The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-01-25
TREspAssrNa ON rHE CAR.

~'AS ~NSANNsSJ eS lil6 pub on the edge of the Crimean plateau, above the broad belt of undercliff which sloped away below us, confu- sion of gray rock and green forest, to the distant blue rim of the Black Sea.
 You English like walking; besides, want some wild peonies which you can bring to the Villa W. We lunch at two. Then this view has always the same effect on strangers; you will be silent or sentimental the rest of the way, and 1t is an hours drive down."
 l thought marooning in Crimean forest a severe penalty even for such offences against the social code; put knew the countess too we'll to object, though our acquaintance only dated from that morning, when she had res- cued me from the posting master at Simpheropol. He asked me for drink out of my railway reading lamp, under the impression it was a flask. Being nervous Englishman, I had not the courage to refuse nor the Russian to explain. Besides, I thought it could not be nastier than vodky; but 1t was, and he gave me, in charge for an at tempt to drug him, though the paraff1n IldQ CeTldlIly IlOl etSlSd oo N oSA"eA'S' If the countess had not appeared and settled everything out of hand by of fering me lift over the mountains to Yalta I might have become an interna- tional incident.
 That path will take you straight down to the coast" continued the countess. "You had better not leave it, because of the Jewish vineyards; the elders sit on stages in the middle and shoot. Oh, mol! they don't ask you to go, because, of course, no one would do anything a Jew asked him. The count he is prokuror of the district-was so puzzled last week because an elders gun burst when firing at a trespasser, and he was killed. The widow and six children. Sad? Oh, you don't un- derstand. It was the Jew that was killed We'll, they all came and ac- cused the trespasser of murder; but the count let him off Siberia, because he agreed to marry the widow. Yes, I think the poor fellow was wrong to do so. But, then, if the worst came to the worst it would only be Siberia again, and it's only ten years for Jewess. You will keep on the path, unless you IuGGI, pGOplG WIlIl paChS, CSPCSieItiy AL they look like Greeks; they are always dangerous when smuggling. And if you come to house keep away if it looks like a Tartar farm, for the men are abroad all day, and the women shut up, and the dogs go about in packs, Once they ate a Turk, all but his boots; and when the relatives claimed them the Tartar said they were his, be- cause he owned the dogs, and the Turk belonged to them and the boots to the Turk; so the count had them given to the pack, and restored them to the original owner. Then when you come to the coast follow the track along the cliffs, and it will bring you to the Villa W. Don't go the other way, or you will come to Livadia, the emperor's villa. There are three cordons of sol i dier's around it, and the neighborhood is very unhealthy, especially for stran- gers. It lis really very dangerous the way you Eng1ishnen will walk about in strange countries. Be sure and re- member about the Jew watchnen and l the Greek snugglers, and the, Tartar dogs, and the peonies and Livadia, and | luncheon at two. I hope you will enjoy | your walk. Au revoir! Poskorye1, 1 sIvan!"
 I hoped so, too, but not confidently, | having suffered much abroad from the national reputation for love of adven- ture. Tn appearance knew the na- tionalities of the Crimea to be equally | disreputable, and I should have liked a l clearer indication of viciousness in watchmen, smugglers and watchdogs | than their religion.
 After an hours walk through the woods came out on the sea at the mouth of a wooded glen between two low scarped headlands. Wherever the | cliffs were not absolutely sheer, under growth and rank plants grew down to | the single beach. The path was un- raistakable, a rough track leading up over the bluff on either side; but in one direction it led to luncheon and the 1 countess, in the other to Livadia and the cordons. Scarcely was I securely l impaled on the horns of this dilemma when l heard a clattering above, and a pony appeared over the eastern bluff On the pony sat a. portly parsonage in a blue caftan and red fez. In one hand he held large white umbrella open OfCl Alo DCdos III tilC OtiiOh iAC AASid eb closed green one, with which he banged the pony when it made false step. Behind him long cavaicade of pack ponies successively topped the sky line; every third or fourth was led by picturesque ruffian with an armory of small arms in his sash.
 My rapidity of decision often increas' es with the emergency. In moment I had decided, and had swiftly ascended the western bluff. At the top I turned. The cavalcade had halted and the men were gathered around the man on the pony, who was gesticulating with the closed umbrella and enforcing impor- tant points with the open one.
 Well" thought I, they are certain ly smugglers, and probably Greeks. I shall surely be taken prisoner, and | probably held to ransom. I wish I had never left Ennismore Gardens. Better | an August in London, where police are, | than a villegiature with smugglers." So I turned to go down the other slope, | when below in the next glen I saw a | flat-roofed building in a courtyard. | Not soul was to be seen, but the yard | was full of dogs asleep in the sun or proving.
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