The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-29

Once the laughing face Of the youn-
gest Russian officer appeared over the
hood of the diligence and he shouted.
Don't be alarmed. mesdames, we are
to fire our revolyers. just to show that
we have them" and soon after eleven
of the reyOlvers sounded out loudly,
and with many echoes from the noun
tain side. At the very picturesque lit
tie village Of Ananour which is
watched over, or seems to be, by an an
cient tower on the mountainside back
of it, we had more hot tea, which the
four Russian officers brought us them
selves, and then stood around our dill
gence and talked to US, while we wait
ed for it to get cool enough to be drink
able. How the glasses can stand any
thing so hot without breaking, and how
the Russians can drink anything so
very hot without winking even, are two
facts which are hard to explain.
We were complaining of the very fru-
gal fare we had been having since we
started when suddenly the youngest Of
! ficer disappeared, and soon after came
back with a fair-sized basket which he
presented US with a bow and laughing
eyes. Everyone was much interested
in and We greatly amused by its con-
! tents, for first came some very unripe
hazel nuts lying among grpe leaves in
a small basket of tWigs, then some
/ blackberries which looked ripe, but
proved TO be in the most sour of all
stages of greenness; after that a few
green apples and a little goats milk
alb in,
/ last of all small package of sweet
chocolates and another package, which
proved to be cigarettes. AS this last
came forth there was a great laugh,
and then we were asked if, like most
English ladies' We scorned the cigar
cite, and we were forced to admit that
/ we had never smoked one, nor had any
wish to try. The public diligence, find
! ing us too slow for them, left us here,
! IS they have to run on time, and our
diligence was made to go first, as that
| is considered the safest position. So
with many warnings to our driver not
to go out of sight, we we're sent forth
once more, and, of course, at the usual
pace. We never quite understood why
! it was necessary to go from one station
to another, seventeen or twenty miles,
at a full gallop, no matter what the
grade might be, and we could never get
a satisfactory reason, so we have con-
Guided that it is an inherited habit, for
| from the time the road was built, one
hundred years ago, it has been infested
by bandits, and probably the bandit of
that day gave chase instead Of shooting
from behinr, consequently the faster
the pace the greater the chance Of es-
cape.
Higher and higher grew the noun
tains and faster and more furious the
mountain streams, but still none of the
high peaks could be seen, although at
every turn we looked to see their
snowy heads. Kazbek the second
peak in height in the Caucasus, is 49,
SAG feet high and always covered with
snow, although the very green grass
grows thickly up to the snow line.
From the moment Of leaving Tiflis, the
talk of every one is of Kazbek, and the
wish of every one is to see that hoary
old peak. but 1t is not until the morn
ing of the second day that it can be
seen. and, as We had started so late,
We did not see it until the morning of
the third dav, but in spite of repeated
one always had a hope Of catching a
glimpse of it, and was always on the
look out for it at every turn in the
road.
The fifth station, Pestnour, we
reached at about eleven o'clock, and
found quite gathering of people, wh>
had assembled, We were told. on hear
ing our bugles in the distance, and be
ing told by the public diligence that
two American ladies were on the way,
all turned out to behold the curiosities.
There We're few women in the crowd
and where the Caucasian women are
concealed l cannot imagine, for we saw
almost none of them during our stop in
the Caucasus. 1t was the most polite
crowd / have ever seen, and we did not
at all know that we were the objects of
curiosity until told so by the Russia
who were much amused at our uncpli-
sciousnesS. While we were WAITING for
horses we had a very pretty exhibition
of Caucasian skill in driving. We III st
heard yells and the cracking of o long
lash, then the rattle of wheels, and soon
Of the station came a wagon and six
horses at full speed, tall young eau
casian, in swinging garments, standing
in the body of the wagon, reins and
whip in hand. He drove madly down
among all the diligences, not grazing
one Of them, and around a turn So
sharp that We thought the wagon
would surely break in two, and drew up
his horses in a second on the other side
of the road facing us. How he kept
his balance I cannot imagine, but he
never even sWayed. We all clapped
and the men shouted, for it was a very
difficult and very pretty thing to do.
We were off in half an hour, making
for the thrice blessed station where we
were promised dinner, a real dinner,
with soup and meat! And we did have
it, too; and it was good As after a
two hours gallop, we drew near the
sixth station. Miety, the scene was sim
ply amazing. The narrow valley along
which we had been rushing at full
speed, both diligences close together,
suddenly Strengthened out and showed
in the distance a huge fiat plain, as it
appeared, out of which rose a noun
tain which seemed to be of enormous
height and the sides of which, to the
height of nearly a thousand feet, were
perpendicular. The summit, out of
sight at this point, is in reality five