The Washington times., 1905-02-19

tain, levefefi the weapon at him and
| ofoefed him TO throw down his sword.
/ lie only laughed. for he was not a
coward, and kew that death would be
preferable to the fate that would be his
If he were captured alive
/ So! It Is my friend, Dubravnfk, is
tit?' he said derisively, and in a tone as
cool as though he were greeting me in
a ballroom You have killed my horses
and my mujik. why not do the same for
me?t'
| 1 besitated.
To shoot a man down like that vas
against every impulse of my soul, and
deadly as mine if once l should get
within reach of it's point. i possessed
none with which to meet him on even
fground. Within the britzska was un-
questionably the unconscious form Of
I the woman ] loved.
Throw down your sword or 1 will
certainly kill yeui' l commanded again.
XIII" he replied laconically.
There was no other way. and / pulled
the trigger.
There was no report. Durnief did not
fall as the horses and his mujik had
done He stood unharmed. for the car
| fridge was bad the chamber OF my
| revolver was unIoaded.
! Instantly he understood that he had
me at his mercy. and with deadly
smile upon his face he Ieaped forward
| TO run me through.
5szS As he sprang toward me / hurled the
pistol with all my strength toward him,
and it struck him squarely in the
/ breast. staggering and forcing him off
his guard.
| Then before he could recover, sprang
! past the point of his weapon, seized his
/ sword arm by the wrist with my left
/ hand and threw my other arm around
his body.
We were evenly matched as though
we had. trained at weights and meas
/ urements for the combat, and for mo-
nent we swayed back and forward
! again, [ exerting all my strength TO
bend his wrist backward so that he
/ would be compelled to drop the sword
It seems strange that such a strug-
gle taking place in the streets of
great city, and four reports OF my pis-
toI. had not attracted attention and
| drawn somebody TO the scene, but the
/ pasi night had been a terror, policemen
had been called away from their posts,
and at that hour, just after dawn,
/ when everything was quiet nobody
heard or if they heard. feared to come
/ In using all my efforts to compel him
! to drop his weapon. / neglected the
other necessary points of the struggle,
| and although l succeeded In my design,
he forced me backward at the same
instant, so that I fell beneath him, but
/ / still had my right arm tightly clasped
around him. and ] hugged him TO me
| with all my strength
| With Durnief, 1t was struggle for
life. liberty, and everything that he
/ ucssessed, and he fought with the des-
i peratio4s of nladman. With me, IT
/ was life and the woman loved, and
| L fought eoolly. knowing that he could
/ not get away from me, believing that
| could tire him out. and satisfied that
| I could prevent him from securing his
sword again.
He managed to wrench his hand from
i my grasp. and he struck me a savage
! threw the other arm around him then
i and hugged him ali the tighter, so that
he was unable to repeat the blow
It was a strange combat.
i 4 person ten feet away could not have
1 heard it, for there was no sound ex-
cent our heavy breathir The snow
dea6ened every r.oise that might have
been made otherwise. and the air was
bitterly cold.
Presently became conscious of the
fact that my opponent was striving
with all his might to force me in GER
tain direction. and l correctly conjectur-
ed that he had been able to discover the
location of the sword and was making
an effort to reach It Sc I bent my
energies to avoiding his effort
NV life had been largely one of ad-
venture and | had taken part IN many
cornbats. but never before in one like
this, where It was simply a matter Of
endurance where neither party to the
fray was suffering injury, and where
the hone of success was SO evenly di-
vided.
Odd as 1t may seem, while pinioning
|, Him thus, so that he could not act on
the offensive I began to conjecture
how long we might hold out, and the
proba bility of assistance arriving to end
1t; and it was the uncertainty of the
nature of that assistance that concerned
me most.
I have said that there We're not half
a dozen confessed Nihilistic sympathi-
zers, and there were hundreds of others
: who had become allied to the Nihilists
in some extrfnsic way, who were in
| sympathy with the order, but only pas
: siveIy So If one or more of such were
: to happen along, the assistance would
surely be upon the side OF my enemy
ana certain defeat and death would be
my portion.
l. If a mere citizen were to interfere. the
captain who still wore his uniform,
would secure the proffered aid. not +
he would be believed, not l, and hence
| I understood that whatever advantage
there was in the way of interference
was on his side
Appres iating these facts, L exerted
! my strength to the utmost to turn the
tide OF battle in my favor, but 1 could
accomplish nothing. He was as strong
5 as though not more powerful. and so
/ reIapsed again into the mere effort to
2 hold him helpless, and to take the
chances of wearing him out before as
sIstance should come
1t seemed to me as though an hour
passed thus; in reality, it may have been
: only q few moments, for minutes are
, long under such circumstances. and then
. . there came an Interruption--and q
Str ne