VII.] WE WIN THE GAME. 155 



rounded a corner, and the scene of our late squabbles was lost 

 to sight. In justice to ourselves I should add that we deposited 

 the money actually due to these men with the Ispravnik on our 

 return to Petropaulovsky, but I believe that we should all have 

 been glad to think that they never got it. 



We had patched up our canoes as well as we were able before 

 starting, and were glad to find that they made but little water, 

 although the large, and as we had supposed, sound one, proved after 

 all to be quite as leaky as the others. The weather, which had 

 been gloomy and threatening, now showed some signs of improve- 

 ment, and our spirits rose with the more promising condition of 

 our svirroundings. The size of our raft was against fast travelling, 

 but we paddled steadily on, and had made forty versts before 

 camping for the night. At 6 P.M. we passed the mouth of the 

 Tolbatchik Eiver, coming in on the right bank ; a tolerably deep 

 stream with a breadth of about thirty yards at its junction with 

 the Kamschatka. We held a consultation as to the possibility of 

 going on all night, but the cold was so great and the passage down 

 the river so risky from the snags, that we eventually decided 

 against it. An accident to our raft in its present state would have 

 been something more than a misfortune ; it would have meant 

 little less than absolute disaster. 



