Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-06-15
"You are compelled" was the gov.
oro1rtc ea1,,ko~t ,on1,,

"You are compelled" was the gov.
errors relustant reply.
This inhuman order, too, had ar
rived when Holman's funds were for
the time being nearly exhausted; and
the order expressly stipulated that he
must bear the entire expense of the
enforced journey himself.
He and the officer set of on the
morning Of January 18th, in bitter
wind, against which the hood and
curtain of the sledge offered an In
sufficient protection. The Russian
wished to make a record for celebrity
in executing his commission. If he
could reach Petersburg again within
a certain number of days, he woul
be sent on an important mission to
Paris. Three horses were attached
abreast to the telega, and the officer
ordered the driver to put them at
gallop. although the snow was to their
knees. This rate Of travelling was
kept up hour after hour. The suffer
ings of the horses so touched the
heart Of the driver at last that he
,disobeyed the repeated commands of
Kolovin to lash them forward. There
upon the latter stopped the sledge and
gave the driver thirty blows with the
steel scabbard of his saber.
After fifty versts two of the horses
fell from exhaustion. One of them
expired in the snow and was left be.
hind. For each horse thus cruelty
disabled and abandoned to the wolves
the blind traveller was obliged to pay
fifty rubles.
On the first day they were upset
three times, and during the ensuing
night the horses fell over the steep
side of mountain; but the sledge
was saved from destruction by logs
which had been set up beside the
way as railing.
On the second night. while career.
ing at full speed down the side of
another mountain, they ran over the
sledge of peasant who was ascend
ing the slope. Again the telega was
overturned and the three horses be-
came almost inextricably entangled
with those Of the other sledge.
After arduous efforts in the bitter
wind and snow, the horses were olsen
tangled and compelled to get up; but
before resuming their way Kolovin
beat the peasant with his saber un-
mercifully, although 1t was not easy
to say how the poor man had been to
blame.
Owing to the headlong and violent
manner of travelling, breakdowns of
the sledge were of almost daily occur
renee and caused many hours of delay,
over which Kolovin became furious.
His chief solace for all these en-
forced halts lay in beating the hap
less driver who fell into such a pitt
able state of terror as to be unable
properly to guide the horses, since he
was continually looking back over his
shoulders in expectation of a blow
from the hard scabbard of the officer.
All the while the cold was SO in
tense that Kolovin's Kalmuck SER
want, who was obliged to sit beside
ene uAAVei III Arout, olten became SO
benumbed that he had to be carried
from the sledge to the heated plat
form over the Russian stoves In the
post-stations. Both his feet were bad
ly frozen.
OF his clothing Holman says, az
wore two pairs of wooden stockings,
with two pairs Of fur boots which
came above my knees. the inner ones
made OF the skin of the wild goat, the
outer ones Of leather lined With fur
and having thick soles. Added to
I 5t'asE7 were enyeloped In a
Sl5sltl ss I2dae ndent of nv
ordinary. clothing / also wore a thick.
ly wadded greatcoat, and over that
an immense sfrube. made of the skins
of wolves. while nv head was nrotect.
ed by a large wadded CAM
In short, they wore all the clothing
that they could move about in. but
even this was insufficient TO Withstand
the deadly chill.
Thus thew went on night and dav
to Krasnoyarsk Tomsl, Ekater,nhurp
Il haZaU. a0Q nnaIlY. on March 1Rth!
reached Moscow. Not once in all this
prodigous Journey of two months had
the traveller been able to lie down IN
an ordinary he'd II was ono const,nt
forward rush Of pa,lon;np horcec. ana
the sledee had been overturned more
times than thew could ramember
It will hardly he thought strange
that Holman's condition nm reacbino
Moscow was an had that root ana
proper food were imnerativelv nor
essarv He had fallen into a. fovor
and was so shaken thar he could
hardly stand. They would mt nermi,
him to see his friends at Moscow I'm,
less in the presence nj the nolice q,
allow him to converse in English With
any one.
The doctor whom he summoned on.
Joined rest and ouiet. but the cover
nor ordered him to go on the newt dav