The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-02
PART VI.
By CHARLES YALE HARRISON

by CHARLES YALE HARRISON
Late at night they took the Red
Army Commander Audrey out into
the garden and hanged him. After
he was dead they pulled his body
nigh so that only the lower part of
his legs and his dangling bare feet
protruded from the branches of the
tree.
After the White Guards had
dragged his son off, old Anton
wandered from room to room search
ing for him. When he asked the
officers where he was, they laughed
and answered:
"You will soon find out, old man."
The old man searched all through
he house and at midnight wandered
ITO the garden to cool his aching
head.
Tt was pitch black.
Something cool and clammy
brushed against his feet. He looked
Up feeling with his hands also. 1t
vas the hanging feet of his son. He
stood still for moment and then
ell to the ground.
For the first time in these dread
al two days he wept. Warm tears
bursed down the brown burrows in
is face and dropped to the pungent
+arth which would soon cover his
gon.
Nearby. Vera, the bitch, howled
itterly for her dead puppy who
Eas buried near by. :.
For long time the old man lay
7nder the hanging bare feet. Then
e arose, kissed the feet of the
erpse, and went back into the
hbuse
AS he walked up the broad, wide
Aarble steps of the mansion his
,ody. his brain was as tho numb.
lp the winding staircase and 'rto
Is attic room which after all these
Jng years of service was. not his
-wn.
On the bed the pieced-together
Photograph of Audrey, which the
title master had furiously torn,
aoked un at him and smiled.
through his tear-wet eyes he saw
ne hard faces of the White Guard
General and his laughing officers,
saw the fist that had struck his
srdrey, he saw the sneering face OF
Dung Paul, ne saw the hanging
eet of his only son in the wind
went garden he heard me
rowling of the bitch, Vera, crying
or her dead puppy. And through
Il these things he saw a smiling
face OF young man with the So
,,-nt star on his cap.
He picked up the torn pieces of
picture and Rugged them to his
breast. And so he went slowly down
he winding staircase again and
nto the huge living room with its
polished floor and dainty furniture.
On settees and on tables the
bunker forms of the White Guards
lay in dissolute abandon. They had
celebrated the hanging of the Red.
They were snoring. Anton took his
candle and held it close to piece
Of the torn photograph of his boy.
He looked about at the furniture
(which he had lavished such low
ing care on for so many years He
saw the sleeping form of the little
master. He looked up at the huge
picture of Count Krasnofski. the
father of the boy :. they were
III alike-they laughed when they
we're beating his son, his only son
Who was now hanging cold and stark
! the garden. Very we'll he
new now what to do.
He tossed the flaming piece of
photograph and threw it among
ONE papers near the bookcase. The
title yellow flames flickered and
'cked the papers which soon blazed
nto a deep red. The curtains
taught. The drunken White Guards
snored heavily.
Anton left the room, locking the
door behind him. He went from
Dom TO room locking the doors.
Near the front door Of the mansion
,e saw a discarded rifle and lock-
rig the massive oak door he sta
Toned himself in the garden.
In the windows above him little
ticks Of flame soon appeared, then
rloke. Soon the whole house was
black shadow ag inst the sky with
Wight-red windows.
Inside, the curling smoke poured
trcm room to room. The White
Guards coughed and choked and
awokc. They threw water or the
Flaming furniture, on the curtains.
They ran about the rooms struggling
against doors. fighting with each
other in the smoke and flames.