eal with the towns and
come in to sell their cattle and sheep and herds and so on, no doubt the
greater part of them, at any rate on this side of the frontier, speak a
certain amount of Russian. The difficulty will be to persuade them not
to give you up."

"But I can pay them more not to give me up than they can get for doing
so," Godfrey said.

"They would kill you for what you have, Godfrey. They are permitted to
kill runaways, in fact encouraged to do so, and the reward is the same
whether they are brought in dead or alive."

"I should think, Alexis, it is easier to bring in a live man than a dead
one."

"I don't know," the Russian laughed. "I don't think a Buriat would find
it very easy to take you any distance alive, but there would be no
trouble in chucking you into a cart and bringing you here after the
preliminary operation of knocking you on the head."

Godfrey smiled. "You forget there would be some preliminary trouble in
knocking me on the head, Alexis; but seriously, I don't think any
natives who have been in contact at all with civilization are disposed
to take life without some strong motive. Of course robbery would be a
motive, but I should certainly have nothing about me that a Tartar or a
Buriat--I suppose they are all something of the same thing--would covet.
You were telling me yourself that many of these people have very large
flocks and herds. Is it likely such people as these would cut a
stranger'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 all
rich."

"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 carry
their 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. Do
you mean to climb over that fence and then to stroll away to the south
with 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 shortest
road to Pekin?"

Godfrey laughed. "No, not quite that, Alexis. These clothes did very
well in St. Petersburg, and though they are all the worse for the
journey here I daresay they would pass well enough in the streets of
Irkutsk. The first thing to do will be to get some clothes, for as far
as I could see co