TROITSKY AT LAST. 27 



dangers he had run during the many seasons 

 he had hunted bears in this fashion. Once 

 only, when his snow shoes, catching in a 

 half-buried I02;, sent him divino- head first 

 into Bruin's lair on the lee side of the I02;, was 

 he in any real danger, and even then the bear 

 seems to have been as glad to part company 

 with his unwilling visitor as even that visitor 

 could wish. 



But to return to our own adventures. The 

 evening had already deepened into night, and 

 our watches, seen by the light of the last fusee, 

 told us it was nearly ten o'clock, when we 

 managed to hit upon the end of that long street 

 of irregular houses which goes by the name of 

 the village of Troitsky. But though we had 

 found Troitsky we seemed as far as ever from 

 finding shelter for the night. All the lights 

 were out, all the villagers m bed, and do what 

 we would, we could not rouse them or recog- 

 nise the hut in which Odessa sportsmen are 



