the camp they
had demanded to be conducted to his
presence. The soldiers had refused. IN
consequence, a struggle, an attempt at
flight, shots fred which happily missed
the two correspondents, but their exc
cution would not have been long de-
layed if it had net been for the inter-
vention of the emir's lieutenant.
The latter observed the prisoners for
some moments, they being absolutely
unknown to him. They had been pres
ent at the scene in the posthouse at
Ichim in which Michael Strogoh had
been struck by Ogareff, but the brutal
traveller paid no attention to the per-
sons then collected in the common
room.
Blount and Jolvet, on the contrary,
recognized him at once, and the latter
said in low voice: Hello! 1t seems
that Colonel Ogareff and the rude per-
sonage of Ichim are one"
Then he added in his companions
ear:
Explain our affair, Blount. You will
do me q service. This Russian colonel
in the midst of Tartar camp disgusts
me, and although, thanks to him, my
head is still on my shoulders, my eyes
would exhibit my feelings were to
attempt to look him in the face"
So saying, Alcide Jolivet assumed
look of complete and naughty indiffer-
ence.
Whether or not Ivan Ogaref perceiv-
ed that the prisoners attitude was in
sulting toward him, he did not let 1t
appear.
"Who are you. gentlemen:" he asked
in Russian in a cold tone, but free from
its rudeness.
"Two correspondents Of English and
French newspapers" replied Blount Ia
conically.
"You have doubtless papers which
will establish your identity"
"Here are letters which accredit US
in Russia from the English and French
chalceIlor's Office"
Ivan Ogareff took the letters which
Blount held out to him and read them
attentively. Then said be:
"You ask the authorization to follow
our military operations in Siberia"
"We ask to be free: that is ALL" an
cvaro6 the ENGLISH CORRESPONDENT dry