258 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



party at that time. The commandant at the same time had 

 the foresight to appoint a rendezvous at which he and 1 

 should meet Melville on his way north. He also sent a 

 letter to a subordinate, ordering him to equip Melville for 

 the journey. This man was a non-commissioned officer of 

 Cossacks, and he acted with great intelligence and good 

 judgment. He was a tall, tine-looking man, with black side 

 whiskers, forty-two years of age. 



Bartlett started that night with a deer team, and was 

 likely to get to Bulun only a few hours after Melville, be- 

 cause the latter had taken the clog road, which was 240 

 versts long, while the deer road was only eighty versts 

 across country. The commandant had come by the deer 

 road, thus missing Melville. I told the commandant that he 

 must get us to Bulun as soon as possible, but he was rather 

 non-committal, and would not state a definite time for 

 starting. 



Tli at night I slept uneasily and was awake by four o'clock 

 next morning. Efim was up, and I asked him where he 

 was going. He said that he was going with the command- 

 ant to Arrhue, the village where Spiridon and Wassili lived. 

 I told him to tell the commandant to come to me immedi- 

 ately. I thought I would try a high-handed game with this 

 Cossack commandant, and it worked admirably. He came 

 to me about five A. M., in uniform, and I told him that if he 

 did not get us clothed and started by daylight next morning 

 I would report him to General Tchernieff and have him 

 punished ; but that if he did well and got us ready he would 

 be handsomely rewarded. He accepted the situation gravely 

 and said 'Karascho,' which meant 'all right.' I invited him 

 to sleep with us the next night ; and the next morning, 

 at daylight, fourteen dog teams, with about two hundred 

 dogs, were assembled at our village, and the natives brought 

 us an ample supply of skin clothing. This was Thursday, 

 November 3d. 



We started for Bulun, and on Saturday met Melville at 

 Kumak Surka Serai, which is the first deer station. I had a 



