Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-03

open. Then l lost consciousness,
AS the moose was tightening around
! my neck Nasha came to himsclr ana
! hastcuod to loosen il. | dropped, life
I less, 10 tho floor. In response to his
calls for help several politcais. among
whom we're a couple Of medical stu.
! dents, came running to the house.
They made every effort TO revive me.
succeeding only after long and per.
| sistent exercises. When / opened my
eyes, the whole colony was at my bed
! side. Pressed for an explanation of
his inhuman act Yasha told of Dmitris
story.
Then Prince Gutemurov revealed
what he had seen the previous night,
on his way home. Yasha was over.
whelmed, lie fell on his knees and
begged my forgiveness, cursing Dmitri
and promising to make short work of
him. But Yasha could not find him.
Dmitri learned OF the disclosure and
disappeared forever from Amiga.
Soon afterward, another incident oc.
CURED which further embittered my
life with Yasha. In his absence Va
sill. a political came and told me that
the authorities we're I'm receipt Of an
order to arrest and send him 10
I lrkutsk TO be tried on a new charge,
which carried with it the death sem
tenCe. 1t was a regular practice of
the Cars government TO recall eXiles
/ for second trials on some additional
bit OF evidence.
Nasili asked that I lend him our
horse, Maltchik, to help him escape.
Knowing how attached Yasna was to
the horse. / refused Nasili's request.
But he persisted in irnpluriug me.
claiming that Prince Gutemurov had
seen the order for the arrest, and that
the sheriff was already on mis- tracks.
But how could the horse be re-
turned?" | asked Nasili, touched by
his continuous pleading. He replied
! that he would leave it with a certain
Yakut friend Of ours, some hundred
versts away, and | finally yielded, al
though not without misgivings. As
soon as he left with Maltchik my
anxiety grew into alarm. l hurried
TO Prince Gutemurov TO verify Va
silis story. How thunderstruck / was
upon learning from the Prince that
he knew of no order to arrest Vasii,
and that he had even not seen him.
It was clear that had been swinded
and that | would never see the horse
again.
my Cod" I thought, what will
happen upon Yasha's return and his
discovery that Maltchik is gone?
The specter of death rose up before
me, the impression of my recent
escape from hanging still fresh in
my mind. | was all atremble in
anticipation OF Yasha, with the feel
ing Of an entrapped animal seeking 10
escape. But there seemed TO be no
opening.
It was August, 1914. The rumblings
Of the great collision were just reach
ing the remote Siberian provinces
The order for mobilization came, and
there was a great stirring ieven in
the death bound Arctic settlements. as
IL suddenly a new life had been in
fused into that land of monotony
Upon the heels Of the call TO arms
came the cars manifesto, abolish
ing the scourge of our national life
--vodka-and with it Il gigantic wave
OF popular enthusiasm, sweeping the
steppes, valleys and forests of vast
Russia. from Petrograd and Moscow
across the Cral mountains and the
Siberian tundras and taiga, to the Dor
ders OF China, and the Pacific coast.
There was something holy about
the nations response. Old men, who
had fought in the Crimean War, in
the Turkish campaign of lS77-7s, and
the Russo-Jspanese War, declared