Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 82 — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— ~ ‘evening, Olaf ‘ears, ‘This will pay your e ——$_———— ~~ —— or sje. @onstantine. How soon can you be ready? Olaf started into a stiff military position and ao adil ¥ once, your majesty. ‘Then Nnieriiber that, till your orders are oheyed, you are to be at peace with Count Strogonoff. ‘You understand?’ | **'Y es, "herd majesty.” ‘¢ Count Strogonoff,” pursued the ezar, “you will take OS ee to the stables, see that heis provided with two of the best horses, and that his outfit for this doarncy is complete, as a special messenger. ew start to-night. Count Olaf, you will report here at six this eve- uing for your dispatches.” is tine Olaf bowed low, and then followe the minister of police from the room. Once outside in the corridor, he ran his arm’ through that of the astonished Russian; and ob- served, playfully: “So we are to be foreed comrades under his may. orders till I have carried my dispatch- ‘3 Well, beitso. I can afford to wait, and in the meantime let me tell you that I begin to like: \ ou a little. "Who knows? If you behave yey , (9 time may come when I forgive you t vlow. ‘But you must be very good indeed.” ‘Then the swordmaster smiled at him so sweetly, with such a wicked glitter in his eyes, iuat Strogonoff felt decidedly poy ag cae was much relieved when they came on the sentry at the entrance of the guard-room. CHAPTER XV. THE DISPATCHES, hour before sunset, that same’ booted and'spurred, stood before the:czar, awaiting his orders for the road, | The emperor had in his hand a sealed packet, and some’ ogend pity ‘lay on the table beside him, with a small pile of gold: a ‘These are your orders, Colonel Count Olaf,” said the ezar, handing the swordmaster one of the papers. ‘* You ‘will find your route laid down therein, for all the road to Warsaw.” , Olaf bowed low ‘and took the paper. The t.tle of * Colonel” sounded very pleasant to his ne Heed sqlle 6 ld amperor, handing him ‘the little pile of go) piece val anal whet you RR A ety youre ll present this letter of credit to Baron er yee r is the banker, who will supply the fuiids for y return. You ‘eal rider boxt and deliver thi ABOUT a¢kage to my brother as soon as you arrive. f you are attacked on the rate aac a d the packet with tbs ale and de it if there is a chance Of your capture. Do you un- derstand?” ' ‘‘T do, sire. Your majesty can count on mi Ad : ‘You will remember, colonel, that these dis-- ts tches are private—to my brother alone.” ' our majesty.” ~ is Tn al Tignes and myself have been ’ srted by a desi family of intriguin \ és,” éontinued the ezar, in a low tone; **an ‘¥ is letter may effect our union once more.” Olaf eould badly Deneve his ears. Was the a stoerat of all the Russias talking confidentially * ‘roe ta swordmaster ? ) t seemed so. : | ‘The ezar looked thoughtful and ‘gloomy, and wank into a reverie for a moment, from ‘which he roused himself tosay,inaseveretone: “You did very wrong to enter my brother’s service, before coming to me sgt agg , and worse to aid that in Pole t pe. Thank Sat te ta has been taken by this time, dis safe on. “Olaf was Puastee of his feelings, so he did not start, but he shot a keen glance at the emperor a ea ering ah ¥ e though imself: ** Poor Tokli Aga! So they have taken him, ” Then he bowed low. ¢ ‘‘ Any further orders, your majesty‘ ‘‘None, colonel. A good journey. 4S soon as you ean.” ‘* Yes, sire.” And Olaf left the room. In the passage to the court-yard, where his horses di, he met § Ten de off, h ing in with a pale face, and saluted hin polite y: ‘‘Good-evening, count. Iam off.” : t, to his rise, the minister of police Be back t nd ith en impa atient ¢ ying us witha urse, 5a : 2 ee ‘way. Tm busy. talaar veges Fig ized him i t was evident he bad not r n his preoceupation, for Strogonoft’s face was edi and anxious. Another time, Olaf would have resented this, but at'the moment he was too mutch astonished, and before he had made up his mind what to do the minister was i a Then an idea suddenly flashed on his mind, and he ran to his horses as he thought of i ‘“ ie age Pere he called, = Cossack who had been en he Teanved inte hurry and set off at a gallop dows the street. ae eee ee . | had her? Thave just sent my t. he or Ww ‘aid tony noff, and it made him more savage. Iron Wrist. 4 ‘By the head of King Olaf the: Great,” he thought, ‘‘ they have not taken the princess, and tliat fellow’ brings’ the news. Olaf, itis time. thou wert away, if thou wishest to save the good duke’s mph th eno prison.” Leaving hint to pursue his journey, let us fol- low Coun ee et who rushed on, pale and full of care, to the emperor’s cabinet, which he entered with the news: ‘Sire, that she-devil, Natalie Dembinski, has escaped again. The Cossacks nearly killed her remaining guard, the Circassian, Tekli Aga, but she got away again.” The ezar sta to his feet with a passionate oath. ‘“And they call me emperor!” he shouted, his a with rage, ‘‘and T have servatits, and ‘the do no better than this!” _And so saying, he lifted up his arm and smote the minister a violent blow on the face, under which Strogonoff crouched to, the floor in a sup- pliant attitude. Like many another, Russian spathose days he a blo id not feel the ignominy of w, but merely feat its tation, ‘ ; oads ‘he em r seemed to be wild with rage.’ He had hurt his hand in striking down Strogo- He rushed to a table, picked up a riding-whip, and’ began’ to lash the poor minister, who on his part only. crouched his head under his arms like a school-. boyy and took it quietly. few blows seemed to recall even the mad: czar to his senses, ‘for at last he threw away the whip and cried out: ‘*'Fool! dolt! idiot! Why did-you tell mie you brother a consent: to his m ,if he resigns his claim to the’ suecession. I thought she was here, wnder bolts and bars. And now—fool! You have made’ me show my hand! What can pair this folly?” White with fury and foaming at the mouth’ the ezar was not a pleasant object to contem-' plate, but ‘the minister had seen him in such moods, and had too mueh at stake to allow him’ to fon e suddenly looked up boldly. “*Give me the order, sire, and I will get back’ the consent. “Who has it?’ The czar burst into a fit of sardonic laugh- r. 4 whee ie it? Why, fool, I have just sent it off by Olaf Iron Wrist, the swordmaster. Can y ‘Berogon ed hat - le'and: trembling, ! was dea 6 an ; but he spoke out boldly: bor all that. . ‘“Give me the ukase, sire, with power to ar- rest any and all ih Russia, save your majesty, and I will do it.” | Nicholas looked down at his minister with some surprise. ee man, he will kill thee. Thou knowest that. _ “Not when I heve my orders to take him,” answered the chief of police in a tone of deep earnestness. ‘* Your majesty thinks me a cow- ard. Beit so. I will show your majesty that Tam not afraid even of this swordmaster, if I neil Ni oniersto take “ | ; 3 , “Very well, then, d the emperor, quietly ;' ‘“‘T will try you this time, and reine ber that your life hangs on your suecess. Fail to bring back either Natalie Dembinski or that packet, and Constantine has.the game in his own hands. With him fate will be S. The minister of police rose to his feet and’ stood waiting in gloomy silence while the czar ‘ine fi “the es ed pep ner ee ei lhi e names and signing the authority. When he handed: tt 9 be moff the latter bowed once more, but said nothing. leaving the room in silence. i Once outside he hurried to his own ‘head- quarters and summoned his agents, with whom he had a ie J secret conference. | | ide waren Toad ty the mapbore te onthe ; TOA BY? the SERIADhORE Bele. it was before. A‘ graph (fo the days of Morse) warning the police officers as far ‘as*Wilna and: ‘Grodno that two parties on the road were to be detained as long as possible. It was addressed only to the secret, police, for Strogonoff did not dare to face the popular fur hy he knew would follow the pu hort in’ St. Petersburg of the arrest of any of Constantine’s suite. The raha B Bp y ak ae the trave oy pr ,a remain or _ I : it to aioaat t ‘ omnis diccomplished, the chief of police called for a tarantass and a strong escort of: S, and set forth on his eventful journey about ten o’cloék, when the moon had not yet risen and all was dark, , ms He knew that if his orders were pro obeyed he would certain! wit all swordmaster in two days, sother day with the + he sometimes wi After all, gave d : : pan “—? to fone, ryt no.covard in, te yl Saceee. d yet he ted. The best . errand, a a bape The ‘proof of big ney courage is the fact that as he rattled out on the Warsaw road he fell asleep in now knocked, and he took care to make th ‘but as soon as for czar you know well what your m ‘| now, and he hoped that the fog would lica-" them if he dared when he |’ = the corner of his tarantass. Just as the chief of secret police quitted St. Petersbu py oe south, Olaf Iron Wrist drew bridle at t koff post-house and shouted for a relay of horses. e night had closed in, foggy and dark. CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRST STAGE. It was the same post-house at which the Dane had been overtaken the evening before that he e sum- postmaster came to the door esaw the. gleaming uniform of the swordmaster, he began to make obeisance. the ame stupid ‘“Mighty general, imperial highness, the horses are all ready. How many does your lordship require?” ‘““How many have you got?” demanded Olaf, for an idea had come into his head. ‘Two complete sets, general—six horses,” “Out with them all—on the, emperor's ser- vice,” cried Olaf, and away went the postmas- ter as if he had been running a race. Out came the horses, all ready, harnessed for a troitka or tarantass, and the postmaster looked round for the vehicle. “Take the harness off, Nicolai, and our saddles,” commanded the Dane; and Nico- lai, a stalwart Cé k, trained to implicit obe- dienee, followed the order in silence. Th r stared in silence, but did not dare say a word, for Olaf stood close to him with a heavy whip in his hand. No sooner were the saddles shifted than the swordmaster moun his fresh horse and charge you do ‘to re~| asked “How many more horses, and where are Only fo cell d th . four, your excellency, and they ar out in the fields» wake Luli “Then drive these on, Nicolai. We shall want them on the road,” was the cool reply, and the Dane set the example by waving his long whip and sending the whole “batch of loose horses away ata gallop down the white road, through the fog. | £8 The Cossack obeyed orders with the stolid. air of a Russian soldier. ‘‘'The-czar’s orders” coy- ered everything in hismind. 4 om nt Ww eo roe a a to ‘himself as © galloped.on through the, darkness and fog, Fey IL not overtakes us ina abry thie time,” 10ught. “We have all the horses, and by the time we have swept a few post- houses, we shaJl be out of danger.” | He knew that loose ieee wil ‘follow a herd for miles after they have been ‘unsaddled for = of ability to carry a rider, and that by changing from horse to horse on the route he would be able to go quite fast. | Therefore he did not attempt.to husband the animal he was riding, but kept on at a good stiff gallop for mile after mile, the loose herd fol- owing him at the same pa | Only the whiteness of the road enabled him to find his way, for the night was very dark and the fog was so thick that the trees of the terest were invisible fill one almost touched em, So he rode on for nearly an hdur at the same rapid gallop, till he began to feel that his new noe was laboring heavily. Salling a halt, he rode into the herd, and he and the Cossack changed their, saddles in @ hurry, which they dashed on, nearly as fast as before. ot | The te horses acted as if they were quite fresh. But Olaf knew that they would not last as long as if they had been really fresh, and he was glad to see, from the faint white glow that began to light up the fog, that the moon was rising at last. It was two s beyo amore He did not want to miss the post-house, | Flogging and sp Ca the new horses, he kept them at a rapid gallop for half en hour longer, and then shifted saddles a second ti : ime, As he did so, the fog began to lift above the tree-tops, arid he saw that he was in the midst of .a vast plain, flat as a billiard-table, and sprinkled with stut trees, hardly thick en- ough to be called a forest through which the yee ran on gi Se an ace | ai se, oben eh Nicolai, the he nod in the direction of the light, “Sixty-five versts,” (about’ forty-six miles,) was the reply. | Olaf, incredulously ; ‘Cand from the city?” < better. You say it is sixty-five versts to that post house. Gots. it ‘is ee we Then they ‘were away again, calloping as hard as evel the last pair of horses, which Olaf ted ee e abe 3 LOTRES, Which “How far ve we come, then?” asked Olaf: “Only that!” exclaimed 66 io, Psakoff, colonel.” a were there. Poshol, Nicolai.” (Come on, Nicho- ould about bring them to the post- house, JOO (E(0) im 6S (E (E(©)