e of about the size of a toad, came
ambling, three-legged fashion, under our feet. Upon that it stiffened
its tail, growled, and snuffed the air with its tiny pink nose.

Next there popped up from somewhere or another a barefooted young
woman. Clapping her hands, she bawled:

"Here, you Ufim, how I have been calling for you, and calling for you!"

"Eh? Well, I never heard you."

"Where were you, then?"

By way of reply, my conductor silently pointed in my direction with the
stem of his pipe. Then he led me into the forecourt of the hut next to
the one whence the young woman had issued, whilst she proceeded to
project fresh volleys of abuse, and fresh expressions of accentuated
non-amiability.

In the little doorway of the dwelling next to hers, we found seated two
old women. One of them was as rotund and dishevelled as a battered,
leathern ball, and the other one was a woman bony and crooked of back,
swarthy of skin, and irritable of feature. At the women's feet lay,
lolling out a rag-like tongue, a shaggy dog which, red and pathetic of
eye, could boast of a frame nearly as large as a sheep's.

First of all, Ufim related in detail how he had fallen in with myself.
Then he stated the purpose for which he conceived it was possible that
I might prove useful. And all the time that he was speaking, two pairs
of eyes contemplated him in silence; until, on the completion of his
recital, one of the old women gave a jerk to a thin, dark neck, and the
other old dame invited me to take a seat whilst she prepared some
supper.

Amid the tangled herbage of the forecourt, a spot overgrown with mallow
and bramble shoots, there was standing a cart which, lacking wheels,
had its axle-points dark with mildew. Presently a herd of cattle was
driven past the hut, and over the hamlet there seemed to arise, drift,
and float, a perfect wave of sound. Also, as evening descended, I could
see an ever-increasing number of grey shadows come creeping forth from
the forecourt's recesses, and overlaying and darkening the turf.

"One day all of us must die," remarked Ufim, with empressement as he
tapped the bowl of his pipe against a wall.

The next moment the barefooted, red-cheeked young woman showed herself
at the gate, and asked in tones rather less vehement than recently:

"Are you coming, or are you not?"

"Presently," replied Ufim. "One thing at a time."

For supper I was given a hunch of bread and a bowl of milk; whereupon
the do