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More Tales from Tolstoi the others put Zhilin up behind him. To prevent him falling off they fastened him by a thong to the Tatar's belt and led him away into the mountains.

So there sat Zhilin behind the Tatar, and at every moment he was jolted against, and his very nose came in contact with the Tatar's malodorous back. All that he could see in front of him, indeed, was the sturdy Tatar's back, his sinewy, shaven neck sticking out all bluish from beneath his hat. Zhilin's head was all battered, and the blood kept trickling into his eyes. And it was impossible for him to right himself on his horse or wipe away the blood. His arms were twisted so tightly that his very collar-bone was in danger of breaking.

They travelled for a long time from mountain to mountain, crossed a ford, diverged from the road, and entered a ravine.

Zhilin would have liked to have marked the road by which they were taking him, but his eyes were clotted with blood and he couldn't turn round properly.

It began to grow dark. They crossed yet another river and began to ascend a rocky mountain, and then came a smell of smoke and the barking of dogs!

At last they came to the aul or Tatar village. The Tatars dismounted from their horses and a crowd of Tatar children assembled, who surrounded Zhilin, fell a yelling and making merry, and took up stones to cast at him.

The Tatar drove away the children, took Zhilin from his horse, and called a workman. Up came a hatchet