CHAPTER II. 



TCHUDOVO AND THE PRTSTAV. 



THE day was a holiday in Tchudovo. 

 We were seated on a rude bench, talking to the 

 starosta, on the afternoon of May 28. Although it 

 was neither saint's day nor Sunday, the peasants were 

 arrayed in every bit of cheap finery they possessed. 



The holiday was special. Sotniac Paishkoff, cen- 

 turion, or captain, of 100 Cossacks, started May 7, 

 1889, on one of the most remarkable horseback rides 

 that had ever been made. The greatest feat of this 

 kind heretofore known to the Russians was that of a 

 military officer a few years before, from Moscow to 

 Paris, on which ride, however, two horses were used. 

 Paishkoff's ride was from Albazinski, a station of the 

 Cossacks of the Amoor, a day's ride from the Pacific 

 coast at the mouth of the Amoor, to St. Petersburg. 

 The distance is over seven thousand versts, or about five 

 thousand miles, and the trip was made on one horse. 



Orders had therefore been sent from St. Petersburg, 

 during the latter part of Paishkoff's journey, to have 

 every attention shown him, and police escort provided 

 from day to day. A small convoy of Cossacks, from 

 the " Czarevitch's Own " Cossack regiment, were dis- 

 patched to Novgorod to escort him in to St. Peters- 

 burg, a four days' ride, and a whole regiment was to 



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