THE RAINS. 345 



teers from the little town we were leaving. Sonic 

 of these volunteers, however, when they had it 

 finally explained to them that my little bell-tent 

 would really only hold two, and those two would 

 certainly be my friend Mr. Digby Lyall and my- 

 self, made up their minds wisely to stay behind ; 

 so that in the end the party only consisted of Mr. 

 L. and myself, my servant Ivan, a guide Niko, an 

 Imeritine whose services, had I only been lucky 

 enough to obtain them on my first visit, would 

 have been invaluable Ivan Kotoff, a Russian 

 nioujik or peasant proprietor, and a Cossack with 

 the horses named Kalivan ; while at Golovinsky 

 I added my old ally Stepan to the motley crew. 

 This was by far the largest party I had ever had 

 with me in the Caucasus ; and by their aid, and 

 the aid of Stepan's dogs, I expected to do great 

 things with the bears and boars of Golovinsky. 



As soon, however, as we arrived at the place, 

 I found times had changed. Stepan had now 

 some work to do; and a gruff German telegraphist 

 was in possession of the hut in which I had formerly 

 taken shelter. However, by the help of his chief's 

 letter of introduction to all telegraphists at th< i 

 various Caucasian stations, and thanks to my bell- 

 tent, I was soon fairly comfortable; but the next 

 morning revealed a very sad state of things. Where 

 in early autumn the bears' tracks had been as thick 

 as leaves in Yallombrosa, there was not now a 



