The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1902-01-23
adroitIy. without at first inslsIlng on II i

adrOitly. without at hrst insisting on II
too much he spoke of he gravity of
the situation. exagge.ating. as he had
done while addressing the grand duke.
both the successes of the Ta,tars and
the forces at their disposal. To listen
to him, the succor would be insufficient
should it even come. and it was to be
feared that battle fought under the
walls of Irkutsk would be as disas-
j Etrous as the battles OF Kalyvan, of
sTomsk and of Krasnofarsk.
Ivan Ogareff was not at first lavish
lin these sinister insinuations. He took
care they should penetrate by degrees
into the minds of the defenders Of Ir-
kutsk. He seemed to answer only when
q great many questions were put to
him and then as though with regret.
lin any case he added always that it
must defend itself to the last man. and
they must blow it up rather than sur
render it!
/ If the defenders of Irkutsk could
have been discouraged. Ivan Ogarer
had chosen an efficient means. But
the garrison and population of lrkutsk
were too patriotic to allow themselves
ito be frightened OF those soldiers. of
those citizens. shut up in an isolated
town at the farthest end of the Asiatic
world, not one had drea AIMED Of speak
ing of capitulation. The disdain of
Russia for those Sarbarians was with
out limit. In any case no one for mo-
ment suspected the hateful role which
Ivan Ogareff was playing. No one
could have imagined that the pretended
courier of the car was nothing else
than traitor.
A circumstance altogether unnatural
twas the cause. from his arrival at Ir-
kutsk, of there being frequent relations
between Ivan Ogareff and one of its
bravest defenders, Wassili Feodor. One
knows With what anxiety this unhap-
by father was devoured. If his daugh-
ter, Nadia Feodor, had left Russia at
the date assigned by the last letter he
had received from Riga, what had be-
come of her? Was she still trying to
traverse the invaded provinces, or,
rather, had she already been for a long
time prisoner? Wassili Feodor could
not find any solace for his sorrow eX-
cept when he had some opportunity Of
fighting against the Tartars, opportu-
mites which were too seldom for his
liking. Now. when Wassili Feodor was
Informed of the unexpected arrival of
Il courier from the car he had pre-
ientiment that this courier could give
him some t.dings of his daughter. 1t
was only very slight hope, but still
he cling to it.
N,aSsili Feodor went to find Ivan
OgareT. who availed himself of this
opportunity to have daily relations
With the commandment. Did the rene
gade think he could turn that circum-
stance to his own profit? Did he judge
all men by himself? Could he believe
that a Russian, even political exile,
could be SO mean as to betray his coun-
try? Whatever was the case, Ivan
Ogareff met with skillfully feigned ca
gerness all the advances made to him
by the father of Nadia. The latter, the
very next morning after the arrival Of
the pretended courier, went to the pal.
nee of the governor general. There he
Informed Ivan Ogareff of the circum-
stances under which his daughter had
to leave European Russia and told him
now what was his anxiety in her re-
gard.
Ivan Ogareff did not know Nadia, al
though he had met her at the post
house of Ichim the day on which she
was there with Michael Strogoff. But
then he had paid no more attention to
her than the two journalists, who were
at the same time in the posthouse. He
could not therefore give any news of
his daughter to Wassili Feodor.
"But at what time," asked Ivan Oga-
ref. had your daughter to leave Rus
sian territoryY
''At nearly the same time as you," re-
piled Wassili Feodor.
81 quilted Moscow on the 10Th of
July"
''And Nadia also had to leave Moscow
on that date. Her letter told me so ex-
pressly."
"She was at Moscow on the 18th of
July?" asked Ivan Ogareff.
eyes, certainly at that date"
Every WELL" replied Ivan Ogareff.
Then, recollecting himself, he added:
But, no; was forgetting. l was
about to confound dates. 1t is unfortu-
nately too probable that your daugh-
ter has had to cross the frontier, and
only one hope remains-that she may
have stopped on receiving news of the
Tartar invasionv'
Wassili Feodor hung down his head.
He knew Nadia, and he knew well that
nothing would prevent her setting Off.
By this statement Ivan Ogareff had
just committed gratuitously an act of
real cruelty. With one word he could
reassure Wassili Feodor.
Z Although Nadia had passed the from
tier under the circumstances previous
ly described, Wassili Feodor, by COM
pairing the date at which his daughter
was certainly at Mini Novgorod and
the date Of the order forbidding any one
to leave it, would without doubt draw
this conclusion-that Nadia could not
have been exposed to the dangers of
an invasion and that she was still, in
spite of herself, on the European terri