* * * * * Nikolin’s successor, Captain Yakovlov, exerted himself to mitigate the severity of our prison régime, which the “tom-cat” had administered so tyrannically. He seemed to be a compassionate and humane man, who—while keeping to the prescribed regulations—was not concerned to aggravate our hard lot by superfluous restrictions and unnecessary harshness. Perhaps his conduct was partly influenced by the knowledge that he was only filling the position temporarily, as a stop-gap for Colonel Masyukov of the gendarmerie, who was shortly to be sent from Petersburg; probably also he wanted to have as little squabbling with us as possible. He belonged to a class of men to be found in great numbers both in Russia and in Siberia, who have one overwhelming weakness—love of drink. His devotion to the bottle was most assiduous, and he often had evidently had more than was good for him; but for all that, we breathed more freely under his rule, and regarded with anxiety the advent of the new commandant. After a six months’ interval Colonel Masyukov entered upon his office, in the winter of 1877, and made his first round of the prison, accompanied by Yakovlov. He was a man of short stature, with grey hair and moustache, very quick in his movements, despite his fifty years; he spoke in an unpleasant falsetto voice, and looked rather like a plucked chicken. His whole appearance betokened a weak and characterless disposition, as unluckily proved to be the case, both to his own and our misfortune. Intellectually limited, but good-tempered enough, Masyukov was quite unlike one’s idea of a staff officer of gendarmerie; indeed, he was in no way cut out for such a service, and knew this himself better than anyone. He had only joined the gendarmerie as a result of unforeseen circumstances. Son of a country gentleman, he had been for a time an officer in the Guards, afterwards returning to his estate, where he gave himself up to riotous living. The good dinners he gave were probably the reason of his being elected Marshal of Nobility for his district, and his subsequent dissipation led eventually to the ruin of his finances. To re-establish himself in some measure, and also, it was said, to discharge his debts of honour, he was obliged again to enter the service of the State, and he became an officer of gendarmes, induced by the higher pay given in that branch of the service, as compared with others of like standing, especially for those employed in the distant parts of Siberia. The Commandant of Kara was paid four to five thousand roubles per annum, with house, servants, horses, fuel, etc. As a late officer in the Guards and Marshal of Nobility, Masyukov was soon made colonel, and appointed to the vacant post at Kara. He himself declared afterwards that he had come with the honest intention of doing his best to better our lot; but hell is proverbially paved with good resolutions,