246 EN ROUTE FOR DAGHESTAN. 



the police. Disguised as moujiks, lie and his men 

 went bullying and swaggering through the streets, 

 apparently drunk as lords. The difficulty was to 

 get taken up, but after some time they managed to 

 accomplish even that, and were hauled away to the 



police-station. Here K and his men tried to 



get off by apologies and excuses, which were natu- 

 rally vain. Then, turning to his men, he said, 

 ' Hey brothers, suppose we give the good chief of 

 police a rouble apiece he will see then that we 

 good Christians cannot be drunk.' The roubles 

 were paid, the liberty of the pseudo-moujiks ob- 

 tained, and next day K came down and dis- 

 missed the chief of police and his whole staff. So 

 through every branch of civic administration, meet- 

 ing with hindrances at every step, but still stead- 

 fastly hunting down corruption wherever he sus- 

 pected it. Three generals holding civic posts lie 

 forced into retirement ; then, feeling that the oppo- 

 sition of the military in a town still under military 

 law was too much for him, K - retired. 



But now a bitter white mist comes creeping 

 over the earth, wetting us to the skin in spite of our 

 heavy wraps, and stopping all conversation by the 

 chill discomfort it brings in its train ; so for three 

 hours we lie down to rest at the next post-station, 

 rising again at seven to welcome as bright a morn- 

 ing as any I had seen on my long drive. The 

 country was pretty, with here and there; a group 



