f fifteen or twenty Koraks who
had constituted themselves a sort of supervisory committee to watch
our motions, we returned to the spot where the representatives of
civilisation and barbarism were conducting their negotiations. They
had apparently come to an amicable understanding; for, upon our
approach, a tall native with shaven head stepped out from the throng,
and leading the way to the largest tent, lifted a curtain of skin and
revealed a dark hole about two feet and a half in diameter, which he
motioned to us to enter.

Now, if there was any branch of Viushin's Siberian education upon
which he especially prided himself, it was his proficiency in crawling
into small holes. Persevering practice had given him a flexibility of
back and a peculiar sinuosity of movement which we might admire but
could not imitate; and although the distinction was not perhaps an
altogether desirable one, he was invariably selected to explore all
the dark holes and underground passages (miscalled doors) which came
in our way. This seemed to be one of the most peculiar of the many
different styles of entrance which we had observed; but Viushin,
assuming as an axiom that no part of his body could be greater than
the (w)hole, dropped into a horizontal position, and requesting Dodd
to give his feet an initial shove, crawled cautiously in. A few
seconds of breathless silence succeeded his disappearance, when,
supposing that all must be right, I put my head into the hole and
crawled warily after him. The darkness was profound; but, guided by
Viushin's breathing, I was making very fair progress, when suddenly
a savage snarl and a startling yell came out of the gloom in front,
followed instantly by the most substantial part of Viushin's body,
which struck me with the force of a battering-ram on the top of the
head, and caused me, with the liveliest apprehensions of ambuscade
and massacre, to back precipitately out. Viushin, with the awkward
retrograde movements of a disabled crab, speedily followed.

"What in the name of Chort [Footnote: The Devil.] is the matter?"
demanded Dodd in Russian, as he extricated Viushin's head from the
folds of the skin curtain in which it had become enveloped. "You back
out as if Shaitan and all his imps were after you!"--"You don't
suppose," responded Viushin, with excited gestures, "that I'm going to
stay in that hole and be eaten up by Korak dogs? If I was foolish enough
to go in, I've got discretion enough to k