58 ODESSA AND MISKITCHEE. 



until the sky grew dark and the smoke from our lire 

 could be plainly seen against it, that our friend 

 found his way out of the maze of reeds in which 

 he had been wandering round and round for nearly 

 a couple of hours. 



After our pipes had been lighted, the rain came 

 down in torrents, forcing us all to creep under 

 the droshky, and a very close fit we found it. 

 However, by curling B.'s legs three or four times 

 round his waist, we did manage it, and lay there 

 smoking and listening to the old German jiiger's 

 ghost stories, culled from the forests of Germany 

 and the plains of Asia, until far into the night. 

 And never had a teller of weird legends fitter 

 accompaniments than the million voices of the lake 

 at our feet and the ceaseless pelting and buffeting 

 of the storm without. 



One more shot at the duck in the morning, 

 and then we turned homewards. My time I felt 

 was getting short, and it was high time that I 

 sailed for the Black Sea coast, although I was 

 nothing loth to have delayed these two weeks, 

 feeling that now I was tolerably certain to escape 

 the Circassian fever which is so prevalent in early 

 autumn. 



