Hunting in Many Lands 



joyed some good sport and had taken several 

 hares. The following morning the master of 

 the imperial hunt, who had been kept at his 

 estates near Moscow by illness in his family, 

 arrived, fetching with him his horses and a 

 number of his own hounds. We continued 

 our hunting a number of days longer in that 

 vicinity, both with and without fox-hounds, 

 with varying success. Every day or two we 

 also indulged in shooting for ptarmigan, black 

 cocks, partridges, woodcocks and two kinds of 

 snipe — all of which prefer the most fatiguing 

 marshes. 



One day our scouts arrived from Philipovo, 

 twenty-six versts off, to report that another 

 family of wolves, numbering about sixteen, 

 had been located. The Amerikanka was sent 

 in advance to Orodinatovo, whither we went 

 by rail at a very early hour. This same rainy 

 and cold autumnal landscape would be intoler- 

 able were it not brightened here and there by 

 the red shirts and brilliant headkerchiefs of 

 the peasants, the noise of the flail on the dirt- 

 floor sheds and the ever-alluring attractions of 

 the hunt. 



During this short railway journey, and on 

 the ride to Philipovo, I could not restrain 



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