Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 74 (Color Image)

0074	Among the Celestials : vol.1

5o AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. II.

If we had been allowed to keep at one liquor

we might possibly have survived ; but the

mixture of port and beer, and sherry and claret,

and Guinness's stout and vodka, backwards

and forwards, first one and then the other, was

fatal !

After we had eaten and drunk and talked for

some hours, the other officers went off, and the

colonel said to us, " I don't know quite where

you will sleep. There is a sofa for one of you ;

the other two had better sleep on the floor."

This we proceeded to do, and so passed our

first night in Russian territory. The colonel

had spoken of his Cossack hospitality being

rough but cordial. It was both.

On the following day we started for the

larger station of Novo-kievsk, fifteen miles

distant, and situated on the coast. It turned

out to be but a small place with a garrison of a

battalion of infantry, a battery of artillery, and

about a hundred mounted Cossacks. There

were very few buildings besides the barracks.

The roadways were unmetalled, and the whole

place had a dreary, uncared-for appearance.

We could discover no Russian hotel or inn of

ally description, and had to put up at a

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