Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-12-15
hand was laid heavily on


do you mean to stay all night on the
bench?" asked the man.
Eyes, if / feel inclined to do So" an
swered Michael Strogoff in tone some
what too sharp for the simple merchant
he wished to personate.
"Come forward, then, that may see
you," said the man.
1T is not necessary" he replied, and
he calmly stepped back ten PAGES or SO.
The man seemed, as Michael observ-
ed him well, to have the look of a b.
hemian, such as are met at fairs and
with whom contact, either physical or
moral, is unpleasant. Then, as he look
ed more attentively through the dusk
which was coming on, he perceived
near the cottage large caravan, the
usual travelling dwelling of the gypsies
who swarm in Russia wherever a few
copecks can be obtained.
AS the gypsy took two or three steps
forward and was about to interrogate
Michael Strogoff more closely the door
of the cottage was opened. He could
just see q woman, who advanced quick
ly and in a language which Michael
Strogoff knew to be a mixture of the
Mongol and Siberian she said: "Anoth-
err spy! Let him alone and come to
supper. 1t is waiting for YOU"
Michael Strogoff could not help smil-
ing at the epithet bestowed on him,
dreading spies as he did above all
things.
But in the same dialect, although his
accent was very different, the Bohe-
milan replied in words which signify:
"You are right, Sangarre. Besides,
we start tomorrow"
Tomorrow repeated the woman in
surprise.
Eyes, Sangarre," replied the Bohe-
milan, tomorrow, and the Father him.
self sends us-where we are going"
Thereupon the man and woman en-
tered the cottage and carefully closed
the door.
"Goodw said Michael Strogoff to him.
self. eff these gypsies do not wish to
be understood when they speak before
me- they had better use some other Ian
guage."
From his Siberian origin and because
he had passed his childhood in the
steppes Michael Strogoff. it has been
said, understood almost all the lam
guages in usage from Tartary to the
Sea Of Ice. AS to the exact significa-
ton Of the words exchanged between
the gypsy and his companion he did
not trouble his head. For why should
it interest him?
An hour after Michael Strogoff was
sleeping soundly on one of those Rus
sian beds which always seem SO hard
18th of July, he awoke at break of day.
He had still five hours to pass at
Mini Novgorod. 1t seemed TO him an
age. How was he to spend the morn
ing unless in wandering, as he had
done the evening before. through the
streets? By the time he had finished
his breakfast, strapped up his bag. had
his podorojna inspected at the police
office, he would have nothing to do but
start. But he was not man to lie in bed
after the sun had risen, so he rose, dress
ed himself and placed the letter with
the imperial arms on it carefully at the
bottom of its usual pocket within the
lining Of his coat, over which he fasten-
ed his belt. He then closed his bag and
threw it over his shoulder.
This done, he had no wish to return
to the City of ConstantinOple, and, in
tending to breakfast on the bank of the
Volga near the wharf, he settled his
bill and left the inn. By the way of
precaution Michael Strogoff went first
to the Office of the steam packet COM
pany and there made sure that the
Caucasus would start at the appointed
hour. AS he did so the thought for the
first time struck him that since the
young Livonian girl was going to Perm
1t was very possible that her intention
was also to embark in the Caucasus, in
which case he should accompany her.
Michael Strogoff found himself in the
central square when the report spread
that the head Of police had been sum-
moned by a courier to the palace of the
governor general. An important dis
patch from Moscow, it was said, was
the cause Of it.
1.-THE fair is to be closed" said one.
! ''The regiment of Mini Novgorod has
received the route" declared another.
"They say that the Tartars menace
Tomsky'
"Here is the head Of policev' was
shouted on every side. A loud clapping
of hands was suddenly raised, which
subsidized by degrees and finally was
succeeded by absolute silence. The
head Of police arrived in the middle of
the central square, and it was seen by
all that he held in his hand a dispatch.
Then in a loud voice he read the fol-
lowing announcements:
by order of the governor of Mini
Novgorod:
"All Russian subjects are forbidden
to quit the province upon any pretext
whatsoever.
- Acfa iorip