The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1915-04-08


THE transparency of the sky and the
transparency of the gulf blended
their two unreslities so that one could
not note where the horizons met.
Rouletabille looked at the view and
looked at the General, and in all his young
vibrating soul there was a sense Of infinite
sadness, for he recalled those terrible words
in the night: They have gone into all
the corners OF the Russian land, and they
have not found a single corner of that land
where there are not meanings" Well"
thought he, they have not come into this
corner, apparently. / don't know anything
lovelier or happier in the world" No, no.
Rouletabille, they have not come here. In
every country there is a corner Of happy
life, which the poor are ashamed to
approach, which they know nothing of,
and of which merely the sight would turn
famished mothers enraged, with their thin
bosoms, and, If it is not more beautiful
than that, certainly no part of the earth is
made so atroeious to live in for some, nor
SO happy for others as in this Scythian
country, the boreal country of the world
Meanwhile the little group about the
Generals rolling-chair had attracted at
tention. Some passer-by saluted, and the
news spread quickly that General Trebassof
had come for q promenade to the Point"
Heads turned as carriages passed. The
General, noticing how much excitement
his presence produced, begged Matrena
Petrovna to push his chair into an adjacent
bypath, behind Il shield of trees, where he
would be able to enjoy the spectacle in
peace.
He was found, nevertheless, by Konpraine,
a u o. r Al ,ttln n nntin for
him. He had gone to the datcha and been
told there that the General. accompanied
by his friends and the young Frenchman,
had gone for a turn along the gulf. Kou-
praine had left his carriage at the datcha,
and taken the shortest route after them.
He was a fine man, large. solid, clear
eyed. His uniform showed his fine build
to advantage. He was generally liked in
st. Petersburg, where his martial bearing
and his w~ell-known bravery had given him
a sort of popularity in society, which, on
the other hand, had great disdain for
Gounsoyski, the head of the secret police,
who was known 10 be capable of anything
nnderhanded,. and had been accused of some
times playing into the hands of the Nihilists.
whom he disguised as neutrality-suspicious.,
without anybody really doubling 1t, and he
had to fight against these widespread po-
litical suspicious.
Well-informed men declared that the
death of the previous prime minister" who
had been blown up before Varsovie station
when he was on his way to the Tsar at
Peterhof, was Gounsovskis work and that
in this he was the instrument of the party
at court which had sworn the death of the
minister which Inconvenience it. On the
other hand. everyone regarded koupriane
as incapable of participating in any such
horrors and that he contented himself with
honest performance of his obvious duties,
combining himself to Riding the streets of
its troublesome elements, and sending to
Siberia as many as he could of the hot
heads. without lowering himself to the COM
promises which, more than once, had given
grounds for the enemies of the empire to
maintain that 1t was difficult to say whether
the chiefs of the Russian police played the
part Of the law or that of the evolutionary
party, even that the police had been at the
end of a certain time Of such mixed pro-
cedure hardly able to decide themselves
which they did.
This afternoon Koupriane appeared very
nervous. He paid his compliments to the
General, grumbled at his imprudence,
praised him for his bravery, and then at
once picked out Rouletabille. whom he took
aside to talk to.
you have sent my men back to me-"
said he to the young reporter. You under
stand that | do not allow that. They are
furious, and quite rightly. You have given
publicly as explanation of their departure
"a departure which has naturally aston
ished, s~tupefied the Generals friends-the
suspicion of their possible participation in
the last attack. That Is abominable, and |
will not permit it. My men have not been
trained in the methods of Gounsovski, and
1t does them q cruel injury, which | resent,
for that matter, personally, to treat them
this way. But let that go, as a matter OF
sentiment, and return to the simple fact
itself. which proves your excessive i'm
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