1G6 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



lio-ht of fires had broken the sohtude of the 

 place, and it was Simon's hope that this 

 peaceful state of things would induce cautious 

 old Michael to forget his usual prudence and 

 come out openly before nightfall to feed among 

 the crops. Here and there among the corn- 

 fields were little clumps of forest, or fragments 

 of dark rock, and now and again you came 

 upon patches of corn which seemed to have 

 wandered within the dark circle of the great 

 trees and become islanded and imprisoned 

 there. Here it was that we crept about with 

 most silent steps, conscious that no more 

 jfitting supper-room could be fashioned by 

 nature for our prey than these dim and silent 

 corners. 



We had just topped a long swell of corn- 

 land ; and having convinced myself, in spite 

 of the waning light, that all the charred and 

 blackened stumps which stood among the 

 corn were stumps indeed, and were not in 



