Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 1915)
19 HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION SERIAL. The Secret of the Night By Gaston Leroux THRILLING MYSTERY STORY OF RUSSIAN IXTRIGl'E BY NOTED FRENCH AUTHOR. HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION OF PREVIOUS TERS, Young Joseph Rouletabllle, osten sibly a reporter for a Parisian news paper but In (act a detective of re nown la called to Russia by the Ciar to save the life of General Trebaseof (Feodor Feodorovltch), who haa been condemned to death by the Ninlilsts. He la received by the General's ever falthrul and ever-watchful wire, Madame Trebaeaof (Matrena Petro vlna). He meeus Natacha, the Gen ral'a daughter by. a prevloua mar riage. The General la at hla villa, lur rounded hy ft few faithful friends. Rouletabllle learna of the first two attempts againsi the life uf the Gen eral from Madame Trebassof, ROULETABILLE said to himself as Matrena talked, "I never have seen men so gay, and yet they know perfectly they are apt to be blown up all together any moment." that he had tears In his eyes. Roule tabllle said to himself as Matrena talked, "I never have seen men so gay. and yet they know perfectly they are ' apt to be blown up all together any moment. Geiyeral Trebassof, who had steadily watched Rouletabllle, who, for that matter, bad been kept In eye by every one there, said: "Eh, eh, monster le Journaliste, you find ub very gay?" "I find you very brave," said Roule tabllle quietly. "How is that?" said Feodor Feodoro vltch, smiling. "You must pardon me for thinking of the things that you seem to have for gotten entirely." lie indicated the general's wounded leg. "The chances of war! the chances of war!" said the general. "A leg here, an arm there. But, as you see, I am still here. They will end by growing tired and leaving me in peace. Your health, my friend!" "Your health, general!" "You understand," continued Feodor Feodorovltch, "there is no occasion to excite ourselves. It is our bUHlness to defend the empire at the peril of our lives. Wo find that quite natural, and there Is no occasion to think of It. I have had terrors enough In other direc tions, not to speak of the terrors of love, that are more ferocious than you can yet Imagine. Look at what they did to my poor friend the Chief of the Surete,' Bolchllkoff. He was commend able certainly. There was a brave man. Of an evening, when his work was over, he alwayB left the bureau of the pre fecture and went to join his wife and children in their apartment In the ruelle des Loups. Not a soldier! No guard! The others had every chance. One evening a score of revolutionaries, after having driven away the terror lied servants, mounted to his apart ments.. He was dining with his family. They knocked and he opened the door, lie saw who they were, and tried to to say that this Bolchllkoff was very imprudent" "Yes, Indeed, very gravely Imprudent," ag.-eed Rouletabille. ''When a man has had twenty-five good bullets shot Into the body of a chlltl, he ought certainly to keep his home well guarded If he wishes to dine in peace." He stammered a little toward the end of thisbecause it occurred to him that it was a little Inconsistent to ex press such opinions, seeing what he had done with the guard over the General. "Ah," cried Athanase Georgevltch, in a stage-struck voice. "Ah, it was not imprudence! It was contempt of death! Yes, It was contempt of death that killed him! Even as the contempt of death keeps us, at this moment, in per fect health. To you, ladles and gen tlemen! Do you know anything love lier, grander, In the world than con tempt of death? Gaze on Feodor Feo dorovltch and answer me. Superb! My word, superb! To you all! The revo lutionaries who are not of the police are of the same mind regarding our heroes. They may curse the tchlnow- nlcks who execute the terrible orders given them by those higher up, but those who are not of the police tthere are some, I believe) these surely rec ognize that men like the Chief of the Surete, our dead friend, are brave." "Certainly," endorsed the General. "Counting all things, they need more heroism for a promenade In a salon than a soldier on a battlefield." "I have met some of these men," con tinued Athanase in exalted vein. "I have found in all their homes the same Imprudence, as our young French friend calls It. A few days after the assassination of the Chief of Police In Moscow I was received by his suocessor in the same place where the assassina tion had occurred. He did not take the slightest precaution with me, whom he did not know at all, nor with men of the middle class who came to present their petitions, In spite of the fact that it was under precisely identical condi tions that his predecessor had been slain. -Before I left I looked over to where on the floor there had so re cently occurred such agony. They had placed a rug there and on the rug a table, and on that table there was a book. Guess what book? 'Women's Stockings,' by Willy! And and then tour health, Matreua IJetrovna. What's the odds!" You yourselves, my friends," de clared the General, "prove your great courage by coming to share the hour that remain of my life with me." "Not at all, not at all I It is war." "Yes, it is war." - "Oh, there's no occasion to pat us on the shoulder, Athanase," Insisted Thad deus modestly. "What risk do we run? We are well guarded." We are protected by the finger of God," declared Athanase, "because the police well, I haven't any confidence In the police." Michael Korsakoff, who had been for a turn In the garden, entered during the remark. "Be happy, then, Athanase George vltch," said he, "for there are now no police around the villa." "Where are they?" Inquired the timber-merchant uneasily, "An order came from Koupralne to remove them," explained Matrena Pe trovna, who exerted herself to appear calm. "And are they not replaced?" asked Michael. . "No. It Is Incomprehensible. There must have been some confusion in the orders given." And Matrena reddened. for she loathed a He and It was in tribulation of spirit that she used this fable, under Rouletabille's directions. 'Oh, well, all the better," said the General. "It will give me pleasure to see my home ridded for a while of such people. Athanase was naturally of the same mind as the General, and when Thad- deus and Ivan Petrovitch and the or derlies offered to pass the night at the villa and take the place of the absent police, Feodor Feodorovltch caught a gesture from Rouletabllle which dis approved the Idea of this new guard. "No, no," cried the General emphat ically. "You leave at the usual time. I want now to get back into the ordi nary run of things, my word! To live as everyone else does. We shall be all right. Koupralne and-1 have arranged the matter. Koupralne Is less sure of his men, after all, than I am of my servants. You understand me, I do not need to explain further. You will go home to bed and we will all sleep. Those are the orders. Besides, you must remember that the guard-post Is ony a step from here, at the corner of the road, and we have only to give a signal to bring them all here. But more secret agents or special police no, no! Good-night. All of us to bed now!" They did not Insist further. When Feodor had said, "Those are the or ders," there was room for nothing more, not even In the way of polite Insistence. But before going to their beds all went Into the veranda, where liqueurs were served by the brave Ermolal, as always. Matrena pushed the wheel chair of the General there, and he kept repeating, "No, no. No more such peo ple. No more police. They only bring trouble." "Feodor! Feodor!" sighed Matrena whose anxiety deepened in spite of all she could do, "they watched over your dear life." "Life is dear to me only because of you, Matrena Petrovna." "And not at all because of me, papa?" said Natacha. "Oh, Natacha!" He took both her hands In his. It was an affecting glimpse of family in timacy. From time to time, while Ermolal poured the liqueurs, Feodor struck his hand on the coverings over his leg. "It gets better," said he. "It gets better." Then melancholy showed In his rug-, ged face, and he watched night deepen over the isles, the golden night of 6t. Petersburg. It was not quite yet the time of year for what they call golden nights there, the "white nights," nights which never deepen to darkness, but they were already beautiful in their soft clarity, caressed, here by the Gulf of Finland, almost at the same time by the last and the first rays of the sun, by twilight and dawn. From the height of the veranda one of the most beautiful bits of the islei lay In view, and the hour was so love ly that its charm thrilled these people, of whom several, as inatldeus, were still close to nature. It was he, first, who called to Natacha: 1 "Natacha! Natacha! Sing us your 'Solr des lies."' Natacha's voice floated out upon the peace of the islands under the dim arched sky, light and clear as a night rose, and the guzla of Boris accompa nied it. Natacha sang: Thla Is the night of the Isles at the north of the world. The sky presses in Its stainless arms the bosom of earth, Night kisses the rose that dawn gave to the twilight. And the night air Is sweet and fresh across the shivering gulf, Like the breath of young girls from the world etlll farther north. Beneath the two lighted horizons, sinking and rising at once, The sun rolls rebounding from the gods at the north of the world. In this moment, beloved, when In the clear shadows of this rose-stained evening I am here alone with you. Respond, respond with a heart less timid to the holy, accustomed cry of "Good evening." Ah, how Boris Nikolaivitch and Mi chael Korsakoff watched her as she sang! Truly, no one ever can guess the anger or the love that broods in a Slavic heart under a soldier's tunic, whether the soldier wisely plays at the guzla, as the correct Boris, or merely lounges, twirling his mustache with his manicured and perfumed llngeiB, like Michael, the Indifferent. Natacha ceased singing, but all seemed to be listening to her still the convivial group on the terrace appeared to be held in charmed attention, and the porcelain statuettes of men on the lawn, according to the mode of the lies, seemed to lift on their short legs the better to hear pass the sighing har mony of Natacha in the rose nights at the north of the world. Meanwhile Matrena wandered through the house from cellar to attic, watch ing over her husband like a dog on guard, ready to bite, to throw itself in the way of danger, to receive blows, to dle,for its master and hunting for Rouletabille, who had disappeared again. (To Pe Continued.) speak, They gave him no time. Be fore his wife and children, mad with terror and on their knees before the revolutionaries, they read him his death-sentence. A fine end that to a dinner!" As he listened Rouletabllle paled and he kept his eyes on the door as if he expected to see It open of Itself, giving access to ferocious Nihilists of whom one. with a paper In his hand, would read the sentence of death to Feodor Feodorovltch, Rouletabille's stomach was not yet seasoned to such stories. He almost regretted momentarily, hav ing taken the terrible responslbllty of dismissing the police. After what Kou prlane had confided to him of things that had happened in this house, he had not hesitated to risk everything nn that audacious decision, but all the same, all the same these stories of Nihilists who appear at the end of a meal, death-sentence In hand, they haunted him, they upset him. Certainly It had been a piece of foolhardlness to dismiss the . police. "Well," he asked, conquering his mis givings and resuming, as always, his confidence In himself, "then, what did they do. then, after reading the sen tence?" "The Chief of the Surete knew he had no time to spare. He did not ask for it. The revolutionaries ordered him to bid his family farewell. He raised his wife, his children, clasped them, bade them be of good courage, then said he was ready. They took him Into the street. They stood him against a wall. His wife and children watched from a win dow. A volley sounded. They de scended to secure the body, pierced with twenty-five bullets." "That was exactly the number of wounds that were made on the body of little Jacques Zloriksky," came in the even tones of Natacha. "Oh. you. you always find an ex cuse." trmmbled the general. "Poor BolcRllkoff did his duty, as I did mine." "Yea, papa, you acted like a soldier. That is what the revolutionaries ought not to fortret But have no fear for us, papa; because If they kill you we will all die with you." "And gayly, too," declared Athanase Ceorgevitch. "They should come tin vninir. We are in form!" Vooa which Athanase filled the artaRnefl attain. "None the less, permit me to say," ventured the tlmber-mercnant, Tnaa deu Tchnltchnikof, timidly, "permit me Men who chew tobacco n have few dental bills The REASON-tobacco is antiseptic g w1 Kills terms Preserves teeth. W Besides keeping a mans teeth in ood con dition a little nibble now and then of good tobacco brings him a world of plea sure. t ' . Natures $ift to mankind is perfected in ood old STAR TOBACCO The leading brand of the World