“PROMISE OF DAWN.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16569, 31 October 1921, Page 4

“PROMISE OF DAWN.”

OUR SERIAL

5 By

E. R. PUNSHON

? ; (Author of •' The Crowning Glory,'' " The } Woman s Footprint,” “ The Solitary * House,” otc.. etc.) I CHATTER X.—-Continued. “ Dogs, scum of iho earth, ’ h‘> sa, td | slowly and softly, and yet pitching his voice in such a tone there was not one i of thorn but hoard every word, “ blockheads that you are . - - you dare, I j dare you? Down on your the r ! pack of you, and beg for pardon. ” l Tbit they were not quite defeated ! j " ‘-The Emperor,” one of them shoutI j ed, ‘‘the "Emperor has gorM*.’' I “I remain,” the Count retorted. S ' ‘ Down oil vour knees, dogs. Down, I I say." £ His voice rose suddenly with such an | old accustomed tone of command that g actually they sank upon their knees, | and so stayed for a moment, while ho | glared down upon them as they knelt S before, him. I ‘ It is well.’' he said at last “ Now k to the fire, orerv man of you. "Waste || no time. But first-, two of you. re- | * lease Karl Meyer, and bring him to § ! me. The rest to the fire and hasten, - ! hasten, T say.” They obeyed him instantly, as though he had still behind him all the gendarmes, all the police and soldiers of the old regime. Most of them ran to the fire and began to work at extinguishing it, while two or three others cut loose the bonds that secured the Gorman steward, and helped him to his feet. But there wore .just a few still unj subdued by the stern mein and flashing eye of the old Count., and these clusj tored together and grouping round I Makar, looked erillv at the Count, ; who, for his port, took no notice of j them, but, like a lion amidst a herd of jackals, waited, standing upright while his orders were obeyed. Karl Meyer, released from bis bonds, and followed by hi s dazed and trembling wife and children, staggered up to him. - “ Get us be gone. Excellence.” he muttered, “ before the pack turns on The Count was nri old man, and thoueli he was victorious, he had felt | the strain. Very well.” he said, “ h?t it be j so.*’ They turned and went together, j Meyer supported by his wife. the j frightened children trailing after, and | the old Count following behind, still j holding himself proudly upright, yet ! vaguely conscious that this retreat was | turning hi s hardlv won victory into a defeat, and at the same time aware that it had been necessary. Indeed, scarcely had he turned his back than the work at the fire censed, the peasants clustered again around Makar and Petrov, and from them all 1 issued a deep murmur that swelled ! slowly into a shout of passion and re* : solve : ••The land, the land, the land is i ours.” CHAPTER XT Half way to the house the little party met Michael and Boris, hurrying .to their assistance. Boris, verj T indignant when he understood what had happened, wished to go on to inflict sum- , mary punishment ou the rioters, but the Count shook bis head at the sug- ; gestion, and Michael also felt that the attempt would be rash. “It we had some of the menservants . to help us . . ho remarked, “ but they didn't exactly seem keen on coming along, did they?” “They were all afraid.” declared Boris; “hut never mind. Still, this ! kind of thing is a disgrace to the "Revolution, and if it goes on 1 shall begin to be sorry that 1 was one of those who brought it about.” “Perhaps things will settle down agaii> all right,” remarked Michael, though without much hope. “ I must get back again as soon ag I can. and see what's happening at the works.” gj The Count turned to him. M “ The works?” he said. ' Yes, and II the war . . . poor Russia.” 5 “ You think . . asked Michael. | “ J think that Russia without an [ Emperor,” answered the Count slowly, l “ will be like a house without a founda- | tion stone, a ship without sails or | steam, a farm without a farmer. The j; house will tall, tho ship drift helplessly, | the farm return to the wild. That is a how it will be with Russia, there will be no law, no order, no control, the old ‘troublous times’ will return.” “But Emperors have been deposed before,” Michael reminded him; “ there was the Emperor Paul, and is there not an ancient proverb: ‘When the prince is bad, into the mud with him’?” That was only deposing ono Emperor to set up another,” answered the Count. “To-day it is the autocracy itself that is overthrown.” Another form of government . suggested Michael. It will be without authority, whatever it is, ’ answered the Count. “ Our peasants will never respect or obey a government containing peasants like themselves; why should they? God set up the Emperor, but not one peasant to be above another. I.t was not because Rasputin was a traitor, or mischievous. that they resented his control of the Government, but because the Emperor had fallen under the influence of one who was a peasant like themselves. ff the Emperor obeyed a peasant, why should the peasant obey an Emperor?” He made a gesture with l>oth hands. “ Russia is finished,” he said, “the tale is told, the song is sung.” “ Perhaps . . said Michael, and paused. | * 1 Never mind,” muttered Boris, “ somethin .- may happen.” When, they reached the house the Count told Frau Meyer to put her hus|3 band to Tied. ■ | “ One of the servants will show you m j a room you can use,” he said. “ for B j the present you must all stav here.” ■ i The woman thanked him in a dazed, I : uncomprehending Way, ajnd, the | ! hall-porter was absent from lus post, H i the Count pressed the electric hell to H j summon someone else. Troitsa had | j been fitted with an excellent saytem of | | electric bells and lighting bv old I ; Thomas Brown, of Neweastle-on-Tyne. | j but this time the OoMjM’h summons ■ ! Wnt unanswered, and when ho tried I 1 again, it was Brown himself who ap I > peared. “They’ll none of them budge,” he R I announced gruffly; “there 'they nil ■ j are, like a. lot of chattering magpies, | forming what they call the Troitso B Soviet.” “What do they mean?” asked Boris, ■ for the word “Soviet” wag then quite I na unfamiliar in its later application I to the average Russian, as to the forI eiguer. (To hr- continued.) I i =