The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1902-04-26

While he was operating Harry Blount
went to the window, and with his glass
he observed what was going on about
Kalyvan, so as to complete his informa-
ton.
few minutes later he took his place
again at the office window and added
to his telegram:
Two churches in flames The fire seems to gain
on the right. The earth without form and
void. Darkness covered the face OF the earth.
Alcide Jolivet had simply ferocious
desire to strangle the honorable re-
porter of The Daily Telegraph.
He once more called upon the en-
ployee, who again coolly answered:
at is his right, sir; it is his right.
Ten copeeks a word"
And he telegraphed the following
news, handed him by Blount:
Russian refugees escape the city And God said,
Let there be light, and there was light"
Alcide Jolivet was literally transport
ed with rage.
Meanwhile Harry Blount was again
at the outside window, but this time,
absentminded probably on account Of
the spectacle he saw, he made his OBJ
servatiOns too long. So when the op-
orator had finished sending the third
verse Of the Bible Alcide Jolivet quiet
ly took his place at the wicket and, as
his colleague had done, placed a re-
spectacle pile of rubles on the desk
and handed his dispatch, which the en-
ployee read aloud:
Madeleine Jolivet, 10 Faubourg Montmartre, Paris:
Kalyvan, Government of Omsk, Aug 6.-Run-
Always fly from the city. Russians beaten. Furi-
Gus pursuit by the Tartars.
And when Harry Blount came back
he heard Alcide Jolivet completing his
telegram, singing musingly with mock
cry:
''There little man all dressed in gray in
Paris"
Alcide Jolivet thought it better not to
mix sacred things with profane as his
colleague had done, and he answered
by a joyful chorus Of Beranger to the
verses of the Bible.
AT that moment a commotion shook
the telegraph office. A shell had en-
tered the wall, and q cloud Of dust fill
ed the waiting room.
Alcide Jolivet was just finishing his
verse, "as red as an apple, who, with
out penny" but without stopping
threw himself on the shell, took 1t In
his hands before it exploded, threw it
out OF the window and came back to
the wicket 1t was all done in an in
slant.
In five seconds the shell burst out
side.
Then, continuing his telegram with
perfect GOODNESS, Alcide Jolivet wrote:
:, shell of sixty pounds weight has burst
through the wall OF the telegraph office. Expert
some others of same caliber
For Michael Strogoff there was no
room to doubt but that the Russians
were repulsed from Kalyvan. His last
resource was, then, to hasten over the
southern plain
But then the general discharge Of
guns was heard terribly near the tele
graph station, and a hailstorm of bull
lets crashed through the window. Har-
ry Blount, struck on the shoulder, fell.
Alcide Jolivet was at that moment
about to transmit this supplement to
his dispatch:
Harry Blount, reporter Of The Daily Telegraph,
HIS at my side, struck with q piece OF bombshell
But the operator told him with i'm
perturbable GOODNESS:
Sir, the wire is broken"
And, leaving his window, he quietly
TOOK his hat, which he brushed with
MS sleeve, and, always smiling, went
out through a small door which MI
chael Strogoff had not before noticed.
The station was then invaded by
Iartars, and neither Michael Strogoff
nor the Journalists were able to effect
their retreat.
Alcide Jolivet, with his useless dis
patch In hand, ran to Harry Blount,
stretched on the floor, and, kind hearted
as ne was, took him on his shoulders
with the intention to flee with him. 1t
was too latel
both were prisoners, and with them
Michael Strogoff, taken by surprise
when he was about to jump through
tne window into the hands of the Tar
tars.