by diligence the day after
our arrival. I remained four days, and, when ready to start, managed
to pick up a young Russian who was going to Nijne Novgorod. Each of us
spoke two languages, but we had no common tongue. I brushed up all the
Russian I had learned, and compelled it to perform very active
service. Before our companionship ended I was astonished to find what
an extensive business of conversation could be conducted with a
limited capital of words.

Our communications were fragmentary and sometimes obscure, but we
rarely became "hopelessly stuck." When my knowledge of spoken words
failed I had recourse to a "Manual of Russian-English conversation,"
in which there were phrases on all sorts of topics. Examining the book
at leisure one would think it abundantly fertile; but when I desired a
particular phrase it was rarely to be found. As a last resource we
tried Latin, but I could not remember a hundred words out of all my
classics.

A regular thaw had set in, and the streets were in a condition of
'slosh' that reminded me of Broadway in spring. When we left the
hotel, a crowd of attendants gathered to be remembered pecuniarily.
The yemshick tied his horses' tails in the tightest of knots to
prevent their filling with snow and water. At the western gate we
found a jam of sleds and sleighs, where we stuck for nearly half an
hour, despite the efforts of two soldier policemen. When able to
proceed we traversed a high causeway spanning the Kazanka valley and
emerged into a suburb containing a large foundry. A mosque and a
church, side by side, symbolized the harmony between Tartar and
Russian.

Passing this suburb we reached the winter station of many steamboats
and barges, among which we threaded our way. Seven versts from Kazan
we reached the bank of the Volga.

The first view of the road upon the river was not inviting. There were
many pools of surface water, and the continuous travel had worn deep
hollows in the snow and ice. Some of the pools into which our yemshick
drove appeared about as safe as a mill-pond in May. As the fellow
ought to know his route I said nothing, and let him have his own way.
We met a great many sleds carrying merchandise, and passed a train
going in our direction. One driver carelessly riding on his load was
rolled overboard, and fell sidewise into a deep mass of snow and
water. He uttered an imprecation, and rose dripping like a boiled
cabbage just lifted out of a dinner pot.

We