Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-03-01
CHAPTER 7

Heaven aid me! Where am 1 now
which way shall i turD-advance or re-
tireT exclaimed Balognie, as his horse
came 2iunging down, almost on its knees,
amid wild gorse and matted jungle
A cold day in the middle of April had
passed away; pale and cherries sun.
that had cast no heat on the leafiess
scenery and the half-frozen marshes that
border the Louga in Western Russia,
had sunk, and the darkness of a stormy
night came on rapidly. The speaker,
mounted officer in Russian uniform, who
seemed too surely to have lost his way,
refined up weary and Undiscovered horse
on the margin of the stream, and by the
light that yet fingered on the tops Of
the tall pines and gilded family the
metal-cOyered domes of distant building
on the opposite bank, looked hopelessly
about him for the means of crossing the
dangerous river.
Though clad in the uniform of the
Russian regiment of Smolensko, the trav-
eler was cool. wary and determined, one
of the many Scottish officers whom mis-
fortune or ambition had drawn into Rus
sian service. both by sea and land, from
the time of Peter the Great down 10 the
The riders green uniform, faced with
scarlet velvet and richly laced with
gold, was covered by thick gray pelisse,
trimmed with black VOLTS fur; he wore a
scarlet forage cap with a square top,
long boots and a Turkish saber
Swim the river | must" he muttered,
after having traversed the valley in vain,
looking for a bridge; "but death may be
"a ~ oil h.
CLEAN of ire in his dark-gray eyes and
bitter smile on his lip. there was
time, perhaps. when / little thought that
/, Charlie Balognie, would find a name
less grave in this land. l was to have
found bridge here. Can that Livonian
villain, Podatchkine, have deluded and
then left me to my fate?"
Baloguie buttoned tightly his holster
flaps, hooked up his saber. assured him
self that an important dispatch with
which he was intrrsted was safe in an
inner pocket, and prepared seriously for
the perilous task of swimming his horse
across the stream.
With brief invocation on his lips, he
gave his horse the reins and gored it
with the rowels. y strong active, I'M
dersizeG animal from the steppes of the
UkrGine. with a fierce and angry snort.
1t plunged into the torrent and b casted
the icy masses bravely.
The slippery fragments that glided
past struck at times both horse and rider.
forcing them to swerve down the stream;
others were dashed by the whirling ed
dies against the projecting pieces of rock
or roots of old trees; but after twice
nearly despairing of achieving the pas
sage, his horse trod firmly on the oppo-.
site bank. 1t emerged, painting, snort
Ing, dripping and trembling in every fiber,
from the flood and then Captain Balog-
ME found that he had escaped with his
life and had safely passed the swollen
waters of the Louga.
Leading his sturdy little steed by the
bride and caressing it the while, he made
his way up the opposite bank; but he
proceeded with extreme difficulty, for the
underwood was thick aud dense; ere
long, however, he reached a plateau. the
border of a park or lawn and saw the
snow-whitened walls and turrets of an
ediiice towering before him.
The light in its many windows. the red
and yellow colored curtains within. all in
dicated warmth and comfort; with the
snOwhakeS freezing on his sodden and
saturated uniform. his limbs benumber,
and his teeth well nigh chattering. Balog-
ME hastily led his horse forward and APP
piled his hand vigorously to the great
brozen knocker on the front door,
1t was speedily opened, and white
bearded porter. wearing a long flowing
coat of fur, lined with red flannel, ad-
mitted him with many humble genufec-
tons, at the same time sunlmoning a
groom to take charge of his horse.