en, suddenly,
Kazbich darted out like a cat from behind a bush, sprang up behind
him on the horse, flung him to the ground with a thrust of his dagger,
seized the bridle and was off. A few of the retainers saw the whole
affair from the hill; they dashed off in pursuit of Kazbich, but failed
to overtake him."

"He requited himself for the loss of his horse, and took his revenge at
the same time," I said, with a view to evoking my companion's opinion.

"Of course, from their point of view," said the staff-captain, "he was
perfectly right."

I was involuntarily struck by the aptitude which the Russian displays
for accommodating himself to the customs of the people in whose midst
he happens to be living. I know not whether this mental quality is
deserving of censure or commendation, but it proves the incredible
pliancy of his mind and the presence of that clear common sense which
pardons evil wherever it sees that evil is inevitable or impossible of
annihilation.

CHAPTER VII

IN the meantime we had finished our tea. The horses, which had been
put to long before, were freezing in the snow. In the west the moon
was growing pale, and was just on the point of plunging into the black
clouds which were hanging over the distant summits like the shreds of a
torn curtain. We went out of the hut. Contrary to my fellow-traveller's
prediction, the weather had cleared up, and there was a promise of
a calm morning. The dancing choirs of the stars were interwoven in
wondrous patterns on the distant horizon, and, one after another, they
flickered out as the wan resplendence of the east suffused the dark,
lilac vault of heaven, gradually illumining the steep mountain slopes,
covered with the virgin snows. To right and left loomed grim and
mysterious chasms, and masses of mist, eddying and coiling like snakes,
were creeping thither along the furrows of the neighbouring cliffs, as
though sentient and fearful of the approach of day.

All was calm in heaven and on earth, calm as within the heart of a man
at the moment of morning prayer; only at intervals a cool wind rushed
in from the east, lifting the horses' manes which were covered with
hoar-frost. We started off. The five lean jades dragged our wagons with
difficulty along the tortuous road up Mount Get. We ourselves walked
behind, placing stones under the wheels whenever the horses were spent.
The road seemed to lead into the sky, for, so far as the eye could
discern, it still