Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-07-15
Chapter VI
CHAPTER vi.
A ONE SIDED TRIAL-ALMA JuRNIEFF's
RESOLVE.

RESOLVE.
rs lOLONEL JURNIEFF gazed
~ coldly upon the prisoners
SSsES1 when they were brought be-
SxSg fore him. Hassan was cring-
ing and servile, begging for mercy;
Harvey was straight and calm, but
angry.
"This is an outrage upon an Ameri-
can citizen, and it will not go unpun-
ished," he said. "You have no right
to arrest me or prevent my travelling
to Mini Novgorod."
"What is your name?" asked the
colonel.
Harvey Irons"
II remember that name-somehow in
connection with command. All, l
have it! Were you not ordered to
leave Russia and never return?
mo, was not. was told that if I
came to Russia something would hap.
pen to me. 1t was not done by the
order Of the car. 1t was merely an
attempt to separate me from a young
lady whom / love-"
SO that was it, said the colonel,
with sheer. You are sure it was not
done by the order of the czar?"
II am sure of it, for an investigation
was made at my request by our minis
ter, and he assured me that SO far as
the car and his high ministers were
concerned they had issued no such
command. was told l was at liberty
to enter Russia to sell my goods at
any time"
After this remarkable investigation,
as you call it, were you informed that
you We're at liberty to come to Russia
and carry off her daughters?"
mo, nor have any desire to carry
them of-that is. save one, whom
shall marry sooner or later"
May l ask the name Of that one? Is
1t Koura Biartelkis?"
mo. had nothing to do with that
affair. And it is none Of your business
what the name Of the other isl
"Insolent dog! Do you know who
am?"
mo, and don't care"
II will take some of the impudence
put Of you before am done. am Colo
bel Jurnieff."
1.-THE uncle of Alma?"
Eyes, the uncle of Alma"
"Then you already knew the name of
the girl l love, and your questions were
simply perfunetory. 1 demand in JUS
tice that be released"
"That will be settled later. Just now
you are my prisoner. Take him to the
prison of detentionw
Two soldiers forced Harvey to ac-
company them. Then Colonel Jurnieff
fell into study.
'This dog is right" he said. ''The
order was our own. This espionage un-
der which we have kept him was not
by order Of the minister of police, but
at the request of the general, my broth
er. I must silence him somehow. He is
irrepressible and will do us harm. He
must never be acquitted Of this charge,
no matter what the evidence may be.
With Alma here and that fellow in ST.
IBERIA there will be distance enough be-
tween them to save us from further
care"
Harvey saw no one for several days
except the guard who brought his
meals. One day the guard, as he push
ed the dinner through the door, said
to Harvey: 81 have been paid we'll to
hand you this. Take it. Swallow it
when you have read it,
1t was note written on thin paper
in pencil. 1t read:
My Dear NJ. Irons-I have been weeping
my eyes out since learned that you were
in prison. After our meeting at the fair
last year my father sent me here to Colo
mel Jurnieff, his brother. l have been al
most prisoner ever since. / have not
been able to ascertain where you were.
Your letters. even had you known where
I was, would have been seized.
assure you / know you were not
guilty of killing NJ. Biartelkis or taking
away his daughter. but my uncle will try
to have you convicted and sent to Siberia
shall do all can to reach your Ameri-
can representative at ST. Petersburg, but
may not be able to accomplish it. 1 have
but two friends One of them is bribng
the guard to give you this Whatever
happens, remember l love you and be-
lieve in you> ALMA.
Harvey kissed the note and sobbed.
"My poor darling" he murmured.
Bit by bit he chewed the paper and
swallowed it.
Then came the trial. The tribunal
was semimilitary. Colonel Jurnieff and
Captain Orskoff were present. The
magistrate, a stern old man, looked
with unsympathetic eyes upon Harvey
and with loathing upon Hassan. Cap
tain Orskoff first offered what he knew
or what he did not know, which Har-
vey felt amounted to the same thing so
far as his chances were concerned.
I'm performing my duties during the
fair" said the captain, 81 saw Hafiz
Efendi. who was known to be dealer
in the slave girls of Circassia and Geor-
gia before his imperial highness the
car issued his ukase that all such traf-
fic be stopped. watched Hatlz Effen.
di, but could discover nothing that
would lead me to believe he contem.
plated breaking the law. saw him
with this man from Bokhara who calls
himself Milk, and when learned that
Biartelkis and Koura We're missing
suspected them. They denied having
anything to do with the crime. Ac.
cording to the brother of Haflz, who
keeps coffee house, both Of them
spent that night at his place. There
was no one at the bazaar who could
tell where the proprietor had gone.
discovered that a boat manned chiefly
by native sailors and captained by
Hassan, Turk, had left Tiflis during
the night. No one had seen the boat
depart, and there seemed to me some
thing mysterious In this. / sent word