6 SYNOPSIS. Frederick Hardy, a fashionable Boston I society man, lost his wealth, was Jilted , by a girl and sent by a friend to take j I charge of an American Trading Company j 'store In Russia. On his Journey through | Japan he met Stapleton Neville, sup- j ■ posedly an Englishman. They agreed to go together to Russia. Recause of sus 'plclous circumstances they were several i 'times molested by the Japanese. Hardy i was arrested and found upon his person were papers showing maps of Jap forts. Hardy was proven guiltless. On a train , he met Aisome Sano, daughter of a Jap I merchant. In Neville's shoes Jap found j inlet urea of forts, proving him to be a j Russian spy. Hardy departed for Rus- j sia on a steamer, which was wrecked ! shortly afterward. He was rescued by j :H Russian steamer. On reaching Vladi- j vnstok he was well treated. He started j CHAPTER VII. Zakouska. The Russian steamer that took Har dy into Vladivostok was an iron tub of the tramp variety, and not a soul ton board could speak a word of any j •'tongue ever heard before by the Amer- j ican. He soon became aware, how- j 'ever, that the red-faced burly captain j jatid Ills two officers meant to be kind j to him, and that, their idea of friend- ! ;l!ness consisted principally in getting j h!ni to eat and drink as much and as j frequently as possible. After vainly ; attempting to converse with him and j learning only that he was American, J the captain led him to the dining | room and introduced him to one of the I great Institutions of Russia, the za- j kouska. a lunch of hors-d'oeuvres, j washed down with much strong drink, j At one end of the room, near the side board, a table was set, spread with j dishes of sardines, sardels, caviar, ; chunks of pickled fish, sandwiches, and shrimp in bottles. The captain poured out two generous bumpers of a white liquid into glasses, handed one to Hardy, clinked and drained the contents of the other at a gulp. Har dy swallowed the liquid, and the tears came into his eyes; he nearly stran gled. He looked about for water, but in vain. He was to learn soon that water, for drinking and washing pur poses, is the one thing most, difficult of all to obtain in Holy Russia. Zakouska lasted, off and on, for about an hour. 15 y combining the utmost firmness | with evident good nature. Hardy man- j aged to pull through without getting drunk, thereby accomplishing a feat i quite remarkable in a foreigner ac- : cepting Russian hospitality. The next afternoon they entered | the magnificent harbor of Vladivostok, passing the high rock, crowned with j a lighthouse, that stands as a sentinel j at its mouth. The city, not visible ' fill the last moment, burst suddenly v a Hardy's view and gave him a very ! favorable impression of the country j Into which he had come to live and : to retrieve, if possible, his shattered fortunes. Hero, crowning the hills that dominate the harbor, w - as a mod ern. European city of houses, many of them several stories in height, evi dently built of brick and stone. A cou ple of men-of-war, very trim in their white paint, besides numerous mer chant vessels flying the Russian flag, iay at anchor in the bay, while sev eral Chinese sampans and a junk or two, drifting about, bore witness that here the extremes of the east and the west meet and overlap. Two or three of the sampans, indeed, floated up to Hardy's ship as she cast anchor, and their long-cued owners made clamor ous application to carry any one ashore who might wish to go. Hardy had already picked out the Celestial whose appearance best suited him,' wondering whether ho would take Japanese money, when he noticed a steam-launch rapidly approaching, and a cheerful voice hailed him. "Is that an American on board there?" "Yes," Hardy shouted back, thrill ing with sudden delight, at the sound of his mother-tongue, "how did you know?" "By the cut of your clothes. Where is your baggage?" "In my cabin." "All right," said the man in the launch, "I'll have It brought out. Get In here and I'll take you ashore." A few words of gruff Russian to the captain, and Hardy's trunks and bag gage were brought out, and five min utes later he was flying ashore in the launch of the American Trading Com pany. As he was leaving, the captain dashed up and wrung his hand, asking anxiously: "Zakouska?" "He wants to know," explained Har dy, leaning over the rail, "if I want more zakouska. I've had zakouska enough to last me a lifetime. What filial 1 I tell him?" "Tell him 'nyet'!" came the reply, and the American shook the hands of the captain and his two kind-hearted officers vigorously, repealing many times: 'Nyet! nyet! nyet! nyet!" CHAPTER VIII. Enter the Princess. "1 want togo to the American con s':!';," Hardy, "as soon as I land, and the;; ' should like to get located Jr. a hotel, til) 1 can catch the first centfw'ahie nteamer up the river. It's fortunate for me you came out to take me off, for my knowledge of Russian is, as yet, rather limited." "You can start, up the river day after to-morrow." replied the Vladi vostok agent, "on the Alexsay, which goes as far as Blagovestchensk. You will be quite comfortable on her, and will be likely to get a room all to yourself, as I understand she is not crowded," "That will suit me perfectly," aaid Hardy. "I see no reason for lingering here, fascinating as the town looks, any longer than is necessary." "By the way," volunteered the oth er, "you will have quite a distin guished traveling companion, if you goon the Alexsay, the Princess Ro manovna, who has been here visiting her relative. Gen. Romanoff. She has made a sensation in the garrison so ciety here. She's a stunning-looking woman." "Women do not interest ma," re- Gracefully Entered the Car. plied Hardy. "I came here to work, not to mingle In fashionable society, and, anyhow,"—suddenly remembering his changed fortunes —"it is not like ly that a princess would become wild ly enthusiastic over a storekeeper." The next morning Hardy took his place in the railway train bound north through Siberia for Khabarovka, on the Amur. He had obtained a first class compartment and sat waiting for the train to pull out on schedule time —eight o'clock. The hour arrived but the train did not move. A quarter-past, half-past, and still there were no signs of de parture. At last., impatient, he arose and stepped out into the long narrow hall that ran the entire length of the car. An intelligent-looking Russian was pacing up ana down, and him Hardy asked in the best French at his command; "What is the matter? Why do we not start?" "On attend," replied the Russian; "they are waiting for the Princess Ro manovua—ah! here she comes now!" The American looked from the win dow. A droshky was driving up, and in it sat a tall, slender and exquisite ly graceful woman, fairly smothered j in costly flowers that filled the car riage and were piled' beside her on the I seat. Her face was of the purest Rus | sian type, her complexion was marvel ' ous, her eyes were a laughing blue, | and her hair was of the color of ripe wheat. "By Jove!" sighed Hardy, "but she's a thoroughbred and a beauty, too!" The princess took plenty of time for j her adieus, after which she languidly I and gracefully entered, the car. The : officers brought her flowers into her, and descended to'the platform, where 1 they stood in an adoring and sorrow | fill group, their caps in their hands. I And then, her highness the Princess CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 19x0. Romanovna being aboard, the tr&ln started slowly on its 500-mile journey to Khabarovka. CHAPTER IX. Into Sibera. The journey into Sibera was begun! Sibera, that vast mysterious region whose very name has come to be synonymous with all that Is most dreaded by the human race—exile, eternal farewells, the clanking of chains over endless frozen roads, the knout, despair, all the horrors of a living death! Hardy sat in his compartment of one of the first-class cars and gazed from the window, eagerly scanning the landscape for some sign or evi dence of the things that had given the country its sinister reputation. His first impression, as the train left Vladivostok behind, was a complete refutation of all preconceived notions. There were no convicts anywhere in sight, no fields of ice or snow. In stead, he was journeying on a pleas ant summer's day through a vividly green prairie, wide as the eye could reach, where fat cattle waded up to their knees in lush grass, and yellow dandelions, as large as tea saucers, and fierce tiger-lilies, swayed and nodded by the million in the balmy breeze. He had expected to find some thing different, somehow, in the as pect of Sibera itself, something sinis ter and forbidding. Yet this, save for the greater luxuriance of the vegeta tion and the profusion and brilliancy of the flowers, might have been a stretch of Minnesota or Manitoba. Weary at last of sitting, Hardy went out into the long hall at one side of the car and walked up and down. Here he found the Russian who spoke French, also promenading, and squeezed against the wall several times to let him pass. "Pardon, monsieur," said this gen tleman as the train stopped, "but we remain here long enough to take zakouska. Perhaps you feel the need of refreshment? Do you know what the zakouska is?" "Oh, yes," replied Hardy, laughing, "I know what zakouska is very well. I should indeed like some." "Have you secured your compart ment on the Alexsay?" asked the Rus sian. "No," replied Hardy, "why? Will the boat be crowded?" "1 hardly think so, but the Princess Romanovna is going on her, and it is likely that all the befit accommoda tions will have been Reserved for her. Fortunately, she does not seem to be traveling with much of a suite. Her highness will pyobably require two or three cabins f-or lier&etpy a couple for her baggage, one for each of her two maids, and one for her man." "And will she be given all thiß, even if the rest of us are compelled to sleep on the decks?" "Certainly," replied the Russian. "Her highness Is —her highness." Hardy was about to declaim against a government where the aristocracy enjoyed such privileges, but, fortu nately, his French was not quite equal to his indignation, and in the moment of hesitation he remembered Consul Greener's warning. "And who in the world is the Prin cess Romanovna?" he asked, with a alight tinge of sarcasm. He would have liked to say "who In the dick ens," but he did not know the French for"the dickens." "The Princess Romanovna," ex plained the Russian, "belongs to one of the oldest families in the empire. She is a distant relative of the czar, who is my imperial master"—and here he took his hat off. "She is immense ly rich and has city palaces at MOB cow and Petersburg, besides a country estate near the former city. She is as wealthy as she is beautiful." "She must be very wealthy, then," said the American, with conviction. The Russian smiled. "Monsieur speaks the truth,"he said. "He is also like all Americans, very gallant. When we take zakouska again, we will drink to the Princess Romanovna." "With pleasure," said Hardy. After two very comfortable nights the train bearing Frederick Courtland Hardy arrived, about noon, at Kha barovka, on the lordly Amur. It had been raining and 'he low wooden sta tion resembled an ark stranded in seas of black mud. Hardy found an agent of the com pany awaiting him here, a San Fran ciscan, who nearly fell on his neck at seeing a fellow countryman and hearing again the English language spoken. He did not know that Amer icans could become so demonstrative, llis goods were loaded upon a telega, a sort of long boat upon wheels and without springs, and were sent away to the Alexsay at its wharf, two or three miles distant, while Hardy and the agent took seats in a droshky and tore furiously away to the company's store, over rocks and through ruts Hardy Offered the Revolver to the General. and puddles, the mud spraying in a centrifugal shower from the bumping and whizzing wheels. "Tell him to drive slower," shouted Ilardy. "We have plenty of time." "No power on earth could make a Russian cabman drive slow," replied the agent; "they are the lineal de scendants of Jehu, and their speed is a part of their natures. You might as well try to make the Amur run up hill." That night, in darkness as black as Ink and in a drizzling rain, Hardy went on board the Alexsay, to begin his long journey up the Amur. The water, the agent informed him; was rising, owing to the recent rains, 'and there would be little danger of ground ing. The trip to Blagovestchensk should be made In five days. "There is a little spice of danger at tending the journey," said the agent, on taking leave; "the ship that went up ahead of this was fired on by Man churian brigands. I saw several bul let holes in her side myself, made by rifle balls. But I hardly think you need feel much apprehension. Since the Cossacks destroyed Aigun and killed every living man, woman and child that could not get away the Chinese have been pretty quiet. That taught them a lesson they will not soon forget. I have heard It rumored that they have been somewhat em boldened of late by Japanese agita tors who are working among them. The Japanese, they tell me, are talk ing of war with Russia. Foolish peo ple! The Russians would eat them up. Japan would be a Russian prov ince two months after the declaration of hostilities. 'Twould be a pity, too —Japan is a picturesque country, as I remember It." Hardy laid under his bed that night an American rifle, the property of the Trading Company, taken by the agent's advice from the stores in Khabarovka. He slept soundly, but had a vivid dream of the Princess Romanovna and Aisome racing over a Siberian meadow, the one in a droshky and the other in a jinrikisha. CHAPTER X. Her Highness Smiles. The trip from Khabarovka to Bla govestchensk occupied five days and was uneventful when compared with the more exciting happenings that be fell Courtland Hardy and his fellow passengers farther on. Still, two or three things occurred worthy of record; one, at least, that Hardy him self regarded as epochal in his life. He came into direct contact with the Princess Romanovna and acquired a nodding acquaintance with her. As this befell on the first day out, and as she nodded to him once each day, namely, in the morning, his good for tune brought to him four nods and as many very sweet smiles between Kha barovka and Blagovestchensk. It was perhaps fortunate that he could not talk to her, as she might have dis couraged any advances. Anything of this kind would have hurt his pride, for the Courtland Hardys maintain the fiction of family superiority, and, in their hearts, believe themselves "just as g*>od as anybody," as the old song says of My Aunt Sally. It was during one of the long delays caused by the necessity of taking on wood, that Hardy's acquaintance with the princess began. The Alexsay was a stern-wheeler, drawing 3V& feet of water, and she stopped five or six times each 24 hours for a fresh fuel supply, the men bringing it, two and two, on long bars down the steep bank and across the springy plank to the deck. Learning that there would be a stop of about three hours. Hardy went out with one Julius Smulders to take a long walk in the woods, to gather wild flowers and to catch a sight of one of the cuckoos, that fill the forests of Siberia with their strange cries, ex acty as though millions of invisible Swiss clocks were hanging among the trees. On their return, the two men heard the sound of shooting. "My God!" cried the American, tali face blanching as he thought of the princess, "I believe the brigands have attacked the boat," He ran toward the sound, followed by Smulders, and beheld Gen. Catkoff shooting at a bottle on a stump at a distance of 20 paces. The general was military governor of Irkutsk, now on his way to his post, from which he had been absent three months. He was a gray, corpulent man, with a kindly face, the only person aboard of sufficient rank to associate inti mately with the princess, In whom he seemed to take a fatherly Interest. He fired now five times and missed, much to the amusement of the princess, who stood near. In fact, her derisive laughter so irritated the pompous general that he threw the weapon spitefully on the ground and began to explain volubly to his fair tormentor. "What does he say?" asked the Ger man of a Viennese opera singer from Vladivostok, who was also one of it? spectators; and a moment late? lie explained to Hardy. "He says it's an American pistol from Vladivostok, and that it's no good." Courtland Hardy picked up the weapon and examined it. It was not an expensive model, but a practical arm of honest blue steel. He tossed it familiarly in his hand and then said to Smulders: "Will you ask our fair interpreter here to present my com pliments to the general, and tell him that I am an American and beg the privilege of proving the excellence of this American weapon?" As the Viennese addressed the gen eral, Hardy lifted his hat gracefully. The princess clapped her little hands, nodded pleasantly at the American and cried: "Bravo! Bravo!" It was she, evidently, who persuaded the gen eral to reload the weapon and ac cede to the request. Now, as usual, there was a group of peasant women standing about, who had come down to the boat from the Lord knows where, to sell milk. Hardy tossed 50 copecks on the ground, and, picking up five bottles, Hvalked to a log near the stump, where he set them in a row. Then he returned to the group standing about the general and commenced firing. The distance was in reality not great nor the feat difficult for so good a shot. The ef fect, however, was spectacular, for between the rapid "cracks" of the weapon could be heard the "ching, ching, ching" of the breaking bottles. Hardy offered the revolver to the general with a polite salute, but the latter generously complimented his marksmanship and begged that he would keep it, adding to the gift the box of cartridges which he produced from a coat pocket. The American was somewhat embarrassed His pride was averse to the acceptance of the gift, yet he was unable to explain that he meant no offense. He stood offer ing the pistol to the Russian, while the latter pressed the cartridges on him. The princess relieved the situa tion by taking the cartridges and handing them to Hardy with a be seeching little luoue. He accepted with a courtly bow, as graceful as though he were saluting a cotillion partner. The princess replied in kind and walked away on the arm of the general. The only other incident worth re cording happened at night, after all the passengers had retired. A party of hidden marauders fired on the boat, and one of the bullets passed through Hardy's cabin window. That they were Chinese was evident from a war-ar row, with its iron point, that was found sticking to the rail the next morning. "They are becoming very restless." said Smulders, in his broken English, "but they will hardly dare much to do" —and he pointed to a long line of dusty Cossacks that were '.rotting along the military road that skirts the Amur. "The river is well guarded, and if they make depredations, ibe Cossacks take terrible vengeance. I am glad that they did not harm my Chulia." Julia was the name of a Vienuesn singer on board, with whom Smulderß was fast becoming infatuated. A little way below Blagovestchensk they passed the blackened ruins of Aigum, the once populous Chinese city which the Cossacks had destroyed not very long before. "They found tlio bodies of 1,000 men, women and children in the ruins," explained Smulders, "and into the river they thousands have driven. That scare the Chinese, but they also not like it much." "I should think," said Hardy, "that ! they would be vexed at such treat •ruent, 't'o say the least." He looked carefully to his rifle and ! pistol that very' day. (TO BE CONTINV
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