Michael Strogoff

rogoff Mee

inet was again opened and Ge

" inquired th

ire," replied

found a fi

r for him to

n the service

, si

know

times he has fulfilled diffi

roa

beria

oes he c

. He is a

ess, intellig

ties necessary to succeed, even

is his

irt

rong and

unger, thirst, fatigue, to

ave a fram

, he

a h

rt of

s n

el Str

eady to

ajesty's orders i

me in," sai

ch a man against his will, for when his feet were once planted on the ground, it was as if they had taken root. As he doffed his Muscovite cap, locks of thick curly hair fell over his broad, massive forehead. When his ordinarily pale face became at all flushed, it arose solely from a more rapid action of the heart. His eyes, of

nd indecision. Sparing of gestures as of words, he always stood motionless like a soldier before his superior; but wh

y officer in the field - boots, spurs, half tightly-fitting trousers, brown pelisse, trimmed

ularly in his walk, his face, in the whole man, and which the Czar perceived at a glance - was, that he was "a fulfiller of orders." He therefore possessed one o

to Irkutsk, across a rebellious country, surmount obstacles,

acquainted with the country which he was about to traverse, and understood its different di

an by profession. Summer and winter - in the burning heat, as well as when the cold was sometimes fifty degrees below zero - he scoured the frozen plains, the thickets of birch and larch, the pine forests; setting traps; watching for small game with his gun, and for large game with the spear or knife. The large game was nothing less than the S

t, carrying the ragatina or spear to aid his father, who was armed only with the knife. When he was fourteen, Michael Strogoff had killed his first bear, quite alone - t

cuteness, guided by the instinct of the Delaware of North America, over the white plain, when every object is hidden in mist, or even in higher latitudes, where the polar night is prolonged for many days, he could find his way when others would have had no idea whither to turn. All his father's secrets were known to him. He had learnt to read almost imperceptible signs - the forms of icicles, the appearance

e the house of the Strogoffs, at Omsk, on the banks of the Irtish, where the old huntsman and she had lived so long together. When her son left her,

nguished himself especially, in a journey to the Caucasus, through the midst of a difficult country, ravaged by some restless successors of Schamyl; then later, in an important mission to Petropolowski, in Kamtschatka, the e

years - three ages! - the first time in his life he had been so long absent from her. Now, however, in a few days he would obtain his furlough, and he had accordingly already made preparations for

on him without uttering a word, whil

ned to the chief of police to seat himself, and dictate

preceding his name with the words "Byt po semou," which, signifying

in an envelope, which was s

told Michael Str

teps, and then stood mot

e face and their eyes met. Then in a

Strogof

y r

corps of couri

st know

a Sibe

ativ

k, s

u relatio

s s

rela

ld mo

which he held in his hand, "Here is a letter which I charge thee, Michael St

deliver

Duke is a

go to

country, invaded by Tartars, whose inte

traver

itor, Ivan Ogareff, who will

beware

pass thro

hat is m

ere will be the risk of being re

goff hesitat

t see her,

make thee acknowledge who thou

wear

e young courier, "take this letter; on it depends the safety of

delivered to his Hig

lt pass whate

s, or they s

thee t

shall pass," answer

sfied with Strogoff's

id he, "go for God, for Russia,

n, immediately left the imperial cabinet

hoice there, Gener

f; "and your majesty may be sure that Mich

d a man," sa

ype="