Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1902-01-18
! THE COURIER
! OF THE CAR
BY Jules NerDe.
CHAPTER 1.

BRaDf yond that city"
E.R1 Yes, sire, siRce yes
: :. terday."
ssTelegraph hourly to Tomsk, gener
hl, and let me be kept informed OF al
that occurs.
stsire, it shall be DONE" answered
General kissoff.
1 These words were exchanged abou
kwo hours after midnight, at the mo
ment when the fete given at the New
palace was at the height Of it's splen-
. dor. s..5s sBlr
/, An hour later General Kissoff, who
had just re-entered, quickly approached
his majesty.
! 'Well" asked the latter abruptly, as
he had done the former time.
; kilograms reach Tomsk no longer,
sire"
"a courier this moment| And, leav-
ing the hall, his majesty entered a
. large antechamber adjoining.
! The car had not so suddenly left the
ballroom of the New palace when the
fete he was giving to the civil and mill
tary authorities and principal people Of
Moscow was at the height of it's bril-
aiancy without ample cause, for he had
Sust received information that serious
events were taking place beyond the
frontiers of the Ural. 1t had become
evident that a formidable rebellion
threatened to ,wrest the Siberian prov
Ances from the Russian crown.
. Asiatic Russia, or Siberia, covers a
superficial area of =1,79O,2O8 square
miles and contains nearly 100000 Of
Mhabitants. Extending from the Ural
mountains, which separate it from
Russia in Europe, to the shores Of the
Pacific ocean. it is bounded on the
south by Turkestan and the Chinese
empire, on the north by the Arctic
ocean, from the sea of Kara to Be-
ring strait. 1t is divided into several
governments or provinces, those Of To-
bolsk, Yeniseisk, Irkutsk, Omsk and
Yakutsk; contains two districts, Ok
hotsk and Kamchatka, and possesses
two countries, now under the Musco-
wife dominion-that of the Kirghiz and
that of the Tshowktshes.
Two governor generals represent the
supreme authority of the czar over this
vast country. One resided at Irkutsk,
the capital of western Siberia. The
river Tchonna, a tributary Of the Yeni-
sci, separates the two Siberias.
No rail yet burrows these wide plains,
some Of which are in reality extremely
fertile. No iron ways lead from these
precious mines which make the Sibe-
rian soil far richer below than above its
surface. The traveller journeys in sum-
mer in kib.ck or telga; in winter, in
sledge. .
An electric telegraph, with single
wire more than 5000 versts in length,
alone affords communication between
the western and eastern frontiers of
Siberia. On issuing from the Ural it
passes through Ekaterenburg, Kasi-
NOV, Tionmen, Ishim, Omsk, Elamsk,
Kalyvan, Tomsk, Krasnoiarsk, Mini
Udinsk, Irkutsk, misunderstanding,
Strelink, Alkaline, Blagowstenks, Rad
de, Orlomskaya, Alexandrewskoe and
Nikolaevsk, and 6 rubles and 10 CO.
pecks are paid for every word sent
from one end to the other. From Irkutsk
there is a branch to Kiatka, on the
Monaghan frontier, and from thence,
for 80 copecks a word, the post conveys
the dispatches to Picking in a fort
night.
}~It was this wire, extending from Eka-
terenburg to Nikolaevsk, which had
been cut, first beyond Tomsk and then
between Tomsk and halyvan.
| This was the reason why the car, to
the second time by General Kissoff,
had only answered by the words. "a
courier this momentv'
The car had remained motionless at
the window for a few moments when
the door was again opened. The chief
of police appeared on the threshold.
"Enter, general" said the czar brief
ay, land tell me all you know Of Ivan
Ogaref."
"He is an extremely dangerous man,
sire" replied the chief of police.
HE ranked as colonel, did he not"
eyes. sire"
''Was he an intelligent oficerT
every intelligent, but man whose
spirit it was impossible to subdue and
possessing an ambition which stopped
at nothing. He soon became involved
in secret intrigues. and it was then that
he was degraded from his rank by his
highness the grand duke and exiled to
Siberia"
/ How long ago was that?'
1.-TWO years since. Pardoned after
six months of exile by your majesty's
favor, he returned to Russia"
"And since that time has he not re-
visited Siberia"
Eyes, sire, but he voluntarily return
ed there" replied the chief of police,
adding and slightly lowering his voice,
t.There was a time, sire, when none re-
turned from Siberia
swell. while live Siberia is and
shall be country whence men can re-
turn"
Tho ono !, had tha ,-iobf tn I1ttnr. tbnca