Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-26

merely wished 70 satisfy himself that
/ everything was In order, for he said more
mildly than he had hitherto spoken:
n,ed H., = ca hong i-.Ds since any one occu-
Then his eye rested esr the vacant corner
"Ah, excellency." he continued, pardon
basin"
I'd rather you brought me a candle"
said Lermontof nonchalantly although his
| lips were dry. and he moistened them as
| ne spoke; then, to learn whether money
| was valueless on the rock. as the governor
| had intimated, he drew from his pocket one
OF the remaining gold pieces, glad that he
| into the palm of the gaoler's hand, whose
nngers ciutched 1t as eagerly as If he were
| In ST Petersburg
II think a candle can be managed, excel
iency- Shall bring a cup?''
Il wish you would
/ The door was again locked and bolted
out before Lermontof had finished his
soup. and bread and cheese II was opened
again The gaoler placed a tin basin, SIM
| liar to the former one. on the ledge put a
| candle and candlestick on the table and a
| tin cup beside them.
| thought there was no part of Russia
| where bribery was extinct said the prince
to himself. as the door closed again for the
| night.
After supper Lermontoff again shifted his
| table, stood upon It. lit his candle and re-
| sumed his tupneling working hard until
| after midnight. His progress was deplora-
| bly, slow, and the spraying OF the rock
proved about as firing task ever he had
undertaken His second basin full of solu-
ton was made q little stronger, but without
| perceptible Improvement In It's effect. On
| ceasingS operations for the night he found
himself in situation common to few pris-
oners. that of being embarrassed with
| riches. He possessed two basins, and one
| of them must be concealed. OF course he
| might leave his working basin in the upper
al 11nI tod t1n n1n
| had brought In his supper, but he realized
| that at any moment the lanterns rays
| might strike its shining surface, and SO
| bring on an investigation of the upper tun-
| mel, certain to prove the destruction of his
| whole scheme. A few minutes thought,
| however. solved the problem admirably
| he placed the basin face downward In the
| rapid stream which swept it to the iron
| bars between the two cells. and there it
| lay quite concealed with the swift water
| ripping over 1t. This done. he flung off his
| clothes and got Into bed, not awakening
| until the gaoler and his assistant brought
| in bread. cheese and coffee for breakfast.
| The next cay he began to feel the incon-
veniences of the governors friendship, and
wished he were safely back to the time
| when one loaf lasted four days, for If such
| were now the case, he would be free of the
constant state of tension which the ever
| recurring visits of the gaoler caused. He
! feared that some day he might become SO
absorbed In his occupation that he would
| not hear the withdrawing of the bolt, and
| thus. as it were, be caught in the act
! Shortly after lunch the governor sent
| for him, and asked many questions per-
tanning to the running of the dynamo.
| Lermontoff concealed his impotence. and
| set about his instructions with exemplary
| earnestness Russian text books on cleo
| tricity at hand were of the most rudi-
| mentary description, and although the
| governor could speak German he could not
read it. SO the two volumes he possessed
in that language were closed to him.
l Tnhr, yxyac la6 n q
| the very A B c Of the science.
| The governor, however, became so deep
| ly interested that he momentarily forgot
| his caution. unlocked a door, and took
| Lermontoff into room which he saw was
| the armory and ammunition storehouse of
| the prison. On the floor of this chamber
| the governor pointed out a large battery
| of accumulatorS, and asked what they
were for Lermontoff explained the pur
| poses of the battery. meanwhile examining
| 1t thoroughly, and finding that many of the
cells had been all but ruined In transit.
| through the falling away of the compo-
| sition In the grids. Something like half of
! the accumulators. however, were intact
| and workable; these he uncoupled and
| brought into the dynamo room. where he
| showed the governor the process of charg-
| ing. He saw in the store room a box con-
| tanning incandescent lamps, coils of silk
| covered wire and other material that made
his eyes glisten with delight He spoke in
| German.
IF you will give a coil Of this wire,
one or two of the lamps, and an &C
cumulator, or indeed half dozen of them.
| will trouble you no more for candles.
The governor did not reply at the mo-
ment but a short. time after asked Ler
montoff in Russian how long 1t would be
before the accumulators were charged.
Lermontoff stated the time. and the gov
ernor told the gaoler to bring the prisoner
from the cell at that hour, and SO dis
missed his instructor.
| One feature of this interview which
nj IarmOntOf that however
much the governor became absorbed in
these lessons, he never allowed himself to
| remain alone with his prisoner. 1t was
evident that in his cooler moments the
governor had instructed the gaoler and his
assistant to keep ever at the heels of the
prince and always on the alert. Two huge
reyolvers were thrust underneath the belt
of the gaoler, and the lantern holder was
similarly armed. Lermontof was pleased
with this for If the governor had trusted
him entirely. even though he demanded
no verbal parole, 1t would have gone
against his grain to strike down the chief
as he ruthlessly intended to do when the
time was ripe for it, and In any case, he
told himself, no matter how friendly the
governor might be, he had the misfortune
| to stand between his prisoner and liberty.
Lermontoff was again taken from his cell
about half an hour before the time he had
named for the completion of the charging.
and although the governor said nothing of
his intention, the gaoler and his man
brought to the cell six charged batteries,
coil of wire and a dozen lamps. Lennon
toff now changed his working methods.
He began each night as soon as he had
finished dinner. and worked till nearly
morning sleeping all day except when In
terrupted by the gaoler. Jack, following
the example of Robinson Crusoe, attempted
to tie knots on the tail of time by cutting
notches with his knife on the leg of the
table, but most days he forgot to perform
this operation, and so his wooden almanac
fell hopelessly out of gear. He estimated
that he had been g. little more than week
in prison when he heard by the clang of
the bolts that the next cell was to have an
occupant.
II must prepare a welcome for him." he
said, and so turned out the electric light
at the end of the long flexible wire. He
had arranged a neat little switch of the
accumulation, and snapped the light on
and off at his pleasure. without the
trouble of unscrewing the nuts which held
in place one of the copper ends of the wire.
Going to the edge of the stream and
lighting his candle he placed the glass
bulb in the current, paid out the flexible
line attached to It, and allowed the bulb to
run the risk of being smashed against the
iron bars of the passage, but the little globe
negotiated the rapids without even per-
ceptble clink, and came to rest In the
bed of the torrent somewhere about the
Tie sa1