Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-05-21
By Ashley Towne
COPYRIGHT, 1901,
BY CHARLES 3.
ETIIERINGTON

2@3ea9a@2Y@e@saesas agas@@sss$
be OF the greatest value to the C1rcas-
sian army, and I beg of her as the
grentcst favor she can ever grant me
that may be permitted to form one of
the generals escort"
Darrell waited In great anxiety for n
reply to this plea, and he was deeply
gratiiicd when Korna returned with
word that he could go-in coloneIs
uniform.
Durham was consulted" said Korna,
and he seemed pleased. The man has
taken great fancy to YOU"
"Thank heaven have cultivated his
acquaintance during this siege" re.
piled Darrell.
The conference was held in a tent
pitched on hillside midway between
the lines. The rain had recommended,
and Il rivulet could be heard running
under the rough floor of boards. Upon
entering, Darrell had seen first the tall
figure of General Lyof Panin, the Rus
sian commander. He must have been
man of fine presence at his best, but
now his visage was grotesquely red
deneu With fever and his eyes had al
most the look of madness. BY his side
stood Ivan Getchikoff, the man whom
Darrell had hoped to see. Yet he was
greatly surprised to note from the first
formalities that Getchikoff was the
ranking officer present aside from Pa
min. His uniform showed that he had
been advanced another grade in the
short time since Darrell had seen him
In Gredskov, probably because he was
the son of his distinguished father
rather than for his own merits Yet
there should have been many who
would rank him in SO considerable IN
army. Doubtless the hill fever ac-
counted for their absence, and Darrell
remembered Korna's saying that the
disease Frustrated men past forty.
The conference opened with plain
statement from General Panin. He
showed good knowledge of the con-
dition Of the besieged, especially in the
matter of food supply, and he pointed
out with an old soldiers precision the
ultimate fall of the garrison.
Your battle is lost" he said. at is
wise for you to make terms. I speak
with the full authority of my gov
eminent when l say that peace is the
principal aim sought. The mildness of
the former car in dealing with the
revolt that was quelled in '66 should be
known to you all. The same policy
will be pursued today If hostilities are
Mt once suspended. There is no cray-
ing for revenge If full submission Is
made. We demand the delivery Of the
following prisoners, who have been
leaders In this insane undertaking"
Here he read list beginning with
Prince Kilziar and ending with 1.-THE
person styling himself Motman Khan"
The others were officers directly asso-
ciated with the prince, and Durham
himself was not one of them, to his
own great surprise. Judging from the
list, the purpose of Russia Vas to Sc
cure men who had hold military. nam.
missions In her service at the time of
the uprising, as Durham had not. The
net was spread for traitorous soldiers.
Upon the surrender of these persons,
Panin continued, with the arms and
armament of the force, general pa
Aoio wv w W slaii.e.i' ailu Tue troops
!, so''ss- - =. 49, s.to tnelr
noiues, suppies ahu iheans Oh protec-
.lon uurlhs 'he Journey peiiis gua1-
an n,,
lne terms we're surprisingly Aperal'
ou' 'nes "eie "osoiu.eiS ilnpossip1e
under the circumstances. The immu-
nifty granted Durham was in itself
sufficient reason why he could give no
favorable response. He replied In n
calm tone, saying that the nature OF
the proposal was unexpected to him,
that In order to secure consideration
there must be guarantee that the
khan. Prince Kilziar and the others
named would be treated as prisoners
of war, but even so he could give no
hope that surrender would be made.
He was proceeding toward certain sug-
gestions of his own when suddenly, to
the surprise of everybody, General
Panin interrupted him and burst into
violent harangue, denouncing Kilziar
and his associates In unmeasured terms
and with epithets that seemed quite
foreign to his nature, as his previous
speech had disclosed 1t.
His own officers stared at him in
amazement, and Darrell, standing in
the darkest shadow to avoid recogni-
expect. Then suddenly in the midst of
his speech the old general flung I'M both
hands to his forehead and fell across
the table behind which he had been
standing. When they raised him up,