IVAN REVOLTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13275, 2 September 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

IVAN REVOLTS.

(By Thomas H. I'zzoll.t "Forward. babes! Out of your holes! Liivo Vm stool!" As the colonel's shrill cry reached the oars ot private Ivan Ivanitch, Ivan, like hundreds of other peasants (Touching in the snow-covered trenches, was stricken with terror. lie knew he must obey: lie always obeyed; the substance ot all his simple wisdom was obedience. Yet a sort oi dumb intelligence told the big peasant that Colonel Xalukin was calling upon his regiment to do a rash and dangerous deed. in all the half \ear ot ceaseless fighting Ivan had already been through he had never before been commanded to leave the trench until after a prolonged and deafening bombardment by the hi<r guns. On this cold, wretched winter morning he remembered that the llussian tield guns had not boomed once. On the other hand, ho and his shivering comrades, entrenched at this edge of the iorest iacing the Galieian end of U/.ok Pass, in the Carpathians, had hoard the Austrian cannon bellowing upon the distant crags: had shuddered ;it the ceaseless buzzing ot the enemy's maxims; and. as daylight came and the usual yearning to light rose within them, had actually seen the Austrian outposts, dodging trom boulder to boulder, advance rapidly toward their lines across the desolate valley. While hostile shrapnel hurst among the frozen pines with a terrible vzreet. and spouted clouds ot glittering mist before' the trenches. Ivan again heard the colonel, crouching low beside him, shrill: "Out of your holes, dogs! Cattle! >\vine! Do you hear!' For Holy Russia ! In the name of the Little Father! Forward !"

Ivan's powerful fingers, in his rude, ] still mittens, clutched his rifle. His] small blue eyes cast fugitive glances lo the right and left. All the peasants were preparing to leap forward, yet no one dared to bo tho first. Machine-gun bullets were thudding into the earthworks a lew inches from their nose*. "My God! My God!'' groaned tall, red-haired Kuzma Nicholitch. from Kovel. at Ivan's elbow. "Where are our guns'r Why don't they begin r" Neither Ivan, Kuzma. nor any other of the muzhiks of the First Kiev Rifles new that- during tho night an adoniate supply of heavy ammunition, had arrived from Leniborg. but that, the shells wore found either to bo charged with sawdust or to be too large or mo small to fit the guns. Nor did [van or his waiting comrades knowthat "in view of the strategical situation." as the report wont that night to Lomborg. "it has been decided to take the pass anyway by relying upon the obedience and courage of the ranks and the numerical superiority of his Imperial Majesty's forces." Now as tho colonel called upon Ivan and his fellow peasants to advance, while tho shallow, white valley was a hell of deafening explosions, their deep, ago-old dumb instinct of subserviency impelled them to obey: yet, like frightened children, they hung back and hesitated. Ivan lvanitch saw Colonel Zalukin grow hysterical with anger. Ivan did not know that tho colonel's regiment had boon placed in the first-line trench because the colonel had boasted that his "muzhik dogs" were "properly beaten into obedience." The colonel began to tremble in face of the terrible and unprecedented possibility of his whole regiment refusing lo obey his commands. He was maddened at

ihi' thought of what would happen it iii-s men should lie paralysed and overwhelmed. Sweat oozed out of his iighr. pallid skin at the thought that, after all his disciplinary use of the "'clenched fist,'' his peasants might mutiny. "It would mean general rout of the whole army corps." was the horrible thought that flashed through his brain. "No! They must advance or we are lost !" Again, therefore, Ivan heard the raging colonel shriek into his ear: "Forward, filthy dogs!'' That was ihe language he understood. "You hear!' By God " • Fust then Ivan glanced to the right and saw his neighbor, the tall, redhaired Kuzma. tuck his rifle under his long arm preparatory to leaping from the trench, rise from his knees, and turn a hour, to see which way the colonel wished him to charge. Then, struck to. his heart with terror, Ivan saw the colonel draw his heavy nagant from its holster and discharge ii full in Kuzma's tare.

Ivan and halt the regiment watched Kuznm spin round and collapse like a rag. 'J he peasants tiien saw the colonel '.vave his smoking weapon and dash at them, shrilling like a madman: "Thai for the whelps who look back! Forward! Out of here! Bravo! Bravo! Oorah! Oorali!" Ivan Ivauilch obeyed. The whole regiment obeyed. Two divisions obeyed. ran out of the forest and into the Valley ot ihe White Death. Nyt for nothing had Russia's bureaucrats schooled the muzhiks to obedience by three centuries of tyranny! Not for nothing had their colonel taught them wii !i iiie clenched fist ! The Austrian shrapnel sang overhead. exploded and sprayed death among the peasants: the hidden machine guns busily hummed a chorus of death while the Russian field guns stood cold and silent in the foreet. Poignantly Ivan hoped that the guns in the forest might begin to boom—oh. hr did not want to die!—but he must obey. So he. like twenty thousand sturdy Ivan Ivanitches. ran cheering ii io the shambles. Four more divisions followed. Into the valley, line upon line of them, they ran. shouting, shooting, stabbing, only to lie mown down by the machine guns and pded up in grc-at, brown, mangled heaps. G'iau echoes from the defenders' (anno;', raced crashing and thundering up aid down the range of snowmantled peaks. As the awful music sounded, great, soft snowilakes drifted down from the gray sky ;.nd gently sheeted the ghastly heaps with <i purewhite. feathery pall.

By the time a hundred thousand of the colonel's "muzhik dogs" had perished in this manner the Austriaus were overpowered by sheer numbers, and their guns silenced. Tim; ended the successful Balaklava of the \ alley of the White Death. The Russians had secured possession of tinnorthern end of I zok dass and had opened their first door into Hungary, ('ohm I Zalukin was right : The Muzhiks knew how to obey. Ivan Ivanitch. with a handful of the Second Kiev Rifles, by miraculous luck escaped the slaughtering shells and reached the Teutons pouring out from behind their rocky shelters. The gov-ernment-factory rifle Ivan had in his grasp when he lett the trench was detective and would not shoot; but hallway to the Austrian lines he managed to scure the rifle of a fallen comrade. He bayoneted three or the enemy. clubbed to death two others, stumbled, fell, and was knocked unconscious by striking his head agains. a rock. He came to while pursuit was being bugled from the forest.

His first thought. —obey! 11 < dashed snow in his face, found his rule, and. seeing scattered survivors running in the direction of the Austrian gun positions, scrambled to his feet and set off as las; as his thick felt boots would allow him to move over the rockv ground. He dodged huge boulders, crashed through thorny bushes, leaped a frozen little brook, got lost among some boulders, and finally halted, perspiring, breathless, bewildered, in a beech copse ,-i lull half mile from the hat tiefiokl. Ivan Tvanitch dragged his tattered sheepskin papakha off his bead, solemnly rubbed the bump under his unshorn, vrv, ny hair with his inittoned fist and muttered : "Ach. Thee, Ivan Ivan'ch. durak. tool! To run so, liko a dog after its

j nstrjikliau down ovrr his ears and unit- | a I tered aiiaiii: 1 S *" Ci; >< 1 knows Ill's;. ttllr Jtlll >t olll'_\ . Ii IW.hr lnoi. ! in !iui>!> ! ' i Kxcopt lor In-; r Mini hi- servility, h ail I\ atui'!i. as in- j>;• usim 1 a there Mill"!!'-: i'if sainted i< ;■-<• iin!u< 11< < 1 ( hoodie* was a eiti&eii any country v. otihl i' lie i;'ad to < lana. ,\ny critic o! peasant •'tin meal" would have M.-n at one,' [ iliat iiwal..' the .shapeless liinu n shuha , wa.s a powerful. magnificent hody. i There was sdiiiethinu r> ininisceiu <d a \ full-urown hoar :n the linn spread i ;,1- the le _!> incased in their telL | \ alciikies. ihi' slight how to 1 iit■ thick, heavily ninselcd >lioll lfler>. and the cur- : Iv. hrowni-h hair which ' "Vi red ihe p< asaii t- s hroad lace nearly up in the e\es. , Though hi- had noi yet n ached the ane ni thirty, lheie were deep lin• s :ii-ro>» his wide hrow and a iv-niiied. hat>nre-,I i<>ck. a le/acv of sorrow and ! sud'eriiiir. in the mild hlue c.. 1 hie-' I>l !*J'ht«'!led lIV ill I c 111' i' alee 11 n Jill t ii.ive conci i\*iilily helouir- <lto a MaH'man. As it was. Ivan 1 \ anitch had no li anii'lj; ho.\ontl a sense ni' duty to nliey !iis superiors. a pastoral love of homo I and peace, and a profound, mystic re- j vei'Mico lor his orthodox hod. Like millions ot other line-hodii d 'dvdios who were inarejiiir.:. siiiL','!itr. to their death uudt r the haii'ii rs oi' h. d. Ivan lvanitch wa- a, splei.di i shell of a man. Tho liHt'/.hik lnid not proceeded tar anion;i the stunted hooches when an ltnd. rsiz. d. ci<i;lil.y-laced -Tew, to til,' Third Ki-v Killos. ran into the cap-". saw him and railed out : "I'.cli, l.i rot her. hord have mercy. Wait a tinv minute!" han haitott and waited lor {lie dew , lo approach. The latter s queer, round I la.ee was streaked with hlood from a | havoin t jjatsh across ihe hrow; he held iiis rifle, which s- ; emod proiornaturally loii'z. in hi-, short arms hoi ore hint, as ihoiiiih it were a of horror, niid

gaspi d like a man w ho had just had an encounter xvitli a flock of ghosts: "Bozhe, nioi, is tile light over, brain.'!':- I thought you were one of tho Duni't Ones and —Cod knows I have killed etio'tui! to-day! I caught one of 'em sitting behind a rock down there." He pointed behind him frantically. "He was loading his rifle—and 1 got him in the ltcck, so! with my shieek" —he pointed to the stained bayonet—"ana(led have mercy on us, brother! —lie fell over with a groan and his beard ■Went into the air: and —he was a Jew! The little soldier's body shook with sobs '|"h(- big peasant and the little Jew looked at each other for a moment speechless, their souls overcome by the incomprehensible tragedy of war, and tears, for which ihoy knew no shame, welled slow ly in tliei'- eyes and zigzagged down their grimy cheeks "Thou art Simon Levkovitch. of the Third Rifles, da !*" finally ventured tho muzhik. "Da. da. brother —Simon Levkovitch Yolpyansky. of Kishinev, parish of the. Svnagoguo of Abraham. Isaac and — Have you any water, brother I gave mine to that —-to liitn. ' Again lie gestured down the valley. "Come along!" urged Ivan as be removed his mittens and iunibled at the ; canvas covered flask at his bell. "We must get back. Difist bear the bugleThere'll be a roll-call —" As the peasant was passing his flask to his comrade, a sharp, stern challenge smote the peasants' ears: "Xooka. babes, w liat are you loafing here for!'"

The two soldiers instantly dropped their mittens and the flash in the snow, •prang into position side by side, presented their rifles, looked fixedly past their bloody bayonets, and in brisk unison sang out mechanically: '•Glad to try, your Excellency!

Col. Privet Alevandrovitch Znlukin was :i typical specimen of the eliinovnikmilitaristie product of Russian despotism. His education consisted of a smattering knowledge of languages and the abstract s< ience-: and in a parrot sort of way he knew the drill formulas learned during two indolent licentious yenrat t!:" cadet school in Petrograd. I'or eight- years he had bored himself intolerably as a second lieutenant- at the mustering barracks in a provincial capital. There, with his share of the usual graft front ' tlte government commissariat fluids, he managed to keep a soldier servant to dress him and to keen enough Crimean wine for a weekly debauch. When the war broke out Zalukin was promoted to be colonel and was ordered to join General Russky's army, leaving Kiev. Bv means of some remote family influence the colonel managed to have himself appointed to a staff position, which would keep him .safely from the front. So great were the casualties anions: the officers in the first f"W months of the campaign, however, that an order from the Grand Duke forced Colonel Zalukin. together with hundreds of other •"medal chasers." to leave their

"parlor post-" and enter the fighting. This highly displeased the sleek colonel. Hi 1 thoughr of deserting: hut, soring that was imposdhl >. lie expended his wrath ai '"his injustice" inxm the peasants composing the First Kiev Rifles. In truth. Colonel Zalukin during his morbid years in the barracks, had developed a brutal but workable tocluiir of dealing with his peasant reeruits. This technic was merely a practical ex a nip kv of the autocratic philosophy of the kulak, or clenched fi-t.

"Damne! gun meat —these muzhiks" Zalukin would exclaim t n his obsequious underlings as h> paced the cuard-room and delicately twisted his waxed moustache. "I tell wili never learn anything! You examine a muzhik in his literature: you ask him 'What is a soldier!'" and he answers. 'What soldier y' Tfoo! The clodhoppers know less tlian cattle. 1 have tried to secure moral control over them, but they ex-h-nist me. the idiots! It can't be done. They do the contrary thing by nature unless you use," here he would ball the beringed fingers of his right hand, "the kulak."

The <•!< itched fist, indeed, Colonel Zalnkin had not spared during tha arduous journey on foot from the bloody battle-field of Uawaruska to the Carpathian front. When his men, still liysterieal from the horrors o? battle, wcak('iv d from fasting or semi-insane from tin' tortures of unslaked aleoliolic thirst, faltered. Zalukin struck t'nctn cruelly before'their comrades with the butts of their own rifles. Ivan Tvanitch, because of his conspicuous size, and strength. !i" singled our- ;:s a special target for his hrnta! tyranny. On one occasion he caught Ivan carrying the rifle of Saslia Zarkinski, a revolutionist, wlio "as sick and barely abb' to stagger. Zalukin stopped the regiment. jerked Ivan out to tho roadside, swore torrents of abuse at him and. while the peasant stood stolidly at order arms, smote bim in tlie face until his own thin body dropped with exhaustion and blood began to trickle down from the soldier's lips. To his horror. Colonel Zalukin finally found himself in the front line at the battle before TV,ok Pass. After his men charged, trembling with terror, he followed for a few paces: then, his nerves collapsed utterly, he threw tip bis arms as though lie were wounded and dropned behind the shelter of a huge boulder. There lie remained, wrapped in his turlined sliuha. raging at the "iniusiice" done him, ashamed of his cowardice, and wishing the enemy might win and h-- hj" taken prison! r. 'Once a prisoner." be reasoned, "and I'll lie through with all tliis nonsense."' And again the idea of deserting occurred to him. The same bugle which roused Ivan Jvanitch ami started him in pursuit of i Heeling pnemy eoinincc 1 the colonel that the battle was over. Sualthily he !clt his shelter without being seen and walked rapidly in the direction of the pass. Finding himself, as he imagined, thoroughly hidden from sight in the beech he proceeded more slowly. Me removed his nagant from its holster and looked warily about him. "If T meet our enemy," lie mused, "I'll show mercy and open negotiations; perhaps —" .fust then he caught sight of Ivan and the little Jew. A sigh of relief escaped his tliin b; lie put up his revolver and swore amiably to himself. A comfortable sense of security and power swept the terrors from his petty soul. As the peasants stood at a rigid salute Zr'lnk," ,-:,is„l his uWd hand nerfunc-

*ked them where their prisoners were, iiuon a Irenziod account of ow lie had slain a member ot his own The of'iivr. listening to the tale, had liiio-l forgotten the misery ot his sick eiivcienee when suddenly he heard a aim ho/./ as ot a. dozen inacliine fiun> oin- at Diice. The three stiffened with nor. The maxims al:;iin ! Before they unhl tie,, the buzzing swelled into a <i;ir. They looked up and beheld a huge. <ar monoplane flying swiltly against he di;!l eree:t sky toward the Russian livoiia . Thev saiv a shower ol black specks de:ic• 1: I l oin the machine and come piiiuiivj; earthward.. One of these speck< ■ plashed into the feathery snow a few mo s a way. The colonel, fearing it ni-lit b' a bomb, ordered Ivan to ex:hiine it. T!i" peasant found a piece if paper weighted at the end of a tin spiral. He delivered it to the officer, who unwrapped the paper and found a

small document written in Russian. From i'.', Zalukin learned that it he would proceed up the pass to the. Atlsiiian encampment- and deliver himself up as a "pri.-oner ot honor" he would be respectfully xveleomod ltv tho Austrian officers and would receive twenty thousand crowns and an Austrian militarv title. Greedilv he considered the ease and luxury that desertion would

The iw.i woarv soldiers, patiently axvaiiing orders, were too hungry and thirstv to observe that the officer's thin lips were compressed into a white lino oi resolve, and that his eyes stared past them at his prurient dreams. Memories ot pungent gusts of cabbage soup waited from iTie field kitchens tilled them xvitli a dumb longing to return to camp. Fpon quizzing the peasants Zalukin learned that. Ivan had half a loaf of black bread in the meshok slung over bis .shoulders. Simon reported that he had a piece of clothing of some sort—"a war prize rescued from a Dumb One" —stuffed in his bag. Both the- peasants s;i!] carried their blankets. Zalukin removed his centimeter maps from his sumka, calculated the distance across the pa.ss and murmured : "Da. da, we can make it by to-mor-row. perhaps by night fall. Again he looked at the peasants. "A fine guard of honor for an Imperial officer—these poor beggars!" lie commiserated himself. "Now, what's to lie done? Tho fortunes ot war. If I'm attacked they

ni;iv ]").'• iis'ful." lie drew In- shuba about liim, pointed in the direction of the snow-shrouded mountains, and gave the command to march. Ivan and Simon saluted, faced about shouldered their rifles and. without a word of protest, set off toward the heart of ilie Carpathians. It was noon. Simon led the way. From time to tim<> the Jew. puzzled by the strange maiifetivre, glanced back furtively over his shoulder. Zalukin cjui<*t 1 v urged liim on : '•Step livolv sweetheart; step lively!" After three hours of rapid walking: tli.' three men were completely swallowed up in tlie white wilderness of rocks :>nd trees. Straight before them Czerna Cora thrust it.< treeless summit above iho surrounding: tumble of klippon which here makes up the lieskid II an go. The snowy peaks began to rise about- them in solid'and solemn grandeur. No snow had fallen since the battle. The air. keeu, still clear, turned the breath of the ma rebel's into frosty clouds. The pale sun east no .shadows; yet the marchers involuntarilv narrowed their eyes from tin- Jitter of the snow. There was little difficulty in following; the mountain road, which for several miles meandered along: the bank of a little brook. Tho rapid How of the water had so far kept the brook from freezing; between its banks it ran as black as ink. These sights, however, were lost on the two peasants, who thought only of their

growing hunger Zalukin, his thin fingers thrust in his fur-lined sleeves, his head bowed slightly. walked with an effort, slowing up now and then as if to catch his breath. When Simon stumbled from time to time and pitched forward on his hands in the soit- snow, the officer swore and kicked him absent-mindedly as he scrambled to his feet. The blanket, stuffed meshok, Hask and heavy rifle made a considerable burden for the little Jew. Ivan Ivanitch ploughed through the snmv with the powerful stride of a tireless young giant. When the call to war came Ivan had been a vodka-sodden drone. With enforced temperence, long marches and plenty of coarse but healthful food, his body had naturally flowered into its natural strength. The skirt of bis brown shuba, bound loosely to his waist by a piece of thong, was flapped about by the long, easy thrust of his logs. He held his rifle in his left hand as lightly as though it were a wand. Without losing his stride he stooped over, scooped up snow in his miUeucd right hand and stuffed it nto his mouth. By the time the pale sun had sunk among the klippon, and gloomy shadows began to darken the crags and .stunted trees, the three soldiers were only halfway across the pass. The silent immenssity of Czerna Gora towered high on the left. On the right stretched an irregular, trackless maze of smaller mountains. Ivan, finding himself wandering off the trail, halted, saluted, and said:

"Your Excellency, I don't know which way to go. May it please your Kxollency, 1 aui afraid we ll be lost, jia y it please——"

"Peace, peace, muzhik!" interrupted the colonel. i.lis small, pale eyes gazed at the bleak desolation about him with dismay. Simon sank to the ground, leaned back against a rock, clutched his breast and began to cough weakly. Zalukin climbed up to a rocky ledge to make an observation with the binocular which he carried in his smuka. While he was gone Ivan knelt beside the .few and inquired: How art thou, little brother? Tired, eh " • JSozhc moi, I'm dead tired, da, and hungry and thirsty," groaned Simon. His plump body collapsed against the rock. Ivan removed his mittens, gatheiod snow in his bare hands, warmed it a moment, and pressed it 10 Simon's lips. As lie did so he noticed that the snow become crimson, and exclaimed in alarm: "Sonika, what's this? Blood? You're hurt, little brother!" Simon coughed weakly and said: "Da da. a shell—a 'big one, Ivanuska, as big as a hut —wont bv mo. vzreef!—like that —and knocked me right down. When 1 got up my blood was in my niomh. Ugh! No matter, brother,it's bettor now. Bozho moi, snow, sweet heart, snow!" Once more Ivan j>re.->ed the snow to the Jew's lips. As the peasants saw the officer approaching, Simon frantically .begged Ivan i*ot to tell about the blood. 'He'll shoot me, brother! Don't tell! Don't toll!" ho pleaded. Zalukin got the peasants to their feet aiul announced that they would have to spend the night in the pass, lie found a little grotto between two largo boulders and commanded the soldiet- to unroll their blankets and lay out the contents of their knapsacks. Simon unstrapped his meshok and furtively tried to hide it behind a rock. Zalukin detected the manoeuvre and exclaimed : "\\ hat's- the matter there, Jew? What you hiding!' Come here with that thing! Drop it, dog! Drop it!" Simon Levkovitch stood silent- and rebellious. The officer strode up to the knapsack and kicked it, saying: "What you hiding, oh? What's this?" A faint squeak issued from inside the canvas. "What's this? By Saint Nevsky! opm u]>, dog!" Reluctantly Simon opened his meshok. The officer stooped down and extracted a white suckling pig. A string had been tied round its pink snout to keep it from making a noise. Zalukin lifted the wriggling animal by a hind leg and taunted

tlt<> cringing .lew: "Liar! Swine, eh! A damned, porkeating Jew! Ha, ha!" he laughed. "No, no, no, Your Excellency!" protested Simon, stretching out his chubby hands as if to recover his treasure. "I am a Jew; I do not eat swine, Your Excellency—" ■

sell it —maybe they'll let us so free! .Now lam hungry, Your Excellency. 1 have not. eaten since daylight. Simon Levkoviteh wants food, Your Excellency Give me sonic, broad. You —you can have the pig-'' "What good is the pig to me:" shrilled Zalukin. "We can't make a lire here. There are 110 matches. We can't cook. What ignorance! iSozlie moi, how stupid! Cattle! Cattle!" The officer tossed the pig disgustedly at Simon's head. Simon dragged off his cap, seized the officer's bootleg, and continued his pleading: "Your High Excellency, I'm hungry, j Ivan Ivanitch has bread. Your Excellency. J fought- like the devil all morning—l killed three, Your Excellency; and om —one Has —a Jew! (live Simon Levkoviteh bread —just a wee darling bite. Your Ecellency : just a wee — Zalukin kicked the Jew with the broad side of his boot, sending him sprawling in the snow, and started I<> inspect the contents of Ivan's knapsack. Ivan, ever obedient, in spite of bis mounting hunger, stood as at inspection, beside his mesliok, with his righthand in a firm salute.

You put that broad in here?" demanded Zalukin. "Da, da.da. Your Excellency; and glad tu try. Your Excellency," responded Ivan, 'it' Your Excellency will permit I'll find it." Ho bont over, unrolled the small chunk of black broad from a soiled kerchief and handed it to his superior. The colonel took- a dainty pearl-handled knife from his pocket, cut oil' a slice and stuffed it into his mouth. Ivan's mittoned hand dropped to his side. He stood straight- and obedient at attention his shining blue eyes fixed yearningly on the bread, like a dog expecting a bono. Few dogs, however, have been denied as many of their dearest needs and desires as had Ivan. Unlike a dog, too, Ivan had been taught patience in one of the severest, most pitiless schools devised by man. He, like his millions of brother peasants, was used to it. While the officer .ate, washing down the bit of bread with rum from a flask taken from his sumka —officers who 'knew how" kept liquor handy—lvan swallowed convulsively. His aching jaws and gnawing stomach sent throbbing messages of hunger to his mind. An obes'sion of hunger took possession of his soul. When Zalukin had eaten the bread and drunk the last of the rum, he tossed away the- bottle, sat down on a rock, crossed his legs, twisted his thin, colorless moustaches, and commanded the peasants to clear the snow from the grotto and spread their blankets for the night. By this time it was quite dark. Zalukin. his heart softened by the food and liquor, bade the chattering Simon take one of the blankets, roll up in it, and forget his sorrows. As Simon came forward, babbling with thanks, Zalukin cut him off with: "Noo, sweetheart, I forgive you the pig. Da, you have fought well for the Little Father to-day. Da da. You forked three —eh, Jew? Lovely, Jew. lovely! And vou bagged a pig to trade —ha- ha! —ech. some day poor Russia will have to take lessons of your breed, and no doubt about that. God pity the Imperial gentleman in the Winter Palace when that day comes! Now eet- out of here, roll up and go to sleep." The officer chuckled to himself as ho felt his way with the other blanket to the rear of the grotto. While tho officer rolled no there in the blanket, Simon sank down just within tho mouth of the shelter. Ivan fed the Jew snow from bis warm hands until the little soldier's fleshy eyes closed, his fat cheeks relaxed, and his began blubbering in the slow rhythm of slumber. Ivan stretched out his legs* leaned his shaggy head hack against tho rock, and delivered up a sigh from his powerful lungs, which expressed all tho weariness and hunger of an empire of Czar-ruled peasants. Then he folded his arms and blinked wistfully at a big •star twinkling cold and distant over the peak of Czerna Gora. In tho few moments before .sleep dragged his eyes shut the big peasant's slow mind pictured scenes of his littlo home village in that region which God meant to bo prosperous and happy—the Ukraine. He thought of the summer. ! He remembered undulating fields of rye glinting yellow in tho sun : fragrant meadows powdered with wild flowers: a blue sky full of soft, white clouds: he remembered a cluster of white-walled, thatched huts; children in little rod shirts playing with the grunting pigs before the doors; a pair of clumsy white oxen languidly dragging the cart, groaning its protests, into the cool depths of the woods. All. how he would like to return to the little village and lie peacefully for days and days in a fence corner until the gendarmes kicked him awake! Then the unhappy memories of his drunken, indolent life returned. He thought of Katya, his young wife, and of how she used to scold him for his drinking and call the gendarmes to chock his violence. Now a deep, pitying love for Katya flooded the soldier's Russian heart. Recalling now how she clung to his neck, sobbing hysterically and praying when he was loaded into the box car and taken away, he choked with emotion, crossed himself solemnly and, murmuring "May the dear God have mercy on her—-mercy on her—mercy " he fell asleep. Ivan was wakened in the morning bv a kick from tho officer. He sprang to his feet, saluted before his eyes were well opened, and exclaimed: — "Glad to try, Your " A violent yawn prevented his completing the shibboleth of obedience. Clouds of snow fell from the peasant as ho shook liimself and rubbed open his eyes upon a scene that brought from his lips an exclamation of amazement :

''God have mercy upon lis!" He .stood and gazed, speechless, at the appalling transformation the mountains had undergone during the night. Snow to the depth of his chest completely sheeted up the pass and the endless ranks of mountains. Not a speck of green was anywhere visible in the little forest of stunted pines. The tops of the trees thrust themselves up here and there like white haycocks harvested during the night. The rugged sculpture of the rocks, daubed over by the dazzling curd, had

turned to monstrous spectres. And still the flakes were falling—streaming earthward so silently and steadily in the windless air that to Ivan it seemed as if the earth were rising up to meet them.

The muzhik, who had often slept in. the snow, protected by the warmth of bis own body, woke refreshed and rested. His one misery was his gnawing hunger. Ho glanced at Zalukin, who f-tod hip-deep in the snow, twisting his bedraggled moustaches and cursing volubly at the white terror spread round him. The scenes and ceremonies to which Ivan had been accustomed on waking in the morning were wanting; now ho was less a soldier automaton and more a self-reliant man. As he waited to bo commanded, an instinctive feelinrr connected the officer with this growing hunger: ho remembered bow the officer had eaten his' bread tho day before, and an unreasoning wrath began to sprout in his soul. Zalukin crossed himself, swore, tight, ened his belt, and kicked the Jew under his feathery covering. Simon came out of the drift coughing and sputtering, and waving lii-s short arms like a man who had tumbled into a creek. "Bozhe moi!" he gasped, as he blinked his eyes at the walls of snow rising about him. "What a gooso-pickinsr! Von there Tvanushka!" he called to the peasant. '"'Dear God. my breast!" He clutched at the front of his shubn and rolled his eyes in dumb agony. As the officer ordered him to make ready to march lie began frantically to uoke about in the snow for bis pipc. When he finally found it, white and rigid, he took it in his arms, exclaiming pityinglv: "Ech, little dove —dead! Poor, poor little piggy! God's will he done." I,van took the animal and 'looked at

enemy when ho lett the battlefield. Ws, his distracted mind told him; his real purpose in entering I'zok Pass had been to scout among the ciienix. Who knows that he might, not- have performed some heroic exploit- had lie kept on!

As he tou^lit liis way through rim leathery ilrilt.s hi.> gloved li.-t- now and again swept grandly ;ibout liiin as though lie was earving his way through tin* encircling ioe. heetic visions ol heroism arose in his brain. Ho saw 11iinst>ll staggering, exhausted, imo tho snow-bound tout ol his icllow-offieors- • tlit* two peasants. oi course, would loniz; .-iiH'o have succumbed to tho hardships ot tho mountains. 110 -saw devoted comrados reviving him with rum and hot> tea whilo ho told how ho, single-handed, had slain fifteen Austrians in a narrow defile of tiii- pass. "A lioro! A hero!' they would crv. "(!iv> hi!" I'to ' : 1 - jof Saint (ieorge! ' Ah, what a moment! his blood v,armed at tie.* thought. He saw Imperial adjutants and generals crowding into tho tent to kiss him thrice. How sweet it would, bo then to have them ofier him a stall position in .some country house wlioro there would ho a canopied feather bed for him. rich food, strong wine, wo- I men "Your Excellency! May it pleaso a our High Excellency!' An abrupt cry came from Ivan Ivanitch. Zalukin faced about and saw Ivan striding along in his trail several yards to tho rear, tho .Tow's head l'ir behind, bobbing along level with the top of the snow. Angry at having bis .iprooablo meditations interrupted, Zalnkui exclaimed: '•'Xooka. what tho devil's the matter now i-ii Ivan halted, brought Ins heels together. saluted, and said: ''Simou, our Excellency he can t "a so fast; he —" '•Damn the Jew!" tho officer snap-

peel. Ho ordered Ivan to keep close behind him, turned about, and waded on down the pass. _ Zalukin's violent effort rapidly exhausted liini: perspiration broke out over his body: a pane of hunger seized him. About the middle of the day, tinable to proceed farther, be sank in the snow and commanded Ivan to produce the carcase of the pig. . A\ ith his penknife the officer cut off one of the animal's legs: but the taste of the flesh nauseated him and he threw it from him with disgust. Instantly Ivan, whose eyes had watched the officer's movements with doglike absorption, sprang forward and seized the flesh. "Dron it, dog!'' shrilled the officer, his small fist raised and a note of terror in his voice. Ivan looked sullenly at the dry, bony face, the thin lips; lie saw on his superior's breast the string of bright medals which the colonel, contrary to general practice, wore even at the front; he remembered the blows and kicks with which the officer had disciplined him 011 the march. The deep-seated fear of the peasant for the chinovnik paralysed his: resolution ; his grip on the flesh relaxed and'he slowly thrust his big hands into the sleeves of his shuba. But this time lie did not salute. Zalukin compelled the peasant to return the pig to his. mesliok just as the Jew, minus his rifle, staggered up and threw himself exhausted beside Ivan. Zalukin, unheeding Simon's pleading? for a rest, swore at him for throwing away his rifle, and then it suddenly occurred to him that the big peasant might attempt to commit some act of treachery, commanded Ivan to throw away his rifle also. Again the order was given to march. Ivan swung along easily in the erratic wallowing made by the officer. From time to time he glanced back at the struggling Simon or tried to soothe his aching jaws by scooping up snow and melting it against his palate. The snow had ceased falling. The pale sun, embedded somewhere in the leaden sky, was not warm enough to melt the frosty stifle from the air. The staring, unbroken unifomity of the landscape; the faint, choking odor of the frost; the utter absence of sound —even his felt boots sinking soundless in the feathery drifts —oppressed the peasant's simple soul with loneliness and forced upon him him an obliviion to all else but his growing hunger. As clumps of mountain beech trees, piled high with their shining thatch and great dolmans, like solemn phantoms hooded and capped by the eternal white, marched slowly by. the. peasant's imagination remained fixed upon the food which he carried upon his back. In his imagination a score of times Ivan ate the piece of pig flesh that the officer, for some unaccountable reason. had cast from him. Why hadn't he. Ivan Ivaniteh. eaten the flesh when it had been so near his month? he asked himself again and again. He could not answer the question. He recalled the words which the revolutionist, Sasha Zarkinski, the comrade of his marching squad, had often whispered to him : "It is no use to resist the clenched fist, brother —not yet—but a day is coming —" Although Ivan never understood words like these he instinctively resolved thai the next time he came so near to a meal he would put the meat into his mouth and eat. Otherwise lie mightdie; and no peasant who was raised in Ukraine and has a Katva for a wife wants to die. An opportunity was soon provided for Ivan to test his new resolution. By the: time several pauses for rest had been made the sun had disappeared in a pink flush behind Czerna Gora, and the dismal gray of an early twilight had settled ranidly over the pass. Zalukin was forced to call a halt for the night. Ivan discovered a bight of shelter between boulders, swept out the snow with his hands, and spread his blanket. He tinslung his mesliok, dropped it at the feet of the officer, who lay gasping on his back and without saluting, said simply; "Lot us eat; I am hungry." Ivan squatted upon the snow and waited. Zalukin, alarmed at something in the hairy set face of the peasant, sat up with a start. Hurriedly he fumbled at his revolver holster, removing tlio weapon and laid it across bis knees. "The brute,'' he muttered weakly to himself. "I'll show him bis place! If the clenched fist hasn't taught him by this time I'll try something that can't

Ho commanded Ivan to open the mesliok. The starving muzhik obeyed with alacrity. As his trembling fingers removed the pig, Zalukin shrilled: "Drop it !" And he raised his revolver.

Ivan's fingers clutched ravenously at the flesh. He paused like an animal at bay. lie looked at his master; ho saw the bright medals shining 011 his blue tunic, the familiar thin nose and cruel pa to eyes. The ancient, instinctive terror of uniformed authority cowed him ; gradually his fingers relaxed, a great sigh of despair escaped from him, and he slunk back into a corner of the rock. Again the officer tried to eat the raw flesh, and again be suffered a revulsion that forced him to desist. The tonic air of the mountains and the violent exertions during the two days since the battle had made his ague hunger as poignant -is though he had been denied food for a week. "With his nerves racked from lark of his customary alcoholic stimulant, his thin body shivering from the stinging air. which melted the heat from him as soon as he ceased exerting himself, and his stomach crying for the nourishment in the flesh, the sight and odor of which made him sick, the colonel fell into a white rage and screamed at Ivan Ivanitch. '•You dammed muzhik cow! AYhaf, do you sit- there gawking at me like that for? Why don't you do something! Why didn't you take more bread in that accursed meshok? Dog! You'll be well bea ten !'' As lie looked at the big muzhik, crouching motionless and attentive in a shadow of the rock, the officer remembered that he had not saluted that day. His terror of the peasant's size and strength mounted, and he resolved that lie would kill him rather than let him get hold of the carcase of the pig. "Now is the time I must show my authority as a chinovnik," lie reasoned desperately with himself. "The clench-

The big muzhik halted, laced about i and said sullenly : t "seinka —he may be lost. I'll givp <■ him a little lift." ' i ' J,' t, the .Jew alone!" commanded 1 Zalukin, raising his v.capon. "Have yot; forgot fen your soldier's literature,' . Would you desert your oiiicerr (io back | and sit. down. If the Jew gets lost, , iloo —ach, here lie conic now!'' I Simon Levkovitch reeled out- of the. gathering gloom and collapsed, groan- , ing. After putting violently for a few I minutes and looking about him, dazed, the Jew clutched oiie of the boots of the ollieer, and pleaded piteously : ".Scmka wants food! Where is the little soup kitchen, comrades!-' Semka I has studied it all day. Food, food, or 1 | Semka will die!" I Zalukin had already suspected tha Simon was suffering In in some interna, injury. The little soldier's utter neb), hvsness and heartrending appeal, stirred the pinch of humanity lei t i'i the ollicer's bosom. "Nooka, Jew," ho said, "you inu j seem to be having a hard time of it, too. Here, take this." He tossed the leg of raw pork into file Jew's ragged mittens. Simon clutched the meat, lay back and sank his teeth into the cold flesh He rolled his round, white eyes, sat up slowly, coughed, spat disgustedly intn> tlio snow, dropped the meat, ami sputtered : "Pig! Ecli, my little pig! No, no. no. tour Excellency—pig isn't food! Semka can't eat P'=> Your Excellency,! Semka. will sell the pig to your Excellency I'oi bread —for just live little euumbs of bread." Again he clung to the ollicer's boot. "Nooka, it is a good little bargain, Your Excellency! Come! God's mercy, don't lot mo die! , Semka forked five Dumb Ones, dear little Excellency; live —and one was—a, brother Jew!" A quarter of an hour later the three , wanderers were rolled up in their Man-

kets for the night. The meshok was again buried in the snow. the risikg wind and increasing cold, Zalukin, fearing he might freeze to deatii if he slept alone, commanded the peas ants to lio next, to him, one on each side, with one blanket over and the other beneath them. Soon his teeth no longer chattered and a tingling warmth coursed through his veins. bleep for him was, however, impossible. He was exasperated by the Jew's constant moaning and coughing. As he lay listening to the wind growmore and more violent, and shriek past tho mouth of the retreat, the throbbing consciousness of his growing weakness threw liis soul into a deeper panicof fear. The grinning horrors of starvation i'osg in his mind. He clutched his companions in terror. He had hallucinations of death. At first Ivan Ivanitch's mind was fixed solely upon his intolerable aching sense of hunger. He gave the terrors of tlio night 110 thought; he was used to them. He felt the meat,again in his fingers, saw the officer's menacing gesture, and heard his sharp voice forbidding him to touch that which his whole strong body called out for with maddening insistence. He did not reason about his misery. He merely struggled with memories of the brutal disciplining he had undergone at the hands of his ehinovik masters. He felt again the kicks of the gendarmes in his home village; he winced at the bloody blows his Excelency the Colonel had administered before the whole regiment. Ho remembered Sasha Zarkin-

ski's quiet advice not to resist authority until the timo should be ripe. But, instead of patiently murmuring as heretofore, "Nichevo, God's will be done!" he thought now of the food that had been so clOse within his grasp; and, with 110 effort of will, his mind repeated the thought: "Next time Ivan Ivaintch will eat; next time— —" As he communed thus with himself, the gentle anaesthetic of drowsiness soothed away his aches and sufferings, and gave him pleasant, fleeting recollections of home. A vision of a russet field of waving grain and the great wooden wings of a windmill turning lan-

guorously in the bright sunshine brought peace to his simple soul. Before sleep quite overcame him he felt Katya's trembling arms clinging tightly to his neck. He opened his lips to speak to hor; but, then, feeling the officer's head move in the ho Jkm of his arm, he merely hugged it to his breast and then relaxed, lost altogether to a bitter world. The three Russians faced daylight the next morning in desperate straits. The colonel's nose was white —frozen. Ivan offered to rub it with snow; but it was too late. The pain caused by this catastrophe, adding to the officer's increased misery of body, sharpened the words on his tongue and induced him to continue his flight from starvation with qiaddened desperation, lie dug the niesbok from a drift, forced Ivan to sling it beside his blanket, and ordered the peasant to precede him into the bowling wilderness of snow. Zaluikm was appalled at the transformation tho pass had undergone during the night. The wind had swep the great bunion of snow from tho klippen and garnered and packed it into drifts and glaciers. Tho sun was no longer distinguishable. Sunderings oi snow tumbled, booming, into the gullies. Tornadoes of snowflakes rosei from nowhere, scudded up the glaciers, exploded silently against precipitous turrets of rock, and shot clouds of floury mist into the air. The swirling confusion of the pass defied the judgment of the officer's eyesight. "We're lost, - babes!" declared Zalukin, gazinig in dismay at the scene. As the peasants, however, offered no word of comment, but merely Icoked at Eim with pleading abjectness, the officer murmured to himself: "Nooka, what's to be done? One never gets to town sitting by the fire." He gave the command to march. For five hours the three Russians struggled! on, floundering among tlio baffling drifts. Finally, when farther advance seemed impossible, Ivan, who was leading, stumbled into a fresh trail. "A search party of patrols sent out for us!" exclaimed Zalukin eagerly us his eyes followed the windings of' the half-drifted-over footprints. He suspected that one army or the other would soon send patrols into the. pass. He was beside himself with joy. He took the lead and, without further thought of his direction, plunged fran. tically along the beaten track. He hart not proceeded more than two hundred yards, however, before he fell back as if ho beheld some frightful apparition, and screamed: "Our own trail! We have gone-in a circle!" Several yards iu front of him tho officer caught sight of the little ere,vice in the rocks that had last sheltered them during tho night. He sat down on a rock and buried his face in his hands. "Trapped 1" he groaned. Ho felt as if ho were pinned down by the peaks rising about him, as if the tons of snow booming earthward were fa! 1iing on his chest. He longed to get up out of the gullies, to reach an elevation where at least he oould see — he remembered that he had observed a wide ledge of rock high up on the klippen near which ho sat, and ho determined to spend the rest of the day in an attempt to reach it. Perhaps from there he could seo—could signal—fire his revolver — As he raised his head to make known his decision, he saw a sight that filled him with wrath Simon lay on his back, his chubby face as white as the snow beneath his head, his mouth open, a bright crimson stain on his swollen lips. Ivan IvanTtch, on his feet, was removing the pig from the meshok. "i'ou whelp of a " The Imperial officer swore great oaths as he drew his revolver from his holster. "You will disobey " he shrilled as he raised his weapon and fired. The big peasant let the sack drop to the snow and swayed slowly an instant in his tracks ;with his eye 9 fixed on a distant peak he solemnly crossed himself and murmured: "God's will be done!" Instead of saluting, he brushed a trickle of blood from his cheeik, which had been slightly gouged by the bul- I

liiid then tiiu oilier, the throe jiight again over tlio Carpathians, saddle l at the lop rho glacier reached the rocky shelf. All three Uclu exhausted. They st u111i>11" 1 about. dazed and speechless, looking lor a sheltered nook where tliev could Jiuddlo away Jrom the stinging blasts of tlio wind. I liable to iind a rocky fissure, Ivan scooped a hollow out of a deep drift and spread the blankets. While thus he was busy at this task Zalukin once more buried the inesliok several yards away in the snow. lie yearned to try again t<> eat the flesh, but now fear of the hungry muzhik I deterred liiin iroin making the effort in tin* latter's presence. Faint wiih weakness, lie walked to the edge of the piecipice and for a moment looked down at tiio brawling world of rocks and snow, which the rising 1110011 made dun- ▼ ly visible. As his gaze rose from the black, bottomless valleys far below to the ranks of mountains, rearing their splintered ]x«-ak.s against, the sky, one last heroic impulse ctinu to the chinovnik's quaking heart. lie tried to straightening his body against the pushing force of the wind; he shook his clenched list at the summit of Czerna-(>ora, rising white under thu 1110011, and muttered:

"Thus Napoleon and the great Suva. > roil stood unconquerable on the Alps. A 1 hey mastered by the clenched list. 1 I too —I am not afraid of that peasant. Clod's blood, I'll kill him! I'll die here —l'll freeze, I'll starve, but —he will obey! lam a chinovnik. lam master. I'll kill him! I'll kill it was the grandest moment in the lift' of Colonel Pavel Alexandrovitch Zalukin. Whatever may be said against the brutality of his philosophy of life ho believed in it. with all his soul, and was ready to die for it. Again tlio three men crept into their rudo shelter and tried to hold off the terrors of the cold by huddling together between the two blankets. Simon no longer groaned. His teeth chattered loosely for a time; then he lay quite still, with only a faint rattle issuing from the throat. Neither Ivan nor Zalukin could sleep; though Ivan, unconscious now of anything save a racking agony of hunger, in time fell into a drowse. When Zalukin finally heard the deeo breathing of the peasant ho slowly raised his head and looked at the Jew's face. It had a deathly, rigid pallor. Even tlio rattling sounds were gradually dying away. Cautiously Zalukin re- j moved the blanket from the Jew and rolled him on his face on the frozen rock. Then he wrapped 'lie covering more closely about himself and gave his consideration to Ivan and the pig Having made certain, after several minutes, that Simon would not move again, and believing that Ivan was asleep, Zalukin stealthily slipped from the olankots, crossed the ledge, and dug tlio meshok out of the drift. Ho drew forth the frozen carcase, hacked pieces of flesh from it with his knife, and began to eat. So great was his hunger that ho discovered a relish tor the meat; and, though terror clutched him for fear of interruption from the muzhik, he ate ravenously. Meanwhile Ivan, shifting his position

to avoid a sharp projection. of rock, awoke, reached out in vain for his companions, and sat up abruptly. He was dazed. His wits at first refused to grapple with the tragic fact his eyes discovered. By the light of the moon, now much brighter, he caught sight of the Jew. He crawled toward him, turned him over on his back, saw his stony face, shook him, and called him softly:

"Semka! Semka! Ech, little broher! Semkn!" There was no response. The little soldier's body felt to his fingers like a log of wood. "Dead!" slowly muttered the muzhik. He dropped his chin into his beard and reverently crossed himself.

A spasm of hunger again aroused Ivan He thought of the pig, of tho officer — the fact of the officer's absence surged through his mind like some primitive terror. As he rose to his feet and looked about him, no more memories of ehinovnik discipline, no more visions of bemedalled chests and flashing officers' swords came between him and his animal craving for food that he knew to be near at hand. Semka was dead and he himself was dying—of hunger. That was enough. The big peasant moved cautiously out on the ledge. There in the moonlight ho saw the officer, blotted against the snow, devouring the pig. Zalukin looked up. For an instant the men gazed at each other, motionless. The pallid moonlight fell upon the wild, aerial stage of rock, transforming the frostwhitened faces and clothes of the men to ghostly apparitions. Ivan's knees began to bend slowly into a crouch. His shoulders bowed forward; his fingers balled into clenched fists. The thick muscles of his young powerful body grey taut. The strength of a starving animal at bay came upon him. But one instinct- moved him—slay or die! He took a step toward his enemy.

"Stoi!" shrieked the officer in a voice of horror. Ho scrambled to his feet and fumbled for his revolver. "Stoi! Another step and I'll kill yon! Stoi!" Ivan, without speaking, took another step, and another. The revolver was levelled at him. "Stoi! I comamnd —in the name of the Czar —" Ivan rushed upon the officer. The crash of the weapon roared out on tho moaning desolation of the night. Zalukin was too weak to aim steadily. His bullet missed. Before he could fire a second time, the peasant struck the weapon from his grasp and over the precipice, and dealt the officer a crashing blow on the head. Zalukin reeled and collapsed on the rocky floor. The muzhik kickod him aside as if he were a cake of snow, squatted, seized the carcass of the pig. and began to pull and tear it voraciously with his strong teeth. While Ivan fed, intent only upon completing his long-delayed feast, the officer again stirred, raised himself painfully on his hands, and dragged himself, moaning toward the peasant. "Ivan Ivanitch," he pleaded, "let me bare seme; don't let me starve. Don't let me die!" He caught the peasant's shuba. With r. Mrift blow Ivan sent the officer sprawling. Again Zalukin crawled, this time whimpering like a beaten child, to tho scene of the feast, clutched the peasant's l>oots, and whimpered: "Ivan Ivan'cli, just a weo bite! I'm dying. Ivan Ivan'cli. Mercy, Ivan [van'c-h, in Christ's name! Dear little Ivan Ivan'cli—for the Little Father, in the name of the Czar —"

"To hell with the Czar!" growled Ivan between his teeth. Ho continued his gnawing and gulping. "Dear Christ, don't let me die!" again whimpered the breaker-in of muzhiks.

He cringed and grovelled at the peasant's feet and broke into sobs. Seeing that his petitions were of no avail, Zalukin closed his trembling fingers upon a large rock. He raised the rock with both hands behind the peasant's back, intending to bring it down upon the latter'? head. Ivan ducked forward slightly over a bone at that instant, so that the rock grazed his head and crashed down upon his shoulders.

Instantly lie turned and foil upon Zalukin. The men grappled. The officer expended his last ounce of strength upon an effort to bite and choke the muzhik. But Ivan's fingers closed upon his antagonist's throat. The lingers remained there, driven deep by years of suffering, by the present. madness of hunger. Finally a shudder ran through the officer's bodv and he lay quite still. Once more Ivan crouched over his meal and finished it in peace. He rose, stretched his arms languully. crossed himself, and muttered: "Ach, how fine I feel! Da, da. it was a good meal." He smiled faintly beneath his frost-caked beard. Deliberately lie removed the fur shuba from the officer's body, wrapped it about himself, returned to the shelter he had made in the drift, rolled up in the blankets and immediately dropped into a*

■ hitil with a. rush oi s of the tragie lack o Galician campaign casaut stolidity to a it. Revolutionary om was the student van's former squad the opportunity lor free speech still further to till them with a desi-e tor revenge against their bureaucratic masters. As Ivan told grimly hut simply how lie had slain the colonel of his regiment, the haggard soldiers raised a cheer: "Oorah! There's a daring fellow! Some day we 11 all he wearing fur shubasl" The student revolutionist, Saslia Zarkinski, pushed liis way tlirouglL them and demanded of Ivan: "\ou really killed Zalukin, that monster the clenched list ?' j hungry,'' replied Ivan .-olemnWlnle the soldiers, with tears of sympathy welling in their eyes, applauded, i Zarkinski, the revolutionist, his great poet's eyes glowing with bright visions of liberty tor his peasants, threw his arms ahou Ivan's neck, kissed him passionately on both cheeks and cried out: "Hunger lads, has before this overturned dynasties, toppled kings off their Thrones, and goaded slaves into freedom. Your hunger, little brothers, will tree! I kiss you, Ivan Ivanitch! your millions of brothers will be tho next Czar of all the Russias!"