328 
BY THE ISTHMUS OF PERECOP, 
chap. The next anecdote relates to a circumstance 
VIII. 
i - — j which happened in the road between Kre- 
Conduct of menchuh and Ekaterinoslaf : it affords an instance 
a Courier. reraar k a k] e intrepidity in one of the Feldlcgers, 
or couriers of the Crown. A person of this 
description was journeying from Cherson to 
KremencMk, by a route much infested with 
banditti. He was cautioned against taking a 
particular road, on account of the numerous 
robberies and murders which had lately taken 
place ; and the more so, in consequence 
of a report, that some robbers were actually 
there encamped, plundering all who attempted 
to pass. Orders had been given, that, where- 
soever these banditti were found, they should 
be shot without trial. The courier proceeded on 
his journey in a pavosky', and presently he 
observed four men hastily entering a tent near 
to the road. Almost at the same instant, the 
driver of the pavosky declared that there was 
a fifth concealed in a ditch by which they 
passed ; but, as it was dusky, and the object 
not clearly discerned, they both left the pavosky 
to examine it. To their surprise and horror, 
they found the body of a man, who had been 
murdered, still warm. A light appeared within 
(l) A small four-wheeled waggon ; used, during summer, as a sub- 
stitute for the khabitka. 
