The Snow Flood

"They're up, I teil yoü, and out in orce, and there will bö blazing roofs, and )lood spilling all along the Chinese f ron tier, f rom Kara Sou to Dostvernik. We are safe enough, of course, here in Kiachta, behind our strong stockades and srass cannon. But there is soarcely a )ost to the eastward that can be ealled lecure, now the Mongola are over the )order. " " Snrely, ho wever," suid ï, looking up rom my desk and the invoice in whiéh I was duly recording packge of black a, coarse silk, tbe White sonorous )rass peculiar to China, and other im ortsfroM the Flowery Land, "theMonfols will content themselves with sweepng off some flocks and herds, and not ventare on attacking the settlements. Che Russian military poyer- " "It's a f ar cry, as thöy Say in my country, to St. Petersburg, or'even to ;he Wolga," grimly rejoined the ifirot speaker, whose name was Gilfillan. s These thieves know well mough thnt, short of Irkutsk, there are nt SOïne weak detaehments to bar their way. Even the sotnia of PwsKlcks kas ieen withdrawn, atrd-, föï the moment, ,he whole of Mastern Siberia lies at the mercy of the Mongols." This was serious news to me, for al;hough my colleague from the Land of Jakes was quite correct in his osBertiod tliat we were safe at Kiachtav a fottiüen position too stroüg to be attempted by fche barbarian foe, there was one whose life I held dearer than my own, and who, should the tidings of a Mcogol inroad be conürmed, might be exposed to sore peril. I, Frank Richards, had been, during ;wo out of the three years which I had aassed in this out-of-the-vay corner of ;he Bussian dominions, a clerk in the flrm of Merton Paulovitch, the managing partner of which resided at Irkutsk, and was, a5 his name implies, ike mysslf , an Englishman. Mr. Mer;on, however, was one of those AngloRuasians of whom many are to be found n the higher mercantile society of St. Petersburg, and who have taken root, as it were, in the country in which the greater pait of their lives have been spent. He was a man of considerable property, and as a member of the Fur Trading Guild was possessod of certain valuable privileges, which almost ainounted to a monopoly. It was with anger and annoyance that ;he rich merchant learned that lis clerk was in love with his only daugh;er, lullen, and that the sentiment was reciprocal. Mr. Merton, as was very natural, had other views for his daugh;er's establishment in life. He was always looking forward to the day when, eaving the active con duet of the business n younger hands, he should withdraw 0 the capital, where Miss Merton, as a endo wed heiress, might very probably marry a count, or possibly a prince. [t was a pitiful antithesis to such exalted visions that she should bestow her hand on a mere subordínate in the house of Merton k Paulovitch. " I like you, Richards," the merchant liad said to me, not unkindly; "and if you, and Ellen, too, will but be reasonïble and promise to forget this folly Ah ! well, then, there is no help for it, 1 see." And thereupon we parted. I was a good linguist, and weÜ trained to the routine of business in that remote región, so that it was easy enough f or me to obtain employment in a mercantile house at Kiachta, at a higher rate of salary than that which I had hitherto drawn. I doubt, however, if I should have cared to continue any longer[in my self-imposed exile from the civilization of Europe, had it not been that I could not muster the resolution to tear myself away from a country of which Ellen Morton was still an inhabitant. Even this poor consolation was, it seemed, soon to be taken from me, for the gossips of the colony were onanimous that the ensuing winter was the last that would see the Mertons resident in Siberia. And then, preceded by eertain threatening rumors, to which scanty credence had been attached, there had occurred the Mongol incursión, prompted, as there was reason to suspect, by the Chinese authorities, of whoso sentiments toward the rival empire pressing yearly closer to their extensive frontier, few doubts could be entertained by even the most optimistically disposed of the motley European community, Russian, Germán, Polish, and British, whose task it was to develop the great natural resources of this long-neglected corner of the earth. We were well aware that, in reply to diplomatic remonstrances, tlio Mandarins at the helm of state would disclaim all responsibility for the acts of a tribe oi turbulent marauders, while at the same time they would chuckle slily at the injuries thus vicariously inflicted on the detested Fan Qui. On the fonrth day after the outbreak of hostilities, there arrived in Kiachta a group of Englishmeu, engineers and Cornish miners, from a valuable mine on the farther bank of the Amour, the whole plant of which had been wantonly destroyed by the Mongol raiders. They reported tho station of Cherinsk, with all }ta faetones and dwollings, to be in flatOMi wbUe tho European. reiútlciit-, with suoh of their property M y oould !m i,!iVt!, yJ9M nlïnvly Mir, under the protection of a militai'y escort, toward Irkutsk. s . _ "Toward Irkutsk!" I exclaimed, incredulously; "youmean, surely; tovvard Kiacbta. Ifc woukí be ruiming into the lion's mouth to attempt the long march over the open plains that lie between the northern end of Lake Bakal anA tbs mountains at the hond-fraters of the Aro,o'U Ko one in his senses would give such. an advantage to the fleet-footeci enemy." But my informant was positive as to the route which the carayan of refugees from Cherinsk had adopted. A Oornish miner, dispatched thither to purchase powde for b?.astihg piirposes, inimediately before the inroad, had rejoined his comrades with the news. It appeared that the decisión, perilously unwise as it seemed to me, to select the longer and more northerly line of march, had been formed by Count Annenkoff, who coramanded the troops, and who was a young man, new to the country, and over-conconfident in his own judgment Hitherto, it was ftddedj tlie Mongol horsemen hd cobtetited theinseives with hoveWiltr, like bawks ón the, wlng, around their destined prey, keoping at a respectftü distance ft-oiü the rifled musket "f tlit: Boidiery; but there could be no doubt that they were waiting the opportunity, in some unguarded moment, of swooping down upon the camp, while the movements of tlie fugitives, encumbered as they were by a heavy baggagetrain, and aocompanied by several Jadies and childreli) were of hQcesëity slow. That ËUeü üüA her father were of the cotoVaiiV Was all bilt certain. I conld no longer , enduro thb süf In1action of life át Kiftclife, áhd accordingly I fot-aeij. a resolve which to niany of my friends appeared rash and willful. This was, to make ny way, as best I migbt, to the caravan, the tardy pace cf which would readily bO otorfcaken by a well-inoited ridfeï, and to persuade ElleU and her fathet táther tó trust themselves to my güidaSAcs b&ók to Kiachta than to HsïSeVere in the arduous maroh tliat oth'erwise lay before them. Thanks to my love of fleld sports, and to a certain restïesi stfiHt Öf adventure, I had nu ac'4úamtance with the country for many a league around, having repeatedly accompanied Tartar hunters on their expeditions in quest of the elk, the buetard, and the antelopo of the fjjains. I was excellently tnounted and feit that, should I fali in with the enBmys tlieit shaggy ponies wpuld not easily come up with my fine Turcóman steed from the distaht deserts of Khiva. A.nd of hungev, aild thirst more terrible than hunger, those aunt guardians of the steppe, there was not much risk. I was to traverse a country watered by many streamo, aSluents. of the Amour, and where the provident care of the RussiaDS had caused wells to be dug in the drier portions of the plain. The nomad tribes, with whom even the Mongols would not interfere, on the principie of dog not eating dog, were friendly enough to givo me food itl eichango for silver roübles, and the weather was as yet fine and mellow, although the season was winter. The first long day's march brought me to a cluster of black feit tents, conical in shape, pitched on the bank of a shallow brook, while hard by graised the sheep and buffaloes that made up tbe only wealth of tbe horde. I rode up to them without fear-for these ramblers through the plains of Eastern Siberia have little harm in them - and recognieed in tbe headman of the camp an old acquaintance, who spoke a little Kussian, and of ten brougbt in lambskins, yaourt, and wild strawberries to the market at Kiachta. "I would not push on were I yon, Gospodin,'1 said the white-boarded patriarch, as he set beforo me tbe simple f are - milk. cheese, and mutton kabaubs, skewered on a twig of the arbutns- that he bad to offer. "They were here with us yesterday, so.me hundrods of tbe light-flngered rogues from across the frontier, and it cost me ten fat sheep, and many fair words, to coax tbem into good behavior. They had two white men's heads, set on spear points, for their standards, and their leader swore by the Holy Tooth not to go back to Mongolia, without silver enough to plate the shrines of his joss-house. Tbey're af ter the poor folks from Oherinsk by this time ; not that they've any more fancy for the whistle of a leaden bullet than otber people have. " The gift of a golden eagle, and the promise of t.wo more coins of the same mintage, induced the headman to send with me a barefooted lad of his tribe, who would, I was assured, prove quite competent to conduct me to a place whence I could easüy overtake the caravan, and also to keep up witb my horse at any pace short of a gallop. And young Kazim (how he carne by his Moslem name I eau not teil, for all these tribes of tbe border are Buddhists, like tbe Mongols bevond it) ran gallantly beside my stirrup over weary leagues of grazing grounds, and stretches of stony barrenness, till at length he stopped, pointing triumphantly to a number of footprints, of borses, oxen, cameis, and men, stamped into thehalf-dried mud of a shallow watercourse, and with a wave of his hand toward a distant wreath of blue smoke, sure sign of a bivouac fire, he received from mine the gbttering eagles, wrapped the gold in a scrap of raw sheepskin and tbrust it into tbe salt-geurd that dangled by a thong from liis waist, and then, with a grin of leavetakinar. trotted off homeward. I liad not ridden half a mile toward the camp fire, bef ore I saw, approacliing me, at a lumbering amble, ungainly enough, but swift and silent, somo twoscore of laden camela, urged on by four horsemen whose lances and the black Tartar caps they wore suggested their nationality as Mongolian. Two of them, as soon as they espied me, dashed at me with loud execrations and cries of, "Feringhee! Eussky ! kill ! kíll!" My revolver was out in a moment, and the sight of it produced some effect on the wild riders, for they -wheeled off to right and lef t, galloping round me in circles, still brandishiug their spears, until a third horseman spurred forward, calling out something wliieh seemed as if by magie to suspend their murderoiis intentions, and then rode quietly up to my side, and held out his bony hand for me to shake. "Brother!" he said, in a strange jargon of mingled Turkish and Bussian ; "verygood friend, Batuschka! Has English lord forgotten poor Sing-Si V' I looked at tho man'ö broad, flat l'aco, and did indeed rocognize a Tartar of the name above mentioned, whom I had, a year bef ore, bought off, at an expendíture of some six shillings sterling, from a Cossack patrol abcmt to hang him ou a dwarf oak f or benig oaptured, rcdlmndi'i, as a éheitesSstv He lwd nisoe thtn worked lof u, as R porter, for aomo ■"■'iiih:1 in Kii.ciijii, bilt. iUv VrtpUUU') stinct was too strong in Sing-Si, and he had throivn up his employment and fled to the steppe. The other three Tartars became amioable enough when they found that their oompanion hailed me as a friend, and I gathered f:om the raftoals' talk that they had been acting as guides to the Cherinsk caravan, and had seized an opportunity of rnaking off with forty camels and their loads, with which, as I made out, they intendecl to join their cousins the robber Mongols. All 'chis Sing-Si, whose moral fiber was of the coarsest, related as an excellent joke; but when he., léaïiied that I.wrs on my way 'co joih those whorn he had just deserted, his counteuance assumed a graver expression. "Harkyo, English Lord," he said, cautiously, as the others began to goad on their camels with blows and lancopricks, "we of the steppe love a friend as we líate a foe. Sing-Si does notwant his former protector to leave his bones to bJeak on the plaina, with those of yondei; unbloabíied ones;'' and he shook his fist at the far.-öff eiftoke "and. srire as death, their snroHd ib spiániñg last." ".What do you mean?" I asked, anxionsly. " Í mean," hissed out Sing-Si, putting Ms ugly face close to mine, "that we of the old ïartar stock have no cause to be fond of the Muskov, and a pretty trick we have played them. Hist ! did you never hear of the snow-flood!" I had in thë coüïsb of tny tesidénce in SiberiH, hearld vagtte stbriës of süch a phenorhenon of the Jiotthem steppes, aüd I hbddedj wáitiisg io hear more. "The Bussians will feel it soon," chuckled Sing-Si; "the blind moles! Already the -wind is from the north, already the threads of íhe Fatal Spinners span the sky, and we have letl thera wheie tliëre are ho rnotintaihs io break tile fury of the blagt; nb barrier tocheck the rush. Öf the white tjfrave that; shall ! oveïwlïelm man and bfeast: Away, Englishman, whip and spür, as yoü love ! your life, fbr even hereyou aro not safe; and ride to the left, mark me, westward, to the shelter of the hills. As for me, I go." And, spurring his rough pony, off ho clattered inpursuitof his party. I rode at a brisk hancl-gallop toward the camp fire. The snow flood.! There Orowded on tny mind all the taíes that Í had ever heard, of caravans, of solitary hunters, or öf detachinents of troops, oyertaken by the resistless drift oh those inimitable pïains, whereliot a tree, not a hillock, existed to stem the viölence of the wind. And as I sped on, I feit oonvineed that Sing-Si's warning was a true one. On reaohing tho encampment I found my predietions of impending evil received very much as wero thoee of Oassandra in old Troy. Count Annenkoff, a vain young ofScer, with a supreme soorn for the civili&ns and foreigners, ridiculed my advice, and declined to regard my ittformiint Sing-Si as anything but a scöundrelwho hád absconded with a portion of the baggage. "Excuse my incredulity, mon cher," he said eoolly, "but your snow flood, as you phrase it, appears too nearly related to Sinbad's Valley of Piamoiids, and the othel' contes of the Thoüsaud and One Nights, to command credence; and I shall usö my own discretion as regards the route to be followed." The otherÈuropeans, if less supercilious, were almost equally deaf to all the arguments which I could urge. None of them had mtnessed, though all of them had heard of, the feil foree of that snowy tempest to which the Asiatics had given so picturesque a name; and none were willing to run the gauntlet of the prowling Mongols in order to elude a danger which might prove mythical. But Ellen, who believed in me because she loved me, used all her influence with her father, and with such good effect, that Mr. Merton yielcted a reinetant consent to have his own and his daughter's horses re-saddled, and to set off, under my guidance, in the direction iu'íicated by 8ing-Si. As we left the camp, lighted by a broad f uil moon that bathed the steppe with silvery brightness, I observed that the northern sky was growiug very dark, and that the long fllaments of gray cloud had become knit together, as though the Valkyrs were indeed busy at the loom of „death. The wind also, blowing in fitful gust, had become pierciDgly cold, and our very horses snorted and sniffed the air as though they scented the appioach of some viewless peril. By tlie time we had ridden. as I guessed, some two miles from the halting-place, the northern sky had darkened still more, and the low sobbing of' the desert wind had swelled into a shriek, while the temperature was perceptibly lowered, 80 that Ellen shivered, more from cold than fear. We pressed on. Mr. Merton, as I have said, had been unwüling to take my counsel, in opposition to the scoffs and remonstrances of his friends, but now he said, in an altered tone : "I begin to think, Bicharás, that you and the Tartar were right. God blsss you for your unselñsh kindness, my boy, whatever comes of this." Bef ore I could reply, a terrifled outcry from Ellen's lips made me turn my head, just as the flrst quick snowilakes carne whirling down, and there, behind us, throwing before it, as it carne, a ghastly gleam of light, came from the nortli a shapeless whiteness, rolling pitilesslv on. "The snow! the sncw !" we exolaimed, as with one voice, urging on our affrighted horses to their fullest speed, while behind us, like the tide rising fast over the sands of the seashore, swept on the white wave, burying beneath it, aa it advanced, bush, and inound, and watercourse, and blotting out every feature of the landscape to the northward. Then began a race indeed, the alarmed horses straining every sinew to outstrip the pursuing fate ; but with all our speed tho drift gained npon us, and presently we found oursolves plunging and floundering, up to our saddlegirths, in snow. Tho moon's radiance was now totally obscured, but afar oñ', to the wetttward, my eyo had eaught the ruddy glow of a íiro sueh as charcoalburners kindie among the hills, and never did storm-tosaed marinera watoh the welcome' beacon of some harbor more eagerly than did I this savmg Uí?ht. The fire, as I liad conjectured, was burning high up on one of the wooded spursof the mountain rango near the Bources of the Amour, but to reach it was no trifling task. Our exhausted steeds, worn out by the toilaome passage throngb the snow, could scarcely ba urged to fresh exertions, while the rush of the deepening flood, and the blinding showors that dashed into erar faces, threatened at eaoh iustant to overwheltn uu. Wn reaobed tho Amour at last, down tho iwollen (■unohtof which wero whirliug masaea of ïnow, ;nd hcro EUeö's hdiMc l.'li, umi i:iMii.tnwH)i! nwwil, wliitt! that of Mr. Mertou, gasping and spent, no louger answerod to the sptir. " Savo yourself, Frank ! leave ns ! why should all perish ?" groaned the nierchant. Thera.was some Btrengthandspirityet left 111 the gallánt Türconian Hmt I bestrade, and snatching np Ellon's light form ia my arms, I spurred into the rivei', and s'truggling through, deposited my precious burden on the turf beyond, tinder the shelter of a roeky boukler. I then recrossed the ford, and bidding Mr. Merton to cling tightly to my horBe's mane, for the third timo breasted the curren t, and half swimming, half wading, we got throügh, thougli on the faiiher bank my noble horse reeled and feil, with a faint, low neigh, and so died. The caroasses of the others were already buried beneath the driving snow. The rest of our story - how, alter some fatigue, we scaled the rocky ravine where stood the hut of the charooal burnrrs, and how these rough bilt kindly beings warmed and fed us, and flnally enabled us to reach Kiachta in safety - is a tale of mere Rommonplaoe hasdeaipt I have boen for years the hüp'py itisBand .öf Ellen, and a junior partner in the thriving house of Merton Paulovitoh, although our sphere of business lias been removed to a less romantic región than that of Eastern Siberia. Of the fato of Connt Annenkoff and the caravan under his charge no survivor ever returned to head-quarters to teil the tale. - All the Yettr Round.