fered to pay for the stamp on the spot, and supply the remaining
twenty-five kopeks when furnished with an adequate reason therefor.

"Is the captain's signature worth so much?" I asked.

"That is very little," was the answer.

"So it is. Is the captain's signature worth so little? Tell me why."

He could not, or would not.

I made him wait while I wrote a petition to the police. The burden of it
was: "Why? I was born an American and curious; not too curious, but just
curious enough to be interested in the ethnographical and psychological
problems of foreign lands. Why the twenty-five kopeks? It is plainly too
little or too much. Why?"

The messenger accepted the five kopeks for the stamp, and set out to
deliver the document. But he returned after a moment, and said that he
would intrust the five kopeks to my safe-keeping until he brought the
answer to my document,--which he had had just sufficient time to read,
by the way. That was the last I ever heard of him or of it, and I was
forced to conclude that some thirsty soul had been in quest of
"tea-money" for _vodka_. I am still in debt to the Russian government
for five kopeks.

The last time I arrived in Petersburg, I tried a new plan. Instead of
making a trip of a couple of miles to get the signature of our police
captain, or sending the petition at the languid convenience of the
overworked _dvornik_, I went to the general post-office, which was close
by, and made a personal request that my mail matter be delivered at my
new address. The proper official, whom I found after a search through
most of the building, during which I observed their methods, declared
that my request was illegal, and ordered me to go for the customary
signature. But by this time I had learned that the mere threat to make
Russian officials inspect my passport was productive of much the same
effect as drawing a pistol on them would have had. It was not in the
least necessary to have the document with me; going through the motions
was easier, and quite as good. Every man of them flushed up, and
repelled the suggestion as a sort of personal insult; but they
invariably came to terms on the spot. Accordingly, I tried it here.

This particular man, when I pretended to draw my "open sesame" spell
from my pocket, instantly dropped his official air, asked me to write my
name, with quite a human, friendly manner, and then remarked, with a
very every-day laugh, "That is sufficient. I have seen so m