pure alcohol or the strongest arrack, which was served in large glasses like tea. The drinking proceeded automatically on signals given by an alarm clock wound up every five minutes by a Chink boy. Between the rounds of drink bits of dry bread were consumed.
Sometimes it was resolved to drink after every barking of a dog, after every rattle of a passing carriage, after every sound which penetrated from the street, and as the club was situated in the only street of the city, the Svetlanka, there were frequent and easy signals. Needless to say, the club ended in madness, delirium tremens, complete bestiality, suicide.
Such were the exciting pastimes of pirates, who, as time went on, became veritable "lords of the sea."
When at last the courts in the Far East were reformed and real judges and officials were appointed, the danger of energetic prosecution threatened for a time these vikings, who thought it wise to give up their profession, and they became very active citizens in various border towns.
The public prosecutor of the Vladivostok Court, Bushayev, opened an investigation of the case of the pirates. He collected all the evidence of their numerous crimes, he set about writing the case for the prosecution and preparing the summonses to be issued against the culprits, amongst whom anxious rumors circulated in Vladivostok as well as in other towns.
Then one day, Bushayev, who was a passionate
