Michael Strogoff; Or, The Courier of the Czar

  CHAPTER IV FROM MOSCOW TO NIJNI-NOVGOROD

  THE distance between Moscow and Irkutsk, about to be traversed byMichael Strogoff, was three thousand four hundred miles. Before thetelegraph wire extended from the Ural Mountains to the eastern frontierof Siberia, the dispatch service was performed by couriers, those whotraveled the most rapidly taking eighteen days to get from Moscow toIrkutsk. But this was the exception, and the journey through AsiaticRussia usually occupied from four to five weeks, even though everyavailable means of transport was placed at the disposal of the Czar'smessengers.

  Michael Strogoff was a man who feared neither frost nor snow. He wouldhave preferred traveling during the severe winter season, in order thathe might perform the whole distance by sleighs. At that period of theyear the difficulties which all other means of locomotion present aregreatly diminished, the wide steppes being leveled by snow, while thereare no rivers to cross, but simply sheets of glass, over which thesleigh glides rapidly and easily.

  Perhaps certain natural phenomena are most to be feared at that time,such as long-continuing and dense fogs, excessive cold, fearfully heavysnow-storms, which sometimes envelop whole caravans and cause theirdestruction. Hungry wolves also roam over the plain in thousands. Butit would have been better for Michael Strogoff to face these risks; forduring the winter the Tartar invaders would have been stationed in thetowns, any movement of their troops would have been impracticable, andhe could consequently have more easily performed his journey. But itwas not in his power to choose either weather or time. Whatever thecircumstances, he must accept them and set out.

  Such were the difficulties which Michael Strogoff boldly confronted andprepared to encounter.

  In the first place, he must not travel as a courier of the Czar usuallywould. No one must even suspect what he really was. Spies swarm in arebellious country; let him be recognized, and his mission would be indanger. Also, while supplying him with a large sum of money, which wassufficient for his journey, and would facilitate it in some measure,General Kissoff had not given him any document notifying that he was onthe Emperor's service, which is the Sesame par excellence. He contentedhimself with furnishing him with a "podorojna."

  This podorojna was made out in the name of Nicholas Korpanoff, merchant,living at Irkutsk. It authorized Nicholas Korpanoff to be accompaniedby one or more persons, and, moreover, it was, by special notification,made available in the event of the Muscovite government forbiddingnatives of any other countries to leave Russia.

  The podorojna is simply a permission to take post-horses; but MichaelStrogoff was not to use it unless he was sure that by so doing he wouldnot excite suspicion as to his mission, that is to say, whilst he wason European territory. The consequence was that in Siberia, whilsttraversing the insurgent provinces, he would have no power over therelays, either in the choice of horses in preference to others, or indemanding conveyances for his personal use; neither was Michael Strogoffto forget that he was no longer a courier, but a plain merchant,Nicholas Korpanoff, traveling from Moscow to Irkutsk, and, as suchexposed to all the impediments of an ordinary journey.

  To pass unknown, more or less rapidly, but to pass somehow, such werethe directions he had received.

  Thirty years previously, the escort of a traveler of rank consisted ofnot less than two hundred mounted Cossacks, two hundred foot-soldiers,twenty-five Baskir horsemen, three hundred camels, four hundred horses,twenty-five wagons, two portable boats, and two pieces of cannon. Allthis was requisite for a journey in Siberia.

  Michael Strogoff, however, had neither cannon, nor horsemen, norfoot-soldiers, nor beasts of burden. He would travel in a carriage or onhorseback, when he could; on foot, when he could not.

  There would be no difficulty in getting over the first thousand miles,the distance between Moscow and the Russian frontier. Railroads,post-carriages, steamboats, relays of horses, were at everyone'sdisposal, and consequently at the disposal of the courier of the Czar.

  Accordingly, on the morning of the 16th of July, having doffed hisuniform, with a knapsack on his back, dressed in the simple Russiancostume--tightly-fitting tunic, the traditional belt of the Moujik,wide trousers, gartered at the knees, and high boots--Michael Strogoffarrived at the station in time for the first train. He carried no arms,openly at least, but under his belt was hidden a revolver and in hispocket, one of those large knives, resembling both a cutlass and ayataghan, with which a Siberian hunter can so neatly disembowel a bear,without injuring its precious fur.

  A crowd of travelers had collected at the Moscow station. The stationson the Russian railroads are much used as places for meeting, not onlyby those who are about to proceed by the train, but by friends who cometo see them off. The station resembles, from the variety of charactersassembled, a small news exchange.

  The train in which Michael took his place was to set him down atNijni-Novgorod. There terminated at that time, the iron road which,uniting Moscow and St. Petersburg, has since been continued to theRussian frontier. It was a journey of under three hundred miles, and thetrain would accomplish it in ten hours. Once arrived at Nijni-Novgorod,Strogoff would either take the land route or the steamer on the Volga,so as to reach the Ural Mountains as soon as possible.

  Michael Strogoff ensconced himself in his corner, like a worthy citizenwhose affairs go well with him, and who endeavors to kill time by sleep.Nevertheless, as he was not alone in his compartment, he slept with oneeye open, and listened with both his ears.

  In fact, rumor of the rising of the Kirghiz hordes, and of the Tartarinvasion had transpired in some degree. The occupants of the carriage,whom chance had made his traveling companions, discussed the subject,though with that caution which has become habitual among Russians, whoknow that spies are ever on the watch for any treasonable expressionswhich may be uttered.

  These travelers, as well as the large number of persons in the train,were merchants on their way to the celebrated fair of Nijni-Novgorod;--avery mixed assembly, composed of Jews, Turks, Cossacks, Russians,Georgians, Kalmucks, and others, but nearly all speaking the nationaltongue.

  They discussed the pros and cons of the serious events which were takingplace beyond the Ural, and those merchants seemed to fear lestthe government should be led to take certain restrictive measures,especially in the provinces bordering on the frontier--measures fromwhich trade would certainly suffer. They apparently thought only of thestruggle from the single point of view of their threatened interests.The presence of a private soldier, clad in his uniform--and theimportance of a uniform in Russia is great--would have certainly beenenough to restrain the merchants' tongues. But in the compartmentoccupied by Michael Strogoff, there was no one who seemed a militaryman, and the Czar's courier was not the person to betray himself. Helistened, then.

  "They say that caravan teas are up," remarked a Persian, known by hiscap of Astrakhan fur, and his ample brown robe, worn threadbare by use.

  "Oh, there's no fear of teas falling," answered an old Jew of sullenaspect. "Those in the market at Nijni-Novgorod will be easily clearedoff by the West; but, unfortunately, it won't be the same with Bokharacarpets."

  "What! are you expecting goods from Bokhara?" asked the Persian.

  "No, but from Samarcand, and that is even more exposed. The idea ofreckoning on the exports of a country in which the khans are in a stateof revolt from Khiva to the Chinese frontier!"

  "Well," replied the Persian, "if the carpets do not arrive, the draftswill not arrive either, I suppose."

  "And the profits, Father Abraham!" exclaimed the little Jew, "do youreckon them as nothing?"

  "You are right," said another; "goods from Central Asia run a great riskin the market, and it will be the same with the tallow and shawls fromthe East."

  "Why, look out, little father," said a Russian traveler, in a banteringtone; "you'll grease your shawls terribly if you mix them up with yourtallow."

  "That amuses you," sharply answered the merchant, who had little relishfor that sort of joke.

>   "Well, if you tear your hair, or if you throw ashes on your head,"replied the traveler, "will that change the course of events? No; nomore than the course of the Exchange."

  "One can easily see that you are not a merchant," observed the littleJew.

  "Faith, no, worthy son of Abraham! I sell neither hops, nor eider-down,nor honey, nor wax, nor hemp-seed, nor salt meat, nor caviare, nor wood,nor wool, nor ribbons, nor, hemp, nor flax, nor morocco, nor furs."

  "But do you buy them?" asked the Persian, interrupting the traveler'slist.

  "As little as I can, and only for my own private use," answered theother, with a wink.

  "He's a wag," said the Jew to the Persian.

  "Or a spy," replied the other, lowering his voice. "We had bettertake care, and not speak more than necessary. The police are notover-particular in these times, and you never can know with whom you aretraveling."

  In another corner of the compartment they were speaking less ofmercantile affairs, and more of the Tartar invasion and its annoyingconsequences.

  "All the horses in Siberia will be requisitioned," said a traveler,"and communication between the different provinces of Central Asia willbecome very difficult."

  "Is it true," asked his neighbor, "that the Kirghiz of the middle hordehave joined the Tartars?"

  "So it is said," answered the traveler, lowering his voice; "but who canflatter themselves that they know anything really of what is going on inthis country?"

  "I have heard speak of a concentration of troops on the frontier. TheDon Cossacks have already gathered along the course of the Volga, andthey are to be opposed to the rebel Kirghiz."

  "If the Kirghiz descend the Irtish, the route to Irkutsk will not besafe," observed his neighbor. "Besides, yesterday I wanted to senda telegram to Krasnoiarsk, and it could not be forwarded. It's to befeared that before long the Tartar columns will have isolated EasternSiberia."

  "In short, little father," continued the first speaker, "these merchantshave good reason for being uneasy about their trade and transactions.After requisitioning the horses, they will take the boats, carriages,every means of transport, until presently no one will be allowed to takeeven one step in all the empire."

  "I'm much afraid that the Nijni-Novgorod fair won't end as brilliantlyas it has begun," responded the other, shaking his head. "But the safetyand integrity of the Russian territory before everything. Business isbusiness."

  If in this compartment the subject of conversation varied butlittle--nor did it, indeed, in the other carriages of the train--in allit might have been observed that the talkers used much circumspection.When they did happen to venture out of the region of facts, they neverwent so far as to attempt to divine the intentions of the Muscovitegovernment, or even to criticize them.

  This was especially remarked by a traveler in a carriage at the frontpart of the train. This person--evidently a stranger--made good useof his eyes, and asked numberless questions, to which he received onlyevasive answers. Every minute leaning out of the window, which he wouldkeep down, to the great disgust of his fellow-travelers, he lostnothing of the views to the right. He inquired the names of the mostinsignificant places, their position, what were their commerce, theirmanufactures, the number of their inhabitants, the average mortality,etc., and all this he wrote down in a note-book, already full.

  This was the correspondent Alcide Jolivet, and the reason of his puttingso many insignificant questions was, that amongst the many answers hereceived, he hoped to find some interesting fact "for his cousin." But,naturally enough, he was taken for a spy, and not a word treating of theevents of the day was uttered in his hearing.

  Finding, therefore, that he could learn nothing of the Tartar invasion,he wrote in his book, "Travelers of great discretion. Very close as topolitical matters."

  Whilst Alcide Jolivet noted down his impressions thus minutely, hisconfrere, in the same train, traveling for the same object, was devotinghimself to the same work of observation in another compartment. Neitherof them had seen each other that day at the Moscow station, and theywere each ignorant that the other had set out to visit the scene of thewar. Harry Blount, speaking little, but listening much, had not inspiredhis companions with the suspicions which Alcide Jolivet had aroused.He was not taken for a spy, and therefore his neighbors, withoutconstraint, gossiped in his presence, allowing themselves even to gofarther than their natural caution would in most cases have allowedthem. The correspondent of the Daily Telegraph had thus an opportunityof observing how much recent events preoccupied the merchants ofNijni-Novgorod, and to what a degree the commerce with Central Asia wasthreatened in its transit.

  He therefore noted in his book this perfectly correct observation, "Myfellow-travelers extremely anxious. Nothing is talked of but war, andthey speak of it, with a freedom which is astonishing, as having brokenout between the Volga and the Vistula."

  The readers of the Daily Telegraph would not fail to be as well informedas Alcide Jolivet's "cousin." But as Harry Blount, seated at the leftof the train, only saw one part of the country, which was hilly, withoutgiving himself the trouble of looking at the right side, which wascomposed of wide plains, he added, with British assurance, "Countrymountainous between Moscow and Wladimir."

  It was evident that the Russian government purposed taking severemeasures to guard against any serious eventualities even in the interiorof the empire. The rebel lion had not crossed the Siberian frontier, butevil influences might be feared in the Volga provinces, so near to thecountry of the Kirghiz.

  The police had as yet found no traces of Ivan Ogareff. It was not knownwhether the traitor, calling in the foreigner to avenge his personalrancor, had rejoined Feofar-Khan, or whether he was endeavoring tofoment a revolt in the government of Nijni-Novgorod, which at this timeof year contained a population of such diverse elements. Perhaps amongthe Persians, Armenians, or Kalmucks, who flocked to the great market,he had agents, instructed to provoke a rising in the interior. All thiswas possible, especially in such a country as Russia. In fact, thisvast empire, 4,000,000 square miles in extent, does not possess thehomogeneousness of the states of Western Europe. The Russian territoryin Europe and Asia contains more than seventy millions of inhabitants.In it thirty different languages are spoken. The Sclavonian racepredominates, no doubt, but there are besides Russians, Poles,Lithuanians, Courlanders. Add to these, Finns, Laplanders, Esthonians,several other northern tribes with unpronounceable names, the Permiaks,the Germans, the Greeks, the Tartars, the Caucasian tribes, theMongol, Kalmuck, Samoid, Kamtschatkan, and Aleutian hordes, and onemay understand that the unity of so vast a state must be difficultto maintain, and that it could only be the work of time, aided by thewisdom of many successive rulers.

  Be that as it may, Ivan Ogareff had hitherto managed to escape allsearch, and very probably he might have rejoined the Tartar army. Butat every station where the train stopped, inspectors came forwardwho scrutinized the travelers and subjected them all to a minuteexamination, as by order of the superintendent of police, theseofficials were seeking Ivan Ogareff. The government, in fact, believedit to be certain that the traitor had not yet been able to quit EuropeanRussia. If there appeared cause to suspect any traveler, he was carriedoff to explain himself at the police station, and in the meantime thetrain went on its way, no person troubling himself about the unfortunateone left behind.

  With the Russian police, which is very arbitrary, it is absolutelyuseless to argue. Military rank is conferred on its employees, andthey act in military fashion. How can anyone, moreover, help obeying,unhesitatingly, orders which emanate from a monarch who has the right toemploy this formula at the head of his ukase: "We, by the grace of God,Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias of Moscow, Kiev, Wladimir, andNovgorod, Czar of Kasan and Astrakhan, Czar of Poland, Czar of Siberia,Czar of the Tauric Chersonese, Seignior of Pskov, Prince of Smolensk,Lithuania, Volkynia, Podolia, and Finland, Prince of Esthonia, Livonia,Courland, and of Semigallia, of Bialystok, Karelia, Sougria, Perm,Viatka, Bulgaria,
and many other countries; Lord and Sovereign Princeof the territory of Nijni-Novgorod, Tchemigoff, Riazan, Polotsk, Rostov,Jaroslavl, Bielozersk, Oudoria, Obdoria, Kondinia, Vitepsk, and ofMstislaf, Governor of the Hyperborean Regions, Lord of the countries ofIveria, Kartalinia, Grou-zinia, Kabardinia, and Armenia, Hereditary Lordand Suzerain of the Scherkess princes, of those of the mountains, andof others; heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn,Dittmarsen, and Oldenburg." A powerful lord, in truth, is he whose armsare an eagle with two heads, holding a scepter and a globe, surroundedby the escutcheons of Novgorod, Wladimir, Kiev, Kasan, Astrakhan, andof Siberia, and environed by the collar of the order of St. Andrew,surmounted by a royal crown!

  As to Michael Strogoff, his papers were in order, and he was,consequently, free from all police supervision.

  At the station of Wladimir the train stopped for several minutes, whichappeared sufficient to enable the correspondent of the Daily Telegraphto take a twofold view, physical and moral, and to form a completeestimate of this ancient capital of Russia.

  At the Wladimir station fresh travelers joined the train. Among others,a young girl entered the compartment occupied by Michael Strogoff. Avacant place was found opposite the courier. The young girl took it,after placing by her side a modest traveling-bag of red leather, whichseemed to constitute all her luggage. Then seating herself with downcasteyes, not even glancing at the fellow-travelers whom chance had givenher, she prepared for a journey which was still to last several hours.

  Michael Strogoff could not help looking attentively at his newly-arrivedfellow-traveler. As she was so placed as to travel with her back to theengine, he even offered her his seat, which he might prefer to her own,but she thanked him with a slight bend of her graceful neck.

  The young girl appeared to be about sixteen or seventeen years of age.Her head, truly charming, was of the purest Sclavonic type--slightlysevere, and likely in a few summers to unfold into beauty rather thanmere prettiness. From beneath a sort of kerchief which she wore on herhead escaped in profusion light golden hair. Her eyes were brown, soft,and expressive of much sweetness of temper. The nose was straight,and attached to her pale and somewhat thin cheeks by delicately mobilenostrils. The lips were finely cut, but it seemed as if they had longsince forgotten how to smile.

  The young traveler was tall and upright, as far as could be judged ofher figure from the very simple and ample pelisse that covered her.Although she was still a very young girl in the literal sense of theterm, the development of her high forehead and clearly-cut features gavethe idea that she was the possessor of great moral energy--a point whichdid not escape Michael Strogoff. Evidently this young girl had alreadysuffered in the past, and the future doubtless did not present itselfto her in glowing colors; but she had surely known how to strugglestill with the trials of life. Her energy was evidently both prompt andpersistent, and her calmness unalterable, even under circumstances inwhich a man would be likely to give way or lose his self-command.

  Such was the impression which she produced at first sight. MichaelStrogoff, being himself of an energetic temperament, was naturallystruck by the character of her physiognomy, and, while taking carenot to cause her annoyance by a too persistent gaze, he observed hisneighbor with no small interest. The costume of the young traveler wasboth extremely simple and appropriate. She was not rich--that couldbe easily seen; but not the slightest mark of negligence was to bediscerned in her dress. All her luggage was contained in the leather bagwhich, for want of room, she held on her lap.

  She wore a long, dark pelisse, gracefully adjusted at the neck by ablue tie. Under this pelisse, a short skirt, also dark, fell over a robewhich reached the ankles. Half-boots of leather, thickly soled, as ifchosen in anticipation of a long journey, covered her small feet.

  Michael Strogoff fancied that he recognized, by certain details, thefashion of the costume of Livonia, and thought his neighbor a native ofthe Baltic provinces.

  But whither was this young girl going, alone, at an age when thefostering care of a father, or the protection of a brother, isconsidered a matter of necessity? Had she now come, after an alreadylong journey, from the provinces of Western Russia? Was she merely goingto Nijni-Novgorod, or was the end of her travels beyond the easternfrontiers of the empire? Would some relation, some friend, await herarrival by the train? Or was it not more probable, on the contrary, thatshe would find herself as much isolated in the town as she was in thiscompartment? It was probable.

  In fact, the effect of habits contracted in solitude was clearlymanifested in the bearing of the young girl. The manner in which sheentered the carriage and prepared herself for the journey, the slightdisturbance she caused among those around her, the care she took not toincommode or give trouble to anyone, all showed that she was accustomedto be alone, and to depend on herself only.

  Michael Strogoff observed her with interest, but, himself reserved,he sought no opportunity of accosting her. Once only, when herneighbor--the merchant who had jumbled together so imprudently in hisremarks tallow and shawls--being asleep, and threatening her with hisgreat head, which was swaying from one shoulder to the other, MichaelStrogoff awoke him somewhat roughly, and made him understand that hemust hold himself upright.

  The merchant, rude enough by nature, grumbled some words against "peoplewho interfere with what does not concern them," but Michael Strogoffcast on him a glance so stern that the sleeper leant on the oppositeside, and relieved the young traveler from his unpleasant vicinity.

  The latter looked at the young man for an instant, and mute and modestthanks were in that look.

  But a circumstance occurred which gave Strogoff a just idea ofthe character of the maiden. Twelve versts before arriving atNijni-Novgorod, at a sharp curve of the iron way, the train experienceda very violent shock. Then, for a minute, it ran onto the slope of anembankment.

  Travelers more or less shaken about, cries, confusion, general disorderin the carriages--such was the effect at first produced. It was tobe feared that some serious accident had happened. Consequently,even before the train had stopped, the doors were opened, and thepanic-stricken passengers thought only of getting out of the carriages.

  Michael Strogoff thought instantly of the young girl; but, while thepassengers in her compartment were precipitating themselves outside,screaming and struggling, she had remained quietly in her place, herface scarcely changed by a slight pallor.

  She waited--Michael Strogoff waited also.

  Both remained quiet.

  "A determined nature!" thought Michael Strogoff.

  However, all danger had quickly disappeared. A breakage of the couplingof the luggage-van had first caused the shock to, and then the stoppageof, the train, which in another instant would have been thrown from thetop of the embankment into a bog. There was an hour's delay. At last,the road being cleared, the train proceeded, and at half-past eight inthe evening arrived at the station of Nijni-Novgorod.