leave the camp. Where could the Christians go? There was a village called
Sarepta, where some Germans lived. There they determined to go, though it
was two hundred miles off. One of the missionaries led the way on
horseback; the Tartars followed on foot: then came camels bearing the
tents and the women, while a bullock-cart contained the young children.
The flocks and herds were driven by the bigger children.

The good Germans in Sarepta received the Tartars with great joy. One
gray-headed man of eighty-three came to meet them, leaning upon his
staff. He said he had been praying that he might see a _Christian_ Tartar
before he died. He heard these Tartars sing hymns to the praise of
Jesus, and he felt his prayers were answered. Two days afterwards he
died. Like old Simeon, he might have said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy
servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

The Christians went to live in a small island in the river Volga. When
the river was frozen, the Germans went over the ice to visit them. Sodnom
gave them tea mixed with fat in a large wooden bowl; and to please him,
the kind Germans drank some, though they did not like it. Many Tartars
assembled in Sodnom's tent, and seated on the ground smoking their pipes,
talked together about heavenly things; and before they parted, they put
away their pipes, and folding their hands, sang hymns in their own
language. The Germans, in taking leave, divided a large loaf among the
company; for bread is considered quite a dainty by the Tartars.

The change that had taken place in these Tartars filled the Germans with
joy; and more missionaries would have gone to teach the heathen Kalmucks,
had not the Emperor of Russia forbidden them.