206 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



porridge whicli we produced, served only to 

 stamp more decidedly our friend Deto as a 

 man of appetite invincible. Even he, though 

 he shovelled it down manfully, remarked from 

 tune to time that he thought it would have 

 been very good without the currants. 



Meanwhile, where was Platon ? Day 

 after day we scanned the crest of the ridge 

 above us, but no vision of a dh*ty white 

 iLcherkesska rewarded our investigations. Had 

 he indeed gone off smiling with our thirty 

 pounds in his pocket, and should we never see 

 his hungry-looking face again ? It began to 

 look extremely probable. 



We had rigged up our tent on the piece 

 of ground most nearly level within reach of 

 our camp, and though that was on such a 

 slope that Frank, who had taken the lower 

 side, had to be kept in by a kind of earth- 

 work, so great was his power of sleeping that 

 he got through the night very comfortably. 



