Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-05-03
The Secret Dispatch
BY JAMES GRANT

| out Immediately after. and she was ban
ished into Siberia
"Oh, Natalie, Natalier' he could but
repeat. while he wrung his hands; and
thus the dawn of day found him.
After mature consideration OF his posi-
| ton, his powerlessness and the diff
culties that beset him. with the horrors
impending over Natalie, poor Charlie
Balgonie felt maddened, crushed and
heart-broken. Gould he see her perish
without a struggle. an effort. however
reckless, fruitless and futile. on her be-
half, even If he pistoled the executioner?
Hearts will break in this life" says
recent writer; sit is the nature of
them; but il God wills it, and it were
| possible. it is honester. Drawer and no
bier to live than to die Most true
but TO live is to hope. Balgonie vague
| ~, but sternly, resolved that he would
do something. but being poor, bewilder-
| ed, loving young fellow, he could in no
way practically Sc what that something
might be.
| The next day was not far advanced
| when Balgonie was summoned by Gen.
| Weymarn, whose staff he had been re-
solving to quit; but for what purpose,
or whittier to go. he knew not. With
! something of a shudder he beheld the
Stepniak-the comrade and confederate
of the late Nicholas Pauloyitch--leav-
ing the generals quarters.
| Save that he wore the scarlet livery
of his new trade-torture and death
! he was unchanged, and was the same
hideous and il-visaged giant-with
square shoulders, enormous beard, mouse
/ like eyes, hair shorn off straight across
the beetle brows, and the pineapple
shaped head-whom Balgonie had seen
in the hut where the wretched Podatch-
| kline persisted He was now public ex-
ecutioner of st. Petersburg; under his
felon hands had poor Mierowitz and
Mariolizza been, and ere long would Ma
tale be-
Weymarn was a grave and stern, yet
not unkind, old soldier; and on perceiv-
ing that his young aid-de-camp looked
pale, he spoke to him with unusual kind
ness, and added:
Il am sorry. TO say that have new
duty of importance for you to perform"
Thanks, general; any excitement is
better than-than idleness."
True. You will have to ride to
Schlusselburg with an escort, composed
of six Cossacks of the Imperial Guard,
and bring back the sum of eighty thou
sand roubles, which are there in canvas
bags. sealed. They have been levied
on the estates of Mierowitz. You will
| receive them from the officer command
ing there; give a signed receipt, and de-
! liver them into the Imperial Treasury"
Balgonie bowed in silence. The gen
eral who, of course, knew well the cor
rupt venality of the Russian service,
added:
IF the sum is brought entire to the
treasury, Carl Ivanovitch, a reasonable
gratuity will, of course, be paid you"
/ "Exceliency, / require none for doing
my duty, either in this or any other mat
ter" replied Balgonie, even haughtily.
''As you please, sir-as you please.
Some among us might be less particu-
lar" said the old general, Juggling his
grisly mustache. "And-stay. By the
by, there is a prisoner at Schlusselburg
whose sentence is TO be executed to-mor-
row in presence of the assembled troops
and people here
Balgonie thought of but one prisoner
there, and an icy chill came over him
as Weymarn said:
with the escort and the wagon, Cap
tain, you will at the same time bring
the culprit here"
"And-and this pris-on-ner, Excellen-
cy?' faltered the poor fellow.
rs Jagouski, the Cossack, who so Sc
verely wounded Col. Bernikoff when in
the execution of his duty. An order will
be necessary for you-a special order
since the affair of that wretched young
fellow Mierowitz we cannot be too par
ticular; so take this:
ITO the Officer Commanding at Schlus-
selburg:
"'You are hereby directed to deliver
to Captain Carl Ivanovitch Balgonie, OF
the Sniolensko Regiment, the prisoner
who is to be executed tomorrow.
'WEYMARN, Lieut. Gen.
"For the delivery of the money here
is a separate order from the treasurer.
Adieu."