Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-04-02

| / couldn't letthim 90 alone, so picked
out a rifessand a revolver from his
armory, anEinsisted on taking my place
in the sleigh beside him. He drove
! over the sno<vcIad meadows TO within
a hundred yards of the outer edge of
the forest. Then he pulled up the
trembling dogs and waited Pretty
soon we saw dozens of shadowy gray
forms skulking out from the blaekness
of the trees on to the moonlit snow.
We fired at them, and almost before
the reports of our rifles had died away
the whole PACK was upon US.
Quick as lightning my friend dropped
his gun, shook out the reins and fog
ged the dogsEuntil they literally flew to-
ward homo fear squirting them far
more than, the whip. The foremost
wolves, of the pack We're within few
feet oflthe rear of the sleigh, and al
though we shot them down as fast as
we could fire our rifles the rest were
not halted by the massacre. They
gained onRlSsrapidly, and as we neared
the fort tt1ey'were swarming allaround
the sleigh and had actually pulled
down one OF the leading dogs. But a
crowd of soldiers rushed out with
torches and rifles and fired a volley
which put them to fight just in time
TO save our Hives.
Does yoUr master often do this?" 1
asked my friends servant.
Yes, sir, she replied. He generally
goes out whenever he hears the wolves
at night Look here, sirl' And he
opened a cupboard and showed me
rows uponJrows OF wolves tails. There
were sixEy-eight OF them. HE killed
all thesS. this winter" the servant
added.
In the frosty Caucasus, on remote
station near the Kurdistan border, the
officers have rare sport hunting brig
aRds when they are not out after big
game The KurdS are fond of raiding
over the border line and have no OBJ
lection to numbering a stray COssack
when they catch one. One officer
taught them Il lesson. He made VOW
to kill ten Kurds for every COssack
slain in his command. When Prince
Demidoff. the famous Caucasian hunt
er, visited that post he found that the
score WAS seven Cossacks and seventy
Kurds. We don't have much trouble
with them now" the officer grimly re-
marked to his visitor.
Although Ii cir lives are so full of adj
venture. it must not be supposed that
the officers on these lonely outpOsts
are rough, uncouth men. On the con-
trary. they practice in their tiny social
circle all the amenities Of civilized
life and even observe the elaborate
etiquette of the Russian nobility in all
its infinite detail. Many of them are
Zoe
live with them. They have, perhaps,
not seen city for five years, but they
get books and newspapers nj 4ong in
tervalF. and keep up as well as they
can with the affairs of the great world.
Il lave spent many an evening in
isOlat ed military posts hundreds of
mile;i from The nearest town and per
haus fifty miles from even telegraph
stat fon,'' said a Russian officer who
rode on horseback through Siberia,
land the society was so refined and
even brilliant that L almost imagined
/ was in st. Petersburg. l remember
one such post in particular, on the
fringe of the Pamirs. 1t was the near
est Russian post at that time to the
Indian frontier. There Were three of
ficers there. two of whom were mar
ried and living with their wives in
that desolate waste. They were ladies
of noble birth and the best social expe
rience. They had lived in court Cir
cles at st. Petersburg and Moscow and
were familiar with the society of Wen
ia and Paris. Yet they cheerfully
buried themselves alive there in order
TO be with their husbands. Their chill
dren We're being educated in Russia.
II think they spent a happy life
They went hunting n good deal with
their husbands. The commandment
showed me the biggest bearskin l had
ever seen and told me that his wife
killed the brute single handed. The
other lady was a fine artist.
In the evenings they. had a jolly
time They invited one another to
dinner as formally as if they had lived
q mile apart in a big city, and they
gave pleasant little dances, card par
ties and musical soireeS. Although
they knew one another so we'll, they
never relaxed the formal etiquette usu-
nj among married officers and their
wives in the Russian service. L chaffed
the commandant about this once but
he replied:
IF we did we should quarrel and be
flying at one another's Threats in less
than a week You have no idea how
such solitude as this gets upon ones
nerves. Your only salvation is to play
that you are living in the midst Of a
big society
The work OF the officers was inter !
esting and dangerous. They We're |
there mainly as diplomats and secret /
service agents among the tribes living |
around the Pamirs. They surveyed |
the mountain ranges and mapped out |
routes by which armies could cross /
them, and they Travelled among the |
tribes, seeking TO persuade the head |
men that il was TO their interest to /
become allies of Russia and fight for /
her whenever a clash came with Eng |
land. Sometimes they were away /