he price at 1,500 roubles,
part in cash and part to be paid later. They had all but clinched the
matter, when a passing dealer happened to stop at Pahom's one day to get
a feed for his horse. He drank tea with Pahom, and they had a talk. The
dealer said that he was just returning from the land of the Bashkirs,
far away, where he had bought thirteen thousand acres of land all for
1,000 roubles. Pahom questioned him further, and the tradesman said:

"All one need do is to make friends with the chiefs. I gave away about
one hundred roubles' worth of dressing-gowns and carpets, besides a case
of tea, and I gave wine to those who would drink it; and I got the land
for less than two cents an acre. And he showed Pahom the title-deeds,
saying:

"The land lies near a river, and the whole prairie is virgin soil."

Pahom plied him with questions, and the tradesman said:

"There is more land there than you could cover if you walked a year, and
it all belongs to the Bashkirs. They are as simple as sheep, and land
can be got almost for nothing."

"There now," thought Pahom, "with my one thousand roubles, why should I
get only thirteen hundred acres, and saddle myself with a debt besides.
If I take it out there, I can get more than ten times as much for the
money."

V

Pahom inquired how to get to the place, and as soon as the tradesman
had left him, he prepared to go there himself. He left his wife to look
after the homestead, and started on his journey taking his man with
him. They stopped at a town on their way, and bought a case of tea, some
wine, and other presents, as the tradesman had advised. On and on they
went until they had gone more than three hundred miles, and on the
seventh day they came to a place where the Bashkirs had pitched their
tents. It was all just as the tradesman had said. The people lived on
the steppes, by a river, in felt-covered tents. They neither tilled the
ground, nor ate bread. Their cattle and horses grazed in herds on the
steppe. The colts were tethered behind the tents, and the mares were
driven to them twice a day. The mares were milked, and from the milk
kumiss was made. It was the women who prepared kumiss, and they also
made cheese. As far as the men were concerned, drinking kumiss and tea,
eating mutton, and playing on their pipes, was all they cared about.
They were all stout and merry, and all the summer long they never
thought of doing any work. They were quite ignorant, and k