158 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



does not happen through the component parts of the 

 bicycle shpping their moorings. 



But let a man run affairs on this happy-go-lucky 

 method ! His machine would be scrap iron in two 

 two's, and himself in hospital. Clearly the earthly 

 " One law for the woman and another for the man " 

 has its inverted counterpart on the Olympian heights 

 where the Providences have their dwelling-place. 



The next excitement of any moment was provided 

 by Yakimo, who managed to get himself stung in the 

 wrist by a species of viper which was all too plentiful 

 in the rocks. The muleteer was hunting for scrub 

 brushes to keep our fire alight when the catastrophe 

 overtook him, so that under the Compensation Act of 

 the wild we owed him all the care and attention we 

 could muster, which wasn't much. 



Yakimo said that the viper struck at him backwards, 

 or the accident would not have occurred. The mis- 

 taken reputation of the reptile had travelled thus far ! 

 It was not much use to explain that vipers only seem 

 to strike rearwards. They have to throw their heads 

 back to an acute angle ere the hinged fangs can lunge 

 forward. With two little punctures in his swarthy 

 wrist, our man had all the first-hand knowledge of 

 Natural History he wanted. 



For a few minutes after his announcement chaos 

 reigned. Everyone suggested remedies and nobody 

 carried one into effect. Then I bethought me of the 

 manner in which rattlesnake bites were treated in a 

 mining camp in Montana, where I once sojourned for 

 some weary months. It was near a river whose 



