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CHAPTER XIX.

During my stay at Blagoveshchensk the governor invited me to assist at
a gazelle hunt.

At nine o'clock on the day appointed we assembled at the house of the
chief of staff. I breakfasted before going there, but it was necessary
to discuss the coming hunt over a second breakfast. Six or eight
ladies were of the party, and the affair had the general appearance of
a picnic. The governor seated me in his carriage at the side of Madame
Pedeshenk, and we led the company to the field of expected slaughter.

With four horses abreast,--two attached to a pole and two outside,--we
dashed over an excellent road leading back from the town. There were
three other carriages and two or three common wagons, in which the
occupants rode on bundles of hay. There was a little vehicle on two
wheels,--a sort of light gig with a seat for only one person,--driven
by a lady. Five or six officers were on horseback, and we had a
detachment of twenty mounted Cossacks to 'beat the bush.' Excluding
the Cossacks and drivers, there were about thirty persons in the
party. A mysterious wagon laden with boxes and kegs composed, the
baggage train. The governor explained that this wagon contained the
ammunition for the hunters. No gazelle could have looked upon those
kegs and boxes without trembling in his boots.

A range of low hills six miles from town was the spot selected for the
hunt. There were nine armed men to be stationed across this range
within shooting distance of each other. The Cossacks were to make a
circuitous route and come upon the hills two or three miles away,
where, forming a long line and making much noise, they would advance
in our direction. Any game that happened in the way would be driven to
us. We were to stand our ground with firmness and shoot any gazelle
that attacked us. I determined to fight it out on that line.

The road from Blagoveshchensk led over a birch-covered plain to the
bank of the Zeya, four miles away. We passed on the right a small
mill, which was to be replaced in the following year by a steam
flouring establishment, the first on the Amoor. On reaching the Zeya I
found a village named Astrachanka, in honor of Astrachan at the mouth
of the Volga. The settlers had lived there three or four years, and
were succeeding well in agriculture. They were of the class known as
German Mennonites, who settled on the steppes of Southern Russia at
the commencement of the present century. They a