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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 pos sibly 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.