ed
with fear, he could not speak, but gazed pleadingly from his father to
the soldiers. His uncle Bensef, who had shared his bed, now endeavored
to interfere, but a blow from the stalwart Cossack sent him to the
opposite corner of the room. Quickly they inspected the boy, taking a
mental note of his height and appearance, and, barely giving him time to
put on his clothing, hurried him into the arms of the soldiers waiting
without.

"You have another son! Where is he?" demanded one of the soldiers of the
half-paralyzed Mordecai.

"No! no!" he sobbed; "I have no more!"

"You lie, Jew! Show us the other boy!" And without further ceremony,
they broke into the third room, where Jacob lay in the arms of his
terrified mother.

In vain the boy shrieked at the sight of the fierce-looking visitors. In
vain the mother pleaded: "He is sick and helpless. Spare him. He is but
a baby. Leave him with me!"

There was no pity in the breasts of the hardened soldiers. Neither tears
nor entreaties won them over. The more the sorrowing parents implored,
the louder were the oaths, the fiercer the blows of the barbarous
Cossacks.

Jacob, followed by his weeping parents, was carried half-dressed into
the street.

Similar scenes were enacted in every house in which there were male
children. Of the twelve Jewish homes in Togarog, but two were spared.
The children, in most cases scantily dressed, were hurried to
Basilivitch's hostlery, where wagons were in waiting to take them to
Alexandrovsk for the Governor's inspection.

Mournful was the train that followed the little band through the
village. Shrieks and lamentations, prayers and imprecations resounded,
until the brutal guards, wearied by the incessant clamor, finally drove
the frenzied people back and set out upon their homeward journey.

The little ones sat cowering in the wagons, afraid to weep, scarcely
daring to breathe. Taken from home when they most needed their parents'
care and love, what would become of these poor waifs? What would the
future have in store for them?

General Drudkoff could now sleep in peace; the insurrection in Togarog
was quelled. Its ringleaders were on the way to Siberia, and its
abettors, the Jews (according to Basilivitch), had been rendered
harmless.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 3: This decree was repealed by Alexander II.]

CHAPTER V.

THE JOURNEY TO KHARKOV.

The wagons, with their helpless freight, reached Alexandrovsk shortly
after