Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-05-10

out my part Of the contract"
mo. II you suffer my lover to be
harmed l shall take it upon myself to
relieve the state of your tyranny"
"But suppose 1 put you where you
will be powerless."
There are two others to carry out
what you would prevent my doing. If
the first fails the second will take up
the work If both fail there will be a
third and a fourth to carry it on
Every well. Now tell me the rest of
this plot
The girl gave the information re-
quired and had no sooner left the
minister than the prince notified the
police to locate every one of the con-
spirators and when this was done TO
arrest them simultaneously. That
night they were taken to the fortress
of st. Peter.
Trials occur in Russia when 1t is
deemed expedient TO satisfy the people
who are cognizant of the case But in
this instance no trial was needed. The
name of the man TO be spared was
Krikoff. and the police had a descrip-
ton of him. so that there should be no
mistake made concerning him. The
orders were to take the men separate
Iy into the prison yard, stand them up
against a wall and proceed in accord
ance with the secret orders given the
governor of the fortress.
At the same moment that the con-
spirators were arrested the police ap-
peared at the home of Vera Scerevich.
he fy-I hr hod civ 10 INF finn
and took her into custody. This was
something on which she had not count
ed. She thought she had laid her
plans so well that the minister would
not dare to suffer harm to come either
to her or to her lover This move or
his part filed her with alarm. More
over. the police came upon her so sud
denly that she had no time to COM
municate a word to any one. She was
taken to the same fortress as the con-
spirators.
In the morning. hearing a drumbeat
under her window. she looked out be-
tween the bars and saw one of the
men she had betrayed led across the
prison yard. Several soldiers with
muskets on their shoulders accompa-
MED him. He was white as a sheet.
Indeed, il was evident that he was go
ing to his execution. The party disap-
peared behind wing of the prison.
Vera listened and presently heard
volley. Then she knew it was all over
with the condemned man. She shud
dered. For the first time the fearful
selfishness of her treacherous act came
to her in its full force
Another drumbeat recalled her to
the. window. She would not have
gone. but she wished to see If her
lover would pass No; it was another
Of the conspirators whom she had
handed over to his death He, too.
was followed by firing party. He.
too. was deadly pale. Like his prede
cessor, he was soon lost to view be-
hind the prison wing. There was a
horrible interval-a volley.
In like manner Vera saw four Of the
conspirators marched by her prison
window. They disappeared-the in
terval Of suspense. the voiley. Every
time one of the condemned men passed
she vowed that she would not go to
the window to see the next man
marched to the death she bad pre-
pared for him. But every time she
was impelled to go lest the man should
be her lover. By the time the fourth
man had passed she had been thrown
into a mental condition bordering on
insanity. Surely she was being pun
ished for her Infamous act. She had
lost all expectation that the minister
would keep faith with her as to spar
ing Krikoff. When for the fifth time
the drum sounded she saw her lover
marched past her window, He looked
up. and she saw an expression Of
loathing on his face at recognizing
her. BY the movement of his lips she
knew that be cursed her She gave
wild shrek. She knew that he had
been told what she had done.
She heard the volley. Hardly had
the echoes of the shots died away
when again came the tap of the drum.
She started. She had counted those
who had passed. and there were five
all thnse concerned in the consniEac-