150 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



sight. He was thus saved a row wliicli very 

 nearly ended in murder. 



Ever since he had taken that morning nip 

 at breakfast Red Shirt had been very bump- 

 tious and intractable, and now entered on a 

 very hot discussion with one of the hunters of 

 Latali anent the geography of the place whither 

 we were going. The man of Latali havmg 

 been born in the neighbourhood ventured to 

 say that as a native he ought to know more 

 about these mountains than Red Shirt. Red 

 Shirt at once losing his temper called Biasir a 

 liar, and Biasir nothmg loth returned the 

 epithet. Till then I had listened lazily, 

 only thinking the two ill-tempered fools were 

 indulgmg in that wordy war common to all 

 Eastern races, but to my horror no sooner 

 were the words out of Biasir' s moutli than 

 Red Shirt's kinjal was out of its sheath, and 

 flashing under his enemy's arm tore through 

 his shirt, missing his chest by what must 



I 



