little acquaintance I have had with Kononóvich, that a

Russian colonel is not necessarily a beast." This letter fell into the hands of the police in European Russia, was forwarded through the Ministry of the Interior to General Ilyashévich, the governor of the Trans-Baikal, and was sent by that officer to Colonel Kononóvich with a re- quest for an "explanation." It seemed to be regarded as documentary evidence that the governor of the Kará prisons was on suspiciously friendly terms with the political con- victs. Kononóvich paid no attention to the communica- tion. Some months later he happened to visit Chíta on business, and Governor Ilyashevich, in the course of a con- versation about other matters, said to him, "By the way, Colonel Kononovich, you have never answered a letter that I wrote you asking for an explanation of something said about you in a letter from one of the political convicts in your command. Did you receive it?"

" Yes," replied Kononovich, "I received it; but what kind of answer did you look for? What explanation could I give? Did you expect me to excuse myself because some- body regarded me as a human being and not a beast? Was I to say that the writer of the letter was mistaken in sup- posing me to be a human being — that in reality I was a beast, and that I had never given him or anybody else rea- son to suppose that a Russian colonel could be a human being?"

This presentation of the case rather confused the gov- ernor, who said that the demand for an explanation had been written by his assistant, that it had been stupidly ex- pressed, and that after all the matter was not of much con- sequence. He then dropped the subject.

After resigning his position at the mines of Kará, Colonel Kononóvich, who was a Cossack officer, went to Nérchinsk, where he took command of the Cossack forces of the Trans- Baikál. He soon discovered that a small knot of officers, including the isprávnik, were engaged in selling immunity