Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1936-12-18
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the CABIN.
Jean pressed the baronet's shoulder
"In a few hours the soldiers will
be here. Gentlemen, are you ready to
die?"
"Ja!" doomed Otto.
eyes, if we can't do anything else, )"
conceded Puycassou:
"Think it over first" continued Jean
"Four of us-two women to protect.
Arms-two revolvers, Narskine's and
Sonia's. Means of flight-two useless
boats. If we surrender, we def we
resist, we die"
"Good," exclaimed the newspaper
man. "When he dies, true French
man usually chooses the most spectac-
ular method of doing so, but not be-
fore trying everything else. No mat
ter how we die, it won't save the prin-
cess"
They turned and entered the hut.
The wounded woman, eyes shut, was
still holding Sonia's hand, Jean and
Sir Herbert bent over her. Puycas-
sou tugged at Otto's arm and drew
him outside.
"Listen," he began. "You know we
have to think of something. Knowing
how to die is all right, but knowing
how to get around things is far bet
ter. We made few mistakes. To be-
gin with-when you had hold of Mar
skine you should have broken his neck.
It's bad arithmetic, saving the life of
traitor and risking the lives of six
honest people. Then seeing we didn't
kill him, we should have tied him
more securely prisoner always man
ages to get away. We had it happen
twice, but that coachman doesn't mat
ter. Enough talking, have an idea.
Come on!"
AS twilight was falling the journal
list and the Baron returned.
"There we are" said Puycassou,
rubbing his hands together, "we've
sunk the boat!"
"What boat?" cried Sir Herbert.
"The boat Sonia and came in"
"You call that a good job?" queried
Jean.
"You bet do! Our enemies didn't
know how much gasoline we had. See
ing that one boat is gone and the other
stranded, they'll think we're on our
way to Astrakhan in the missing craft.
So they'll be patrolling the Volga. By
the way, night is coming, and it stays
dark down here much longer than in
Moscow. Well gain quite a bit of
time"
"But how will we retreat from this
place."
"Wall, we found two old oars and
took a tarpaulin and some cord from
the boat. With that we can make
stretcher for the princess. We won't
go very fast, but we can walk till
dawn, getting as far away from the
river as we can"
"But we'll be in the steppes, full
of Cossacks and Tartars."
eve can lose ourselves in the STEP
pes, where the peasants more or less
laugh at the Revolution, having got
what they wanted. Would you sooner
go down closely-guarded river?"
Sonia nodded. "Thus would Mich
ael Strogoff have spoken" she assent
ed gravely.
A few minutes later they were lost
in the high grasses of the steppes.
They marched all night, the men by
turns carrying the stretcher and the
few supplies they had brought from
the boat. The moon shone on narrow,
winding trails and large pools of
water, some of them reaching the di-
mansions of small lakes. A monoton-
Gus landscape seemingly endless.
They halted at daybreak. The
grand duchess, accomplishing, tried
to smile. They made some tea and
she drank little.
Feeling safe after covering that dis
lance from the Volga, they decided
to take few hours rest. The litter
bearing the wounded princess formed
the center of the bivouac. Sir Her
bert stretched out at Tatiana's feet
Sonia sat up, listening to the painful
breathing of the grand duchess.
Jean sat near by, pensive. In q
little while Sonia lay back and fell
sound asleep, her golden hair stream
ing over the grass. A light breeze
lifted her tresses, brushing them a.
cross the young artists hand. A
strange emotion seized him. Gently
he bent over, propped himself on an
elbow, and gazed at her peaceful fea.
lures. Little by little the silence aug.
mented his fatigue and he was asleeI