The daily sentinel., 1906-08-22
A COS5ACK RAID

Percival Gibbon describes a Cos
There were few lights that Sunday
night in the village of Pavious, and
those were ftful and moved hither
and thither; but there was murmur
of feverish preparation. and in the
darkness men passed swiftly from
house to house, and now and again
there was a cry as some woman real
lied her despair. IL was known that
the CossacSs were coming. Spurred
by famine and infiamed by the preach
ers of revolution, the men of Payious
two days before had flung themselves
upon the country house of the prince
whose terraced gardens and orderly
woods sneered down on their pinched
fields, had looted it and killed two
servants, and then had burned the
place to the ground. A shout from
somewhere heralded the doom of the
village. and forthwith there were.
heard the crash of hoofs through the
frozen snow of the street, the Jingle
of accoutrements. and someone laugh
ing IN strange shrill mirth. Some
man. caught out of doors, dashed
across to reach his hut; and. forth
with, from the vagueness of the win
ter night, Cossack. yelling in kind
of glee, galloped down on him, and
was seen for an instant clearly as he
crossed the streak of light from the
one open door.
His long kaftan. blown back as
he rose in his stirrups. his cap of
shaggy fur, his curved sword dang
ling from his belt, leaped into view,
and also the plunge of the long lance
as he brought. the point down and
rode on his prey. The end transpired
In the deeper blackness beyond the
light; one heard only the fall, the
high. whinnying scream of the vic
tim, and the strange laughter of the
Cossack, as he wheeled his horse.
Only, later on, passing down the
street, came upon the twisted huddle
of what had been a man. with stiff.
dead hands spread wide, clutching at
the snow. Up the street to the mid
die of the village rode the sotnia and
well enough | knew what strained
eyes watched them from the darkened
windows, what chilled hearts thumped
at their passage. The Cossacks knew
1t too, no doubt; they were laughing
among themselves. always with that
staccato. high-pitched cackle which
had an inhuman note. and deepened
the horror they inspired. These were
true Cossacks of the cattle lands, lit
tie men on small horses. tricked out
in the finery uf their savage state,
clanking with metal trinkets. and
glaring from under high caps of fur.
There was not long to wait. The
shrieks began almost at once. an1
soon one scream. a high and desper-
ate cry of agony, a woman's voice
calling where no aid could be, mas
tered the babel of woe, poislng in a
high ecstasy of terror and pain above
the groans and cries around. till it
sunk suddenly and bubbled to a stop.
Shouts and cries and the shrlll laugh
| ter and stronge speech of the Cos
sacks filled the night. and where there
had been the quiet of fear now there
was the clangor of cruelty; where the
street had been lifeless it was now
| a crowded Golgotha echoinE with
blows. intricate with struggling
groups. When 1t was all over the
prisoners were tied together in pairs,
and presently they were marched off
between the lines of the Cosacks. to
be flogged on to Tambov. The sun
was painting the sky pale yellow in
the east as they departed and when
they were gone people stood at the
doors of the huts. holding to the
posts, looking out at the bodies in the
street. But none spoke"