SPRING THAW DIFFICULTIES 237 



water as it flew. I took the reins from the driver 

 and told him to run after it, and just then my friend 

 fired another shot, at which all three horses took 

 fright and bolted. I rather enjoyed the fun of it 

 and gave the horses their heads, but when they had 

 galloped about loo yards they turned in the direction 

 of the stream, and, as I had no taste for a ducking, 

 I began to pull them in. This was not by any means 

 an easy thing to do, and I was pretty well exhausted 

 when I brought them to a standstill. They had jaws 

 like iron. I made them gallop back to my com- 

 panion and the driver, who, I was pleased to find, 

 had managed to bag a good supper. With the ex- 

 ception of an occasional shot at geese and ducks 

 on the wing we had very little sport. 



iWe arrived at Ouskam in the evening. We had 

 been provided with an introduction to a friend of 

 his by the merchant at Ouemon, but, as it was dark 

 when iwe arrived and the moon had not yet come 

 out, we experienced some difficulty in finding him. 

 We succeeded at last, however, and drove trium- 

 phantly into his yard, where we were accorded a 

 noisy welcome by his numerous dogs, whose efforts 

 were presently seconded by all the other dogs in the 

 village. We knocked for about five minutes, at the 

 end of which time a peasant came into the yard and 

 informed us that the gentleman we wanted had gone 

 on a wolf-hunt with a number of the villagers, and 

 that they would be away all night. He invited us 

 to stay with him, an invitation which, needless to say, 

 we accepted with alacrity. He informed us that the 

 wolves were very numerous in the district and that 

 the villagers had been obliged, in the interests of 

 their own safety, to organise a wolf-hunt, which was 

 then in progress. Our only regret was that we had 

 arrived too late to take part in it. 



It is impressive to drive through a Siberian village 



