Michael Strogoff; Or, The Courier of the Czar

  CHAPTER VII THE PASSAGE OF THE YENISEI

  AT nightfall, on the 25th of August, the kibitka came in sight ofKrasnoiarsk. The journey from Tomsk had taken eight days. If it had notbeen accomplished as rapidly as it might, it was because Nicholas hadslept little. Consequently, it was impossible to increase his horse'space, though in other hands, the journey would not have taken sixtyhours.

  Happily, there was no longer any fear of Tartars. Not a scout hadappeared on the road over which the kibitka had just traveled. Thiswas strange enough, and evidently some serious cause had prevented theEmir's troops from marching without delay upon Irkutsk. Something hadoccurred. A new Russian corps, hastily raised in the government ofYeniseisk, had marched to Tomsk to endeavor to retake the town. But,being too weak to withstand the Emir's troops, now concentrated there,they had been forced to effect a retreat. Feofar-Khan, including his ownsoldiers, and those of the Khanats of Khokhand and Koun-douze, hadnow under his command two hundred and fifty thousand men, to whichthe Russian government could not as yet oppose a sufficient force. Theinvasion could not, therefore, be immediately stopped, and the wholeTartar army might at once march upon Irkutsk. The battle of Tomsk was onthe 22nd of August, though this Michael did not know, but it explainedwhy the vanguard of the Emir's army had not appeared at Krasnoiarsk bythe 25th.

  However, though Michael Strogoff could not know the events which hadoccurred since his departure, he at least knew that he was several daysin advance of the Tartars, and that he need not despair of reachingbefore them the town of Irkutsk, still six hundred miles distant.

  Besides, at Krasnoiarsk, of which the population is about twelvethousand souls, he depended upon obtaining some means of transport.Since Nicholas Pigassof was to stop in that town, it would be necessaryto replace him by a guide, and to change the kibitka for another morerapid vehicle. Michael, after having addressed himself to the governorof the town, and established his identity and quality as Courier of theCzar--which would be easy--doubted not that he would be enabled toget to Irkutsk in the shortest possible time. He would thank the goodNicholas Pigassof, and set out immediately with Nadia, for he did notwish to leave her until he had placed her in her father's arms. ThoughNicholas had resolved to stop at Krasnoiarsk, it was only as he said,"on condition of finding employment there." In fact, this model clerk,after having stayed to the last minute at his post in Kolyvan, wasendeavoring to place himself again at the disposal of the government."Why should I receive a salary which I have not earned?" he would say.

  In the event of his services not being required at Krasnoiarsk, which itwas expected would be still in telegraphic communication with Irkutsk,he proposed to go to Oudinsk, or even to the capital of Siberia itself.In the latter case, he would continue to travel with the brother andsister; and where would they find a surer guide, or a more devotedfriend?

  The kibitka was now only half a verst from Krasnoiarsk. The numerouswooden crosses which are erected at the approaches to the town, could beseen to the right and left of the road. It was seven in the evening; theoutline of the churches and of the houses built on the high bank of theYenisei were clearly defined against the evening sky, and the waters ofthe river reflected them in the twilight.

  "Where are we, sister?" asked Michael.

  "Half a verst from the first houses," replied Nadia.

  "Can the town be asleep?" observed Michael. "Not a sound strikes myear."

  "And I cannot see the slightest light, nor even smoke mounting into theair," added Nadia.

  "What a queer town!" said Nicholas. "They make no noise in it, and go tobed uncommonly early!"

  A presentiment of impending misfortune passed across Michael's heart. Hehad not said to Nadia that he had placed all his hopes on Krasnoiarsk,where he expected to find the means of safely finishing his journey. Hemuch feared that his anticipations would again be disappointed.

  But Nadia had guessed his thoughts, although she could not understandwhy her companion should be so anxious to reach Irkutsk, now that theImperial letter was gone. She one day said something of the sort to him."I have sworn to go to Irkutsk," he replied.

  But to accomplish his mission, it was necessary that at Krasnoiarsk heshould find some more rapid mode of locomotion. "Well, friend," said heto Nicholas, "why are we not going on?"

  "Because I am afraid of waking up the inhabitants of the town with thenoise of my carriage!" And with a light fleck of the whip, Nicholas puthis horse in motion.

  Ten minutes after they entered the High Street. Krasnoiarsk wasdeserted; there was no longer an Athenian in this "Northern Athens," asMadame de Bourboulon has called it. Not one of their dashing equipagesswept through the wide, clean streets. Not a pedestrian enlivened thefootpaths raised at the bases of the magnificent wooden houses, ofmonumental aspect! Not a Siberian belle, dressed in the last Frenchfashion, promenaded the beautiful park, cleared in a forest of birchtrees, which stretches away to the banks of the Yenisei! The great bellof the cathedral was dumb; the chimes of the churches were silent. Herewas complete desolation. There was no longer a living being in thistown, lately so lively!

  The last telegram sent from the Czar's cabinet, before the ruptureof the wire, had ordered the governor, the garrison, the inhabitants,whoever they might be, to leave Krasnoiarsk, to carry with them anyarticles of value, or which might be of use to the Tartars, and to takerefuge at Irkutsk. The same injunction was given to all the villages ofthe province. It was the intention of the Muscovite government to laythe country desert before the invaders. No one thought for an instant ofdisputing these orders. They were executed, and this was the reason whynot a single human being remained in Krasnoiarsk.

  Michael Strogoff, Nadia, and Nicholas passed silently through thestreets of the town. They felt half-stupefied. They themselves made theonly sound to be heard in this dead city. Michael allowed nothing ofwhat he felt to appear, but he inwardly raged against the bad luck whichpursued him, his hopes being again disappointed.

  "Alack, alack!" cried Nicholas, "I shall never get any employment inthis desert!"

  "Friend," said Nadia, "you must go on with us."

  "I must indeed!" replied Nicholas. "The wire is no doubt still workingbetween Oudinsk and Irkutsk, and there--Shall we start, little father?"

  "Let us wait till to-morrow," answered Michael.

  "You are right," said Nicholas. "We have the Yenisei to cross, and needlight to see our way there!"

  "To see!" murmured Nadia, thinking of her blind companion.

  Nicholas heard her, and turning to Michael, "Forgive me, little father,"said he. "Alas! night and day, it is true, are all the same to you!"

  "Do not reproach yourself, friend," replied Michael, pressing his handover his eyes. "With you for a guide I can still act. Take a few hours'repose. Nadia must rest too. To-morrow we will recommence our journey!"

  Michael and his friends had not to search long for a place of rest. Thefirst house, the door of which they pushed open, was empty, as well asall the others. Nothing could be found within but a few heaps of leaves.For want of better fodder the horse had to content himself withthis scanty nourishment. The provisions of the kibitka were not yetexhausted, so each had a share. Then, after having knelt before a smallpicture of the Panaghia, hung on the wall, and still lighted up by aflickering lamp, Nicholas and the young girl slept, whilst Michael, overwhom sleep had no influence, watched.

  Before daybreak the next morning, the 26th of August, the horse wasdrawing the kibitka through the forests of birch trees towards the banksof the Yenisei. Michael was in much anxiety. How was he to cross theriver, if, as was probable, all boats had been destroyed to retard theTartars' march? He knew the Yenisei, its width was considerable, itscurrents strong. Ordinarily by means of boats specially built for theconveyance of travelers, carriages, and horses, the passage of theYenisei takes about three hours, and then it is with extreme difficultythat the boats reach the opposite bank. Now, in the absence of anyferry, how was the kibitka to get from one bank to the other? r />
  Day was breaking when the kibitka reached the left bank, where one ofthe wide alleys of the park ended. They were about a hundred feet abovethe Yenisei, and could therefore survey the whole of its wide course.

  "Do you see a boat?" asked Michael, casting his eyes eagerly about fromone side to the other, mechanically, no doubt, as if he could reallysee.

  "It is scarcely light yet, brother," replied Nadia. "The fog is stillthick, and we cannot see the water."

  "But I hear it roaring," said Michael.

  Indeed, from the fog issued a dull roaring sound. The waters being highrushed down with tumultuous violence. All three waited until the mistycurtain should rise. The sun would not be long in dispersing the vapors.

  "Well?" asked Michael.

  "The fog is beginning to roll away, brother," replied Nadia, "and itwill soon be clear."

  "Then you do not see the surface of the water yet?"

  "Not yet."

  "Have patience, little father," said Nicholas. "All this will soondisappear. Look! here comes the breeze! It is driving away the fog.The trees on the opposite hills are already appearing. It is sweeping,flying away. The kindly rays of the sun have condensed all that mass ofmist. Ah! how beautiful it is, my poor fellow, and how unfortunate thatyou cannot see such a lovely sight!"

  "Do you see a boat?" asked Michael.

  "I see nothing of the sort," answered Nicholas.

  "Look well, friend, on this and the opposite bank, as far as your eyecan reach. A raft, even a canoe?"

  Nicholas and Nadia, grasping the bushes on the edge of the cliff, bentover the water. The view they thus obtained was extensive. At this placethe Yenisei is not less than a mile in width, and forms two arms, ofunequal size, through which the waters flow swiftly. Between these armslie several islands, covered with alders, willows, and poplars, lookinglike verdant ships, anchored in the river. Beyond rise the high hills ofthe Eastern shore, crowned with forests, whose tops were then empurpledwith light. The Yenisei stretched on either side as far as the eye couldreach. The beautiful panorama lay before them for a distance of fiftyversts.

  But not a boat was to be seen. All had been taken away or destroyed,according to order. Unless the Tartars should bring with them materialsfor building a bridge of boats, their march towards Irkutsk wouldcertainly be stopped for some time by this barrier, the Yenisei.

  "I remember," said Michael, "that higher up, on the outskirts ofKrasnoiarsk, there is a little quay. There the boats touch. Friend, letus go up the river, and see if some boat has not been forgotten on thebank."

  Nadia seized Michael's hand and started off at a rapid pace in thedirection indicated. If only a boat or a barge large enough to hold thekibitka could be found, or even one that would carry just themselves,Michael would not hesitate to attempt the passage! Twenty minutes after,all three had reached the little quay, with houses on each side quitedown to the water's edge. It was like a village standing beyond the townof Krasnoiarsk.

  But not a boat was on the shore, not a barge at the little wharf,nothing even of which a raft could be made large enough to carry threepeople. Michael questioned Nicholas, who made the discouraging replythat the crossing appeared to him absolutely impracticable.

  "We shall cross!" answered Michael.

  The search was continued. They examined the houses on the shore,abandoned like all the rest of Krasnoiarsk. They had merely to push openthe doors and enter. The cottages were evidently those of poor people,and quite empty. Nicholas visited one, Nadia entered another, and evenMichael went here and there and felt about, hoping to light upon somearticle that might be useful.

  Nicholas and the girl had each fruitlessly rummaged these cottages andwere about to give up the search, when they heard themselves called.Both ran to the bank and saw Michael standing on the threshold of adoor.

  "Come!" he exclaimed. Nicholas and Nadia went towards him and followedhim into the cottage.

  "What are these?" asked Michael, touching several objects piled up in acorner.

  "They are leathern bottles," answered Nicholas.

  "Are they full?"

  "Yes, full of koumyss. We have found them very opportunely to renew ourprovisions!"

  "Koumyss" is a drink made of mare's or camel's milk, and is verysustaining, and even intoxicating; so that Nicholas and his companionscould not but congratulate themselves on the discovery.

  "Save one," said Michael, "but empty the others."

  "Directly, little father."

  "These will help us to cross the Yenisei."

  "And the raft?"

  "Will be the kibitka itself, which is light enough to float. Besides, wewill sustain it, as well as the horse, with these bottles."

  "Well thought of, little father," exclaimed Nicholas, "and by God's helpwe will get safely over... though perhaps not in a straight line, forthe current is very rapid!"

  "What does that matter?" replied Michael. "Let us get across first,and we shall soon find out the road to Irkutsk on the other side of theriver."

  "To work, then," said Nicholas, beginning to empty the bottles.

  One full of koumyss was reserved, and the rest, with the air carefullyfastened in, were used to form a floating apparatus. Two bottles werefastened to the horse's sides to support it in the water. Two otherswere attached to the shafts to keep them on a level with the body of themachine, thus transformed into a raft. This work was soon finished.

  "You will not be afraid, Nadia?" asked Michael.

  "No, brother," answered the girl.

  "And you, friend?"

  "I?" cried Nicholas. "I am now going to have one of my dreamsrealized--that of sailing in a cart."

  At the spot where they were now standing, the bank sloped, and wassuitable for the launching of the kibitka. The horse drew it into thewater, and they were soon both floating. As to Serko, he was swimmingbravely.

  The three passengers, seated in the vehicle, had with due precautiontaken off their shoes and stockings; but, thanks to the bottles, thewater did not even come over their ankles. Michael held the reins, and,according to Nicholas's directions, guided the animal obliquely, butcautiously, so as not to exhaust him by struggling against the current.So long as the kibitka went with the current all was easy, and in a fewminutes it had passed the quays of Krasnoiarsk. It drifted northwards,and it was soon evident that it would only reach the opposite bank farbelow the town. But that mattered little. The crossing would have beenmade without great difficulty, even on this imperfect apparatus, hadthe current been regular; but, unfortunately, there were whirlpools innumbers, and soon the kibitka, notwithstanding all Michael's efforts,was irresistibly drawn into one of these.

  There the danger was great. The kibitka no longer drifted, but spunrapidly round, inclining towards the center of the eddy, like a rider ina circus. The horse could scarcely keep his head above water, and ran agreat risk of being suffocated. Serko had been obliged to take refuge inthe carriage.

  Michael knew what was happening. He felt himself drawn round in agradually narrowing line, from which they could not get free. How helonged to see, to be better able to avoid this peril, but that was nolonger possible. Nadia was silent, her hands clinging to the sidesof the cart, which was inclining more and more towards the center ofdepression.

  And Nicholas, did he not understand the gravity of the situation? Was itwith him phlegm or contempt of danger, courage or indifference? Was hislife valueless in his eyes, and, according to the Eastern expression,"an hotel for five days," which, whether one is willing or not, must beleft the sixth? At any rate, the smile on his rosy face never faded foran instant.

  The kibitka was thus in the whirlpool, and the horse was nearlyexhausted, when, all at once, Michael, throwing off such of his garmentsas might impede him, jumped into the water; then, seizing with a stronghand the bridle of the terrified horse, he gave him such an impulse thathe managed to struggle out of the circle, and getting again into thecurrent, the kibitka drifted along anew.

  "Hurrah!" exclai
med Nicholas.

  Two hours after leaving the wharf, the kibitka had crossed the widestarm of the river, and had landed on an island more than six versts belowthe starting point.

  There the horse drew the cart onto the bank, and an hour's rest wasgiven to the courageous animal; then the island having been crossedunder the shade of its magnificent birches, the kibitka found itself onthe shore of the smaller arm of the Yenisei.

  This passage was much easier; no whirlpools broke the course of theriver in this second bed; but the current was so rapid that the kibitkaonly reached the opposite side five versts below. They had driftedeleven versts in all.

  These great Siberian rivers across which no bridges have as yet beenthrown, are serious obstacles to the facility of communication. All hadbeen more or less unfortunate to Michael Strogoff. On the Irtych, theboat which carried him and Nadia had been attacked by Tartars. On theObi, after his horse had been struck by a bullet, he had only by amiracle escaped from the horsemen who were pursuing him. In fact, thispassage of the Yenisei had been performed the least disastrously.

  "That would not have been so amusing," exclaimed Nicholas, rubbing hishands, as they disembarked on the right bank of the river, "if it hadnot been so difficult."

  "That which has only been difficult to us, friend," answered MichaelStrogoff, "will, perhaps, be impossible to the Tartars."