SELF-INVITED GUESTS. 17 



and with these Georgi was the richest man in 

 Ushkiil, and more contented than many of 

 the sons of civilisation on 10,000/. per annum. 

 When we went back to Simon's, the bear- 

 slayer's, we found a large party gathered 

 together ; the youthful porker slain ; and in- 

 side the hut a number of wild-looking; forms 

 flitting about in the firelight, busy with the 

 preparations for the feast. It was no new 

 thmg to us to find that having bought our 

 pig at a high price, and after much haggling, 

 the very fellows who had sold it to us had 

 now invited themselves to supper to eat it. 

 No matter how big a beast you kill or buy, 

 there is never anything left for the morrow, 

 and long before morning that pig was a thing 

 of the past. How late our guests stayed I 

 don't know ; but though letter-writing on the 

 floor, with an inquisitive Svan to hold a torch 

 for you to write by, rather handicaps the pen 

 of the readiest writer, my home budget was 



VOL. II. C 



