Page:By order of the Czar.djvu/81

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BY ORDER OF THE CZAR. 69

When Anna was captured he was borne away with the retreating crowd to the ghetto, pressed upon by the sol- diers, and presently hustled and struck by the gathering rioters and agents of the false ukase, who were already assembling in the streets of the Jewish quarter.

With a deep vow of vengeance against Petronovitch, he hurried on to the assistance of Grunstein, and with a view to reach the good old Jew's hiding-place.

Pushing open the front door, leading through the porch into the house, he found Grunstein, torn, tattered and bleeding, his wife bathing his temples.

The threatening cry of the mob could be heard from far away. It was like the first booming of the coming storm. It would come nearer and nearer every minute, until it fell with a crash, and with lightning and sudden death in it.

Ferrari locked and bolted every door behind him. " Bloodhounds," he growled between his teeth, " wait awhile ! "

" I am not hurt ; it is nothing," said Moses Grunstein, rising as he spoke. " Deborah was alarmed, but it is nothing ; would that I might have died to save that poor victim of our neighbor Klosstock ! "

a We are indeed a cursed race," exclaimed Ferrari.

" To-day, it is true, our Father Abraham is on the side of the Philistines," said Moses Grunstein. " 'And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee ; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life.' The curse is upon us."

" But He shall yet bring us to the land which our fathers possessed," said Deborah, " and do us good, and we shall be blessed."

Deborah not only comforted her husband with plaster for his body, but with plaster for his perturbed mind.

" That will do," said Ferrari. " I expect, the truth be- ing known, the Lord has nothing whatever to do with it, the