212 THROUGH RUSSIA ON A MUSTANG. 



feather. " It's all right now," he said ; " they only want 

 money to pay for stamps to put on the documents the 

 Governor will give us." I gave him the money for the 

 stamps. In an hour he turned up again, slightly crest- 

 fallen. 



More money for more stamps. 



This time I returned with him, and the upshot of it 

 all was that after paying twice over for the stamps — 

 three rubles and twenty kopecks — we received a couple 

 of papers without any stamps on them at all and an 

 order that I would not be allowed to proceed unless I 

 sent my Kamaret back to Moscow. I took a firm 

 stand, however, on the question of the camera, and 

 told the Governor I should take it with me and he 

 could do as he pleased about stopping me and taking 

 it away on his own responsibility. 



Responsibility is a capital word to conjure with in 

 any trouble with Russian officers, for they dread the 

 assumption of it worse than anything else on earth. 

 As for telegraphing to America, the gentlemanly 

 Governor begged that I would not do him the injus- 

 tice to suppose that such a thing were necessary in 

 connection with our visit to his province ; he was only 

 too delighted to facilitate my movements, though he 

 would prefer that I send away my camera. The Gov- 

 ernor of the Crimea, however, he felt sure, would 

 refuse to let us proceed, and there it might be neces- 

 sary to telegraph. 



During our visits to the Gubernatorial offices we 

 were once unwittingly left in a room by ourselves, on 

 the table of which lay a number of documents. They 

 were reports that had been brought in that morning by 



