Show J DUCKED TIE RUSSIAN GENERAL How iv Peasant 3Iiulc Good Pay Obeying Obey-ing the Orders ol Czar Nicholas The Emperor Nicholas of Russia was in the habit of traveling about incognito incog-nito accompanied only by one of his generals in the diligence says an English Eng-lish exchange On one of these occasions sions they were told on arriving at a postal station that the next piece of road was so bad the diligence would take quite three hours to reach the town but if they liked to walk through the woods they would get there in half that time As the weather was fine and the path through the woods was said to be a very good one the emperor em-peror and the general set off on foot I By and bye they came suddenly to a rapid river but they could see no bridge A peasant happened to come by and he czar asked him where the bridge was There is none said the peasant Then there is no way to cross No bnly through the water Well Ill gve you ten rubles to carry me over The peasant immediately took the czar on his shoulders and in a few minutes shore landed him on the opposite shoreNow Now ten rubles more to bring my friend over The peasant waded back took the general on his shoulders and started with him When they got to the middle mid-dle the emperor called out Ill give you twenty rubles to drop him into the water In a moment the general vas splashing splash-ing in the riverA river-A hundred rubles to carry me on gasped the general The peasant picked him up again but had not gone three steps before l < 1 the emperor shouted Two hundred rubles to throw him in again The peasent stood still in perplexity Five hundred rubles to carry me to I the bank I Eight hundred rubles to drop him i himThe peasant began to slip the general gen-eral off his back but the general clutched him tightly and cried A thousand rublesyou to put I me on the bank pUt1 The emperorwas laughing too much ito i-to say any more the general was put on the shore and the two guided by the peasant reached the town After they had lunched the general made up his official imperial accounts In them I were these items To carrying his majesty over the I river ten rubles to carrying General A unde l difficulties graciously created by his majesty 1000 rubles I |