The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-03

leaped forward. the remains of the horse fell from his jaws. and. Of course. left him sticking in the har- ness. I gave him no tune to think. but piled the whip madly. Thus we wont helter-skelter until we reached St. Petersburg and flew through the gates. to the really extreme surprise
 ''The next wolf I met nearly cost me
 The nxt wolf l met narly cot nls my life. l was without weapons and on foot. The brute jumped at me from dark thieket, and l had just time to see' his widely opened jaws be- fore he was on me. Involuntarlly l thrust out my arm. and my fist went into the beasts gullet. Once in, pushed with all my might till 1t was in up to my shoulder.
 We looked at each ther In no amia- ble frame Of mind. could see the de- termination In his eyes to jump at my throat IF withdrew my arm. From this desperate situation there was only one way of escape that could see. gripped all l could, and whilo Mon- sieur Yolf howled and yelled. I pulled. turned him inside out like 6 glove. and throw him under some busheP. whore the gardener found him next morning. Through him the city learn ed of the littlo affair. as. of course. ! had not mentioned it.
 T must confess that l never cared to repeat that procedure When I mot mad dog in a narrow street ot st Petersburg soon afterwArd. l did not walt. but ran. To expedite my escape l threw him my coat, which he wor ried till he was killed. l told my ser want to hang the coat in the wardrob~ and take 1t to the tailor next day t' be cleaned and repaired.
 The next morning I was awakened by his cries. I sprang out of bed. and ran into the dressing room. where the servant was shouting: Here Baron Herr Baron. Your coat has gone mad" Correct! My coat was pulling all my other garments around the nooI and tearing them to bits. IL had hydro phobia. Just as arrived it seized my evening clothes and began to wor- ry them savagely. 1 ran for my pla. tol and shot the mad coat. Then l burned all the other clothes. for fear that they might develop the disease too.
 This happened while was visiting General Skrbudansky. whom you must have met here some years ago. He was delightful host and wc had gay parties every night. Of course there was a good deal of wine. After while [ noticed that though the old General drank just as much as the rest Of us, he would merely stroke hiS head when he got a little tipsy and in jiffy he was perfectly cool and soher again. Finally one night l stood behind hinA | and discovered his secret.
 l .During the Turkish war a splinter of shrapnel had taken of piece of his | skull. This wound had been covered | with n silver plate. which the shrew,i old soldier had caused to be eo ar ranged on hinges that he could raise if at times The enabled him to lHt | uhan. ever he felt them getting the oettes of him. =
 "0n my way home one night from one of these little drinking bouts ] met a hear. These creatures used to stroll about St Petersburg somewhat freely I was totally unarmed. bu' with quick determination I seized him by the throat and held him nrmly ull he froze to death.
 Tt was cold that winter fin St. Pet ersbure, and in Russia generally. One day we were travelling with postH- ! ion and we commented on the fact that he did not beguile the way as most of his class do. by playing sweet tunes on his horn. What an injustice we did the poor fellow! That evening l when We alighted at a tavern every l hodv crowded around the huge stove The postilion hung his horn up on the | wall Suddenly 1t began to play. Tune after tune came out of it. All the ia nous melodies poured forth with de- lightful pathos. hour after hour. They were the tunes that the position had tried to play during the day. but with. out sound because the frightful cold froze all the notes before they could come out.
 "of course you never have experi-
 enced such a cold fin this country
 Therefore. you cannot realize what Russian winter means, winter when the weather gets so cold that 1t IS impossible to light a candle because the wax freezes immediately under the ! burning wick,