He grew peevish,
suspicious, and more violent than ever in his excesses.
When Mishka, the dissipated bear already described, bit off one of
the ears of Basil, a hunter belonging to the castle, and Basil drew
his knife and plunged it into Mishka's heart, Prince Alexis
punished the hunter by cutting off his other ear, and sending him
away to a distant estate. A serf, detected in eating a few of the
pickled cherries intended for the Prince's botvinia, was placed
in a cask, and pickled cherries packed around him up to the chin.
There he was kept until almost flayed by the acid. It was ordered
that these two delinquents should never afterwards be called by any
other names than "Crop-Ear" and "Cherry."
But the Prince's severest joke, which, strange to say, in no wise
lessened his popularity among the serfs, occurred a month or two
later. One of his leading passions was the chase,--especially the
chase in his own forests, with from one to two hundred men, and no
one to dispute his Lordship. On such occasions, a huge barrel of
wine, mounted upon a sled, always accompanied the crowd, and the
quantity which the hunters received depended upon the satisfaction
of Prince Alexis with the game they collected.
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