A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 249 



intention to our hostess as well as we could do so in 

 halting Russian ; but she, poor soul, was much dis- 

 tressed, and poured out a long explanation, of which 

 we could not understand a single word. We therefore 

 smiled and said " Thank you," and " Good-night," which 

 custom had taught us were the most intelligible words 

 of our vocabulary, and then we went down to the river- 

 side, where we made for ourselves a very comfortable 

 bed between two trunks of driftwood. The darkness 

 was never deeper than a soft twilight glow, and the 

 mysterious shining spears of the aurora horealis 

 mingled with the glamour of a night-long dawn. 

 However, we awoke with one accord at four o'clock, 

 and found that the rain was pattering down smartly. 

 We sat up and agreed sleepily that we certainly ought 

 to go indoors, and then turned round and went to sleep 

 again. Two hours after, when we awoke for good, need- 

 less to say we were very wet, but any amount of rain 

 was preferable to the air of the balagan. 



As we entered the house for shelter, we heard 

 heavy snoring from a small and noisome den which 

 opened off the porch. We pushed open the kitchen 

 door cautiously, expecting to find the floor encumbered 

 by the sleeping forms of Joseph and his friends. 

 Behold, there was no one in the room except Vassilli, 

 who lay at his ease on the settle by the stove. It 

 dawned upon us that through our mad English craving 

 for fresh air, fate had once more played into the hands 

 of our henchman. Madame Prokopchuk had taken our 

 (to her)incomprehensible conduct as an extreme symptom 

 of our distrust of the three young Siberiaks, and accord- 



