Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-12-17

Not only was she lost, but there was
q certainty that If she was rescued she
would also be discovered in this act
against the rule of Neslerov. Powerful
as was her family, she was now abso-
luteiy Mt the mercy of the governor of
Tomsk, whom she knew to be merci-
less. Who could ever know that Prin-
cess Olga, the rich and beautiful Nesle-
ROY, died in the dungeons under her
Cousins palace?
To her vivid Imagination already the
horrors of starvation doomed up. To
] lie in that cold, dark place and suffer
and slowly waste away, to lose her
mind, to rave in madness-all these
thoughts burned into her brain. Then,
looking at poor Therese, the, girls heart
was stirred with pity
II am not only a suicide, but am n
murderer as WELL" she said. 81 should
not have INDUCED Therese to come"
Therese stirred.
"Ah. Therese! Good Therese! Speak
to ME. will you not?" pleaded the prin-
cess. you should not have come. 1t
was horrible, that den! And perhaps
brought you here to die"
81 don't want to die!' exclaimed
Therese, sitting upright us though the
word had acted like an electric shock.
II do not wish to die either; but we
are lost, Therese."
Lost! How can we be lost? Are
we not under the palace?"
Eyes, we are under the palace, but
we are nevertheless lost. l have lost
the way. See all these passages? l do
not know by which one we reached this
terrible place"
1--WE seem to be almost at the center.
They cannot all lead to the stairs"
mo, certainly not. And there is lit
tie chance of telling which does lead to
The stairs. l do not even know in which
direction the stairs lie. We are lost,
Therese, and will perhaps die here of
starvation"
You must not! You shall notw ex-
claimed Therese. made stronger now
the evident need of some one to as
st the princess. She did not think so
much of herself as she did of Olga.
y There must be way out and close
NJ Dinu. Snlu olga.
The terrible silence acted upon the
shaken nerves of poor Therese, and
she began to scream Historically.
~ will not die! Heaven help US
both! Help! Help! Help"
The screams of the distracted wom-
an rang in weird echoes through the
caverns.
"The echoes mock mer' she cried.
is there no one to help?"
"Harkr said Olga. 81 think l heard
a voice."
"a voice! heard n thousand Of
them-and they are all my own"
"No. but this was not. 1t was a
mans voice. Wait till call"
The caverns were still.
SIS there any one here" rang out
Olga's clear voice. eve are lost in the
passages-two women. Is there any
one here?"
Here, here, herew came back the
echoes.
II am here-a prisonerw came an IN
swering cry.
e-prisoner-isonery' came the
echoes.
."Where nre you?" called Olga.
"You-you--you;" echoed the mock
ing caverns.
II must be near you-the voices sound
not far-follow the sound Of my whis-
tle!" came a louder voice.
"Whistle-istle-istle came the trou-
bled echoes
Immediately there began, not far from
them, the tune of 1.-THE Star Span
gled Banner" Olga knew 1t was an
American tune and instinctively real
ized that the person who was guiding
them must be the one who had been
trying to solve the mystery of Graslov
and had been imprisoned by Jansky.
After a few moments she managed
to distinguish between the real sound
and the echoes, and began slowly to
work her way toward 1t. Therese,
trembling with weakness and terror,
followed.
At last the whistle led her into one
of the passages, and she swung her
lantern high to see where there was q
: dungeon. 1t was not far away, and
the gleams Of the lantern went through
the door of a gloomy cell. The light
Tell upon man chained to the walls
One chain was around his waist, an.
pther held his feet, and each arm was
extended and held to the wall by a
smaller but stout chain. These chains
were built into the wall and their ends
locked together.
"Who are your" asked Olga. "Why
are you prisoner hereY
".My name is Denton" was the reply
ST am an American, and my arrest is
IN outrage that will not go unpunish
ed"