178 RETURN TO KERTCH. 



tied to a box, trying to get at t)ie skins of two 

 maneless (Persian) lions, stretched on upright 

 sticks. These had been the glory of the show, 

 but had recently departed this life, leaving nothing 

 but the foolish-looking hides I now saw, to their 

 bereaved proprietor. After exhibiting some fire- 

 swallowing tricks, and a little serpent-charming, 

 the Persian announced the performance over ; and 

 after disgusting him by showing him that I knew 

 all about the manner in which his deadly serpents 

 had been rendered harmless, I left hurriedly, lest a 

 worse thing should befall me. 



My inspection of the fair was here cut short by 

 the arrival of my driver, announcing the horses 

 ready to proceed. I remarked that he seemed 

 anxious and mysterious in his manner, so followed 

 him quietly, and asked for explanations when we 

 got outside the town. Then lie confessed that 

 lately two or three highway murders had been 

 committed near Krimsky ; that the presence of such 

 a collection of roughs of every race as the fair con- 

 tained was not calculated to increase the safety of 

 the road, and that his reason for hurrying me out 

 of the fair was that lie wished to leave unnoticed 

 before dark. From the time I left Krimsky to the 

 time that I reached Ekaterinodar 1 heard of nothing 

 but robberies and murders, several of which 1 

 believe were substantially true, though that many of 

 them were exaggerated is only natural. But it is 



