making the echoes ring with our gay voices, and some times arousing a sleeping dog, whose startled bark brought forth such a series of howls from our equipage that he was forced to retire.
We were nearly three quarters of an hour in reaching our destination,—a place on one of the islands, called Samarcand. Leaving our troikas in the court-yard of a restaurant, we walked a short distance to some ice-hills, which were lighted with Chinese lanterns. A flight of steps about thirty feet high took us into a sort of pavilion. As I stood at the head of the steps, I beheld the glissade in front of me. It made my blood run cold to look at it. It was four or five feet broad, built of wood, covered with smooth ice, and sloping at an angle of forty-five degrees. After reaching the ground, it continued its course on a level for some distance, until another flight of steps was reached, leading to another pavilion, from which one could slide back to the starting-place. The two courses ran side by side, and were divided by a low wooden railing. Rows of Chinese lanterns illuminated the scene.
When I looked down that steep slope of ice, my heart failed me, and I meekly said I would wait there and rest, while the others went down. There was some laughter at my expense, and not the slightest attention was paid to my objections.
A sled with two seats was produced, and I was put behind Judith. Nicolas took the seat beside me, wrapped his arm tightly around me, and off we pitched! It was such a frightful moment when we started that I did
