in the woods, which our guide said was the Viliga
_yurt_. The last travellers who had occupied it had left the chimney
hole open, and it was nearly filled with snow, but we cleared it out
as well as we could, built a fire on the ground in the centre, and,
regardless of the smoke, crouched around it to drink tea. We had seen
nothing of the postilion since noon, and hardly thought it possible
that he could reach the _yurt_; but just as it began to grow dark we
heard the howling of his dogs in the woods, and in a few moments he
made his appearance. Our party now numbered nine men--two Americans,
three Russians, and four Koraks--and a wild-looking crowd it was, as
it squatted around the fire in that low smoke-blackened hut, drinking
tea and listening to the howling wind. As there was not room enough
for all to sleep inside the _yurt_, the Koraks camped out-doors on the
snow, and before morning were half buried in a drift.

[Illustration: THE YURT IN THE "STORMY GORGE OF THE VILIGA" From a
painting by George A. Frost]

All night the wind roared a deep, hoarse bass through the forest which
sheltered the _yurt_, and at daylight on the following morning there
was no abatement of the storm. We knew that it might blow without
intermission in that ravine for two weeks, and we had only four days'
dog-food and provisions left. Something must be done. The Viliga
Mountains which blocked up the road to Yamsk were cut by three gaps
or passes, all of which opened into the valley, and in clear weather
could be easily found and crossed. In such a storm, however, as the
one which had overtaken us, a hundred passes would be of no avail,
because the drifting snow hid everything from sight at a distance of
thirty feet, and we were as likely to go up the side of a peak as up
the right pass, even if we could make our dogs face the storm at all,
which was doubtful. After breakfast we held a council of war for the
purpose of determining what it would be best to do. Our guide thought
that our best course would be to go down the Viliga River to the
coast, and make our way westward, if possible, along what he called
the "pripaika"--a narrow strip of sea ice generally found at the
water's edge under the cliffs of a precipitous coast line. He could
not promise us that this route would be practicable, but he had heard
that there was a beach for at least a part of the distance between the
Viliga and Yamsk, and he thought that we might make our way along