THE VILLAGE PRIEST. 155 



the men of this country better we understood 

 these thmgs ; for, in spite of the quantity of 

 game round Gebi and the much vaunted 

 prowess of the hunters of that mighty city, so 

 bad are their guns and so mdifferent their 

 shootmg, that the return of a hunter other 

 than empty-handed becomes at once one of 

 the events of the year. 



But though far from truthful, the men of 

 Radcha are hospitable souls, and having left 

 the wretched cancellaria, round which the 

 odour of Yassili's garlic still clung, we made 

 ourselves comfortable at the village priest's, 

 and received the guests who came trooping in 

 to see us there. First there was the priest 

 himself, proud possessor of the only two 

 glasses in Gebi and sole owner of a real teapot. 

 The possession of these articles alone, and his 

 knowledge of a little Russian, raised him at 

 once to a stratum of civilisation which the 

 humble men of Gebi regard with pride and 



