The Mankato free press., 1905-02-10

that tree-no one will run away with
him-and lead his horse into Tver. /
will give notice to the police, but l will
not do so until you-are in the st. Pc
tersburg train. l will, of course. give
them to understand that your princely
mind could not be bothered by such
details as this: that you have proceed.
ed on your journey"
al do not like leaving the poor beg
gar alone all night" said Paul. "There
may be Molves-the crows in the early
morning."
Bah! That is because you are so
soft hearted. My dear fellow, what
business is it of ours if the universal
laws of nature are Illustrated upon
this unpleasant object? We all live
on each other. The wolves and the
crows have the last word. Come. let
us carry him to that tree"
The two living men carried the name
less, unrecognizable dead to n resting
place beneath stunted pine few
PAGES removed from the road. They
laid him decently at full length, cross
ing his soil begrimed hands over his
breast, tying the handkerchief down
over his face.
Then they turned and left him alone
in that luminous night-a waif that had
fallen by the great highway without
a word, without sign; q half run race,
a story cut off in the middle, for he was
a young man STILL His hair, all dusty,
Cfn,r
streak of gray; his hands were smooth
and youthful There was vague sus-
picion of sensual softness about his
body, as if this might have been a
man who loved comfort and ease, who
had always chosen the primrose path,
had never learned the salutary lesson
of self denial The incipient stoutness
of limb contrasted strangely with the
drawn meagerness of his body, which
was contracted by want of food. Paul
Alexis was right This man had died
Of starvation within ten miles of the
great Volga, within nine miles of the
outskirts Of Tver, a city second to
Moscow and once her rival. Therefore
it could only be that he had phrposely
avoided the dwellings of men. that he
was fugitive of some sort or another.
Paul's theory that this was an English
man had rot been received with en-
thusiasm by Steinmetz, but that phi
losopher had stopped to inspect the
narrow, telltale fingers. SteinmetZ, be
holding his tongue.
They mounted their horses and rode
away without looking back but they
did not speak. as if each We're deep in
his own thoughts Material had indeed
been afforded them. for who could tell
who this featureless man might be?
They We're left, hloa state fof hopeless
curiosity, as who having picked up a
page with "Finis' written upon it falls
to wondering what the story may have
been.
Steinmetz had thrown the bride of
the straying horse over his arm. and
the animal trotted obediently by the
side of the fidgety little. Cossacks.
"That was bad luck" exclaimed the
elder man at length; "bad luck. In
this country the less you find the less
you see; the less dyou understand the
simpler is your existence. Those nj
hilists. with their, mysterious ways and
their reprehensible love of explosives,
have made honest mems lives burden
to them"
''Their motives were originally good y
put in Paul.
'"That is possible, but a good motive
is no excuse for bad means. They
wanted to get along too quickly. They
are pigheaded, exalted, impractical to
q man. l do not mention the women,
because when women meddle in poll
tics they make fools of themselves,
even in England. These nihilists would
have been all very we'll if they had
been content to sow for posterity. But
they wanted to see the fruits of their
labors in one generation. = Education
does not grow like that 1t requires a
couple of generations to garminate. 1t
has to be manured by the brains of
fools before it is of any use. In Eng
land it has reached this stage. Here
in Russia the sowing has only begun.
Now, we were doing some good. The
Charity league was the thing. 1t be-
gan by training their starved bodies
to be ready for the education when it
came. And very little Of it would
have come in our time. If you educate
a hungry man you set devil loose
upon the world. Fill their stomachs
before you feed their brains or yop
will give them mental Indigestion"
THAT is just what 1 want to do
fill their stomachs. don't care about
the rest. I'm not responsible for the
progress of the world or the good of
humanity" said Paul.
He rode on in silence, then he burst
out again in the curt phraseology of a
man whose feeling is stronger than he
cares to admit
1--WE got no grand ideas about the
human race" he said. "a very little
contents me. A little piece of Tver, a
few thousand peasants, are good
enough for me. 1t seems rather hard
that fellow can't give away of his
surplus money in charity If he is such
a fool as to want to"
Steinmetz was riding stubbornly
along. Suddenly he gave little
chuckle-a cultural sound expressive
of n somewhat GprrOallip GctiSfo ctiOD