USHKUL RECTORY. 73 



existed so long as he had done in the position 

 he held when we knew him. His house was 

 built like the houses of Radcha (or most of 

 them) of a lower storey of rough stones, used 

 for the cattle or horses for the most part, and 

 above that a timber edifice with a balcony 

 outside, approached by a rough external 

 ladder. 



As we got off our horses, and scrambled 

 down the hill to his house, the priest and 

 Platon came to meet us, and give us a cheery 

 welcome — a welcome which perhaps lost just a 

 little of its effusiveness when it became 

 apparent that we brought no meat with us, 

 except such scraps as might still be clinging 

 to the hide of Frank's mountain kid. The 

 priest was the biggest man we had yet seen, 

 and stood, I should think, a good six feet 

 four or five in his leather socks, and was, 

 moreover, an extremely heavily-built man 

 even for his height. 



