Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-07-24
Helping a
A RepOIufioniSf.
lOPiginal.1

While at st. Petersburg the Amer
lean minister secured an invitation for
me to a state dinner at which the EN-
.peror and empress were present. l
didn't care to go to another one. Any
enjoyment in court society In Russia
in these days is like smoking while sit
ting on a barrel Of gunpowder.
Opposite me sat an important gov
eminent ~functionary. a man about for
ty years old. and his dinner companion
with her appearance the moment l
placed my eyes upon her, and yet l
could not explain why. All I can say
is that she was noticeable. l conclud-
ed that she would not have been there
had she not been noble.
She chatted affably all through the
dinner with her companion till the end,
when I noticed that she suddenly be-
came agitated. She was eating nuts
and raisins at the time and bent low
over the plate containing them. using a
nut pick as though she were nearsight-
ed. When she raised her eyes they
met mine, and / thought ! saw In them
a mute appeal.
Naturally the girl absorbed all my In
terest. Indeed, when we all rose at the
departure of the emperor and empress,
instead of craning my neck to get a
glimpse of them l kept my eyes fixed
upon her. When we seated ourselves
again she seemed to be annoyed at
something under the table and put a
hand under 1t, apparently. at least, to
feel what 1t was. She had no sooner
lone this han I saw her again look at
me with that same mysterious ONE
thing In her eyes. Whatever 1t was
1t was more like an appeal for help
than anything else. I returned 1t with
a questioning glance, as II to say,
What do you a me to dor But
there is a limit to what one can say
simply by an expression, and she seem
ed to be able to help me no further.
Meanwhile l was racking my brain
for a solution. l am a believer in
transference Of thought, and l I'M ure
the girl assisted my mental effort by
exerting her Will power to guide me.
l put my hand under the table. The
girl turned ashy pale. / felt about in
front of me till my fingers came in
contact with some little pointed arti-
Gle sticking into the bottom of the
table. l withdrew 1t and found it to
be q nut pick. 1t was stuck through a
bit of paper folded In the form of a
rectangle. This l knew without TAX
ing my find out into the light, working
with one hand while with the other l
held the stem of my wineglass.
Now, 1t did not occur to me just then
that l was in imminent danger of be-
ing whisked of to Siberia before day
light the-Dcxt nae~asps. ArzAzr5~As~
ever. that the girl was playing some
desperate game, and all my faculties
were exerted in her behalf. 1t did not
require deep penetration to surmise
that she wished to get rid of the rec
tangular folded paper or something In
1t. The nut pick must be unimportant
ard only a means to an end. / con-
trived with one hand to open the paper.
l thought l could feel a powder in it,
and, Withdrawing my hand far enough
to look at it. I saw that the thumb and
finger were covered with something
white. If there was any more of the
contents It must have been scattered
OF the floor.
For a time / thought my work done,
but presently 1t occurred to me that
enough of the powder or whatever it
was would cling to the paper to iden-
tify the former substance. A happy
thought occurred to me. Taking a
cigarette from my pocket and a match,
l struck the match. l had crumpled
the paper and instead of lighting my
cigarette at once chatted with my next
~neighbor, and then, pretending to no.
tice that the match was nearly burned,
I touched 1t to the paper and lit the
cigarette from the latter.
The moment the paper began to burn
a waiter OF the opposite side of the
table hurried around to where l was.
l knew surely that be was coming to
me for a purpose, but he was too late.
When he reached me the paper had be-
come ashes.
I cannot to this day forget the look
of the girl opposite. 1t was the quin-
tessence of relief and gratitude.
On leaving the palace l was taken In
charge by Cossacks, driven to police
quarters and searched. They found
only in my vest pocket a nut pick,
which 1 have at the present day. l had
my passport with me, and my captors
knew that l had been invited to the
dinner at the request of the American
minister. This, considering that they
had no evidence of political or other
crime against me, gained me my lib
erty, but l was ordered to leave Rus
sia at once. Having seen all I wanted
of a society living on dynamite, / de-
parted by the first train.
The episode remained unexplained
| I'll Knnro fhnn a nHfon-naed mhnn