EXPEDITION TO THE ALTAI 157 



wanted to get back to his business of carting trees. 

 As we had paid his fare in advance we were at his 

 mercy. He was a curiosity in more ways than one, 

 and recalled a hot-headed Irish " jarvey " in charge 

 of a jaunting car, rather than a sluggish Russian 

 ipeasant. It was a curiosity, moreover, to see a 

 moujik inl a hurry. The fact that it was Lent troubled 

 him very little. iWie had not met with a single case 

 of breaah of the Lenten observances, but our friend 

 did excellent execution with our five pounds of butter, 

 remarking, that it was not his intention to starve him- 

 self to death as the peasants of his village had been 

 doing during the fast. .While we were having lunch 

 we were introduced to another curiosity in the shape 

 of a local policeman. This was an exceedingly harm- 

 less and timid individual. He informed us, with 

 captivating modesty, that he was the village police- 

 man, and that he was waiting for the Ispravnik of 

 Bysk, whom he had expected to arrive the previous 

 evening. He also told us that he had known we 

 were coming. I could not conceive at the time how 

 the news had got ahead of us, but I learned after- 

 wards that the chief of the police had received in- 

 structions from the Governor of Tomsk to keep an 

 eye on us and follow us to Katunda if we went so far. 

 Owing to my interpreter having let every one at the 

 club at Bysk know that we had abandoned the idea, 

 the chief evidently concluded that my projected 

 expedition had failed, and that it would be no longer 

 necessary for him to make the dreaded journey. This 

 accounted, too, for the fact that the Ispravnik at 

 Bysk had refused to give us any assistance whatever, 

 and had insisted upon it that the task was impossible 

 of accomplishment. The policeman sat near us in 

 that room of the post station with much of the air 

 of a person who was about to be led to execution, 

 or of a boy looking forward to a thrashing. The 



