186 THE GOLIEVSKI ISLANDS 



thought of the probable vicinity of the nests, the discovery 

 of which had been one of the strong motives of our 

 journey, excited us so much that we did not go to bed, 

 but spent the night plotting and planning the possibilities 

 of getting to Dvoinik again. There were difficulties in 

 the way. Unluckily for us the company's manager was 

 a very impracticable man. It was his first year in office ; 

 he was young, inexperienced, and comparatively un- 

 educated. For the nonce he was absolute monarch of 

 Alexievka, and the absoluteness of his power was too 

 much for him. A German from Revel, he had yet so 

 much of the Russian in him that, when scratched, the 

 Tartar would out. He was very unpopular, and one 

 glimpse behind the scenes revealed to us rebellion 

 "looming in the distance." There were allowances to 

 be made for the man. No gentleman would come to 

 such a place as Alexievka, or face the existing muddle, 

 for the sake of the miserable pay " la pauvre compagnie," 

 as Cocksure calls it, gives. The Provalychik had a 

 plentiful crop of cares under his crown. So far as we 

 could see he was plotting and being plotted against. He 

 was not backed up by the Bureau at St. Petersburg. His 

 domestic affairs looked ugly, and amongst his subordinates 

 he had scarcely one reliable man he could trust. The 

 whole situation was a specimen of what the Germans call 

 " Russische Wirthschaft." We knew the man could 

 render us an invaluable service without exposing the 

 company to the slightest loss, but as yet we had not 

 been able to make him see with our eyes. We longed 

 for the arrival of Sideroff, fearing, however, he would 

 come too late. Meanwhile we tried to work the oracle, 

 and had not yet given up the task in despair. 



Whether the birds that I had seen in flocks on the 

 tundra were those of the year before or not continued a 



