128 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



of many patches, whose face, rags, and rifle all 

 proclaimed him shepherd and sportsman per- 

 haps, but certainly sportsman. He was the 

 genius of the place, the man to whom each 

 quaint branch shanty belonged, who had 

 made the camp under the pine we had passed 

 en route, who had lived and hunted here so 

 much that the men of Gebi had almost got 

 to look on Keerteesho as Simon's property. 

 And he was no bad lord of such a wild domain. 

 Tall and light built, with a steady blue eye 

 that looked you straight in the face, his long 

 lithe limbs seemed as if there was no crag in 

 the mountains round to which they could not 

 bear their owner. And his reputation matched 

 his looks. In all Radcha there is no hunter 

 like the hunter of Keerteesho, and Simon 

 is his name ; and I may add here that though 

 he had a few faults, like other men, he was 

 the finest Caucasian peasant I ever saw, and the 

 best servant and friend we met in our travels. 



