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Boston, Mass,
Copyright, 1905, by Perry Mason Company,
Z Wow Wa x
The Bold American }
me CA. Stephens
.Yours is the botdest exploit of which r have ever .
Tsar. r ‘Alexander Ie <
picion’ of “being ae
betta Gescaped con-
Viet); -Rarniiavgs faken.
ouk days ina ‘turma; or guard, :
house? built. of logs, hear. thet
~ barracks: His eaptors had takes
visit fo another smilitary, ‘post:.three »
nndred versts fo the south of Okhotsk.
When the soldiers laid hokt of’ him,
above the” town, little .
ed | their legs Yaliantly
ic ay.* ILe followed *,
“master into Obata, and no doubt,
Yad. tvouble, with the _Dumaronsrianss
6 During.
1e “whistled .t0
his feat _ Scampert0¥
_pat™ ingpichfately’ the, iiatils Urova hi ny
g i. what. the question
“> was, and replied in English ‘that he
was an Ainerivan. ‘This reply, how-
ever, did’ Wot go far to enlighten the
‘ Russian colonel. Ie repeated his ques-
& tion in anfther form, and Farawn
a judged it safer to shake his head
~ merely and point to his letters. The
ornmannstant seemed perplexed, There
> paper, ink and pens on a table
tpn the platform, noticing which a
project for making himself understood
‘ occurred to the young traveller.
Te made a motion with his head to
. * ‘the table; the colonel nodded. Taking
=e one of the large sheets of paper, he
dipped the pen wad began drawing a
rude map of North America, the
pos « Pacific Ott ther Asi The
wr. command stood on, aud at last | his letters and other property with his own! a square, dry log of the wall by his head.
jodded, comprehending ‘what Farnum was try- hands, all but his knife, rifle and ammunition, | Seven "up answered immediately.
ing to do. and whispered an order to the sta , Who con-| Feeling certain now that the tapping was for
“Yes; very well,’ “te sae. “But hold’? ducted him to a room in the barracks. The | him, “Farmum started up. Then he heard a
and he brought a 1 atlas from an inner ta indicated that this was at Farnum’s | dog whine outside, and knew from the high
room, opening it to the map of North America. weal, and that he could go and come as he | nasal intonation that it was Watch. There-
This aided Farnum yery materially. Tle pleased. upon he whistled softly and rose up to the
pointed first to himself, then to the city of New | But on going out a little Jater, Farnum found aperture to look out. “The window was too
, and afterwand treed his route to Astoria | the starosta sitting on a bench near the door, opaque to see through, even if the night bad
. with the pen, At Astoria he made signs of a evidently for the purpose of keeping him under not been f and dark. Determined not t
nN ° battle, saying, ‘Bang! Deane 1 then | surv Wherever he went, this soldier lose Watch again, Farnum burst the hnembrane
turned the atlas to the map and, to | ke to find Watch, | with his hand, tore away the tough fragments
1
ORAWN BY H. BURGESS.
FARNUM SHOOK HIS HEAD AND AGAIN TURNED TO THE MAP OF NORTH AMERICA
+ which he pointed, to show Maat the war was | Fa river, then went and thrust out his head.
g with that country. completely round the little town, whistling) A man was standing close in the shadow of
. me £ The colonel nodded and laughe now and then, the house, and beside him Watch was hopping
S * After this Farnum traced his voyage to Siberia | Much better food, consisting of broiled fish, upand whining, Farnum drew back at first, but
noted, even in the obscurity, that the man’s
and his journey to Okhotsk, then continued | hot rye cake and tea, was brought to
tracing a route across Siberia and Russia, to | that evening. Te now had good hopes of being | hooded head had a familiar aspect. It was the
show that he was on his way to St. Peters- | able to convince the Russian commandant as to| Yakut, Moolor. He whispered his name and
_ burg. From St. Petersburg he indicated a_ his nationality and the object of his journey. | signaled with his hand for Farnum to come
> voyage to Hamburg, and thence to New York. | ‘There was a rude bunk across the back of the | out.
> “The colonel followed his route attentively and | room, which was on the ground floor—none of | Very possibly it would have been better for
* with wonder, Ie seemed to believe that the loz houses were of more than one story. the American to abide by the judgment and
= Farnum was what he claimed to be: but one | Directly over the bunk was a square hole which favor of the commandant at Okhotsk, but fear
of the other officials, a heavily bearded, elderly | served as a window; but in place of glass the that he might be sent to the penal settlements
man, burst out in a loud derisive laugh, and re was filled by a thin membrane from the prompted him to escape. ‘The sight of Watch,
* ‘exclaimed, “He is a cunning fox! He is a of some large animal. $s windows | too, and the Yakut, was an incentive to go
Ufugitive Polish exile et unknown in Okhotsk. with them.
‘» Thereupon they regarded the prisoner ly in the night, but not till Farnum had) Stepping softly to the door, he first made
‘doubtiully again, and the crowd in the back of | fallen ‘sound asleep upon the bunk, a slight sure by listening at the crack that the starosta
he room jeered and laughed, ‘The commandant | noise on the wall of the house outside waked was snoring on his bench; then he crawled
@ “opened the atlas to the map of Poland and/| him. Some one or something appeared to be through the window-hole, to the infinite joy of
ta) pointed to it inquiringly. Farnum shook his | tapping there, like a woodpecker on a tree little Watch, who leaped up to his face, and
head and avain turned to the map of North | trunk. at every jump contrived to liek it
America, pointing to himself r some time he lay listening, half-awake. | Moolor drew him silently away. ‘They reached
hers laughed ineredulously; but: the com-/ It tapped seven times, stopped for a few) a lane behind the barracks hurried out of
mandant, who hi observing | moments, then tapped again seven times. the town, The Yakut appeared to have his
every detail of Suddenly ie oceurred to him that some one | line of retreat planned in advance. In th
appeared to believe his des¢ was tryit his attention, and with | course of an hour they reached the trail on the
‘After a time the commandant gave Farnum | his knuckle he ‘anpel seven times in reply on hills to the north of the post; and then for as
@
in the
Okhotsk. Watch now regarded Novlor as being
almost
some nights the little dog seemed tine
whose
For
habitation nor met a traveller onthe: trail.
During the fourth day, however, Moolor inti-
mated
or sun
evening the barking of dogs was heard ahead,
and soon they eine
along a
large bh
anne¢
f
horses, and nien, women and children were ail
engaged in cutting and stacking the dry grass
of the
the coming winter. hey had also a number
of cows
which
Witl
boiled,
A kind of bread was also made from the same
tuber,
and pine
They
flavor
however, he sv
furiously o
inform
all Yakut butter w
milk
v
Russell
5 CTS. A COPY. wo ae
much as. thirty versts they
hardly broke their rapid pace «
for a word or for a moment.
Soon after day dawned they
came upon Mool ree pack-
* horses tied in a covert, a little
way off the trail. Stopping
they hurried on; and now that .°
it was daylight and Farnum + ~*
could make out signs and ges- '_
‘ures, Moolor contrived to tell him how
he had happetied to go back for him, 20°.
“It was due to Watch. .On the ae rey ~
morning after Farnum had parted froy
_Moolor, to go down to Okhotsk, Watch
had overtaken him on his way, and by “
whining, pulling at his coat and every
other’ way in his power, had cvaxed
the Yakut to go back with him.
For an hour or two Moolor paid but”
little attention. Ie’ perceived - what
the dog wanted, but did not see his
way clear to go with him.
But finally the aninial pleaded so
hard, and begged and whined and
looked. so wistful, (hat the “Yakut
became convinced that’ the American”
'«, Was, in serious trouble, and that it was
“his duty to learn what had occurred.
Tle journeyed back along his route
all that day and most of the following .
day and night before concealing his ad
ing Watch down into : ‘
ack yidnik: tially: his Keen * Tittle nose
‘dnl to the daek’ vf th house: whete. igis®,
s title
Ti a ii ee tind
the Yakut was the one: to help rescue
his master. from those cruel soldiers
who had kieked him so hard.
Nothing now remained ‘ Farnunt
but to go on with the ‘an the
little pack-train. Tis pani =
tion and the knife whieh Moolor had
given him were beck at Okhotsk with
the Russians. Ie had no means cf
procuring food or of defending himself.
t pack, letters, and the rouleau of
guineas from Astor
tht remained in his pos ior
money, even gold, would procure him
little in Siberia.
Moolor appeared unfeignedly glad to
have him for a companion again,
Indeed, the Yakut’s good-will toward
him had been shown very conclusively t
long trip which he had made back to
as good a fellow as his . On
led at
side to curl up for warmth and security.
four days they neither saw a human
that they were approaching a yurta,
mer dwelling, of his people. ‘Toward
ged into an open meadow
ri lere there was a fire, and a
hut built in part of logs, but roofed with
» home ol
lis wife,
horse skin:
mily had not less than eighty
meadows as hay for their drove during
; and that night, for the first time since
he home farm in distant New ol;
yum had all the sweet, creamy milk
he wished to drink.
h their meat they ate a sneculent tuber,
more like an artichoke than a potato.
bake, with which were dried berries
a singular kind of butter, which :
sured Farnum was made from cow’s
Farnum could hardly eredit this, the
was so peculiar, ‘The next morning,
w a large kettle of milk boiling
pver a fire out-of-doors, and he was
rel that it was to make butter, and that
roduced by boiling the
down to a reside. of yellow fat and