Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-04-18

The Edge Of Hazard
By GEORGE HORTON
Copyrighted 1906, by The Bobbs-M Merrill Company
BY GEORGE HORTON

two feet wide and six long, between
the florid-faced, cheerful German and
! a Bourfat cav.,rymen.
Smulders was returning to Amster.
dam from Port Arthur, whittier he had
taken out a dredger for Dutch com.
pany He knew one Russian word,
peevo, beer, and he descended fire.
| quently to the bar on the deck below
and yellow, "Peevo! peevo!" so loud
/ ly that he could be heard all over the
ship. The Bouriat sat patiently for
twenty-four hours on stretch looking
at the tips of his long cavalry boots.
While sleeping, Hardy turned his face
| toward the German as the least of
the two evils.
Among the other passengers was a
tea merchant, who had cargo from
China in the hold, which he was NOV
ing across the vast continent for ship
ment to England; the opera troupe
from Vladivostok,- pretty Viennese
girls for the most part; exiles whose
terms were expired; -uropean looking
for mines; noisy students on their way
to Moscow
Smulders and "Chulla" talked to.
gether for hours and even sang duets.
|'The girl was .coquettish and nearly
4 drove him to desperation, causing him
to sigh deeply and exclaim, l loaf
her very heavy, but she will not much,
so what can do? =, thing drink
a little, - whereat he would wade
through sea of heads plunge down to
the bar below and shout, "Peevo!"
The incident of the plank ana the
Ky CO irta toJ tn 1
he devoted much of his time to watch.
ing for the Romanovna to appear on
the little first-class deck forward
where, attired in cool. oewitching cos
tunes, she walked up and down, or
talked with the general.
He was SO donwcast that he no long
er sought for the morning smile and
the nod, which Lad been accorded to
him during those pleasant days on the
Alexsay.
The fact that he was travelling
third-class made him feel like an en-
igrant, UNNECESSARILY separated from
the fair creature over there with the
gods. He was in no mood to reflect
that the question of funds had not
entered into his choice or third-class
passage. Here he was, among the
Bcuriats and muzhiks, and there was
she, the sort of woman he was ac-
customed to, separated from him by a
great gulf.
And patiently the steamer forged
ahead through vast stretches of soil
tude, unutterably lonely, past inter-
minable forests. After many hours
they would come to a Cossack village,
perched on a bluff, a few square log
houses with white window frames. But
this was always on the Siberian side,
on the right. On the Manchurian bank
there was no sign of human habitation
Or life, for the dread Russian bear
stood growing just across the swift,
yellow river and the Chinese had talk
en- their families and vanished. From
time to time long RATS drifted past,
carrying emigrants with their families,
their horses and cattle to the land, IN
this vast solitude. promised them by
their father, the car. Sad, wonder
ing women sat in the doors of the tiny
huts built on the longs, with their
children clamoring about their knees.
while the men stood at the corners
with huge paddles guiding the clum
sly raft. The cattle doomed large and
monstrous in the uncertain light of
the evening or the early dawn, as
though they were standing on the wat
er itself Hardy was saddened by the
sight of these people, going they knew
not where nor to what, going down
stream with no hope Of ever coming
back:
YES" he unused, as he gazed sor-
rowfully at one of these RATS, II am a
brother to the emigrant and the exile.
Poor exile! not gifted to cope with his
fellows in the universal battle Of
greed, too generous to hold FAST like
the Jew, to the few pennies which
fall into his palm, he is driven forth to
the uttermost parts of the earth. Gov
cred wagons carry him to, the far
Dakotas and the wilds of Assiniboia;
he sleeps on the decks of steamers
that climb the wide and muddy Amur;
he is crowed into the foul holds Of
great Atlantic liners, and his little
children wonder and cry. And ever in
his heart there is dream of home
and of liberty in some promised land,
and ever a yearning that will not die
| for the cottage of his birth and the
tongue of his mothers lullabies"
1t was necessary now to test the
depths of the water constantly. Two
men, one on either side of the PROV
sounding by means OF stakes attached
to ropes, swayed rhythmically as they
cast their wooden spears, chanting the
depths: "Chetyre, chetyre-polovena
pyat" -Four, four and half, five)
/ AS often as down coming steamer
passed, the little captain made tru1n-
| pet of his hands and shouted across to
its commander: How much water is
| there in the Shilka!'
| The disquieting rumor that the
water was rapidly falling was gaining
confirmation by each report Once
| the steamer scraped on the bottom.
At Porkrovka, a dreary Cossack vii
| lage near the junction of the Amur
and the Shilka rivers, they found a
smaller mail boat awaiting them that
drew but three feet of water. They
changed over again with multi-lin.
quail hullabaloo and grand scramble
for places, all save the general and the
Princess, who moved leisurely into the