CHAPTER VI.
AN ESCAPE.
The evenings were spent principally in conversations about Siberia,Godfrey being eager to learn everything that he could about itsgeography and peoples.
Alexis told him all he knew as to the mountains and rivers, the variousnative tribes, the districts where the villages were comparativelynumerous, and the mighty forests that, stretching away to the ArcticSea, could hardly be said to be explored. Books and paper were forbiddento the political prisoners, and so strict were the regulations that thewarders would not under any considerations bring them in. But Godfreywrote all the particulars that he judged might in any way be useful witha burnt piece of stick upon the table as Alexis gave them, and thenlearned them by heart, washing them off after he had done so.
But few of the details Alexis could give him would be of any use in theattempt he first intended to make. The southern frontier was sotemptingly close that it seemed absurd to turn from that and to attempta tremendous journey north, involving the certainty of having tostruggle through an Arctic winter, and to face the difficulties of thepassage west, either by land or sea. Beyond the fact that from Irkutskhe would have to make for the southern point of Lake Baikal, some sixtymiles away, and then strike about south-east for another two hundredthrough a country inhabited almost entirely by Buriats, the doctor couldtell him little.
"Kiakhta," he said, "or rather, as far as the Russians are concerned,Troitzkosavsk, which is a sort of suburb of Kiakhta, is the frontiertown. Kiakhta is a sort of neutral town inhabited only by merchants, andby a treaty between Russia and China no officer or stranger is allowedto sleep there. Across the frontier, a few miles away, is the Chinese,or I suppose I should say the Mongol, town of Maimatchin. Beyond thefact that the people about there are Mongols rather than Chinese, andthat such religion as they have is that of Thibet rather than China, fortheir priests are called lamas, I know nothing except that the caravanroute from Kiakhta to Pekin is somewhere about a thousand miles, andthat the camels do it in about thirty-five days."
"Then they make about thirty miles a day," Godfrey said. "I supposethere must be wells at their halting-places."
"Ah! that is another matter, Godfrey. You see a camel can go three dayswithout water easily enough, and of course they would carry skins ofwater for the travellers."
"Oh, that is no odds," Godfrey said. "One could walk the ninety mileseasily enough in three days, and there would be no difficulty incarrying water enough for that time. Besides, one would of course join acaravan if one could. Luckily enough I had two hundred roubles in noteswhen I was captured, and they restored them as well as my watch andother things when I started. I suppose the Mongols are just as fond ofmoney as other people. The Chinese are, certainly, and I might get someChinese tea-merchant to let me go in his train for a consideration."
The Russian laughed. "'Pon my word, Godfrey, I begin to think you willdo it."
"There can't be anything impossible in doing it," Godfrey said. "Why,did not Burton disguise himself and go with a caravan to Mecca and visitthe holy places, and that was twenty times as difficult and dangerous.Going along the caravan route of course the difficulty is the languageand the Buriats. If one could talk Mongol, or whatever the fellows calltheir language, it would be easy sailing; but I own that it is adifficult thing to get along and explain what you want with people whocannot understand a word you say. I suppose the Buriats speak Russian."
"I should say that a great many of them do, Godfrey. I know there aremissionaries and schools among them, and some of them live in settledvillages, though they are so wedded to their own wandering life thatthey build their houses on the exact model of their tents, with a holein the roof to let the smoke out. Still, as they deal with the towns andcome in to sell their cattle and sheep and herds and so on, no doubt thegreater part of them, at any rate on this side of the frontier, speak acertain amount of Russian. The difficulty will be to persuade them notto give you up."
"But I can pay them more not to give me up than they can get for doingso," Godfrey said.
"They would kill you for what you have, Godfrey. They are permitted tokill runaways, in fact encouraged to do so, and the reward is the samewhether they are brought in dead or alive."
"I should think, Alexis, it is easier to bring in a live man than a deadone."
"I don't know," the Russian laughed. "I don't think a Buriat would findit very easy to take you any distance alive, but there would be notrouble in chucking you into a cart and bringing you here after thepreliminary operation of knocking you on the head."
Godfrey smiled. "You forget there would be some preliminary trouble inknocking me on the head, Alexis; but seriously, I don't think anynatives who have been in contact at all with civilization are disposedto take life without some strong motive. Of course robbery would be amotive, but I should certainly have nothing about me that a Tartar or aBuriat--I suppose they are all something of the same thing--would covet.You were telling me yourself that many of these people have very largeflocks and herds. Is it likely such people as these would cut astranger's throat on the chance of finding a few roubles in his pocket?"
"Well, one would think not, Godfrey; but of course they are not allrich."
"No; they may not be rich, but you say they are always nomads. Well,people who are nomads must always have some sort of animals to carrytheir tents, and a certain amount, anyhow, of cattle, horses, or sheep.No, I don't at all believe in cutting throats without a motive."
"But let us understand a little more about your intentions, Godfrey. Doyou mean to climb over that fence and then to stroll away to the southwith your hands in your pockets and your hat on one side of your head,and to ask the first man you come upon to direct you to the shortestroad to Pekin?"
Godfrey laughed. "No, not quite that, Alexis. These clothes did verywell in St. Petersburg, and though they are all the worse for thejourney here I daresay they would pass well enough in the streets ofIrkutsk. The first thing to do will be to get some clothes, for as faras I could see coming along the natives all dress a good deal like theRussians. I suppose in winter they wrap up more in furs, or they maywear their furs differently, but any sort of peasant dress would do, asit would not excite attention, while this tweed suit would be singulareven in the streets here."
"That fur-lined great-coat would be all right, Godfrey."
"Yes. I bought that at St. Petersburg. I don't know that it would govery well with a peasant's dress, and it is certainly not suitable forthe time of year, though I shall take it with me if I can. If I couldroll it up and carry it as a knapsack it would be first rate forsleeping in, besides it might do as something to exchange when one getsto places where money is of little use. If I can get hold of a pistolanyhow I shall be glad. A pistol will always produce civility if onemeets only one or two men. The other things I should want are a box ofmatches for making fires, a good knife, or better still, a small axe,for chopping wood, and a bottle or skin for holding water."
"You will be seized and sent back in a week, Godfrey."
"Very well, then, there will be no harm done. I regard this as a sort ofpreliminary investigation. I shall ascertain the difficulties of travelin Siberia, and shall learn lessons for next time. I believe myself thetrue way is to strike one of the great rivers, to build or steal a boat,to go down in it to the Arctic Sea, and then to coast along until onegets to Norway; but that is a big affair, and besides it is a great dealtoo late in the year for it. When I attempt that I shall make off asearly in the spring as possible."
"Remember you may be flogged when you are caught, Godfrey."
"Well, I shouldn't like to be flogged, but as you say the convicts don'tthink much of it, I suppose I could bear it. They used to flog in ourarmy and navy till quite lately."
"It is a dishonour," Alexis exclaimed passionately.
Godfrey shrugged his shoulders.
"The dishonour lies in the crime and not in the punishment," he said."At our great public schools in England fellows are
flogged. Well, thereis no disgrace in it if it's only for breaking the rules or anything ofthat sort, but it would be a horrible dishonour if it were for thieving.All that sort of thing is absurd. I believe flogging is the bestpunishment there is. It is a lot better to give a man a couple of dozenand send him about his business, than it is to keep him for a year inprison at the public expense, and to have to maintain his wife andchildren also at the public expense while he is there. Besides, Ithought you said the other day that they did not flog politicalprisoners."
"Well, they don't, at least not at any of the large prisons; but in someof the small establishments, with perhaps a brutal drunken captain ormajor as governor, no doubt it may be done sometimes."
"Well, I will take my chance of it."
"And when do you think of starting?" Alexis asked after a pause.
"Directly. I have only to decide how I am to get out after the door islocked, and to make a rope of some sort to climb the fence with. Theblankets tied together will do for that. As to the getting out there isno difficulty. One only has to throw a blanket over that cross beam, getup on that, and get off one of the lining boards, displace a few tiles,crawl through."
"I have half a mind to go with you, Godfrey."
"Have you, Alexis? I should be awfully glad, but at the same time Iwould not say a word to persuade you to do it. You know I make light ofit, but I know very well that there will be some danger and a tremendouslot of hardship to be gone through."
"I don't think I am afraid of that, Godfrey," Alexis said seriously. "Itis not that I have been thinking of ever since you began to talk to meof getting away. I consider it is a hundred to one against success; but,as you say, if we fail and get brought back no great harm is done. If weget killed or die of hunger and thirst, again no harm is done, forcertainly life is not a thing to cling to when one is a prisoner inSiberia; but it is not that. You see I am differently situated to you.If you do succeed in getting away you go home, and you are all right; ifI succeed in getting away what is to become of me? I speak Russian andGerman, but there would be no return for me to Russia unless some daywhen a new Czar ascends the throne, or on some such occasion, when ageneral amnesty is granted; but even that would hardly extend topolitical prisoners. What am I to do? So far as I can see I mightstarve, and after all one might almost as well remain here as starve inPekin or in some Chinese port. Granted that I could work my way back toEurope on board ship, what should I do if I landed at Marseilles orLiverpool? I could not go through the streets shouting in German 'I am adoctor, who wants to be cured?'"
"No, Alexis," Godfrey agreed, "you could not well do that; but I willtell you what you could do. Of course at the first place I get to, wherethere is a telegraph to England, I will send a message to my father tocable to some firm there to let me have what money I require. Very well.Then, of course, you would go home with me to England, and there is onething I could promise you, and that is a post in my father's office. Youknow we trade with Russia, and though our correspondence is generallycarried on in German, I am quite sure that my father would, after youhad been my companion on such a journey as that we propose, make aberth for you in the office to undertake correspondence in Russian andGerman, and that he would pay a salary quite sufficient for you to livein comfort; or if you would rather, I am sure that he would find youmeans for going out and settling, say in the United States, in the partwhere German is the general language."
"Then in that case, Godfrey," the Russian said, shaking his hand warmly,"I am your man. I think I should have gone with you anyhow; but what youhave said quite decides me. Now, then, what is our first proceeding?"
Godfrey laughed.
"I should say to take an inventory of our belongings, Alexis, or ratherof your belongings, for mine are very briefly described. Two hundredroubles in notes, a watch, a pocket-knife, the suit of clothes I standup in, half a dozen pairs of socks, and three flannel shirts I bought onthe way, one great-coat lined with fur; I think that is about all. It isa very small share. Yours are much more numerous."
"More numerous, but not much more useful," Alexis said. "They let mebring one large portmanteau of clothes, but as I can't carry that awayon my shoulders it is of very little use. All I can take in that way isa suit of clothes and a spare flannel shirt or two, and some socks. Ihave got two cases of surgical instruments. I will take a few of themost useful and some other things, a pair of forceps for instance. Wemay come across a Tartar with a raging tooth, and make him our friendfor ever by extracting it, and I will put a bandage or two and someplaster in my pocket. They are things one ought always to carry, for oneis always liable to get a hurt or a sprain. As to money, I have ahundred and twenty roubles; they are all in silver. I changed my paperat Tobolsk, thinking that silver would be more handy here. Unfortunatelythey took away my pistol, but a couple of amputating knives will makegood weapons. I have got a leather waistcoat, which I will cut up andmake from it a couple of sheaths. Of course I have got fur cloaks, oneof them a very handsome one. I will take that and another. There oughtto be no difficulty whatever in getting some one to give us twopeasants' dresses in exchange for that coat, for all these people knowsomething of the value of furs."
"Yes, and if you can get a gun and some ammunition thrown into thebargain, Alexis, it will be most useful, for we may have to depend uponwhat we shoot sometimes."
"Yes, that would be a great addition, Godfrey. Well, we will set aboutmaking the sheaths at once. I have got a store of needles and stoutthread."
"They will be useful to take with us," Godfrey said, "not only formending our clothes, if we want it, but for exchange. Women have to sewall over the world, and even the most savage people can appreciate theadvantage of a good needle."
"That is so, Godfrey. I have got a packet of capital surgical needles,and some silk. I will put them in with the others; they won't take upmuch room. Well, shall we start to-morrow night?"
"I think we had better wait for two or three days," Godfrey said. "Wemust save up some of our food."
"Yes, we shall want some bread," Alexis agreed. "We can't well get thatin through the warders, it would look suspicious, but I will get in somemeat through them. We have got some of the last lot left, so we can dowith very little bread."
For the next two days they found plenty to occupy them, while theirstock of bread was accumulating. One of the Russian's coats was cut upand made into two bags like haversacks, with a band to pass over theshoulder, for carrying their belongings. Straps were make of the clothfor fastening the great-coats knapsack fashion. They agreed that howeverlong they might have to wait they must choose a stormy night for theirflight, as otherwise they could hardly break through the roof and scalethe fence without being heard by the sentries who kept watch night andday. They were eager to be off, for it was already the end of July, andthe winter would be severe in the country over which they had to travel.On the fourth day a heavy rain set in, and in the evening it began toblow hard.
"Now is our time," Godfrey said; "nothing could have been better."
They had already loosened two of the lining boards of the roof, and assoon as they had been locked up for the night they removed thesealtogether. They packed their haversacks with the articles they hadagreed to take, with six pounds of bread each and some meat, rolled fourblankets up and knotted them tightly together, strapped up the threefur-lined cloaks, and placed the knives in their belts. Then withoutmuch difficulty they prised up one of the thick planks with which thehut was roofed. Godfrey got through the opening, and Alexis passed outto him the haversacks and coats, and then joined him, and they slid downthe roof and dropped to the ground.
The paling was but twenty yards behind the huts. As soon as they reachedit Godfrey climbed upon his companion's shoulders, threw the loop of adoubled rope over one of the palisades and climbed on to the top. Thenwith the rope he pulled up the coats and haversacks and dropped themoutside. Alexis pulled himself up by the rope; this was then dropped onthe outside and he slid down by it. Godfrey shifted
the rope on to thepoint of one of the palings, so that it could be easily shaken off frombelow, and then slipped down it. The rope shaken off and two of theblankets opened, the haversacks hung over their shoulders, and thegreat-coats strapped on, each put one of the twisted blankets over hisshoulder, scarf fashion, wrapped the other round as a cloak, and thenset out on their way. Fortunately the prison lay on the south side ofthe town and at a distance of half a mile from it; and as their courseto the extremity of Lake Baikal lay almost due south, they were able tostrike right across the country.
The wind was from the north, and they had therefore only to keep theirbacks to it to follow the right direction. It was half-past ten whenthey started, for the nights were short, and had it not been that thesky was covered with clouds and the air thick with rain, it would nothave been dark enough for them to make the attempt until an hour later.By three o'clock it was light again, but they knew there was littlechance of their escape being discovered until the warders came to unlockthe hut at six in the morning, as the planks they had removed from theroof were at the back of the hut, and therefore invisible to thesentries.
"No doubt they will send a few mounted Cossacks out to search for us, aswe are political prisoners," Alexis said; "but we may calculate it willbe seven o'clock before they set out, and as this is the very lastdirection they will imagine we have taken we need not trouble ourselvesabout them; besides, we shall soon be getting into wooded country. Ibelieve it is all wood round the lower end of the lake, and we shall bequite out of the way of traffic, for everything going east from Irkutskis taken across the lake by steamer."
After twelve hours' walking, with only one halt of half an hour forrefreshment, they reached the edge of the forest, and after again makinga hearty meal of their bread and cold meat, and taking each a sip from abottle containing cold tea, they lay down and slept until late in theafternoon.
"Well, we have accomplished so much satisfactorily," Alexis said. "Nowwe have to keep on to Kaltuk, at the extreme south-western point of thelake. It is a very small place, I believe, and that is where we must getwhat we want. We shall be there by the evening. We shall be just right,as it wouldn't do for us to go in until it is pretty nearly dark. Aplace of that sort is sure to have a store where they sell clothes andother things, and trade with the people round."
They struck the lake a mile or two from its extremity, and following ituntil they could see the roofs of the houses lay down for an hour untilit should be dark enough to enter.
"We had better put on our fur coats," Alexis said. "The people all wearlong coats of some fashion or other, and in the dusk we shall pass wellenough."
It was a village containing some fifty or sixty houses, for the mostpart the tent-like structures of the Buriats. They met no one in thestreet, and kept on until they saw a light in a window of a house largerthan any others, and looking in saw that it was the place for which theywere in search. Opening the door they went in and closed it behind them.A man came out from the room behind the shop. He stopped for a moment atseeing two strangers, then advanced with a suspicious look on his face.
"Do you want a bargain?" Alexis asked him abruptly.
"I have little money to buy with," he said sullenly.
"That matters little, for we will take it out in goods."
The man hesitated. Alexis drew out the long keen amputating knife. "Lookhere," he said. "We are not to be fooled with. You may guess what we areor not; it is nothing to us and nothing to you. We want some of yourgoods, and are ready to give you good exchange for them; we are notrobbers. Here is this coat; look at it; it is almost unworn. I have usedit only one winter. You can see it is lined with real sable, and it costme three hundred roubles. At any rate, it is worth a hundred to you,even if you take out the lining, sell the skins separately, and burn thecoat. Examine it for yourself."
The shopkeeper did so. "They are good skins," he said, and Alexis couldsee that he quite appreciated their value.
"Now," Alexis said, "I want two peasant dresses complete, coat,trousers, high boots, and caps. What do you charge for them?"
"Twenty roubles each suit."
"Very well. Pick two suits the right size for us, and lay them down onthe counter. Now we want two pounds of brick-tea and two pounds oftobacco. We want two skins that will each hold a gallon or a gallon anda half of water, and a tin pot that will hold a quart, and two tindrinking mugs. We want a gun and ammunition; it need not be a new one. Isee you have got half a dozen standing over there in the corner. What doyou charge your customers for those? I see they are all old singlebarrels and flint-locks."
"I charge fifteen roubles a piece."
"Well we will take two of them, and we want two pounds of powder and sixpounds of shot, and a couple of dozen bullets. Now add that up and seehow much it comes to."
"Ninety-two roubles," the man said.
"Well, I tell you what. I will give you this cloak and twelve paperroubles for them. I don't suppose the goods cost you fifty at theoutside, and you will get at least a hundred for the skins alone."
"I will take it," the man said. "I take it because I cannot help it."
"You take it because you are making an excellent bargain," Alexis saidfiercely. "Now, mind, if you give the alarm when we have gone it will beworse for you. They won't catch us; but you will see your house on fireover your head before the week is past."
Godfrey placed a ten-rouble note and two one-rouble notes on the table;they gathered up their goods and made them into a bundle, carefullyloaded their guns, and put the powder and shot into their haversacks.Then Alexis lifted the bundle, and shouldering the guns they left theshop.
"Will he give the alarm, do you think?" Godfrey asked.
"Not he. He is thoroughly well satisfied. I daresay he will get ahundred and fifty roubles for the coat; besides, he knows that escapedconvicts are desperate men, and that we should be likely to execute mythreat. Besides, I don't suppose he would venture to stir out. Foraught he knows we may be waiting just outside the shop to see what hedoes, and he will fear that he might get that hungry-looking knife intohim if he came out to raise the alarm."
All was quiet, and they were soon beyond the limits of the village, andstruck out for the country.
They held on for two or three miles, filled their water-skins at alittle stream running towards the lake, and then entering a wood pushedon for some little distance, lighted a fire, and made themselves sometea.
"We are fairly off now, Godfrey. We have become what they callwanderers, and should be safe enough among the Russian peasants, most ofwhom have been convicts in their time, in the villages north, for theyare always willing enough to help men who have taken to the woods. Well,except in the villages, of which there are few enough about here, we arenot likely to come upon them. From here to the frontier are Buriats, andindeed beyond the frontier. However as we have both got guns, we neednot be afraid of any small party. Of course some of them have guns too;but I don't suppose they will be fools enough to risk throwing theirlives away for nothing. At any rate there is one comfort. There isnothing to show that we are political prisoners now. We might be honestpeasants if it were not for these confounded heads of hair."
"I should think," Godfrey said, "we had better get rid of our hairaltogether. It will be some time before it grows, but anything will bebetter than it is now."
"We have got no scissors, Godfrey, and we have no soap. If we had, thoseknives of ours are sharp enough to shave with."
"We can singe it off," Godfrey said. "Not now, but in the morning whenwe can see. I will do it for you, and you can do it for me. I wouldrather be bald-headed altogether than be such a figure as I am now."
Accordingly in the morning they singed off their hair with red-hotbrands, then they changed their clothes for those they had obtained thenight before, folded up their great-coats, divided the tea, tobacco, andthe greater part of the powder and shot between them, put a portion intheir haversacks, and rolled the rest up in the coats, then strappedthese to their
shoulders and started on their way.
"Now I feel ready for anything," Alexis said as they tramped along. "Wehave no weight to speak of to carry, and we have means of getting a mealoccasionally. Now if we keep a little west of south we shall strike theSelenga river, which runs through Maimatchin, and then we shall be inChina. We shall have to avoid the town, because I know there is a treatybetween Russia and China about sending back exiles who cross thefrontier. Still, when we get there we are at the starting-place of thecaravans."
"Is it a desert the whole distance?"
"No. The first part is a mountainous country with two or three rivers tocross. I don't think the real desert is more than eight or ten days'march across. We shall certainly have no difficulty about water for sometime to come. There are plenty of squirrels in these woods; at least Iexpect so, for they abound in all the forests. We must knock some ofthem over if we can. I believe they are not bad eating, though I nevertried one. Then by the streams we ought to be able to pick up some wildduck, though of course at this time of year the greater portion of themare far north. Still I have great hopes we shall be able to keepourselves in food with the assistance of what we may be able to buyoccasionally. I think the only thing we have got to fear at this part ofour journey is the Buriats. The thing I am really afraid of is thegetting into China. I don't mean the frontier here; this is Mongolia,and it is only nominally Chinese; but when we get across the desert andenter China itself, I tell you frankly I don't see our way. We neitherof us can speak a word of the language. We have no papers, and we may bearrested and shut up as suspicious vagabonds. There is one thing; atKalgan, which is close to the Great Wall, there are Russian traders, andI should go boldly to them and ask their help. Russians out of Russiaare sure to be liberal, though they may not dare to be so when they areat home, and I feel sure they would help us when we tell them our story,if we can only get at them. However we need not trouble ourselves muchabout that at present."
Once beyond the forest they were in an undulating country, the hillssometimes rising to a considerable height. Occasionally they saw in thedistance encampments of natives, with sheep, cattle, and horses inconsiderable numbers. They kept clear of these, although occasionallythey had to make wide detours to do so. Time was no object to them, andthey made but short journeys, for the Russian, who had never beenaccustomed to walk long distances, had blistered both his feet badly onthe first night's journey, and the subsequent travelling had added tothe inflammation. On the fourth evening they halted for the night on alittle rivulet, after making only five or six miles.
"It is no use, Alexis," Godfrey said; "we must stop here until your feetare quite well. We shall gain by it rather than lose, for when you arequite right again we could do our five-and-twenty or thirty miles a dayeasily, and might do forty at a push; but your feet will never get wellif you go on walking, and it makes your journey a perfect penance; so Ivote we establish ourselves here for three or four days. There is waterand wood, and I dare say I shall be able to shoot something--at any rateyou can't go on as you are now."
"It is horribly annoying," Alexis said, "to be knocked up like this justat the start."
"But it makes no difference," Godfrey urged. "We are not due at Pekin onany given day. It is very pleasant out here, where one can enjoy one'sfreedom and exult that there is no policeman or Cossack watching everymovement. It would make no difference to me if we stopped here for amonth. Now let me pull those boots off for you, then you can sit withyour feet in this little pool."
"Warm water would be better, Godfrey. If you will get the kettle to boilI will dip my two flannel shirts in and wrap them round and keep on atthat. That will be better than cold water."
"All right! I will soon get a fire alight. By Jove, they are bad!" heexclaimed, as Alexis pulled off his stocking. "They must have beenhurting you desperately. Why did you not say how bad they were two daysago? We might as well have stopped then as now."
"I hoped they would have got better when I put on these big bootsinstead of those I started with. But I did not think they were as bad asthey are. I am afraid this is going to be a troublesome business,Godfrey."
"Well, it can't be helped," Godfrey said cheerfully. "At any rate, don'tworry on my account."
The Russian's feet were indeed greatly swollen and inflamed. The skinhad been rubbed off in several places, and the wounds had an angry look,their edges being a fiery red, which extended for some distance roundthem.
"Well, you have plenty of pluck, Alexis, or you never could have gone onwalking with such feet as those. I am sure I could not have done so."
"We thought over most difficulties, Godfrey, that we might possibly haveto encounter, but not of this."
"No, we did not think of it, though we might really have calculated uponit. After being three or four months without walking twenty yards it isonly natural one's feet should go at first. We ought to have broughtsome soap with us--I do not mean for washing, though we ought to havebrought it for that--but for soaping the inside of our stockings. Thatis a first-rate dodge to prevent feet from blistering. Well, I must seeabout the fire. I will go up to those trees on the hillside. Idaresay I shall be able to find some sticks there for lighting it. Thesebushes round here will do well enough when it is once fairly burning,but we shall have a great trouble to get them to light to begin with."
A SUPPER OF ROASTED SQUIRRELS.]
In half an hour he was back with a large faggot.
"It is lucky," he said, "there is a fallen tree. So we shall have nodifficulty about firewood. We ought to have brought a hatchet when wegot the other things. These knives are first-rate for cutting meat andthat sort of thing, but they are of no use for rough work. My old knifeis better."
While he was talking he was engaged in cutting some shavings off thesticks. Then he split up another into somewhat larger pieces, and layingthem over the shavings, struck a match, and applied it. The flame shotup brightly, and in five minutes there was an excellent fire, on whichthe kettle was placed.
"We had better have our dinner first, Godfrey. Then I can go on steadilywith these fomentations while you take your gun and look round."
"Perhaps that will be the best way," Godfrey said. "We have nothing leftbut six squirrels. We finished the last piece of bread this morning andthe meat last night. How had we better do these squirrels?"
"I will skin them, Godfrey, while you are seeing to the fire. Then wewill spit them on a ramrod, and I will hold them in the flame."
"I think we can manage better than that," Godfrey said, and he went tothe bushes and cut two sticks of a foot long with a fork at one end. Hestuck these in the ground, on the opposite sides of the fire. "There,"he said, "you can lay the ramrod on these forks, and all you have got todo is to give it a turn occasionally."
"How long do you suppose these things want cooking?"
"Not above five minutes, I should think. I know that a steak only takesabout eight minutes before a good fire, and these little beggars are nothalf the thickness of a steak. They are beginning to frizzle already,and the water is just on the boil."
The squirrels were pronounced very good eating. When the meal was overGodfrey filled the kettle again and gave it to Alexis, and then, takinghis gun, started down the valley. He was away three hours, and broughtback twenty birds of various sorts, but for the most part small.
"No very great sport," he said as he emptied his haversack. "However,they will do for breakfast, and I may have better luck to-morrow. Thereare some fish in the pools, but I do not see how we are to get them. Isaw one spring out of the water; it must have weighed a couple ofpounds."
"You might shoot them, Godfrey, if you could find a place where the bankis pretty high so as to look down on the water."
"So I could; I did not think of that. I must try to-morrow."
"If it hadn't been for my feet," Alexis said, "we should have been downon the Selenga to-morrow, and we had calculated on being able to buyfood at one of the villages there."
"We shall be
able to hold on here," Godfrey said, "for a few days, and Iexpect that one day's good tramp, when your feet are better, will takeus there. After that we ought to have no great difficulty till we getdown near the desert."