33 2 THROUGH RUSSIA ON A MUSTANG. 



village for their opinion before bringing us the 

 change." 



"Well, the change is only thirty kopecks, we will 

 not wait any longer; the cool of the morning will be 

 frittered away." 



" That must not be either," returned my companion, 

 " or they will conclude at once that the bill is a bad 

 one." 



A curious phase of this particular suspicion was that 

 the length of time we were kept waiting was in pro- 

 portion to the denomination of the suspected bill. If 

 it were only a two-ruble note, our suspicious host 

 evidently would content himself with submitting it to 

 the verdict of two or three other capable financiers, 

 and would keep us waiting only ten or fifteen minutes. 

 If a five-ruble note, however, he would take extraordi- 

 nary precautions, probably getting the opinion of half 

 the experts in the village, resulting in most exasperating 

 delay for his guests. 



Of the suspicions of the provincial police it is suffi- 

 cient to say here that they assumed every conceivable 

 form that the Russian mind could invent in connection 

 with the appearance of a couple of strangers traveling 

 in an extrordinary manner. 



In Malo Russia the suspicions of the people multi- 

 plied, owing to a more polyglot population. In the 

 North the villagers were all Orthodox Russians ; in 

 the South there is a mixed population of Russians, 

 German colonists, Jews, Malo Russians, Cossacks, 

 etc. There the Orthodox would suspect me of 

 being a Molokani, or Stundist propagandist, with 

 whom it would be dangerous to associate, and the 



