22 CRASNOI LAIS. 



that aroused me, and at once jumped up to see what 

 was happening. But the moment I was out of 

 bed a strange giddiness seized me, and turning 

 round I fell, and remember no more until I found 

 a friendly telegraphist endeavouring to rouse me 

 with libations of cold water freely applied. Gra- 

 dually I came round, but with such an intense 

 headache and utter inability to use my own limbs, 

 that I had rather have remained insensible. I was 

 utterly unable to help in rousing my poor friend 

 K., and as my senses came back to me I became 

 seriously alarmed lest our morning callers should 

 have been too late to save him. 



The truth was, something was wrong with the 

 charcoal stove. Every aperture through which 

 ventilation could be effected had, Russian fashion, 

 been hermetically sealed for the winter, and my 

 friend and I had had the narrowest escape from 

 asphyxiation possible. After immense efforts we 

 brought him round, but in spite of the bracing 

 cold and the rapid driving, we both suffered from 

 racking headaches and extreme lassitude for the 

 rest of the day. 



The travelling during this second day was of a 

 more interesting nature ; the country being covered 

 in many places for miles with jungles of a tall 

 reed called ' kamish,' in which pheasants are said 

 to abound, and boars and roc to occur not infre- 

 quently. After getting out of the reedy land we 



