The true citizen. (Waynesboro, Ga.) 1882-current, December 07, 1901, Image 8

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I WHAT GOES TO MAKE OUR CLOTHING PERFECT! t> j H]1 f lian( j specialization. The styles are designed by men who make that one thing their special study. The garments are made bv men who ace-iH nothing but custom work as their standard. The woolens are selected from the products of the best Domestic and Foreign looms In ail our Garments are the result of an almost perfect organization—and yet we are able to offer you this sort of clothing at the most modest prices’. A visit will convince you that our clothing is all we claim it to be MEN’S STRIPED CMS/MERE SUITS. Gray ground, with stripes in greenish and other effects, bottle green mixtures, every pattern a high class one, at the slashing price $.500. Men’s green effect Cheviot and Tweed Suits in all regular and standard sizes, giving every one a chance. These fabrics are what fashion dictates this season $7.50. Men’s pure WorstedoC hevit Suits of the sort that custom tailors pride themselves upon, the peer of any $35 made-to-measure-suit in highly favored gray,.greenish and other rich tones $10. Men’s Fine Fall Suits. Made of cheviots, cassimeres and worsteds, which were thoroughly shrunk before they were out, this lot can’t be duplicated anywhere, for they were made especially for us they have hand made button holes, hand felled collar, workmanship which you know is never put on any but high priced suits, a fine serge lining, both material and make, worth $18.00, special at $10.0 . Men’s Stylish Fall Suits of blue black cheviots, black Thibets, fancy tweeds and cassimeres, very choice materials, make and cut from every stand point, looks, wear and economy. These suits will give exceptional satisfaction. CHEAP -A.T 311.25. 7 £3 397 ^i 3n ’ d Suits anil Overcoats. Suits of the Black Thibet nicely trimmed, made by the best skilled union talent. Overcoats of Kersey and Black, with good Velvet Collar. These special offerings are for to-morrow, choice of eiiher Suit or Overcoat $3 50. Men’s Oxford Friez) and Vicuna Overcoats. Winter weight with Velvet Collar aid Fall weight with Clo h C >llar, tho season’s correct models, ma ie ud of s >un 1 overcoating $5 (JO Men’s Overcoats of firm Iri-h Fritzs Goods that everybody knows, a sensational Price that mik-ti it a great special, particularly well tailored, $7 50. Men’s Overcoats of English Kersey, standard of the world. All wool goods fast Indigo blue, with sleeve linings of Skinner guaranteed silk and body lining of Serge, round figures $10. Boy’s stylish and handsome knee pants Suits are here In Vestee and Double-Breasted styles at 98c., $1 2o, $l.o0, $2,$2o0, $3 and up to SCHNEIDER’S CREAT DEPARTMENT STORE, 1106 and 1108 Broadway, : : : : Augusta, Georgia. Am?:; THE COURIER OF THE CZAR kuuui to decide the fate of Michael Strogoff. The people of central Asia give the name of “fal” to this practice. After having interpreted the sense of the verse touched by the linger of the judge they apply the sentence, what ever it may be. Tiie emir had left his finger resting on the page of the Koran. The chief j of the ulemas, then approaching, read ] with a loud voice a verse which fin- i ished with these words: face. Meanwhile another group of dancers had succeeded the first, hut of a race very different, which Michael Strogoff at once recognized. And we must believe that the two journalists also recognized them, for Harry Blount said to his confrere: “These are the Zingari of Nijni Nov gorod.” “Thevery ones!” cried Alcide Jolivet. “I imagine their eyes bring more mon- ‘And he shall see no more the things j ey to these spies than their legs!” | of the earth.” “Russian spy,” said j j Feofar-Ivban, “you came to see what | is passing in the camp of the Tartars! Look, then, with ail your eyes! Look!” Ivan Ogareff—the Hashed, as they al ready begun to call him—dressed this time in the uniform of a Tartar officer, arrived on horseback before the tent of the emir. He was accompanied by a body of the soldiers from the camp of Zabedeiro, who drew up along the sides of the plateau, in the middle of which he remained ouly during the time allotted to the amusements. One could see a deep gash cutting obliquely the face of the traitor. Ivan Ogareff presented to the emir his principal officers, and Feofar-Ivhan. without departing from the coldness which was the main foundation of his dignity, received them in a manner which made them satisfied with their reception. Aleide Jolivet and Harry Blount then joined the crowd and looked cn in such a manner as not to lose any defail of a feast, which was to furnish a hundred good lines for the newspapers. They gazed with astonishment on Feofar- Kkan in his magnificence, his women, his officers, his guards and ail this ori ental pomp, of which the ceremonies of Europe can give no idea. But they turned away with disdain when Ivan Ogareff presented himself before the emir, and they waited, not without some impatience, for the feast to be gin. “Do you see, my dear Blount.” said Alcide Jolivet, “w3 are come too soon, like good citizens who must needs eOme or lose tbeir money. All this is only the rising of the curtain. It would have been better taste to have arrived only for the ballet.” “What ballet?” asked Harry Blount. “The obligatory ballet, faith. But 1 think the curtain is about to rise.” Alcide Jolivet spoke as if he were at the opera, and, taking his glass from its case, he prepared to have a look at. as a connoisseur, the first subjects of Feofar’s troop. But a tedious ceremony was to pre cede the amusements. Meanwhile most of the prisoners had passed before the emir, and in .passing each of them had to prostrate the fore head to touch the very dust as a sign of servility. It was the slavery which commenced with humiliation. When the unfortunates were too slow in bann ing, the rude hand of the guards cast them violently to the earth. Alcide Jolivet and his companion could not assist at such a spectacle without feel ing the greatest indignation. “This is cowardly! Let us go away!” said Aleide Jolivet. “No,” replied Harry Blount; “we must see all.” “See all! Ah!” cried Aleide Jolivet suddenly, seizing the arm of his eom- Blount, it is she!” | “Look! 1 “She?” “The sister of our fellow traveler. Alone and a prisoner! We must save her!” “Restrain yourself.” coldly repiied Harry Biount. “Our intervention in behalf of this young girl would be more hurtful than useful to her.” Alcide Jolivet, ready to rush forward, stopped himself, and Nadia, who had not perceived them, being half veiled by her hair, passed in her turn before the emir, without attracting his atten tion. In the meantime, after Nadia, Marfa Strogoff had arrived, and as she did not throw herself quickly enough into the dust the guards brutally pushed her. Marfa Strogoff fell. Her son made a terrible movement, which the soldiers who were guarding him could with difficulty master. But old Marfa raised herself, and they were*about to drag her when Ivau Ogareff intervened, saying: “Let this woman remain.” As for Nadia, she was thrown back among the crowd of prisoners. The look of Ivr*i Ogareff had not fixed it self upon her. Michael Strogoff was then led before the emir, and there he remained erect, without lowering his eyes. “Your face to the ground!” Ivan Oga reff cried out to him. “No!" repiied Michael Strogoff. Two guards wished to force him to bend, but it was they who were thrown to the ground by the hand of the robusl young man. Ivan Ogareff advanced toward Mi chael Strogoff “You are about to die,” said he. “I shall die.” fiercely answered Mi chael Strogoff, “but your face of trait or, Ivan, will not the less bear and for ever the infamous mark cf the knout!” Ivan Ogareff at this answer became horribly pale. “Who is this prisoner?” demanded the emir in a voice the more menacing because of its calmness. “A Russian spy,” answered Ivan Oga reff. In making cut Michael Strogoff a spy he knew the sentence pronounced against him would be the more terri ble. Michael Strogoff moved toward I^an Ogareff. Tiie soldiers stopped him. The emir then made a gesture before which the whole crowd bent tlieir heads. Afterward he motioned with his hand for the Koran, which was brought to him. He opened the book and placed his finger on one of the pages. CHATTER XIII. ICHAEL STROGOFF. with his hands bound, was held in front of the emir’s throne at the foot of the terrace. His mother, overcome at last by so many phys ical and moral tortures, had suck down, not daring to look or listen any longer. “Look with all your eyes! Look!” Feofar-Khan had said, stretching out his threatening hand toward Michael Strogoff. Without doubt Ivan Ogareff. knowing well the Tartar customs, had under stood the bearing of that word, for liis lips parted for an instant in a cruel smile. Then he went to take his place near Feofar-Khan. And in making them out to be agents In the service of the emir Alcide Joli vet, it is well known, did not deceive himself. In the first rank of the gypsies fig ured Sangarre, in her superb costume, strange and picturesque as it was, which set off still more ber beauty. Sangarre did not dance, but stood in the middle of her dancing girls, whose i fantastic steps partook of all the coun- | tries which their race had traversed in j Europe, of Bohemia, of Egypt, of Italy and of Spain. They became animated 1 at the noise of the cymbals which : clanged on their arms and at the swell- ! ing of the “daires,” a kind of drum sounded by the fingers, j Sangarre. holding one of these daires, j which trembled between her hands, ex- 1 cited this troop of veritable corybantes. I Then came forward a youthful gyp- 1 sy, some fifteen years old at most. He lield In his hand a doutare, the two 1 cords of which he made to vibrate by a simple gliding of the nails. He sang. A call of trumpets was heard imum diatelv. It was the signal for the i Durin S tbe C0U P let of b!s son S of fau ‘ amusements tastic rhythm a danseuse came and “Now we have the ballet,” said Al- I P laced berself Qear bim and remained cide Jolivet to Harrv Blount; “but, eon- I immovable, listening to him, but each trarv to all custom, these barbarians time tbe burden came to lbe 1J P S of tbe give it before tbe drama.” ‘ y° uu = sin S er sbe a S aiu took U P ber in ‘ Micbael Strogoff bad been ordered to terrupted dance, shaking ber daire negr P 8115011- „„ , I It was chance, or, rather, as these “What Is the matter with you 7 as -J or i enta j s think, God himself, who was f4 the former: look. He did look. A swarm of female dancers came upon the space reserved for them. Various Tartar instruments, united with the guttural voices of the singers, formed a strange harmony. There were a mandolin with a long neck made of the wood of the mulberry tree, with two strings of twisted silk, a kind of violoncello, open at the back, fur nished with horsehair and made to vibrate with a bow, a long fiute made of a reed, trumpets, tambourines and tomtoms. At once tbe dances began. These dancers performed very grace fully various dances, sometimes singly and sometimes in groups. They had tlieir faces uncovered, but from time to time they drew a light veil over their figures, and one would have said that a cloud of gauze was passing over their sparkling eyes like a vapor over the starry heaven. When this first entertainment was over, a grave voice was heard, which said: “Look with all your eyes! Look!” i The man who repeated these words of the emir, a Tartar of high stature, | was the chief executioner of Feofar- Khan. He had taken his position be hind Michael Strogoff, and he held in his hand a sword with a broad and curved blade, one of those Damascus blades which bad been tempered by the famous armorers of Karscbi or of Hissar. Near him some guards had brought a tripod ou which was placed an Iron dish, where some redhot coals were burning without emitting any smoke. The light crust which crowned them was doe only to the incineration of a resinous and aromatic substance, a mixture of frankincense and benzoin, which bad been thrown on their sur- him and deafening him with the soi\nd of her drum. Then, after the last verse, the dancers enlaced the gypsy in a thousand turn ings of their dances. At this moment a shower of gold fell from the hands of the emir and his al lies, from thq hands of the officers of all grades, and to the noise of the pieces which struck the cymbals of the dancers were blended the last murmurs of the doutares and tambourines. “Prodigal as freebooters!” said Al cide Jolivet in tbe ear of his compan ion. And, indeed, it was stolen money which fell in showers, for with the Tartar tomans and sequins rained also Muscovite ducats and rubles. Then silence was made for an in stant, and the voice of the executioner, placing his hand ou the shoulder of Mi chael Strogoff, «gain spoke those words whose repetition rendered them still more sinister: “Look with all your eyes! Look!” But this time Alcide Jolivet observed that the executioner did not hold his naked sword in his hand. Then suddenly, as if at a given sig nal, all the fires of the fantasia were extinguished, the dances ceased, the dancers disappeared. The ceremony was terminated, and tbe torches alone lit up the plateau which some instants before was so full of lights. At a sign from the emir Michael Stro goff was led into the middle of the square. Little desirous of assisting at the tor ture reserved for this unfortunate man, Harry Blount and Aleide Jolivet then re-entered the city. An hour later they were hastening j aiong tne road to Irkutsk, and It was I among the Russians they would at- j tempt to fellow what Alcide Jolivet I called by anticipation “the campaign i of revenge.” The emir made a gesture. Michael Strogoff. pushed by the guards, ap proached the terrace, and then in that Tartar language which he understood Feofar said to him: “Russian spy, you are come to see. You have seen for the last time. In an Instant thine eyes shall be forever shut to the light!” It was not with death, but with blindness that Michael Strogoff was about to be stricken. Loss of sight, more terrible perhaps than loss of life! The unhappy man was condemned to lose his eyesight. Nevertheless on hearing the penalty pronounced by the emir Michael Stro goff did not become weak. He remain ed impassible, bis large eyes open, as if be were wishing to concentrate all his life in this one last look. To ask for pity from these fierce men was useless and, besides, unworthy of him. He did not even think of it. All his thought was concentrated on his ! mission that had irrevocably failed, on his mother, on Nadia, whom he should never see again! But he did not allow to be seen any of the emotion which he felt. Besides, the feeling of vengeance, to be accomplished at some future time, earned away bis whole being. “Ivan,” said lie, with a menacing voice, “Ivan, the traitor, the last threat of my eyes shall be for thee.” Ivan Ogareff shrugged bis shoulders. But Michael Strogoff deceived him self. It was not in looking at Ivan Ogareff that his eyes were to be fixed never more to open. Marfa Strogoff came and stood before him. “My mother!” cried he. “Yes, yes, on thee must be turned my last look and not on this miserable man! Re main there before me, that I may still see thy beloved figure; that my eyes may close while looking at thee!” The ohl Siberian, without uttering a word, came forward. “Drive away this woman!” said Ivan Ogareff. Two soldiers pushed back Marfa Stro goff. She drew back, but remained standing some paces distant from her son. The executioner appeared. This time he held his naked sword in his hand. That sword, heated to a white heat, he had just drawn from the iron pan where the perfumed coals were burn ing. Michael Strogoff was about to be made blind according to the Tartar cus tom, with a heated blade passed over his eyes! Michael Strogoff did not seek to re sist. Nothing else existed in bis eyes than his mother, whom he devoured then with his look. All his life was in this last vision. Marfa Strogoff, with her eyes wide open and her arms stretched toward him, was looking at him. The white heated blade passed over the eyes of Michael Strogoff. A loud cry of despair was heard. Old Marfa fell lifeless to the earth! Michael Strogoff was blind. His orders having been executed, tbe emir retired with all bis household. Soon there only remained on the pla teau Ivan Ogareff and tbe torchbear- ers. Br « -. j. Did the miserable wretch wish to in- | suit him stiff mere and after the ex- : ecutiouer give him the last blow? ! Ivan Ogareff slowly approached Mi- I ebael Strogoff, who beard him coming and at once straightened himself. Ivan Ogareff drew from bis pocket the emperor’s letter. He opened it and as the last insult placed it before the eyes of tiie courier of the czar, before those eyes whose light had been bru tally extinguished forever, saying at the same time: j “Read now, Michael Strogoff: read and go and repeat at Irkutsk what you shall have read. Tbe true courier of the czar is myseif!” j Having said this, the traitor placed the letter in his breast. Then, without ; turning round, he left the place, and the torebbearers followed him. l Michael Strogoff remained alone, gome paces from bis mother, who was lifeless, perhaps dead, j One heard at a distance the cries, the ! songs, all the noise of the orgies. Tomsk was illuminated and was bright • as a city during a great feast. | Michael Strogoff listened. The scene I of the late revels and crime was silent 1 and deserted. I He dragged himself by groping to ward the place where his mother had fallen. He found her with his hand. He bent down toward her. He brought his figure near to hers. He listened to the beatings of her heart. Then one would Lave said that be spoke to ber in a low voieo Did old Marfa still live and did sbe hear tbe words ber son spoSe to her? In any case sbe did not make any sign of life by movement. Michael Strogoff kissed her forehead and her white hairs. Then be rose, and, groping with his foot and trying to hold liis hands in such a way as to guide him, he walked by little and lit tle to the end of the plateau. Suddenly Nadia appeared. She went straight to her companion. A dagger that she held served to cut the cords that bound the arms of Mi chael Strogoff. He, blind as be was, did not know who it was who was releasing him, for Nadia had not spoken a word. But, that done, said she: “Brother!” “Nadia,” murmured Michael Strogoff. “Nadia!” “Come, brother,” replied Nadia. “Henceforth my eyes shall be your eyes, and it Is I who will conduct you to Irkutsk!” In half an hour after Michael Stro goff and Nadia bad left Tomsk. A certain number of tbe prisoners on that night were able to escape from the Tartars, for officers and soldiers, all more or less besotted, bad unconscious ly relaxed the severe surveillance which they had maintained up to that time, both at the camp of Zabedeiro and dur ing the march of the convoy. Nadia, after having been led out with the other prisoners, had been able to escape and return to the plateau at the very moment Michael Strogoff was being conducted before the emir. There in the midst of the crowd she bad seen all. Not a cry had escaped her when the blade, white with heat, passed over tbe eyes of her companion. She had tbe strength to remain motion less and silent A providential inspira tion told her to preserve herself still i free to guide the son of Marfa Strogoff j to the end which he had sworn to at- • tain. Her heart for the moment ceased j to beat when tbe old Siberian fell life- ‘ less, but a thought soon restored an her energy. “I will be the deg of the blind man,” she said to herself. After the departure of Ivan Ogareff Nadia had hidden in tha shade. She waited until the crowds left the pla teau. Michael Strogoff, abandoned as a miserable being to be feared by uo one, was alone. She saw him dray aim- self as far as his mother, bend !:: self down to ber, kiss ber forehead, then raise himself up aud grope for flight. Some moments later Michael am! Na dia, hand in hand, had descended i he steep hillside, and, after having fol lowed the banks of the Tom as far as the extremity of tiie town, they hap pily passed out by a gap in tbe fen . Tbe route for Irkutsk was the only one that struck eastward. They r. mil not make a mistake. Nadia rapidly pull ed along Michael Strogoff. It was p s-i- ble that early next morning, after seme hours of orgies, the scouts of the emir, throwing themselves again ou the steppe, would cut off ail comma a Na tion. It was then of the utmost im portance to outstrip them and to reach Krasnoiarsk before them, which was 500 versts separate from Tomsk—in one word, only to leave- the highway as late as possible. Tbe next morning, twelve hours after tbeir departure from Tomsk, Michael Strogoff and Nadia reached tbe town of Semiiowskoe, after a journey of lif* teen versts. ? [to be continued.] ivery woman in the country ; ought to know about Those who do know about it | wonder how they ever got along j without it. It has robbed chi! - f birth of its terrors for many young wife. It has preserved he girlish figure and saved her nr.wh suffering. It is an external lini- | ment and cariies with it therefore, s absolutely no danger of upsetting ; the system as drugs taken intern- 1 ally are apt to do. It is to be \ rubbed into the abdomen to soften \ and strengthen the muscles vbica r are to bear the strain. This means much less pain. It also prevents : morning sickness and all of tee > other discomforts of pregnancy. A druggist of Macon, Ga., _saysj “I have sold a large quantity ot Mother’s Friend and have never known an instance where it has failed to produce the good results claimed for it.” A prominent lady of Lam- berton, Ark., writes: “ "With my first six children 1 was in labor from 24 to 30 hours. After using Mother’s Friend, my seventh was born in 4 hours.” Get Mother’s Friend at the drag store, @1.00 ] cr bottle. THE BRAOHELD REGULATOR CO. AILAKTA, GA. Writo for onr ftoo iliujtrated bo*>k, “BEFORE 1 IS BOHN.’