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More Tales from Tolstoi "Let's have a rest," said he, "and give me breathing-time. I want a drink, too, and we'll have some hearth-cakes. It can't be much further now."

No sooner had he drunk his fill, however, than he heard the trampling of hoofs behind. Once more they crept among the bushes on the right, beneath the steep cliff, and lay at full length.

Soon they heard the voices of the Tatars, and the Tatars stopped at the very spot whence they had turned off from the road. They talked a good deal amongst themselves, and then they began to put upon the scent the dogs they had brought with them. Zhilin and his comrade listened. There was a crashing of branches in the thicket, and straight towards them came a strange dog. When he saw them he stood still and began barking.

Then the Tatars also crept through the bushes—they were strange Tatars whom they hadn't seen before—and the Tatars seized them, bound them, put them on horseback, and led them off.

They went along for about three miles, and then they met Zhilin's master, Abdul, and two other Tatars. These said something to the strange Tatars, transferred the captives to their own horses, and brought them back to the aul.

Abdul laughed no longer, and said not a single word to them.

They brought them into the aul at break of day, and set them down in the public street The children came running up and beat them with stones and whips and jeered at them.

The Tatars gathered together in a circle, and the