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“I hope he doesn’t understand a word you say. You ought to be careful, Ray; we may sometime run up against a man who does understand English.”

“I’d like to meet him now; his voice would sound good.”

The chief looked at the boys while they were talking, with a certain amount of suspicion, as though he thought they might be plotting something revolutionary, then he asked another question, of which Sidney caught the word for “horses.”

“He’s asking if we have no horses,” said Sidney, and he related how their horses had been taken, giving it all in English except the words “government,” “army,” and “horses,” of which he knew the Russian equivalents.

The chief appeared to grasp his meaning without any difficulty, and to be rather amused by it, for he made a remark to the surrounding men, who all laughed, and the talking began afresh.

“They think it’s a great joke,” growled Raymond, “that our horses were stolen. Maybe they’ll lose some if they don’t look out.”

“I expect they have lost some already,” said Sidney, “and that is the reason they are so interested.”