The barrel straightway sank to the bottom; everyone supposed
the money was lost. But what happened? In the Tartar's
house there lived a Russian kitchen-maid. One day she
happened to go to the river for water, and when she got there
she saw a barrel floating along. So she went a little way into
the water and began trying to get hold of it. But it wasn't to be
done! When she made at the barrel, it retreated from her:
when she turned from the barrel to the shore, it floated after
her. She went on trying and trying for some time, then she
went home and told her master all that had happened. At first
he wouldn't believe her, but at last he determined to go to the
river and see for himself what sort of barrel it was that was
floating there. When he got there--sure enough there was the
barrel floating, and not far from the shore. The Tartar took off
his clothes and went into the water; before he had gone any
distance the barrel came floating up to him of its own accord.
He laid hold of it, carried it home, opened it, and looked inside.
There he saw a quantity of money, and on top of the money a
note. He took out the note and read it, and this is what was
said in it:--

"Dear friend! I return to you the fifty thousand roubles for
which, when I borrowed them from you, I gave the life-giving
cross as a surety."

The Tartar read these words and was astounded at the power
of the life-giving cross. He counted the money over to see
whether the full sum was really there. It was there exactly.

Meanwhile, the Russian merchant, after trading some five
years, made a tolerable fortune. Well, he returned to his old
home, and, thinking that his barrel had been lost, he considered
it his first duty to settle with the Tartar. So he went to his
house and offered him the money he had borrowed. Then the
Tartar told him all that had happened and how he had found
the barrel in the river, with the money and the note inside it.
Then he showed him the note, saying:

"Is that really your hand?"

"It certainly is," replied the other.

Every one was astounded at this wondrous manifestation,
and the Tartar said:

"Then I've no more money to receive from you, brother;
take that back again."

The Russian merchant had a service performed as a thank-offering
to God, and next day the Tartar was baptized with all
his household. The Russian merchant was his godfathe