“Just look at them!” said the prìstav; “that’s how it goes on every day. It’s enough to drive one mad!”
I made them give me the papers, and tried to master their contents. As I had already guessed, the business was not really so difficult and puzzling as it had appeared to the poor police official; but it was work that did not come within his scope, and he had no notion how to tackle it. At the end of a few hours I had things in train, and could show him what he had to do.
The presence of the census-takers proved to be unnecessary, and they were able to go home next day, for which they were extremely grateful; but I myself had to remain a whole fortnight in the place. There was in fact a great deal of writing to do, and the prìstav and I were hard at it from morning to night. He was always politeness itself to me, and no one who witnessed his charming behaviour now could have believed that he had once given orders to put me in irons. But of course that episode was never alluded to.
CHAPTER XXXIII
A PREHISTORIC MONUMENT—MY DEPARTURE FROM KARA—LIFE IN STRETYENSK—MY TRANSFERENCE TO BLAGOVESTSHENSK—THE MASSACRES OF JULY, 1900
During my sojourn in Kara I took part in an expedition, the object of which was to discover the whereabouts of a curious relic of ancient times. One of our comrades, Kuznetsov by name, who by reason of his archæological researches was rather a noted personality in Siberia, had written to me on this subject. According to the testimony of various people, there was in the neighbourhood of Kara a monumental stone covered with ancient characters inscribed in some red colouring matter. This had been mentioned long before in the proceedings of the Geographical Society of Irkutsk, but had never been described in detail; and Kuznetsov—who himself lived at a considerable distance from Kara—was anxious that I should search for it and copy the inscription.
I gladly undertook the mission, and early one spring day I set out on the quest, accompanied by two friends, following the meagre clue we had been able to obtain. We only knew in a general way the direction and distance of our object, which was supposed to be near the banks of the River Bitshoug, about thirty-five versts away. There was no road, and we were obliged to go on foot across a very boggy bit of country, leading the horse which carried our provisions and other necessaries.
We started at dawn, reached the river towards evening, and there camped out for the night. During the next few days we explored the locality, but in vain, and we were at last obliged to return from our fruitless errand. I then made further inquiries about the stone among the inhabitants of the place, many of whom were hunters, and therefore well acquainted with the surrounding country, and I promised a reward to anyone who could guide me to it; but it was not until nearly two years later that I heard a report of how two peasants from a neighbouring village had seen something of the kind. This rumour proved correct; and a gold-digger of my acquaintance undertook to guide me to the object of my search, making the expedition by sledge, as it was then winter.
The monument with the red inscription turned out to be not far from the spot where I and my friends had previously looked for it, but the dense forest undergrowth had hidden it from us. It dates undoubtedly from a very early period, and consists of a smooth perpendicular surface hewn in the rock, whereon curious signs and characters are drawn.
We made a careful sketch of the monument, and a photographer who happened to visit Kara subsequently took separate photographs of the whole stone and of the coloured characters. These I sent to Kuznetsov, with a detailed description, but I have never heard whether the meaning of the inscription has been deciphered.