Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1902-02-08
CHAPTER VI.

Il A. ~ LuG dlLCIuOOA VI Lie <-1'
OF July Michael Strogof
and Nadia were not mor
than thirty versts from
,RsIstyz3E Ichim Suddenly Michae
@lTs8a caught sight of a car
riage, scarcely visible
among lie clouds of dust, preceding
them, cIoag the road. AS his horses
were evidently less fatigued than those
of the other traveller, he would not be
long ii Owe. taking it. This was neither
a tarantlss nor telga, but a post Der
lin, all oyer dust and looking as if il
had made dong journey. The postil:
ion was thrashing his horses with all
his might and only kept them at a
gallop by@dillt of abuse and blows. The
berlin had certainly not passed through
Novo4SainlslS 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 d the relay, SO as to MAKE
sure of fresh horses. He said a word
to his driver, who soon brought him up
with the berlin. 81
AS be passed head was thrust out
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:
"Stopr' -*.s ... .-...-.. ~~ 4~
But he did not stop. On the contrary,
the berlin was soon distanced by the
tarantass.
II 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-
CARNATIONS Of anger.
II Nevertheless the advantage remained
y 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 short
space Of time.
Half an hour after the berlin was left
far behind. looking only speck on the
horizon on the steppe.
It was 8 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. -. 49,. #~.s:c
.5os The one was English, the other
French. Both were tall and thin, but
the latter was sallow, as are the south
ern proveDcals, while the former was
ruddy like Lancashire gentleman.
The AngloNorman, formal, cold, grave,
parsimoniOus of gestures aud words '
I appearing only to speak or gesticulate
under the influence of a 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. s-@ee-s,e
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
fshman was "all ears" |
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
q card merely by a rapid movement in |
cutting the pack or by the arrangement |
only Of marks invisible to others. The |
French,nan. indeed, possessed in the
highest degree what may be called ''the
memory CT the eye:"
a 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 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
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 manner APP
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 corresponds
of the what newspaper or of what
newspapers he did not say, and when
asked he. replied In "a jocular manner
that he correspondent with "his cousin
Madeleine" This Frenchman, however,
beneath his careless surface was won
n. -. - ~