AMONG THE DON COSSACKS 29 



h 



his savings was gone. His suspicions at once fell on 



his son-in-law, who was a drunkard, and who beat his 

 wife not only on or before a holiday but whenever the 

 spirit moved him and that was oftener that I should 

 like to tell. His father-in-law and his wife reproached 

 him, and in a drunken rage he picked up an axe and 

 ran after his wife. Their cabin was about a block 

 from our bungalow. She ran straight for our house, 

 screaming: 



"Save me! Save me! Petrich is at my heels to 

 kill me!" 



My husband, who was standing outside the house 

 and saw from afar the drunkard running, pushed the 

 terrified woman inside our door and closed it on her. 

 He himself stood there defenceless to meet the frenzied 

 man. Seeing my husband so cool before him, he seemed 

 to sober in a moment, and then my husband, in a tense, 

 commanding voice, exclaimed: 



"Stop, Petrich! Have you lost your mind to run 

 wild with an axe ? Give it to me at once !" 



The instinctive awe and respect that any peasant has 

 for authority won the day. As by a miracle, without 

 a word, he handed the axe to my husband, and the 

 woman's life was saved. 



Another incident will show the sentiment of the 

 peasants towards my husband. The nephew whom my 

 grandmother brought with her on a visit, and left 

 with us during the winter, was an exceedingly mis- 

 chievous lad of twelve. One day, while playing in a 



