Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1902-03-15

4 Alcide3 JoliVet was then Installed on
the fore part of the raft. when he felt
i hand rest on his arm. He turned
round and recognized Nadia, the sister
| of him who was no longer Nicholas
Korpanoff. but Michael Strogoff. cou-
i rier Of the car. a cry of surprise was
about to escape him when he saw the
young girl place her finger on her lips.
Come said Nadia to him.
And. assuming an air Of Indifference,
Alcide Joliyet, making. a sign to Harry
Blount to accompany him, followed her.
But if the surprise of the journalists
was great at meeting Nadia on that
! raft it was without limits when they
| perceived Michael Strogoff, whom they
/ could not believe to be still alive. Mi
chael Strogoff had not moved at their
approach.
Alcide Joifvet had turned himself to-
ward the young girl.
| Gentlemen, he does not see you, 4
said the young girl. The Tartars have
burned out his eyes! Ny poor brother
| is blindy'
/ A deep feeling Of pity was pictured
on the face Of Alcide Jolivet and his
1 companion.
An instant afterWard both Of them,
seated near Michael Strogoff, warmly
shook his hands and waited for him to
| speak.
"Gentlenen, said Michael Strogof
| In a low voice, syou must not know
who | am nor what l came to do in ST.
IBERIA 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 well, gentlemen"
"Can we be of any use to you?" ask
ed Harry Blount. "Would you wish
us to help you to accomplish your
task?''
81 prefer to act alone" said Michael
Strogoff.
'sBut those scoundrels have burned
out your sight" said Alcide Jolivet.
81 have Nadia, and her eyes suffice"
Half an hour later the raft, after
i
| 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.
AIcide Joliyet and Harry Blount, al
though they had promised Michael
Strogoff to keep his secret, yet did not
leave his side 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
| junction. One could not therefore doubt
that the emir and Ivan Ogaren were
before the capital
But why that haste to arrive there,
of the courier of the czar, now that the
emperor's letter could no longer be re-
mitted by him to the grand duke, and
heAdid not even know it's contents? Al
eide JoIivet and Harry Blount could
no more understand than could Nadia.
Besides, they had not spoken of the
past up to the moment when Alcide
Jolivet thought it his duty to say to
Michael Srogoff:
"We almost owe you some excuses
for not having shaken hands with you
before our separation at the posthouse
of Ichim.'' 80 IL. ~
mo; you had right to believe me a
coward" ~. si~....1
Anyhow added Alcide Jolivet, ''you
have ssplendidly whipped that villain, |
and he via carry the marks of it q kong
time" ...f&
''No, not long time" simply answer
ed Michael Strogoff.
In half an hour after the departure
from ,Livenitchnaia Alcide Jolivet and
Harry Blount had heard all the details
of the crnel trials through which Mi
chael Strogoff and his companion had
successfully passed. They could not
but openly admire an energy which the
devotedness Of the young girl alone
had been able to equal. And Of Mi
sehael Strogoff they had formed the
very same opinion which had been so
well expressed by the car at Moscow,
,''In truth, he is a manp'
At 8 O'clock at night, as the aspect
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-
bile. 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-
cnpied himself altogether in turning
aside from the ice blocks, a maneuver
which he executed without making any
noise.
This drifting of the ice, after all, was
l favorable circumstance as long as it
lid not oppose an insurmountable OBJ
'tacle in the passage Of the raft; for
u