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152 any other route would have been preferable to that they were pursuing. But, after all, they had escaped the danger; uncle and nephew a little singed, no doubt, but the others without even a burn.

Three versts further on they found the carriage and horses, with the postillion, who had mastered his cattle. The moment the flames had gone out, he had lighted the carriage lamps again; and, guided by their gleam, the travellers rejoined him without danger, and without fatigue.

Each one resumed his place. They started again, and the night passed without incident. But Van Mitten preserved a vivid recollection of the scene. He could not have been more astonished if the chances of life had carried him to that part of New Zealand where the springs boil up in the eruptive hills.

Next day, the 6th of September, eighteen leagues from Taman, the chaise, having turned the Bay of Kisiltasch, traversed the village of Anapa, and at about eight o'clock in the evening stopped in Rajewskaja, on the borders of the Caucasian district.