114 GOLOVINSKY. 



Borrowing a spade and cutting down a large 

 bough for a broom, I soon had a clear floor, and 

 by dint of hard work had in an hour's time got 

 a fairly clean place to move about in. Stepan 

 retired to the shed, and, in spite of my protesta- 

 tions, took up his abode there. Had it not been 

 for his cough I should have fallen in with this 

 arrangement readily enough ; but as it was, I felt 

 he required the best accommodation the shanty 

 afforded. However, in the shed he remained, and 

 for the rest of my stay I had his best room to 

 myself. 



There were, besides Stepan and myself, three 

 other residents at the 'telegraph station,' as he 

 loved to call it to wit, Zizda, Lufra, and Orla, 

 three large cross-bred dogs, devoured by mange, 

 with which Stepan hunts the boars that abound in 

 the thicket at the back of his house, killing on an 

 average, so he tells me, half a dozen in the year. 

 In spite of the numbers which inhabit the adjoin- 

 ing forests, this small bag is not very much to be 

 wondered at, when the impenetrable nature of the 

 covert and the almost utter uselessness of Stepan's 

 gun are taken into consideration. 



Russian peasants have amongst them the most 

 wonderful fire-arms in the world, which, as a rule, 

 they buy in the bazaars at from three to five 

 roubles (i.e.. 7-v. (\<l. to 12*. fx/.) each. I have 

 frequently seen the grebe- shooters along the shore 



