70 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



find in this half-built and deserted place, half 

 a day's march from any other habitation, quite 

 a fine lot of fowls and an abundance of rustic 

 tools left to take care of themselves. But 

 towards one another the Svans are marvel- 

 lously honest, and though many a tired and 

 starving Svan camps at this hut for the night, 

 it never occurs to him to help himself to 

 the tools or kill a fowl and say the foxes 

 did it. 



Next day, Sunday, we sneaked back into 

 Ushkul, crestfallen and hungry, to find Platon 

 installed in the priest's house in the first of 

 the hamlets of Mookmer, where we hastened 

 to join him. 



My thoughts were gloomy ones as I lay 

 resting on the priest's floor that night, for I 

 had done all I knew to deserve success, and 

 my tur's head was still as distant as ever. As 

 for Frank, I dare not for the present mention 

 the detested beast in his hearing. All I could 



