hite. The Government and Company agents fawned
upon him, the best of horses and beds, food and wine, were eagerly
placed at the disposal of the favorite of the Tsar. Rezanov's spirit,
always of the finest temper, suffered no eclipse for many days. He
reveled in the belief that his sorely tried body was regenerating its
old vigors.

From Wercholensk to Katschuk the journey was so winding by river that
it consumed more than twice the time of the land route, which although
only thirty versts in extent was one of the most difficult in Siberia.
Rezanov chose the latter without hesitation, and would listen to no
discussion from the Commissary of the little town or from his
distracted Jon: the journey from Yakutsk had now lasted five weeks and
the servant's watchful eye noted signs of exhaustion.

The hills were very high and very steep, the roads but a name in
summer. Had not the snow been soft and thin, the horses could not have
made the ascent at all; and, as it was, the riders were forced to walk
the greater part of the way and drag their unwilling steeds behind
them. They were twelve hours covering the thirty versts, and at
Katschuk Rezanov succumbed for two days, while Jon scoured the country
in search of a telega; as sometimes happened there was a long stretch
of country without snow, and sledges, by far the most comfortable
method of travel in Siberia, could not be used. The rest of the
journey, but one hundred and ninety-six versts, must be made by land.
Rezanov admitted that he was too weary to ride, and refused to travel
in the post carriage. On the third day the servant managed to hire a
telega from a superior farmer and they started immediately, the heavy
luggage having been consigned to a merchant vessel at Yakutsk.

Rezanov stood the telega exactly half a day. Little larger than an
armchair and far lighter, it was drawn by horses that galloped up and
down hill and across the intervening valleys with no change of gait,
and over a road so rough that the little vehicle seemed to be propelled
by a succession of earthquakes. Rezanov, in a fever which he
attributed to rage, dismissed the telega at a village and awaited the
coming of Jon, who followed on horseback with the personal luggage.

It was a village of wooden houses built in the Russian fashion, and
inhabited by a dignified tribe wearing long white garments bordered
with fur. They spoke Russian, a language little heard farther north and
east in Sibe