CHAPTER XXV
The number of the officers who were to take part was seventeen. The race-course was a great ellipse of four versts, extending before the judges' stand, and nine obstacles were placed upon it: the "river"; a great barrier two arshins—four feet, eight inches—high, in front of the pavilion; a dry ditch; a ditch filled with water; a steep ascent; an Irish banketka, which is the most difficult of all, composed of an embankment set with dry branches, behind which is concealed a ditch, obliging the horseman to leap two obstacles at once, at the risk of his life; then three more ditches, two filled with water and one dry; and finally the goal opposite the pavilion again. The track did not begin in the circle itself, but about a hundred sazhenns, or seven hundred feet, to one side; and in this space was the first obstacle, the diked "river," about three arshins, or seven feet, wide, which the racers were free to leap or to ford.
Three times the riders got into line, but each time some horse or other started before the signal, and the men had to be called back. Colonel Sestrin, the starter, was beginning to get impatient; but at last, for the fourth time, the signal was given, "Pashol!—Go!" and the riders put spurs to their horses.
All eyes, all lorgnettes, were directed toward the variegated group of racers as they started off.
"There they go!" "There they come!" was the cry on all sides after the silence of expectation.
And in order to follow them, the spectators rushed, singly or in groups, toward the places where they could get a better view. At the first moment the collected group of horsemen scattered a little, and it could be seen how they, in twos and threes, and singly, one after the other, approached the "river." To the spectators it seemed as if they were all moving together, but to the racers themselves there were seconds of separation which had great value.
Frou Frou, excited and too nervous at first, lost the
