290 THROUGH RUSSIA ON A MUSTANG. 



a young peasant woman performs the functions of 

 hostler. One of the small diversions of the clay's ride 

 would be to speculate on the form these manifesta- 

 tions of fear would assume in the next girl hostler. 

 There was nothing fantastic about our appearance ; 

 we were simply strange horsemen in a country where 

 strangers are rare, and were dressed differently from 

 anybody they had ever seen. 



The consternation of the girl on opening the tall 

 gate in response to our summons, and suddenly find- 

 ing herself in the presence of a pair of the super- 

 natural beings of the popular witchcraft, often caused 

 us to laugh outright, and always provoked a smile. A 

 wild sort of fear came into her eyes, and she would 

 shrink behind the gate. The first impulse would be to 

 make the sign of the Cross, but fearful lest we, being 

 Antichrists, might take offense at this, she would 

 wait until we had passed in, when, fancying herself 

 unnoticed, the holy symbol would be furtively and 

 rapidly made. 



This sort of girl would be rooted to the spot with 

 fear. Other girls, of more robust intellects, occasion- 

 ally took to their heels, scampering away into the 

 house like wild creatures. Dur'ng our stay these 

 superstitious damsels would be in an exceedingly un- 

 comfortable frame of mind. Fearful of coming near 

 us, they were equally fearful lest their all too evident 

 reluctance to serve us might give offense and cause 

 us maliciously to " wither their souls," or bring them 

 other evil fortune. As an occasional phenomenon, we 

 would find a girl who would be neither afraid of us nor 

 of submitting to the camera. 



