Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1904 — The Secret Dispatch [ARTICLE]

The Secret Dispatch

By JAMES GRANT

? CHAPTER XV. The manner and voice of Basil Mlerowltz were singularly soft and winning, yet he was bold and resolute; and though a young man, he had all the free and easy bearing of a courtly soldier, blended with something of the calm severity of a priest—a manner that was very impressive.

. The Polish and Cossack blood that mingled in the veins of Apollo L’sakoff gave a freer and bolder, perhaps a wilder, bearing and style of language; his nose was aquiline, and expressed tiercenow of disposition; yet his features otherwise were essentially delicate and noble, and his eyes were strangely beautiful in color and variety of expression. [He was a grandson of Hetman Mazeppa ,—that Pole whose story is so well known, and who after being bound naked on a wild and maddened horse, was carried by his steed through woods and '.wastes, and herds of Wolves and bears, into the heart of the Ukarine, where he lived to become the prince and leader of those wild Cossacks who dwell upon the banks of the Dnieper. Sleeping in a cavern, among rough soldiers, on a bed of dried leaves and moss, had not improved either the costume or the appearance of Natalie Mierowna. With pain and sorrow —almost with agony—Charlie Balgonie could perceive how her once rich dress of yellow silk, with its trimmings of narrow ermine, was faded and soiled—even tattered and worn; her laces and her soft hair alike disheveled nnd uncared for; and that al-

ready had a limited and haggard expression been imparted to her beautiful •yes and soft, pale, delicate face. Anger •nd pride alone remained; but both were for a time subdued by the sudden presence of Balgonie and the love she was compelled to repress, outwardly at least, when before so many eyes. Katlnka, the Sturdy Polish attendant, who loved Natalie dearly, alone seemed unimpaired by the hardships of a forest life. “Concerning the secret dispatch of the woman,, Catharine Christianowna, to the Governor of Schlusselburg.” said —Usakoff. resuming the subject of conversation, “you, Carl, are perhaps aware of Its contents?” “Yes,” replied Balgonie, and then paused.

“Say on, my. friend,” said Usakoff. “We can hear anything now.” “They were to the effect that a scheme had been formed to free the Unknown Person in Schlusselburg and that he was not to be permitted to fall alive into the hands of any one wire came to seek him.” - “Savage orders, which there can be no mistaking.”

“Orders which Bernikoff is quite capable of fulfilling,” added Mierowitz in a sad, stern voice, while their listening followers burst into low and whispered but fierce imprecations against the Empress. “Bernikoff is a man without one human sympathy,” said Basil. “And no marvel is it!” exclaimed Usakoff, while the Strange light already described gleamed in his dark gray eyes. “His mother, like a true Tartar woman, is said to have anointed her breast daily with blood, as she suckled him, even as Dion tells us the mother of Caligula did, that her child might in manhood be merciless.” _ “Carl,”, said Basil, taking the hand •f Balgon+o, "Nfftalie lias told me all.” “And you forgive me?” said Balgonie earnestly.

“I do —but on this condition —that if you do not join us you will at least not actively oppose our scheme.” “I scarcely know what it is.” “Know this, then." replied the other emphatically, yet softly, "that on its success depends the success of your love, for if it fails, then all our lives are lost!” “You say that you love my cousin, Natalie?” said young L’sakoff in a somewhat loftier tone. < “With all my heart—with nil my soul, I do!” replied Balgonie, pressing a hand •f Natalie between his own. “Yet, Carl, if you valued generosity •nd loved piety—if yon loved glory and honor as a soldier should, you would risk the loss even of her—yea, give her up If necessary—and join us!" “What would either life or glory be after such a sacrifice? Ah. my friend, you never loved as I do!” replied Charlie, with some irritation of manner. “Perhaps. But 1 have always thought how grandly terrible a figure was made by Mohammed the Great when, on a stage before his discontented army, he struck off the.head of a favorite sultana to convince his soldiers that he preferred glory to love."

“Cousin, cousin!” said Natalie, who felt all the peril and delicacy of her lover’s position. "You talk thus to-day, when last night you shed tears —yes, bitter tears —for the loss yf your sister. We were all taken prisoners together, Carl —my poor father, Mariolizza, and I. Bound with cords —see the marks are on me still,” she added, showing her white wrists, while her dark eyes filled with a dusky fire —"we were conveyed in a covered wagon toward St. Petersburg, on the way to which it broke down in a wood near I’aulovsk, not far from the •uter walls of the imperial gardens. There in the confusion I was enabled to •scape by the aid of the gypsy girl Olga, who, -hoping some such chance might •ccnr, had followed us afoot from Lougn; •nd through her further knowledge and •saistance I was enabled to join my brother Basil hero.”

“My dear old father —mid my soft nnd tender Mariollska —a blow niUHt Im: rapidly struck if we would nave them from greater horrors than those they now endure!" exclaimed Basil. "Tlic other die lias been cast now, nnd if I cannot save liietn and our legitimate Emperor, we ean at least all perish together." "Dangers menace you closely; the roads around the fortress are petroled, •nd gunboats watch the shores of the lake. A coiu of Ivan found in a tea “ ’Twas I, Carl, who dropped it there!” •■claimed Basil. “Well, and this coin?" "Has aroused all the suspicions of Bernlkoff, and be knows that you and

CHAPTER XVL

your cousin have deserted from your posts in Livonia.” “Then,” replied Basil Mierowitz, with growing sternness, ‘‘we have not an hour to lose. Who informed him?” “Lieut. Gen. Weymarn, by a special messenger, while I was loitering at Longa.” “So, so! We must be prompt in action. I have cruised thrice round Schlusselburg disguised as a fisherman, and know all the approaches.” “Basil, Usakoff, I implore you by all you hold dear on earth and sacred in heaven to pause while there is yet time—to abandon your wild scheme, and make your peace, if possible, with the Empress.” “You are right to add ‘if 'pC>sßll>le.“Tny friend/’ replied the other calmly but bitterly. ‘‘Already compromised by desertioi;, my father and betrothed wife chained in a fortress by the Neva, what terms would Catharine offer us? Carl Ivanovitch,” he added, with a lofty smile, “I do not press you to join us, or seek to lure you into the dangers of an enterprise the enthusiasm of which yon cannot share. I do not seek even to turn your presence as a trusted staff officer in Schlusselburg to account, though it might further our objects, and be the means, perhaps, by strategy, of saving many a valuable life. Still loss do I desire to turn to account your intimacy with the young Emperor Ivan, though I envy you the great privilege. Even in the love I bear my sister, I leave you unquestioned and free.” "I thank you, Basil,” said Balgonie, sadly, and with a heightened color, caused by irrepressible annoyance at the last remark of Mierowitz. “But we have all sworn before the altar to devote our lives to the matter in hand; so retreat is impossible—advice and entreaty alike unavailing. The blow once struck, we shall be joined by the Cossacks of the Ukarine and the iDon, among whom we have many impatient adherents, and by all who hold of the Houses of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. of ‘Hoktein Gottorp.- and of aHwho hate Anhalt Zerbst; all Russia will soon follow, from the shores of the Black Sea to those of the White —from Revel to the Utal Mountains. We have not forgotten the reign of Elizabeth; how many noses were slit, how many foreheads were branded, how many ears cropped, and tongues shortened, and how manyeyes were darkened forever during the time of tyranny; how many backs flayed by the knout; how many nobles banished to Siberia or drowned in prison vaults by the swollen waters of the Neva. Pure nationality is dying now; but we must revive Russia—not as it is ruled by a woman, but Holy Russia of Peter the Great —strong, invincible, and the terror alike of the Eastern and WesUfn world. Let us save our country from those who oppress it, and replace upon its throne the grand duke, the Czar —the Emperor Ivan; for the right given by God and by inheritance can never be destroyed!” “Without cannon, you can not mean to assault h place so strong as Schlusselburg, fortified as it has been by all the skill of Todleben?” said Balgonie, after a pause. “Atjk me not what we mean to do, Carl; for your own sake, my dear friend, the less you know of us, and of our plans, the better. We shall come upon you when you least expect us, and in that hour take no heed of what you see or hear. Mix yourself up with it as little as you can; if we fail, we perish in our failure; if we triumph, and Ivan is replaced upon his throne, be assured that Basil Mierowitz will not forget the lovet of his sister—the comrade of many a brave and happy day with the Regiment of Smolensko. Now adieu—and come hither no more, lest your steps be watched.”

Balgonie pressed the hands of his two friends, Whom he viewed as fated and foredoomed men; he kissed Natalie with a tenderness that was at once sorrowful and despairing, for he trembled in his heart lest he should never see her more; and, in another moment or so, like one in a bewildering dream, he had descended the rope ladder and was traversing the forest—the Wood of the Honey Tree — forgetful or oblivious of whether he was watched or not. He foresaw but woe and ruin now; and proceeded slowly back to Schlusselburg, with his mind a prey to doubt, anxiety and dread of what might be th* sequel to the impending catastrophe. He felt assured of one thing only—that a deed, bold, reckless and desperate, would be the result of his friends’ desertion, from Livonia, their political rancor, and personal desire for vengeance on the Empress and her favorites. In that deed, and its tod probable failure, he foresaw the destruction of hi* love, and he felt .bitterly that rather than have known and lost Natalie, it would have been better had fate drowned him when the Palatine ship was burned, or shot him when warring in Silesia!

On returning to Schlusselburg. Balgonie found the governor, Colonel Bernikoff, in a very bad humor indeed. The Grand Chancellor had recently sent him a prisoner, with a note to the effect that he wrote verses, and was otherwise a dangerous fellow —to keep him for a week or two, and then get rid of him. He had thrice sent to the chancellor, to learn under what name the man was to be buried, for the fellow was dead now —so much had the damp atmosphere of the lower vaults disagreed with his poetical temperament, but no answer had been returned, which was very annoying. So Bernikoff. whose patiiyice was neVer very extensive, was furious; but he strove to sooth his rutiled feelings by several enormous piucheH of the sharp snuff of Boresovski. from the box which had been found in the fob of the later Peter III.; and by beating with his cane tlie Cossack, Jagouski. “No tidings yet, Carl Ivanovitch, of those traitors?" said “the Captain Vlasfief, and my 'faithful friend, Tchekin, with forty picked Cossacks, and a cltver guide "

“Nicholas Paulovitch, I presumed “The same,” continued Bernikoff. with a fierce grimace on his lips and a crufl leer in his eyes, “the same, sir—and what then?” "Nothing, excellency. Well, these and the' forty Cossacks "Are scouring, all the roads between this arid St. Petersburg on one flank, and bet ween this and North Ladoga on the. other; so the cursed Asiatics caqnot escape me.” “Who will betray them to you?” asked Balgonie, making a terrible effort to appear calm and unconcerned, as he played with his sword knot and the tassels of his sash. "Who?” exclaimed Colonel Bernikoff, grinding his teeth. "Their own friends — their own dear comrades —adherents, which you will. Russia is full of people, yea of many nations. The Empress can reckon her faithful slaves by millions; yet, when a Russian hath his hat on his head, its rim contains the only friend on whom he can rely.” “This is a severe libel on your country, surely; excellency.” “'Tis truth though; so Basil Mierowitz, Usakoff and the rest are all doomed men. No one was ever lost on a straight road; thus the soldier who diverges from the straight line of duty must speedily find himself face to face with degrada"ffou“ and death. Punishment to those traitors will be swift and sure! So, I only fear that the Grand Chancellor will never give me the pleasure of having them under my judicious care at Schlusselburg. We have certain old vaults, built below the tide mark by Ivan the Terrible, for some of those people of Novgorod who leagued with the King of Poland. They are always full of fog; and I am-curious to know how long an able-bodied prisoner might live there, or rather how long he would be in dying.” Charlie gladly sought the solitude afforded by the stockades and outworks of the fortress on the side toward the Lake of Ladoga. There, as 1 elsewhere, was, of course, a chain of sentinels; but they did not interrupt his lonely communing with himself. By Tils interest in Natalie, by his deep love for her, and more than all. perhaps, by liis recent visit and Interview, he already felt himself “art and part” with the rash adherents of Ivan. If one of those deserted the cause in which they had embarked, then would their lurking place be at once discovered, and the story of his recent visit be revealed. He dreaded lest Bernikoff and others suspected his friendly interest in the family of Mierowitz, and that more might yet be learned of it; thus he would have experienced neither shock nor stirprise, had he, at any hour, in that land of treachery and espionage, seen either Captain Vlasfief, Lieutenant Tschekin, or any other'officer of the fortress, advancing toward him. saber, in hand, with an armed party, to demand his sword, to make him a prisoner. “If I love Natalie,” ho would say to himself at times, “why should I shrink from sharing all that .she suffers now — all she may yet enduro? Yet it would be. wiser to watch well for her sak'e, and seek to save, or bear her away; but how —axid where to?” was the next bewildering thought. This was, indeed, a miserable mood of mind in which to pass the nights and days of inactivity—of suspense and anxiety in which none could share in that strong, guarded and somewhat lonely fortress, which was washed on one side by the Neva and on the other by the Lake of Ladoga, the very ripples of whose waves sounded hatefully ip the ears of Balgonie. “Oh.” thought he, “to be with Natalie on the side of a green and breezy Scottish mountain —to be with her there in peace °nd security, far, far from this land of suspicion and ferocious despotism, of state intrigues and savage punishments, where every second man is the spy and the betrayer of his fellow.” Home he might never see more; and now he found himself vaguely speculating on the probable comforts and public sentiment afforded by Siberia, and those growing cities of the sorrowing and the banished—Tobolsk and Irkutsk —on the banks of the Lower Angara. (To be