CHAPTER V 



FRIENDS 



At half-past three in the morning we reached the 

 choom, a circular peaked dwelling covered with birch 

 bark. No one was about, but a deafening chorus arose 

 from many dogs who were tied up round about it. 



' How do you do ? ' I said in my bad Russian as I 

 raised the flap of the choom door. ' How do you do?' 

 came back in Russian worse than mine from underneath 

 a heap of skins. The first impression one had was that 

 the whole floor was a mass of skins, with a pot hanging 

 in the middle ; nothing remotely like a human being 

 could I see. 



And then the floor of the choom be^an to bubble and 

 rise, so to say, and out of the bubbling came a little man 

 and a little woman all clad in skins. On their heads 

 skin hoods, on their bodies skin caftans, on their legs 

 skin boots. They were dressed much alike, but one had 

 the smoother face and was decorated with bits of red. 

 So I knew it was a woman. She was plain and wrinkled, 

 but had a not unkindly twinkle in her eyes. They 

 waited as patiently as a pair of public officials for us to 

 explain ourselves, only they gazed from one to the other 



12C 



