of the approaching Russian Custom-house, and here I may
relate rather an amusing incident which will prove what these terrors
amount to. In my sleeping car there happened to be some French merchants
on their way to the fair of Nijni-Novgorod. On perceiving my two rifles,
a good-sized ammunition case, and two cameras, one of the gentlemen
gratuitously informed me that if I intended to proceed to Russia I had
better leave all these things behind, or they would all be confiscated at
the frontier. I begged to differ, and the Frenchmen laughed boisterously
at my ignorance, and at what would happen presently. In their imaginative
minds they perceived my valued firearms being lost for ever, and
predicted my being detained at the police station till it pleased _les
terribles Cossacques_ to let me proceed.

"Evidently," shouted one of the Frenchmen at the top of his voice, "this
is your first journey abroad. . . . _We_," he added, "are great
travellers. We have been once before in Russia."

"You _are_ great travellers!" I exclaimed, with the emphasis very strong
on the _are_, and pretending intense admiration.

Naturally the Franco-Russian Alliance was dragged into the conversation;
were I a Frenchman I might fare less badly. The Russians and the French
were brothers. But a British subject! A hated Englishman bringing into
Russia two rifles, two revolvers, six hundred cartridges, twelve hundred
photographic plates, two cameras, a large case of scientific instruments,
all of which I would duly declare! Why? Russia was not England. I should
soon experience how Englishmen were treated in some countries.
"Russians," he exclaimed, "have not a polished manner like the French.
_Ah, non!_ They are semi-barbarians yet. They respect and fear the
French, but not the English. . . . _par exemple!_"

The frontier station of Alexandrovo was reached, and a horde of
terror-stricken passengers alighted from the carriages, preceded and
followed by bags, portmanteaux, hold-alls, and bundles of umbrellas,
which were hastily conveyed to the long tables of the huge Custom-house
inspection room.

The two Frenchmen had their belongings next to mine on the long counter,
and presently an officer came. They were French subjects and they had
nothing to declare. Their elaborately decorated bags were instantly
ordered open and turned upside down, while the officer searched with some
gusto among the contents now spread on the table. There was a small
poc