daybreak. Their first stupor having passed, the children conversed
with each other in whispers and tried in their own poor way to console
one another. Jacob, whose mutilated ear and broken arm had not been
improved by the rough treatment he had experienced, wept bitterly at
first, until the savage voice of a soldier bade him be quiet. Then the
child made a Spartan-like endeavor to forget his pain and fell asleep
upon his brother's breast. It was nine o'clock on Sunday morning when
they arrived at the Governor's palace. The devout and religious General
Drudkoff usually declined to transact any business on that day; but this
was an important matter of State, a question threatening perhaps the
very existence of the Empire, and a departure from ordinary rules was
allowable. The waifs were brought into the ante-chamber, and obliged to
pass muster before his excellency, who read them a lesson upon their
future career and duties. After those whose hasty abduction had made it
impossible to dress, had been provided with odds and ends of clothing,
the rags cast off by the children of the Governor's serfs, and which his
excellency declared were much too good for Jews, the lads were again
placed upon rickety carts, and, while the Governor proceeded to his
religious services at the _kiosk_, they were escorted under a strong
guard to the military headquarters at Kharkov.

Long and tedious was the journey. At noon a village was reached, and the
travellers were furnished with a meal consisting of pork and bread.
Half-famished by his long fast, one of the boys had already bitten into
his portion, but stern religion interfered.

"Do not eat it," whispered Mendel; "it is _trefa!_" (unclean).

The lads gazed wistfully at the tempting morsels, but touch them they
dared not.

"Why don't you eat?" roughly asked one of the soldiers, whose duty it
was to walk by the side of the wagon and guard against a possible
escape.

"It is forbidden," answered Mendel, who, being the oldest of the little
group, took upon himself the duties of spokesman. "It is unclean."

"If it is good enough for us, it is good enough for a Jew. Here, eat
this quickly!" and he endeavored to force a large piece of the dreaded
meat between the teeth of one of the lads.

"If they wont eat, let them starve," said another of the guards, who was
attracted by the noise. "Why do you trouble yourself about them?"

"You are right," answered the first; "let them starve."

A