Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-04-13
The Edge of Hazard
BY GEORGE HORTON
Copyrighted 1906, by The Bobbs-Merru Company
Copyrighted, 1906, BY The BoDDs-Meru Company
By GEORGE HORTON

liquid into glasses, handed one to Har-
dy, clinked and drained the contents
of the other at gulp. Hardy swallowed
the liquid, and the tears came to his
eyes; he nearly strangled. He looked
about for water, but in vain. He was
to learn soon that water, for drinking
and washing purposes, is the fone
thing most difficult of all to obtain in
Holy Russia.
Vodka" explained the captain with
an inquiring smile and pouring out
two more bumpers.
!! Hardy refused, his host urging him
to drink, with may good-natured ges-
lures. But the American indicated. by
pointing to the vodka, and initiating
the actions of a drunken man, that
he feared the effects Of over-indul-
gence. The captain now picked out bits
of food from the various dishes, which
he offered to Hardy on fork, eating
meanwhile with much relish and wash
ing the morsels down with frequent
potations of the white, fiery liquid.
Every time he took drink, he in
sisted so strongly on his guests join
ing MIN that the latter had great diff
| ficulty in not appearing churlish, and
at the same time keeping his head.
He. was not in the habit of indulging
in liquor to excess and vodka appeared
to him to bear striking resemblance,
both in color and quality to pure
alcohol He did not observe that the
Russian was in the least affected by
his frequent rotations.
They fingered at the zakorska for
fifteen or twenty minutes, when the
captain escorted him to cabin, COM
Portable room on the upper deck, and
left him to his meditations, which
were, in the main, pleasant enough.
He was surely on the way to Russia
now; he had escaped with his life, and
even with his baggage and his money
from extraordinary and unlooRed-for
perils: He knew he was going to
Vladivostoh, for he had said "vladi-
vostok?" to the captain several times
with a rising infection, and the re.
1 ply had always been, "Da! da! da!'
4 pronounced dah) "Vladivostok.
/ "Da! da! da!" he reasoned, pro
badly meant yes, and, if So he had al
ready learned his first Russian word
The people, he argued, were friend
/ ly. hospitable, simple-hearted sort, tc
be judged rather by this captain than
1 by Stapleton Neville, who was a spy
after all, and pies, from the very
nature of their calling, are treacherous
and unreliable.
He wondered what the Japanese
would do to the eudo-Englishman
and hoped that they would not kill
him. He thought of Aisome again
and he could not be sure whether he
had been the victim OF treacherX on
i her part Whenever he was quite con
memory of that dewy kiss at the
wharf in Japan would arise and plead
in her defense, and it seemed to hin
that he could smell once more the ex
quisite perfume of her hair, like the
haunting soul of some rare and price
less flower. He wondered if he should
ever see her again, and free her from
this taint of suspicion. The thins
seemed scarcely possible yet he reali
zed that it would give him great sat
isfaction.
/ AS he was immersed in these
J thoughts. there was loud knock OF
!; his door. He opened and found one O
!, the two officers standing there, smilins
affably.
"zakouska?" inquired the mate
Hardy now found that he knew twt
Russian words. "Zakouska," he re
membered, from hearing the captain
} use it, signified sandwiches, pickles, ca
, war sardels, chunks of fish, vodka
vodka. vodka. His first impulse was Il
refuse. He certainly wanted no NOR,
vodka. and his appetite was appeased
| Yet, he must not let these people out
). do him in courtesy. They meant well
and, besides, they We're the people
among whom he was going to take Vi
!, his residence. 1t flashed across hi