TWO UNFORTUNATES.
To Mendel, Cantorwitch seemed a special messenger sent by a benign
Providence. He waited for a moment until he perceived the two friends in
earnest conversation, and seizing his brother by the arm, he took
advantage of an approaching crowd of sight-seers to get away from the
gossiping soldier. The boys ran down the nearest street as fast as their
feeble limbs would carry them. Not until they had reached the limits of
the town did they pause for breath, and Jacob, thoroughly exhausted,
sank to the ground.
"Thank God, we are free!" said Mendel, jubilantly.
But Jacob began to weep, crying, "Oh, I'm so tired and hungry!"
"Do not cry; it is of no use. We will find our way to Kief, and there
uncle will take care of us."
"I do not think I can go much farther, Mendel."
"But you must. If we remain here we shall be captured and put into
prison. Let us go as far as we possibly can. Perhaps we can find a
village on the road where the _Jehudim_ (Jews) will shelter us until you
become stronger. Come, Jacob."
The child struggled to his feet and the brothers set out upon their
journey through an unknown country.
The sun, the cheerful king of day, had peeped through the April rifts
and sent his bright rays upon the smiling landscape. Gradually the
clouds dissolved under the genial influence and a friendly sky cheered
the fugitives on their way.
The merry chirping of the birds, the buzzing of the insects, the
blossoming fruit trees along the route, betokened the advent of spring.
Mendel gulped down a great lump in his throat and stifled a sob, as he
thought of his distant home. How happy, how joyful, had this season
been, when, after the termination of the Bible studies at the _cheder_,
their father had taken them for a long walk through the fields and in
his own crude way had spoken of the beauties of Nature and of the wisdom
and beneficence of the Creator. Then, all was peace and contentment; and
now, what a dreary contrast! Mendel dashed the gathering tears from his
eyes--it would not do to let Jacob see him cry--and resolutely taking
his little brother by the hand, walked on more rapidly.
There was a tedious journey in prospect; God only knew when and where it
would end. On they walked through bramble and marsh, over stones and
fallen boughs, preferring the newly-ploughed fields to the public road,
for fear of detection; trembling with fear at the sight of a human
being, lest it might be a soldier charged with their recapture. On they
struggled until night hid the road from their view and darkness arrested
further progress. A ruined and deserted shed afforded them shelter, a
stone did service as a pillow, and, embracing each other, the lads lay
down to sleep.
The dawn found the wanderers astir, and after a hasty ablution at a
neighboring brook and a recital of their morning prayers, they bravely
started out upon their cheerless journey.
The day had dawned brightly, but before long threatening clouds obscured
the sun. The wind veered to the North and howled dismally.
Sadly and silently the boys trudged onward, buffeting the wind and
stifling their growing hunger.
"Mendel," finally sobbed Jacob, "I am so hungry. If I only had a piece
of bread I would feel much stronger."
"Let us walk faster," replied the other. "Perhaps we will reach some
village."
Manfully they pushed onward for another hour, Mendel endeavoring to
entertain his brother by relating stories he had heard when a child.
Jacob stopped again, exhausted.
"It is no use, Mendel," he cried. "I am too hungry to walk any further."
"Courage, brother," answered Mendel, cheerfully. "See, there are houses
ahead of us. We can surely find something to eat."
The waifs dragged their way to a weather-beaten hut and knocked at the
door. A mild-visaged woman responded and surveyed the travel-stained
children with something like compassion.
"We are hungry," pleaded Mendel. "Please give us a bite of food."
"Who are you and where do you come from?" queried the woman.
"We are trying to reach Kief, where we have friends," answered Mendel.
"Please do not let us starve on the road."
"Jews, eh?" asked the woman, suspiciously. "Well, no matter; you don't
look any too happy. Come in and warm yourselves."
The boys were soon sitting before a roaring kitchen-fire, while the
woman busied herself with providing them with a meal. Tempting, indeed,
did it appear to the famished lads; but could they eat it? Was it
prepared according to the Jewish ritual? It was a momentous question to
Mendel, and only his little brother's pinched and miserable countenance
could have induced him to violate the law which to his conception was as
sacred as life itself. While Mendel debated, Jacob solved the knotty
problem by attacking the savory dishes before him, and his brother
reluctantly followed his example.
"It may be a sin, but God will forgive us," was his mental reflection as
he greedily swallowed the food.
The woman looked on in admiration at the huge appetites of the lads. She
plied them with questions, to which she received vague replies, and
finally contented herself with the thought that these were perhaps
wayward children who had run away from home and were now penitently
trying to find their way back.
After the boys were rested, they thanked their kind hostess and set out
again upon their wanderings with no other compass than blind chance, but
avoiding the highways for fear of being captured by the soldiers. On
they went for hours, Mendel supporting his complaining brother and
whispering words of hope and courage.
By noon the sky had become darker, the storm more threatening. The wind
blew in furious gusts over the dismal country, and an occasional
rumbling of distant thunder filled the weary lads with dread. The road
they had chosen was absolutely deserted. It lay through a bleak,
scarcely habitable prairie, a landscape common enough in that part of
Russia; and stones and brambles did much to retard their progress. There
was not a place of shelter in sight. The outlook was sufficiently
unpromising to dismay the most resolute.
Jacob sat down upon a stone and began to weep.
"I can go no further," he sobbed. "I am tired and sick."
"But you must come," pleaded his brother. "See what a storm is
gathering. If we remain here we shall be drenched. We must find
shelter."
"Go alone, brother," said the little one. "I'll stay here."
There was a sudden flash of lightning, which illumined Jacob's bandaged
face, pale with fear and fatigue. The trembling boys looked at each
other and Jacob began to cry.
"Come, Jacob," murmured Mendel, helping his brother to rise. "We shall
die if we stay here. May God protect us."
Again the waifs plodded on, Mendel supporting his brother and
endeavoring to protect him from the cruel wind. Darker grew the sky.
Large drops of rain began to fall and with a startling peal of thunder
the tempest broke in its fury. The pitiless wind sweeping through the
land from the bleak northern steppes brought cold and desolation in its
train. The poor children were drenched to the skin. They clung to each
other and painfully made their way across the miry fields to the
highway, the ancient road of the Tartar Khans.
At last Jacob succumbed to the awful strain and sank to the ground.
"Let me die," moaned the child.
"Oh, dear brother; you must live! We will find our way back to Togarog
to papa and mamma. How they would grieve if I came back alone."
The child shook his head mutely to this appeal, but rise he could not.
Mendel was in despair.
A bright flash lit up the landscape and showed the dim outlines of huts
not many rods away.
"God be thanked!" cried Mendel, fervently. "See, Jacob, there are
houses. The village is near. There we can get food and shelter. Come,
lean on me and we will be there in a few minutes."
"No, go alone; I am too weak."
"I will carry you," cried Mendel. "Oh, I can do it; I am strong enough."
He attempted to lift the child from the ground, but he had overrated his
strength and gave up his task in despair. What was he to do? He could
not leave him in the road to perish. If he could but reach the village
and summon help. They would not refuse assistance to a dying child, even
if he were a Jew.
"Jacob," he said, encouragingly, "I am going for help. Don't be afraid;
keep up your courage and strength until I come back. The rain will soon
stop. Good-by. I shall not be long."
Kissing his scarcely conscious brother, the heroic boy bounded in the
direction of the village.
Though the thunder still rolled and the lightning still flashed, the
rain soon ceased and the clouds began to show cheerful patches of blue.
Mendel was gone some five minutes when a covered _droshka_ drove up the
road as rapidly as the muddy ground would allow. The driver, amply
protected by furs, seemed proof against both wind and water, yet he
cursed in good round Russian at the inclemency of the weather. Suddenly,
a brilliant flash lighted up the road, and he saw a lad near the wheels.
With an oath, the driver reined in the frightened horses and jumped to
the ground.
"What is it, Ivan? Has anything happened?" asked a lady, from the
carriage window.
"Please your excellency, a little boy lying in the road, half-dead."
"Bring him here," commanded the lady, and the child was lifted into the
carriage and placed on the seat before them.
"What a pretty lad," said the lady, who was no less important a person
than the Countess Drentell, of Lubny, to her companion. "The poor child
must be badly hurt."
"Perhaps a little brandy would strengthen him," suggested the practical
coachman, who knew the value of the remedy.
The cordial revived him, and, opening his eyes, he murmured: "Wait for
me, Mendel; I will go along."
"Drive on, Ivan, as quickly as possible; we must get the little fellow
some dry clothes," said the Countess.
Yielding to the luxury of shelter and to the effect of the brandy, Jacob
sank into a sweet sleep.
Mendel had in the meantime reached the village and knocked at the first
house. A _moujik_ emerged and eyed him suspiciously. "What do you
want?" he asked, gruffly.
"We have been caught in the storm and my brother is out on the road,
dying. Please help me bring him here."
"You are a Jew, are you not?" asked the man, savagely, as he recognized
by the boy's jargon that he was a member of the proscribed race.
"Yes, sir," answered Mendel, timidly.
"Then go about your business; I wont put myself out for a Jew!" saying
which, he shut the door in the boy's face.
Sadly Mendel wandered on until he met a kindly disposed woman, who
directed him to the Jewish quarter.
"At the house of prayer there is always someone to be found," thought
Mendel, and thither he bent his steps. Half-a-dozen men at once
surrounded him and listened to his harrowing story; half-a-dozen hearts
beat in sympathy with his distress. One of the number soon spread the
dismal tidings; the entire congregation, headed by Mendel, hastened to
where the child had been left. As they came to the highway, a _droshka_
passed them at full speed; they fell back to the right and left to make
room for the galloping horses and in a moment the carriage had
disappeared.
When they reached the spot pointed out by Mendel they saw the impress of
a child's form in the yielding ground, and a tattered little cap which
was Jacob's; but the child was gone.
"The soldiers have recaptured him!" gasped Mendel, with a groan of
anguish. "Oh, my poor brother; God help you!" and sank unconscious into
the friendly arms of his new acquaintances.