Beasts, Men and Gods

st place of refuge. Into the bags we packed our per

llow traveler, who called himself "Ivan," a name that meant nothing t

for a very long time,"

week, perhaps even

r the hoofs of the horses the frozen snow crunched and the balls that formed and broke from their hoofs rolled away over the crust with a sound like crackling glass. The heathcock flew from the trees very idly, hares loped slowly down the beds of summer streams. At night

ces together and then drove in a big wedge at the butt ends which separated them three or four inches. Then we p

the gold prospectors. We prospectors wandering in the woods summer and winter a

otecting fir. More branches were brought and spread on the snow under the roof, on these were placed the saddle cloths and together they made a seat for Ivan to rest

od and warm!"

bright stars and just beyond the naida raged a stinging cold, from which we were cosily defended. After this night I was no longer frightened by the cold. Frozen during the days on horseba

gars. He evaded telling me why he left Transbaikalia to come to the Yenisei. I understood from his manner that he wished to keep his own counsel and so did not press him. However, the blanket of secrecy covering this part of his mysterious life was one day quite fortuitously lifted a bit. We were already at the objective point of our trip. The whole day we had traveled with difficu

up and told me that not far from there was a small

we push on there or spen

d because it would be agreeable to spend the night under

were the remains of a shed and a cellar. We fired the stove and prepared our modest dinner. Ivan drank from the bottle inherited from the soldiers and in a short time was very eloquent, with brilliant eyes and

rat?" h

ee anything,

we were silent through long hours and consequently I was not

ch of gold and we had an agreement to divide all we got into even shares. But Gavronsky suddenly went out to the 'Taiga' on the Yenisei and disappeared. After five years we heard t

is gold. But he told nobody where. All the peasants around here know that he had a lot of mon

ut a flaming stick and, bending o

gold. It was taken out of a deep hole which they had drifted into the bank of the river and was hidden in the cellar under the shed. But Gavronsky gave no

moment, then qu

the log into the stove and flopped down on the bench

nd his whispering to himself, as he turned fr

e and on the seventh day of our journey we came to the dense ce

ly in the autumn. Before then you will not meet anyone. Also you will find many birds and beasts and a plentiful supply of nuts, so that it will b

the framework into which we interlaced the poles and branches to make a roof, finished off with stones for stability and snow for warmth. The front of the hut was ever open but was constantly protected by the guardian naida. In that snow-covered den I spent two months like summer without seeing any other human being and without touch with the outer