The Cairo bulletin., 1908-07-13
Too Late


Mtlitopol received orders 10 take
care OF the batch of twenty students
who had been arrested and sent TO
his city. The governor. a good-na-
tured general OF the guard, was any
tn ng but pleased
What the devil shall | do with
them?" he asked himself
porarily he sent them TO the
government prison, but they had
only been there a few days when
they began to make mischief They
absolutely refused 10 live up to the
rules OF the prison and kept on sing
ing and made all kinds OF noises all
day and most OF the night. there
| fore intluenc .ng the other prisoners,
I who had heretofore quietly subm L
ted TO everything. The noise In the
| prison attracted crowd of people
outside, who had to be driven away
by the sold ers,
1t was very unpleasant. and conse-
| que tly the governor, after a confer
! eace with the inspector Of the prison.
/ the young lawyer OF liberal tenden
! cies, decided TO take his advice and
send them TO the smallest town in
the whole district. Norossow.
When they are there they may
do AS they please and nobody VIII
ever know anything about it, he ar
gued.
When the inspector of the prison
in Norossow heard that he was to
receive number of students he inn
mediately informed his wife. who,
OF course hurried to her most init
mate friend and told her the news,
after making her promise to keep it
str city secret, and it IS hardly nee
essaTy to say that within two hours
the whole town knew OF it.
The next morning an Immense
crowd Of people were at the railroad
stat on awaiting the arrival OF the
trs4in. On the way to the prison the
students who were surrounded by
soldiers, began to sing revolution
airy songs, and their strong. we'll
ira ned voices made such an i'm
preston upon the natives Of Noros-
SOW. that only their curiosity pre-
vented them from running away and
hiding themselves in Their houses,
for who might tell but that they
might be arrested for listening to
sounds OF that kind? At the pr s.
on the soldiers were received by the
inspector of the prison. who In turn
turned them over to the wardens.
and half an hour afterwards the
prisoners were IN their cells.
Now they have been stay ing in
the prison for over five months and
the inhabitants OF the town are
feeling very friendly toward them. |
A number OF society ladies are send !
Ing them dinners every day. and /
with the dinner very often comes /
bouquets of flowers Hardly a day |
passes that the students taking /
Their morning walk in the prison !
yard do not find books which have |
been thrown over the walls, and the |
nothing. All this tickles the vani-
ty of the students but 1t does not Kill
the longing in their hearts nor
make them forget they are in pris-
on.
None of them, however, feels the
loss OF liberty as much as the oldest
student, Ivan Petroytch. He did
not even look forward with pleasure
for the arrival OF the mail, although
he neryously looked for letters every
day Far away in Siberia his old
father was sick and awaiting the re-
turn OF his son who did not coma
Instead came the news that he
had been arrested. The old SICK
ness came back worse than ever and
he was forced to his bed. Lying on
what he knew was likely to be his
deathbed, he wrote to his son many
letters In which he said that, al
though he was very weak, he was
sure that he would soon be better
The son, however, read the truth
between the lines, and he felt that
he must go home once more After
passing many sleepless nights and
struggles with himself he decided
TO ask for pardon.
Many months went by and no re-
ply came from the czar. The news
from home was sadder than ever,
and at last the old man wrote frank
ly that he was very sick and that he
felt he could not last long. He
ended each letter with the words:
How long to see you once more.
Wanna"
1t is a summer evening and the
students who have just returned
from their evening walk, are sitting
around a table drinking tea. The
door opens and the good-natured in
spector enters, holding in his hand
a telegram.
II am to set free one of you. he
said with his winning smile
who is it?Who IS it," all shout
ed. Ivan felt the blood rushing to
his brain, his heart beat like trip
hammer.
Listen. gentlemen" the inspec-
tor said, and read aloud: .
AT the command OF the car.
hereby direct you to set free imme- /
diately the former student Ivan
Petrovitch on the condition that he