106 FORESTRY IN EASTERN RUSSIA. 



be to God !" This exactly describes the state of things 

 on this occasion, for when the time -had come for the iron 

 to be sent off to the Nijni fair, many magazines which 

 should have been full of pledged iron, supposed to be 

 safely reposing under lock and seal, were found to be 

 empty. There was a hue and cry you'Jmay be sure ; but 

 the horse was flown, though the stable door had not been 

 unlocked ; and to whom could they bring home the guilt? 

 Nobody had either done it or seen it done. Oh, no ! All 

 concerned protested their innocence, though it was quite 

 palpable that the rascals had broken open the stores, 

 removed the iron into other magazines, and repledged to 

 the bank their own iron. 



c Of course all the officials and leading men of the place 

 were implicated ; and as the authorities must make some 

 show and fuss, and give some one in charge, the Pre- 

 kazchik was made the scapegoat and held responsible ; 

 though there is no doubt he had been acting under orders 

 and promises of protection, and that all parties concerned 

 had connived at the action if they had not criminally par- 

 ticipated in it, or in sharing the proceeds of it. It is a 

 saying, " You must set a thief to catch a thief." That 

 may be so. But you can't get a thief to set about 

 catching himself ; so to this day there has been no clue to 

 the perpetrators of this barefaced robbery. 



' Let us pursue this story a little further, and then we 

 shall see what sort of honour there is among thieves on the 

 Ural. 



' When there was a criminal investigation appointed, 

 this said Prekazchik took the alarm and thought he 

 would make his treasure sure by confiding his mysterious 

 accumulations (said to be upwards of 100,000 roubles, 

 though he never had more than 60 roubles per month of 

 salary) to an old friend and accomplice, a very wealthy 

 and respectable merchant, a dealer in iron, but it must be 

 mentioned he sold a very great deal more iron than he 

 was known to buy. After the steward had done this he 

 again took the alarm, thinking this professed friend to 



