28 CRASNOI LAIS. 



aisles, our footsteps, thanks to the felt shoes and 

 the snow, were soundless even in that still night. 

 Half an hour's tramp through a perfect fairy land 

 of frozen oaks, with a carpet of snow at their feet, 

 on which our guide silently pointed out many a 

 fresh track, and then we paused. One of us was 

 to stay here ; I stayed, my friend took a position 

 a quarter of a mile further on, the Cossack being 

 at the same distance beyond him. My own post was 

 at the foot of an enormous oak, and here I crouched, 

 my long felt boots deep sunk in the snow, my 

 back against the tree, and my rifle across my knees. 



Now it was that I learnt how necessary it is to 

 wear the clothing of the country. Sitting thus 

 with my feet in the snow in tight leather boots, I 

 must have either kept up the circulation by moving 

 my feet occasionally, which would have been fatal 

 to my chance of sport, or I must have had my 

 feet frost-bitten. As it was, in my loose boots of 

 felt, my feet were almost too hot , and of course 

 the rest of my body kept about the same tem- 

 perature as my feet. 



Once my companions had taken up their posts 

 the whole forest was still as death for some 

 minutes. The stillness indeed was so great as 

 to be oppressive, and the occasional sounds an 

 owl's weird hoot, the howl of a wolf, or the 

 stealthy spring of an old grey hare only height- 

 ened the effect by contrast. On every side I could 



