‘Who else?’ replied Nikita. ‘But I say, good friend, how are we to avoid going astray again?’

‘Where can you go astray here? Turn back straight down the street and then when you come out keep straight on.

Don’t take to the left. You will come out onto the high road, and then turn to the right.’

‘And where do we turn off the high road? As in summer, or the winter way?’ asked Nikita.

‘The winter way. As soon as you turn off you’ll see some bushes, and opposite them there is a way-mark — a large oak, one with branches — and that’s the way.’

Vasili Andreevich turned the horse back and drove through the outskirts of the village.