268 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



breakfasted. Meanwhile, in our trusting inno- 

 cence we sent on one of the Svans with the 

 bearskins to secure us a room in the village, and 

 have some bread ready and a few fowls cooked 

 by the time we arrived. Then we rested for an 

 hour, after which we showed those Svans and 

 the men of Radcha how to walk on the flat. 



Frank's spirits certainly went up as the 

 road went down, and the way he strode over 

 those downs and the snatches of song he sang 

 are things which true men of Radcha will 

 never forget. But the appetite engendered 

 by early rising, hard exercise, and a breakfast 

 of iron water and tobacco smoke was becoming 

 extremely painful. 



Before long, too, we came upon our three 

 avant-couriers calmly seated on a knoll by a 

 spring waiting for us to come up with them. 

 They had thought matters over, and come to 

 the conclusion that it would be plenty of time 

 to order breakfast when we got to Ushkul. 



