Show li t FLOYD GIBBONS adventurers club 0 fv 1 4 CA A grave in russia by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter to THIS HIS is the story of why donia of bronx N Y came to america it is also the story of why donia is afraid of snow a funny sort of fear especially as donia came here from R russia US where they have plenty of that cold white stuff that powders the earth in winter but then it if gone through what donia did over there in the little village of near the city of kiev well maybe be afraid of snow too I 1 know that if it had bad happened to me id move down on the equator where id never even have hare to think of the doggone stuff in the winter of 1919 donla donia lived in that little village of that I 1 just mentioned she lived there alone with her mother for her father had been killed in the wort world d war the times were hard even for russia those were bad times in russia the czarist government had fallen and there was little real law in the land not much order either roving bands pillaged the country bandits were everywhere and worst of all were the cossacks those halt half savage soldiers of the former czar wherever they went they robbed and terrorized especially they terrorized the jews wherever they found them that of course was nothing new even under the tha czars azars there had been anti jewish riots most of them instigated and carried on by these same cossacks now though they were even less restrained than they had been in the old days of the monarchy jews were robbed beaten tortured and killed they have a name for those slaughters over there they call them pogroms the cossacks are coming was bad news donla donia and her mother lived in constant tear fear of these pogroms they were the only jewish family in the neighborhood the only one within a radius of five miles about their little village tillage and one night as donla donia lay in bed with a high fever there came an ominous knocking at the door when denlas mother opened it she saw a peasants peasant shaking with fear who cried out the dreaded warning the cossacks are coming denlas mother became pale with terror donla donia started to cry she was wai only six years old then not much more than a baby but the cossacks spare even eden children when they were out on their savage forays fever ever or no fever donia was taken out of bed her mother wrapped her in some blankets and dragging her by the hand started for the bouse of a christian neighbor where they could hide until the cossacks had gone it was a bitter cold night it had been snowing steadily for days it was waa hard going through the drifts and the neighbors house was a mile away but denlas mother hurried on going as fast as the drifts would let her and dragging little donla donia along by the hand they seek refuge in the frozen Tun dras they had bad almost reached their destination when they heard the beat of horses hoofs tar far up the road the cossacks were on there mother and child fled through the snow time to reach the house abere they were to find shelter hardly time for anything at all denlas mother looked around for a place to hide the bare treeless landscape stretched away bleak and there was no place to tilde hide but one and that might mean death for little fever stricken donis donia there any choice better an easy death than the tortures of the cossacks better a death from pneumonia than the fiendish cruelty of the horsemen who were riding toward them donias mother got down on her knees and began scooping a hole in the snowdrift at the side of the road she tore cloth from her skirt and petit over their faces so they could breathe then she put donla donia in the hole she had scoop scooped d out lay down beside her and began covering them both with snow they hide under the cossacks very eyes they had no sooner finished than the cossacks cossack rode up they came right up to the spot where donla donia and her hei mother lay burled in the snow and stopped mother and daughter held their breaths had they been discovered had the sharp eyes of the cossacks read the marks and prints in the snow but no do the cossacks it seems noticed their hiding place they had just stopped to talk for endless minutes they chattered while donla donia and her mother wondered how long have to lie there motionless under that cold blanket of snow time dragged on denlas mother felt that she was freezing donla donia long since had stiffened and lost consciousness at her mothers side then at last the cossacks climbed back on their horses Hoof beats rattled off down the road the cossacks had gone but it seemed to denlas mother that they had gone too late her little girl all stiff and blue lay motionless in the snow bank she picked her up and carried her to the neighbors house bouse convinced that she was dead but donia dead she lived to tell us her story and soon after that escape she and her mother came to america they want any more experiences per perien lences ces like that no more adventures with cossacks and with the cold snows of russia 0 service lc |