The Iola register., 1902-07-04

1t had the look of mere brief deten-
ton, and If there had been no ques-
ton Of Vera's safety he would have
felt little anxiety. 1t was therefore a
complete surprise to him when, about
10 of the forenoon, he was summoned
10 trial! The announcement was coldly
made by the officer who had managed
his arrest upon the previous evening,
Darrell demanded counsel and was
Informed that it was not customary.
He insisted upon an interview with the
official representative Of his country
and received the reply that his letter
had been forwarded and that nothing
more could he done. There was no al
tentative. He was forced to accept
trial on the prosecutors terms.
He was led before a singular tribu-
nal. The judge sat in n courtroom
bare as a barn. and there were not n
dozen persons present, including pris-
oner guards and clerks. A yillainous
looking individual with n face so un-
symmetrical that he seemed to be made
from the halves of two very different
men that had been split longitudinally
acted as states attorney. He charged
the prisoner with being an escaped ST.
berian convict, Sergius Bilowski. His
opening remarks were brief, and he
galloped through them at such a gait
that Darrell had hard work to follow
him. Witnesses were then admitted,
one at time, from an adjoining room.
They swore to the prisoners identity
with such alacrity that three of them
testified within five minutes. Darrell
was not permitted to question them,
but at the close of the farce he had a
chance to testify in his own behalf
AS If to make the proceedings perfect
ly fair, nobody questioned him. When
he had said his say, the judge signed
some documents, and the officer who
had brought Darrell in received them.
"The prisoner will be taken to Cred
skov," said the judge, "and will be re-
turned to Siberia at the earliest oppor-
tunity."
He then left the bench, vanishing
through door behind it. Darrell was
led back to the room in which he had
been previously confined. lie was not
fetteTed. and there was no added sever
ity in the treatment of him except that
an armed guard was placed within the
room, a gigantic fellow with good ma
tured face, who sat on stool tilted
back against the door with short gun,
like a cavalry carbine, across his knees.
Darrell had struggled to preserve his
self command throughout the tragic
farce of the trial, well aware that the
approval of his own sense of honor was
all he had to hope for. He had main
tanned calm demeanor from first TO
last, and in his prison room he ad-
dressed his guard cheerfully.
"Where is this GredskovW he asked.
"Gredskov," was the reply, with a
sort of plying grin, "is prison city in
the Caucasian mountains. 1t is main
tanned for the purpose of guarding the
captives taken among the rogues of
the ns-Circassians, robbers,
Turks or any Of the bad men who seek
months a prison train Is made up for
Siberia, where the prisoners are di-
yIded among the mining towns"
Darrells stay In Stavropol was short
On the following morning he was
placed with about a dozen other prison
ers, all seemingly Of the lowest type OF
peasants, and was conducted under a
strong guard to the city gate. He had
not been dressed in any sort of prison
garb and still retained his minor be-
longings and the money that the
searchers had missed, but his hat had
been replaced by a cap and his over
coat by a ragged garment that might
have been part of an officers outfit
in the far past.
Outside of Stavropol the road was
smooth for a considerable distance, and
the cayalcade moved slowly along
through rural scene Of what might