The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1902-01-09

Alcide Jolivet had turned himself to-
ward the young girl.
Gentlemen. he does not see you"
said the young girl. "The Tartars have
burned out his eyes! My poor brother
is blind"
A deep feeling of pity was pictured
on the face of Alcide Jolivet and his
companion.
An instant afterward both of them.
seated near Michael Strogoff, warmly
shook his hands and waited for him to
speak.
"Gentlemen," said Michael Strogoff
In low voice, you must not know
who am nor what came to do in ST.
IBERIA. 1 beg you to respect my secret.
DO you promise me?
"On my honor" answered Alcide JOLT
vet.
ION my faith as gentleman" added
Harry Blount.
every we'll, gentlemen"
"Can we be of any use to you" ask
ed Harry Blount. "Would you wish
us,xto help you to accomplish your
taskY' 49,.
81 prefer to act alone" said Michael
Strogoff. --..- -...-.
"But those scoundrels have burned
out your sight," said Alcide Jolivet.
II have Nadia, and her eyes suffice"
Half an hour later the raft, after
having left the little port of Livenitch-
naia, was fairly in the river. 1t was 5
o'clock in the evening. Night was fast
coming on. 1t would be very dark and
very cold also, for the temperature was
| already below zero.
Alcide Jolivet and Harry Biount, al
though they had promised Michael
Strogoff to keep his secret, yet did not
leave his side.s They spoke in low
voice, and the blind man, putting what
he already knew to what they now told
him, was enabled to form an exact idea
of the state of affairs.
He was certain that the Tartars were
actually Investing Irkutsk and that the
three columns had already formed a
junction. One could not therefore doubt
that: the temir and Ivan Ogaref were
before the capital. = go --.-.- = -.-.
of the courier Of the car, now that the
emperor's letter could no longer be re.
mitted by him to the grand duke, and
he did not even know it's contents? AL
eide Joliyet and Harry Blount could
no more understand than could Nadia.
Besides, they had not spoken of the
past up to the moment when Alcide
TIL hi 111fu tn IN
Michael Strogoff: - ~
"We almost owe you some excuses
for not having shaken hands with you
before our separation at the posthouse
Of 1chim:" ~'' 49,.
"NNo; you had a right to believe me a
coward"
anyhow" added Alcide Jolivet, ''you
have splendidly whipped that villain,
and he will carry the marks Of it long
time" -. -r-..
mo, not long time," simply answer
ed Michael Strogoff. - - ~ .'7'-.
In half an hour after the departure
from Livenitchnaia Alcide Jolivet and
; Harry Blount had heard all the details
of the cruel trials through which Mi
chael Strogoff and his companion had
successfully. passed, They could not
but openly admire an energy which the
'deyotedness of the young girl alone
had been able to equal. And Of Mi
chaei Strogoff they had formed the
very same opinion which had been SO
well expressed by the car at Moscow
'1n truth, he is a manw -~
o 80 S~rI,+ not
of the sky had forewarned them, an ex.
cessiYe darkness .envelOped all the
country The moon, being new, would
not rise above the horizon. From the
middle of the river the banks were visi-
bic. The. cliffs at not a great height
were blended with those heavy clouds
which they displaced with difficulty.
At intervals breeze would come from
the east and seem to expire in that mar.
row valley of the Angara.
The old mariner, lying down on the
fore part OF, the raft near his men, oc-.
cupied himself altogether in turning
aside from the ice blocks, a 'maneuveI
which. he executed without making any
noise. - - 49, -,
This drifting of the ice, after all, was
favorable circumstance as long as it
did not oppose an insurmountable OBJ
stacle in the passage Of the raft; fol
indeed this apparatus alone on the free
waters of the river would have run the
risk of being perceived even through
the thick shade, whereas it was now
COMPOUNDED with these moving masses
of all sizes and all shapes, and the din
produced by the grating of the blocks
drowned all other suspicious noise.
There was very keen frost. The
fugitiEes suffered dreadfully from it,
not having any other shelter but some
branches Of the birch tree. They press
ed close to each other in order 20 better
support the low temperature, which
during that night had reached 10 de-
grees below zero.
Michael Strogoff and Nadia. lying
down at the back part of the raft, en-
dured without complaint this addition
al suffering. For a man who was reck-
oning soon to attain his end Michael
Strogoff seemed singularly calm. Be-
sides, in the most grave situations his
energy had never abandoned him. Al
ready he looked forward to the moment