The Green Forest tribune., 1915-10-01

our prisoners, for we knew not into "Hat treacherous marsh we might fall ohce we saw afar through the trees the light of lantern held by a guard, ana already the sweet-faced girl be- sue me seemed tired and terribly fa- l tigued.
 AC last, breathless. we halted to listen. We were already in sight of tue gray mist where lay the silent lake that held so many secrets There was not sound. We crept along the wa ter edge, until in the gray light we could distinguish two empty boats that or the guards and our own. We were again at the spot where we had disembarked.
 Let us row to the head of the lake," suggested the Finn. We may then land and escape them" And a mo- ment later we were all three in the guards boat, rowing with all our might under the deep shadow of the bank northward, in the opposite direc- tlon to the town of Nystad I think we must have rowed several miles, Tor ere we landed again. upon low, nat and barren shore, the first gray streak of day was showing in the east
 Elma noticed it, and kept her great brown eyes fixed upon it thoughtfully It was the dawn for her-the dawn of a new life. Our eyes met; she smiled at me, and then gazed again eastward. with silent meaning.
 IayiOu landed ,,-o ,luox.. .l. and concealed it in the undergrowth so that the guards, on searching, should not know the direction we had taken, and then we went straight on northward across the low-lying lands. to where the forest showed dark against the morning gray. The mist had now somewhat cleared, but to dis cover a path in a forest forty miles wide is matter of considerable diff culty, and for hours we wandered on and on, but alas! always in vain.
 Faint and hungry, yet we still kept courage. Fortunately we found a little spring, and all three of us drank ca gerly with our hands. But of food we had nothing, save small piece of hard rye bread which the Finn had in his pocket, the remains of his evening meal, and this we gave to Elma, who, half famished, ate it quickly.
 How many miles we trudged I have no idea. Elma's torn shoe gave her considerable trouble, and noticing her limping, 1 induced her to sit down while 1 took it off, hoping to be able to mend it, but, having unlaced it, saw that upon her stocking was a large patch of congealed blood, where her foot itself had also been cut managed to beat the nails of the shoe with stone, so that it's sofe should not be lost, and she readjusted it, allowing me to lace it up for her and smiling the while.
 Forward we trudged, ever forward, across that enormous forest where the myriad tree trunks presented the same dismal scene everywhere, forest un- trodden save by wild, half-savage lum- bermen. My only fear was that w5 should be compelled to spend another night without shelter, and what it's effect might be upon the delicately reared girl whose hand held tenderly in mine. Surely my position was a strange one. Her terrible afflsction seemed to cause her to be entirely dependent upon me.
 Suddenly, just as the yellow sun light overhead had begun to fade, the f1at-faced Finn, whose name he has told me was Felix Estlander, cried joyfully:
 "Polushaite! Look. excellency! An! The road at last!"
 And as we glanced before us we saw that his quick, well-trained eyes had detected away in the twilight, at some distance, a path traversing our vista among the tree trunks.
 Elma made a gesture of renewed hope, and all three of us redoubled our pace, expecting every moment to come upon some log hut, the owner of which would surely give us hospitality for the night But darkness came on quickly, and yet we still pushed for ward Poor Elma was limping, and 1 knew that her injured foot was pain ing her, even though she could tell me nothing.
 At last we saw before us light shining in window, and five minutes later Felix was knocking at the door and asking in Finnish the occupant to give hospitality to lady lost in the forest.
 We heard a low growl like nut tered imprecation within, and wheE the door opened there stood upon the threshold a tall, bearded, muscu- lar old fellow in dirty red shirt, with big revolver shining in his hand A quick glance at us satisfied him that we were not thieves, and he invited us in while Felix explained that we had landed from the lake, and our boat having drifted away we had been com pelled to take to the woods. The man heard the Finn's picturesque story, and then said something to me which Felix translated into Russian.
 Your excellency is welcome to all the poor fare he has. He gives up his bed in the room wonder to the