166 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



friend back safely. But he was not ready to 

 start for a day or two, and Frank stoutly 

 refused to pass one hour more in Betcho than 

 he was absolutely obliged. I believe in very 

 truth he was more than half afraid that m a 

 weak moment I might again tempt him into 

 those mountain miseries he had learned so 

 thoroughly to hate. 



With some little trouble we found men 

 and horses — men, moreover, of a somewhat 

 better class than the rest — who knew Kutais 

 well, and having made them thoroughly 

 understand, at Frank's urgent request, that he 

 was to be fed e7i route three times a day at least, 

 and always to have meat at two meals out 

 of the three, we felt fairly comfortable on 

 his account, and began to look after our own 

 affairs. 



Our first difficulty appeared the most 

 serious one. For the second time we had run 

 short of money, and how we were to fill our 



