LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 67, 18 August 1874, Page 3

LITERATURE.

IN DANGER. IN FOUR CHAPTERS. [From “ Chamber’s Journal- ”] Continued. What v?as I to do, save to assure the unfortunate fugitive, in the most reassuring words that, in my bungling Latin, I could command, of my speedy return with food and cordials, and to promise to keep his secret at any cost. The sound of kind speech brought tears to the poor fellow’s eyes, and he tried to kiss my hand in token of gratitude, and this time fairly fainted, so that I had to fetch water from the beach below, and sprinkle his face, before he revived. Then, pledging myself to come back as quickly as possible, I put on my drenched hat once more, and rode off at a brisk pace, coming up, some minutes later, with Messrs Leary and O’Dwyer, my two subalterns, who were returning from a shooting expedition. I could not, without attracting notice and inquiry, trot or gallop past my coadjutors in the Company’s work, and it so happened that the young engineers had really something to say, and many counsels to ask, as to the labors of the morrow, so that although I chafed at the delay, I could not succeed in shaking them off until, at a sober walk, we reached Kizil-Gatch, nor could I instantly procure, without exciting suspicion, the food and liquor needed, so that it was dusk when I left the village with my load. Bread, the ill-made Tartar butter, fresh sweet milk, and some morsels of meat., and spoonfuls of brandy, cautiously administered, brought new life to the poor wasted form of the wanderer whom I had found by the wayside. We have all of us seen a fading flower come back to bloom and freshness when the welcome water has bathed its parched roots ; but to few of us has it been given to recall, by the help of a little nourishment, a young and vigorous human life that was passing away through sheer inanition. A brave boy he was, and a grateful one, this Polish lad, whom gradually, bringing him food and wine each day, with clean linen and clothes, and other comforts which none appreciate who have not tasted of the bitterness of sheer savagery, I nursed back to health. His name was Demetrius Yassili, and his rank I guessed to be that of one of those farmer-nobles who are so plentiful in the old Duchy of Warsaw, and who never forget, as they hold the plough-stilts or herd the black-cattle, that their ancestors were privileged to mount on horseback and vote, by squadrons, for the election of a king. His family had suffered sore usage at the hands of the Russian authorities, and ho had himself been impressed into military service as a stripling, and made corporal first, and then sergeant, ‘ You see, English knight,’ he said, with a faint smile, I we were cleverer than they were, and so, Poles and Catholics though we were, they always put the stripes on our sleeves, while orthodox, flat-faced mujiks bore the musket of a private for ever. Then my regiment was in Circassia, and there was a plot among us Polish soldiers—wherever there are Poles there will be a plot, ay, and with shame and sorrow I say it, a featherbrain to blab, or a traitor to betray—and then I was sent to Tobolsk for life with nine more. Six of us escaped. lam here alone. I asked the fugitive concerning the fate of his companions.

1 One was drowned as we swam a river ; and a second died of hunger and fatigue,’ he answered simply ; ‘ a third, poor Alexis, was shot by the frontier guards. The other two were captured, for the sake of the hundred rubles reward, by “the squirrel hunters of the Ural Mountains, who chased me also, fast and far, so that 1 gave up the hope of reaching Europe, and wandered south. You see’ (pointing to the half-ripe ears of corn in his wallet) ‘ how I have been forced to

pilfer from the fields, like a starved deer in winter, that I might keep death at bay.’

His great fear was of being retaken by the Russians, and sent back to the convict colonies of the black land to the north, and he repeatedly declared that, sooner than this, he would die.

‘I have a relative,’ he said, ‘my poor Uncle Michael, working in the brine-pits near Irkutsk these eleven years. He is as dead to us, and less happy than my father, who died in gaol, or my brother, speared by a Cossack in the riots at Lublin. Try, kind Englishman, to keep me out of their clutches, and complete the good deed that you have done by smuggling me over the border, I care not whither, beyond reach of the Black Eagle’s talons, and where I can earn my bread.’

Indeed, I have very little doubt but that my new acquaintance would be able honestly to maintain himself were he but safe, for he was a well-grown young fellow, active and intelligent, and had one of those faces that are the best passports to the confidence of others. But to dispose of him was no easy matter, since I dared not share the secret with any of my colleagues. O’Dwyer and Leary had warm hearts, and a deserter and a rebel would have enlisted their Hibernian sympathies in a moment; but they were certain to reveal the truth through downright incapacity for reticence; while MThinn had an almost superstitious abhorrence of whatever might offend the despotic government under which we lived, and even his natural kindliness might not have prevented his consigning a ‘ poleetical’ fugitive to the tender mercies of the officer in command of the Russian fort. A tame escaped prisoner, on the other hand, is an awkward pet to provide for, and it was an anxious time for me, until a lucky chance enabled me to bribe the captain of a Persian trading dhow to stow away amongst his bales of cotton and broadcloth the runaway from Russian military justice, promising to land him safe and sound on the Shah’s territory.

‘ We shall meet again, dear friendl’ said the young Pole, as, with streaming eyes, he wrung my hand at parting; ‘ and if we do, you shall not find .Demetrius Vassili forgetful.’ We were to meet again, and that more speedily than I had anticipated. About two months later, a report which I had thought it my duty to address to the chief engineer of the Company, resident in Astrakhan, called forth a reply from that functionary. I had mentioned that while timber, in that part of the Russian dominions in which I was stationed, was scarce and dear, I had learned, from the gossip of Mohammedan travellers, that an almost unlimited supply of wood, and that of the best quality, could be cheaply obtained from the Persian province of Mazanderan. Persia, generally speaking, is by no means a well-wooded country, the high table-lands, denuded of all vegetation, bearing no slight resemblance to the bare plateaux of Castile ; but there are exceptions to this rule, and the mountainous regions of the frontier province nearest to us were described as abounding in fine trees, any quantity of which could be bought at a low rate, and which were well adapted for ship-building purposes. The Caspian, too, would float a raft of rough-hewn logs to our nascent harbor, if only a couple of steamers could be sent to tow the unwieldy mass ; and I was assured that native labor, sufficient for the task of felling and launching the timber, could easily be procured on the spot. The answer to my memorial was a request that I would at once proceed personally to the coast of Mazanderan, to ascertain with ray own eyes the truth of the reports which had reached me, and should they prove well founded, to purchase timber on a large scale on behalf of the company, while a round sum of money in specie was at the same time remitted to me, gold and silver, especially the latter, being indispensable in Persia, hturdy old Mr M'Phinn, the manager, was half inclined to be jealous and irritable when first he heard that I, a newcomer in the land, had made a discovery which had eluded his own scrutiny.

1 But then, to be sure,’ he said, shaking his iron-gray head, ‘ I never went gossiping with a lot of misbelieving boys, with sugarloaf caps and shawl girdles, as you have done, Mr Masterton. Well, boy, I wish for your sake this fine fancy of yours may prove profitable ; but keep awake, I warn you, for many a throat that was tight and sound at night, in Persia there, turns out to bo open enough in the morning; d’ye take me?’ And ho drew the back of his large hand, with a meaning gesture, across his own neck, nodding and chuckling as if at some exquisite joke. He was. however, by far too excellent a man to harbor any grudge against a junioron such grounds of offence, and he cooperated heartily, not merely in procuring me a passage on board a coasting vessel bound for Persia, not so easy to obtain just then as it had been somewhat earlier in the season, but also in seeking a competent person to accompany me as guide aud interpreter. Buch a one at length presented himself in the person of a certain Ali Sahib, Ali Sahib, as his name implied, was a native of India, and had received the education of a moonshee, or professor of languages and orthography. He was introduced to Mr MThiun and myself by the richest Russian resident at Hie neighboring town of Salian, a noted brandy-seller, and had besides in his possession a number of certificates, some of which were signed by English officers and civilians. He spoke English, though with some slowness aud diffidence; but of his proficiency in Persian 1 was assured; while his acquaintance with the difficult Russian tongue was far from contemptible, and he was fluent in the various dialects of Turki and Pushtoo, spoken in the countries northwest of British India. Moonshee though he was, and with some pretensions to the rank of a Mohammedan gentleman, he was yet willing, for the modest remuneration of twenty-five dollars, to give me the benefit of his services during the trip, and to discharge all the duties of an ordinary dragoman; aud I thought myself exceedingly lucky in securing such a paragon of an interpreter. The arrangement was concluded, then, aud nothing remained hut to embark on hoard the Russian steamer Suwarrow, now overdue on her passage to the south. Chapter 111. < My word, you’re in luck, Masterton. A pleasure-voyage, with the chance of a rattling percentage on the profits of the transaction at the end of it, would be a deal more iu my line than measuring out wet sand with a leu-foot rod, or hearing the thump of that monotonous old monkeyengine here ’said Leary, very disconsolately, aa he and his comrade O’Dwyer stood beside me on the quay, puffing at their freshly kindled cheroots, and watching the approach

of the Suwarrow, her sharp prow flinging up a miniature fountain into the sunny air as she cut swiftly through the water. Such, however, was not to be the case, since I was to be accompanied by the German clerk in spectacles, and by four or five carpenters or shipwrights, of whom two were English, and whose duty it would be to direct the construction of the raft, when the timber should have been dragged down to the beach. I made some laughing response to the discontented young Irishman, and then proceeded to summon Ali Sahib, who was sitting crosslegged on his little square of blue carpet, under the shadow of the nearest shed, and telling his amber beads with as much of serene composure as if the vessel in which we were to embark was not close at hand. The Suwarrow came steaming on, making but a brief stoppage at our tiny wharf ; and as soon as I and my scanty baggage, with the workmen and the interpreter, were on board, the order to cast off was given, and the splash of the paddles mingled with the cheer which some of our good-natured laborers set up, while Messrs MThinn, Leary, and O’Dwyer stood waving their hands in token of adieu. I was in high spirits, for not merely did the venture promise well, but the postcourier had, two days since, brought me a long letter from Kate ; and the dear girl’s fond words, and the often renewed assurance that she ‘ remembered me night and day in her thoughts and in her prayers,’ had evoked;! her fair image before my mental vision, as if to comfort me in my exile. I had hope, too, great hope, that our engagement might prove a less protracted one than it had at first seemed likely to be, for the same mail had brought me a few lines from my godfather, Mr Grubstock, in which that eminent capitalist congratulated me on the good account of my conduct sent in by my official superior at Astrakhan, and hinted that when people returned to London, and it was possible to form a quorum, the Board would probably confirm my temporary appointment as engineer-in-chief. Let me but be successful in the present undertaking, thought I, and there will be little fear as to the speedy fruition of my hopes. These thoughts passed through my head as the red rocks and green islets of the gulf faded in the distance, and as we glided swiftly on, in a south-easterly direction, over the shining waters. To he Continued.