Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 84, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1909 — THE STRANGER GIRL. [ARTICLE]

THE STRANGER GIRL.

X young girl not over seventeen years old entered a Russian village and inquired for conveyance to the nearest railway station. There was in her face none of that free-from-care look natural to ,girls of her age, but a serious, resolute expression as though she were intent upon some great purpose. She had no baggage except a leather traveling bag, which was noticeable, tor she was not of the peasant class, who are often too poor to have any clothes except those on their backs, but one of an intermediate people between peasant and noble. n It happened that there had been a wedding in the village, and the groom was about to take his bride to his farm some versts away. Just as they were about to start a man entered the sledge without an invitation. The groom objected, whereupon the man showed the badge of a government official, which silenced any further refusal. It was in the springtime, but the snow had not yet melted. The air was cold and penetrating, and the travelers were all wrapped in fur robes. But they were a gay party, cracking their jokes and chaffing the newly married couple. Only two persons sat mute —the government official and the stranger girl—though their rigid demeanor had no effect in dampening the spirits of the otherß. But presently, on coming to a wild tract that they were obliged to cross, they suddenly ceased their merriment. From the forest came a sound muffled by distance, but none the less terrible—a sound known only too well to the occupants of the sledge as the distant baying of wolves. The horses threw up their heads in fright, then set off at a gallop* The groom reached down under the seat and, not finding what he looked for turned pale. "The arms!” he exclaimed. "Where are they?" He looked at his young men friends successively. None had put In the weapons. Each had expected some one else to do so. They had been left behind. Presently from the right and rear a dark mass came through the trees like black water pouring in before a rising tide. There is joined on the road and became a pack of wolves. There was but one weapon in the party, and that belonged to the government official. It was a revolver with six shots in its' chambers. Its possession could not be considered a chance —it was hardly even a hope. Its owner drew it, cocked it and when the wolves came within range fired at the leader and rolled him over. A few of the pack pounced upon the dead wolf, while the rest came on. The official fired, the six shots at intervals, with each shot killing -a wolf, and when he had done this he had finished his defense. The party were at the mercy of the wolves. Though the. horses were tearing along at frantic speed, the wolves were drawing nearer jevery moment. When they had come to a distance of about fifty feet the stranger girl rose from her seat, opened her satchel, toolrout a steel ball the size of an orange and, poising it in her right hand, said: “I give my life to save yours. This man,” referring to the government official, “will see that I disappear from the world. The stroke I intended for a tyrant, heaven wills, shall go only to a pack of wolves.’’ She threw the ball deliberately, and it came down near the center of the pack. There was a flash, an explosion, and where the wolves had been was a vacant spot around which carcasses and bits of carcasses were spread on the snow as if buttered with a huge knife. A few lay moaning in agony, while a few more limped or dragged themselves away. The party had been saved. All turned to the stranger girl, the bride and her girl companions throwing their arms about her, the men seizing her hands and covering them with kisses. Then, when they had given full expression to their gratitude, they turned to the government official, who sat mute. “What is your intention with regard to our preserver?" asked the groom. “She is my prisoner.” “Inform on her at your peril!" "If I don’t inform on her I will be at a peril equal to any you can inflict. She was reported as being in correspondence with revolutionists at the capital. I was sent by the minister of the interior to shadow her. If I fail to report her I will be arrested, taken to -St. Petersburg and executed." "Friends,” said the groom, "this girl has given ub our lives by killing a pack of wolves. Is It not our duty to give her hers by killing this man whose life means her death?" "It is,’’ responded every voice. It was determined to bind the man to a tree and leave him to the wolves, but the stranger girl would not consent Then upon consultation it was decided that after leaving the others at their destination the men of the party should take the revolutionist beyond the border. They consented to spare the life of the official on his agreement to go with them, never to return. He gladly accepted the terms, and after reaching the farm and an Impressive farewell to the stranger girl the sledge was whisked away on its new course. The party reached TBroMfiTißa ps—d' lt in ssjfeffi.-"* BJmmalino T. Boyd.