ISO SIBERIA 



were pleased to call my venturesome winter expedi- 

 tion. One or two of my hosts had been as far as 

 Altaiskoe, which is about 50 miles from Bysk, in the 

 direction of the mountains ; they were therefore 

 interested in them. One man present proposed to 

 let me see some photographs of the glaciers which 

 Professor Sapozhnikoff had discovered, and accord- 

 ingly I called upon him. The worthies of Bysjc^were 

 careful to draw my attention to the dangers which 

 awaited me in the mountains and, by describing 

 crevasses such as they thought I had never met 

 before, they evidently expected to terrify me very 

 much, and, in fact, actually succeeded in doing so 

 with my companion. He was particularly depressed 

 when we left to come home, and went out again 

 soon after to a card-party at the local club, from 

 which he did not return until the early hours of the 

 morning. tWe had arranged to start at eight o'clock, 

 but when, at ten, I knocked at the door of his room, 

 he declared that it was his intention to turn back, as 

 he had serious objections to being killed on a 

 mountain, and, as he happened to be the eldest of 

 the family, his father could ill afford to lose him. 

 This, though reasonable enough in itself, was rather 

 disconcerting • to me, as it meant that I would be 

 left to my own resources with only a smattering of 

 the language at my disposal — by no means a 

 pleasant prospect. iWe discussed the matter for three 

 hours and, as he saw that whatever turn events might 

 take it was not my intention to return, he began to 

 show signs of giving way. I took care to point out 

 to him that the Russians would have the laugh of 

 the Englishman who was afraid. To this he retorted 

 by reminding me that every one at Bysk believed 

 that we would be risking almost certain death, either 

 from cold, or from the wolves or bears with which 

 the district was only too well supplied. vWe finally 



