CONTENTS.CHAP. Page I. A GREAT CHANGE, 11 II. A CAT'S-PAW, 33 III. A HUNTING PARTY, 52 IV. A PRISONER, 67 V. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE, 86 VI. AN ESCAPE, 104 VII. THE BURIAT'S CHILD, 123 VIII. THE MINES OF KARA, 142 IX. PRISON LIFE, 163 X. PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT, 182 XI. AFLOAT, 202 XII. WINTER, 222 XIII. HUNTING, 242 XIV. THE BREAK-UP OF WINTER, 262 XV. COASTING, 282 XVI. A SAMOYEDE ENCAMPMENT, 302 XVII. A SEA FIGHT, 322 XVIII. HOME AGAIN, 339CHAPTER I.A GREAT CHANGE.Half a dozen boys were gathered in one of the studies at Shrewsbury. Apacked portmanteau and the general state of litter on the floor wassufficient to show that it was the last day of term."Well, I am awfully sorry you are going, Bullen; we shall all miss you.You would certainly have been in the football team next term; it is anuisance altogether.""It is a nuisance; and I am beastly sorry I am leaving. Of course I haveknown for some time that I should be going out to Russia; but I did notthink the governor would have sent me until after I had gone through theschool. His letter a fortnight ago was a regular stumper. I thought Ishould have had another year and a half or two years, and, of course,that is just the jolliest part of school life. However, it cannot behelped.""You talk the language, don't you, Bullen?""Well, I used to talk it, but I don't remember much about it now. Yousee I have been home six years. I expect I shall pick it up again fastenough. I should not mind it so much if the governor were out therestill; but you see he came home for good two years ago. Still it won'tbe like going to a strange place altogether; and as he has been livingthere so long, I shall soon get to know lots of the English there. StillI do wish I could have had a couple of years more at Shrewsbury. Ishould have been content to have gone out then.""Well, it is time for us to be starting. I can hear the omnibus."In a few minutes the omnibus was filled with luggage inside and out; thelads started to walk to the station. As the train drew up there werehearty good-byes, and then the train steamed out of the station, thecompartment in which Godfrey Bullen had taken his seat being filled withboys going, like himself, straight through to town. All were in highspirits, and Bullen, who had felt sorry at leaving school for the lasttime, was soon as merry as any of them.