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Show The travelers hurried inside, and I followed fol-lowed with a sinking heart. "We are the victims of an infamous outrage, sir," said one of them. "My namo is Alexis Zamose, and this is my friend, Sergius Melikoff. We were journeying jour-neying to Cracow, and while passing through the forest last evening two armed strangers in ft sleigh overtook us, and, overpowering ns, they took all our possessions, made us give up our furs in exchange for these wretched garments and stole our passports, and then cutting cut-ting our horse loose they drove him off in the darkness and took flight. On foot wo made our way back to the nearest village, and were so fortunate as to fall iu with these brave soldiers, who procured pro-cured us a horso and accompanied us thus far on our journey." With inward rage I listened to this strange tale, realizing only too clearly the mistake I had made, and my feelings may be imagined when the man handed mo two folded papers, saying: "These, sir, are the passports the villains were so considerate as to give us in exchange for our own." I tore them open. They were made out to Ivan Brosky and Vladimir Pogram. "The rascals have escaped!" I cried angrily. "They passed through not two hours ago, and I dared not detain them." "And is it too late to overtake them," cried Alexis Zamose. "Too late. They have crossed the Vistula Vis-tula an hour ago." "The government shall atone for this," the two men cried out together. They would see if travelers were to be robbed with impunity on the czar's high road. I was vainly endeavoring to pacify them, when a soldier entered the room. "Captain," he said, "the Vistula has risen. The bridge was carried away at daybreak." "Those two travelers?" I demanded eagerly. "Did they get across in time?" "No, captain. They started for the upper bridge." "Then we'll have them yet!" I cried. "Cull out the guard at once. Don't lose a second." I buckled on my sword, seized my cloak and hat, and rushed to the door, where my horse already awaited me. My own men were mounting in hasto and the Cossacks sat motionless in their saddles. A moment more would have seen ns off, when a solitary rider came in sight far up the road, and presently reined up before ns, panting and breuthloss. "Orders from the czar!" he cried, vaulting from the saddle. "Have Ivan Brosky and Vladimir Pogram passod this Btation?" I briefly explained the situation. "They must be arrested at all hazards!" haz-ards!" he criod. "They loft St. Petersburg Peters-burg with forged passports. It was discovered dis-covered only yesterday." "And who are these men?" I asked. "They are Shauierin and Kharkoff," replied the messenger, "the assassins of Gon. Orloy." It was of grave importance, indeed, that they Bhould be captured, and mounting mount-ing in haste we daBhed away at full speed, leaving the czar's messenger to enjoy the comforts of the station, for he had been riding all night and badly needed rest. Our course led eastward to the Vistula and then turned off to the south, following follow-ing a rugged and little traveled road through the hills, which led eventually to another bridge over the Vistula, some twenty miles further down the stream. It was bad enough for a horseman; for a sleigh it was terrible. I rode iu advance, side by side with Capt. Karaman, the commander of the Cnsiuu'ks. npoke the smooth faced man half rose in his seat and, turning round, pointed a gun directly at us. ' I heard the report and felt the whiz of the bullet past my ear. Then came a puff of white smoke and a second shot; and with a cry of pain the Cossack behind me sprang up from his saddle and rolled down on the icy road, while his riderless horse reared with fright. "The scoundrels!" hissed Karaman through his set teeth. "If we only dared firo on them!" But this was exactly what we dared not do. They must be taken alive at all hazards. In the excitement I had forgotten for-gotten all about the bridge, and closing up we dashed on in rapid pursuit. ' The assassins had nearly reached the edge of the stream now. The bearded man was plying the whip savagely, and his companion was standing, gun in band, holding his fire apparently until wo should come a little nearer. Faster and faster and now the stream was before ns, a raging, roaring torrent, flashing by with terrible velocity, and still the fugitives madly lashed their jaded horses. An instant more and the panic stricken strick-en brutes dashed upon the swaying, trembling structure; and then, with a mighty crash and blinding cloud of spray and snow, bridge, sleigh and all crumbled into the torrent; and with a terrible effort we checked our trembling horses on the very brink. For a moment I could see nothing, and then Karaman pointed out the two assassins huddled together on a great cake of ice that was whirling rapidly down the stream. The horses and sleigh were nowhere to be seen. A peasant was speedily found who led us through the forest to the shores of the Vistula, at a point close to the mouth of the tributary stream. On the other side rose the Austrian military station, but no trace of the assassins as-sassins could be discovered; and, from the swollen condition of the river, I believed it impossible that they could have been saved. Capt. Karaman was of the same opinion, so we gave up the search, and rode back to the station. The cossack who had been shot was not fatally fa-tally injured, and gave promise of recovering re-covering in a few weeks. , I mado out my report and forwarded it to headquarters, and a fortnight later I was exonerated from all blame, much to my relief, for very unjust and arbitrary arbi-trary decisions are sometimes made in such cases. What their fate was I never certainly knew. Long afterward an Austrian traveling to St. Petersburg informed me that Shumerin and Kharkoff had been seen in Vienna, and were supposed to be editing a revolutionist journal; butl have grave doubts of the Austrian's veracity, and in my opinion the two assassins perished per-ished in the icy waters of the Vistula. New York World. j m pochn lous, uutKot Itumble. "I struck the hardest game of my life today," said tho agent of a very successful success-ful collecting firm. "I tackled my man for $20 he owes a restaurant. He's an artist paints landscapes and portraits and yon see his name all covered with taffy in the newspapers week in and week out." " 'I'm sorry,' said he. stopping work on the picture and pushing his velvet smoking cap on to the back of his head, while he looked lazily at the bill, 'hnt I cannot pay this for a few months yet.' " 'Why not?" said I. " 'Because I have a more pressing liability.' lia-bility.' " 'More pressing than a board bill?' Bays I, sarcastically. (i .I,..., V- hi. i THE STOLEN PASSPORTS. I I was just settling down for a qnlet evening by the stove when an orderly throw the door open and rushed into the X'oom. "Capt. Sasha, ft dispatch!" he cried, handing me one of those little official blue envelopes which I knew so well. I tore it open and read the contents: To Opt Sasha, Commander ot Frontier Station I on the Vistula. I eliun T van lirowvy and Vladimir Pofrram. They irtll reach you shortly. Qm. Jorka. I "A bad night for travelers to be on fee road," I could not help thinking, for toe rain was falling in torrents. I I was commander of the Russian frontier fron-tier station at Duma, which lies on the great high road letween Russia and the Anstrian city of Cracow, and only a half mile distant was the river Vistula, which divides the dominions of the Emperor Francis Joseph and the dominions of the czar. It was my duty to examine the passports pass-ports of all travelers coming either way, and to scrutinize their luggage, to see that no Russian products were smuggled into Austria, or vice versa. For the last few days there had been little to do. Warm weather nnnsual at this time of year had . set in, and the roads weTe in bad condition for traveling. travel-ing. The dispatch I had jnst received had "been brought on horseback from the nearest telegraph station, nearly five miles distant, and from the signature at the bottom I knew it must be a matter of some importance, for Gon. Jorka was the minister of police and his very name & terror to evil doers. ; I instructed my men to watch the roads with extra cure. : The evening wore on slowly and at midnight no one had arrived. I came to the conclusion that the expected travelers travel-ers had either been apprehended before they reached the frontier or had postponed post-poned their journey on account of the bad weather, so I determined to go to bed and enjoy a good night's rest. The wind and rain kept me awoke a long while, and just as I Was about dropping off into slumber the sound of sleigh bells woke me up again, and in a moment or two a sharp tap at the door summoned mo down stairs. I dressed and went down. Two travelers were waiting to see me, two big, powerful fellows, wrapped up in furs and crentooats, which thev kent " 'Yes, a good deal,' says he. 'I'm buying buy-ing a pair of shoes on the installment plan, and the second shoe is to be delivered de-livered today if I can make a partial payment. pay-ment. The coin is here,' said he, tapping his vest pocket. " 'All right,' says I, 'but yon just give that coin to mo on account, or I'll sell you up.' " 'Sell what up? says he. " 'Why, these here pictures,' says I, sweeping my arm in a comprehensive way aronnd the studio. " "These pictures?' says he. 'All right, my boy; go ahead. If you can sell them I'll be much obliged to you. It'sa derncd sight more'n I can do.' With that he lighted up his pipo and went on painting as tranquil as a summer's day. I ad-niirod ad-niirod him and asked him out to have a drop of something. " 'Excuse me,' says he, standing back and regarding his picture with one eye closed, but not even glancing at me. 'I never have social relations with my tradespeople.' I was faint when I got down to the street." San Francisco Examiner. closely bnttoned, for the fire bad gone out. I judged at once that theRe were tho men I wanted, for tliongh thoir clothes and furs gave evidence of wealth and refinement their faces hardly seemed to accord. But a surprise was in store for me. When they handed over their passports I found, to my consternation, that they bore the names of Alexis Zamose and Sergius Melikoff, and were properly etamped nnd signed. To hide my confusion I made some in-. in-. quiries, and they very frankly informed me thut they were merchants of 8t. Petersburg, Pe-tersburg, who were going to Cracow on business. "Had they mot any person on the road?" I inquired. , "Yes," said the smooth faced man, "they had passed two mou early in the evening, but their horn seemed to be la in e, and they were moving very slow- ly." I hesitated a moment, and then ordered or-dered an examination to be nmde of their baggage a proceeding to which they ottered no objection. Everything in their valises, however, was all right, and their linen aud toilet cases were stamped with their initials. I felt that I lmd no authority to detain them, and yet I hated to see thorn go, for I had a presentiment that all was not right. To add to my suspicions the man with the beard was nervous and agitated, a fact which he did his utmost .to conceal. I knew too well, however, what wonld lio the result of a blunder committed through excess of authority, so I determined deter-mined to be on the safe side; and after a delay, which I stretched out as far as possible, I told them they were free to proceed. I escorted thmn to the door, where a low, one seated 6leigh awaited them, drawn by a pair of horses which 1 saw at a glance had been hard driven. At the last moment I had half made up my mind to dotain them, but with a hasty salute they stepped into the sleigh and drove rapidly eastward, where dawn was already dappling tho sky. There was no use in going back to bed, so I went in aud stirred up the tire and Rat down to smoke a cigar and wait for daylight. lTow that it was too late I felt sorry I had let tho men go, for the more I Ihonght over it the more certain I felt that there was something wrong about t'aein. It had stopped raining and begun be-gun to blow up cold, and I saw that it would probably be a busy day. I had ulready finished breakfast when a trampling of horses and a tinkling of bells drew me to tho door, and, to my surprise, I saw bearing rapidly dow apon the station a small detachment of mounted cossacks, surrounding a sleigh with two men in it, who I made sure were the parties I was looking for, an opinion which seemed to be verified when they drew up, for the men were rather rough looking fellows, aud wore heavy cloaks of coarse material, and great astrachau caps, that came forward over their ears. 1 was soon undeceived. "These travelers claim to have been robbed, captain," said the cossack officer, tainting. "They will tell you their story, i and. meantime, we await your orders." I We thundered at headlong Bpeed over tho frozen ground, sure of our prey for on the road before us, fast froeiiug up In the morning air, were tho tracks of hoof and runner imprinted in tho slush. At intervals through the hill gaps we caught sight of the Vistula, a turbid, yellow mass, swirling past with its bur-don bur-don of floating ice. We must travel still faster. The upper up-per bridge was a heavier, more solid structure, little likely to be carried off by even snch a flood as this. We must overtake them before they reached it. We drove the spurs into our panting horses and the' forest and barren lull-sides lull-sides Bhot past us in one flying panorama pano-rama as we galloped like the wind over the frozen ground, rounding bend after bend, only to see tho same empty, glittering glit-tering strotch of road fading in mockery mock-ery Into the frosty atmosphere. Furlong on furlong, mile after mile, and still they kept ahead with a speed that seemed incredible. "Look!" cried Capt. Karaman under his frosted beard. "The tracks are still soft. We shall soon see them." Straggling houses came in sight, and the people ran to their doors in wonder as .we swept past like a whirlwind Kara-man's Kara-man's Cossacks of tho Volga, somber and stern in their great black cloaks and shakos; my dragoons a trifle more picturesque, pictur-esque, with their green uniforms and waving plumes. Wo galloped through the little village of Kaban only five miles now to tha bridge and as we swept round the brow of a hill in the distance we saw a black speck on the frozen road. Even us Rarauian pointed it out it vanished over a ridge. We thundered on iu hot pursuit, losing sight of it sometimes, some-times, but ail the while steadily gaining, until, from a vague dark object, it assumed as-sumed shape and form, and we could plainly make out asleigh and two horses. With fitrco joy I saw it drawing closer nnd closer. They were lashing the horses with furious desperation, but the poor brutes were fast giving out i Barely a quarter of a milo lay between oa now, and that distance was diminishing diminish-ing very rapidly. We were going down a gentle k1ohi, when suddenly Capt. Karaman cried: "Tlio bridge! Do you see the bridge?" Crossing the road far ahead of ns wns a gleaming bit of water spanned by a narrow wooden bridge. It was not the Vistula, but a puny mountain stream one of the tributaries of the Vistula whose existent I had forgotten. It was possible, I thought, to overtake the assassins before they could reach it; aud even if we failed it mattered little, for the Vistula was still a mile or more away. We swept over the icy ground at a dangerous speed, aud I felt like shouting shout-ing out with triumph, for the sleigh was running slower and slower aud the capture capt-ure of the men seemed certain. I called to them to surrender, but they made no reply, though they must have seen how huiK'lcss their situation was. The bridge was very close now, aud I saw at a glance that it was giving way, for the stream was high and swollen, and great cakes of ice were crushing against the wooden piles. "Look out, they are going to fire," cried Karaman suddenly. And as he |