Michael Strogoff

Announ

rict of the same name. It was here that Michael Strogoff was obliged to leave the railway, which at the time di

ed thousand; that is to say, the population was increased tenfold. This addition was in consequence of the celebrated fair, which was held within t

r of people in the two towns, separated by the stream of the Volga, which compose Nijni-Novgorod

ich the steamboat would start. He went to the office of the company whose boats plied between Nijni-Novgorod and Perm. There, to his great annoyance, he found that no boat started for Perm till the following day at twelve o'clock. Seventeen hours to wait! It was very v

hunger pressed him, he would probably have wandered on till morning in the streets of Nijni-Novgorod. He was looking for supper rather than a bed. But he found both at the sign of the City of

re placed before him, and sufficed to satisfy his hunger. He did justice to the meal, which was more than could be said of his neighbor at table, who, having, in his char

into the town. But, although the long twilight yet lingered, the crowd was already dispersin

been his traveling companion? Having nothing better to do, he WAS thinking of her. Did he fear that, lost in this busy city, she might be exposed to insult? He feared

those she must undergo. Siberia! Irkutsk! I am about to dare all risks for Russia, for the Czar, while she is about to do so - Fo

topped for an inst

disturbances in Siberia - and she did not seem surprised. She did not even ask an explanation. She must have known it then, and knowing it, is still resolute. Poor girl! Her motive for the journey must be urgent indeed!

ed on as chance led him; being well acquainted with th

of a large wooden cottage, which stood, with many others, on a vast open space. He

y demanded a tall and powerful ma

," replied Mi

stay all night

ichael Strogoff, in a tone somewhat too sharp

en, so I can see

was requisite, instinctively drew back. "It is not nec

ther physical or moral, is unpleasant. Then, as he looked more attentively through the dusk, he perceived, near the cottage, a la

off more closely, the door of the cottage opened. He could just see a woman, who spoke q

, and come to supper. The p

ng at the epithet bestowed on him, dr

ferent, the Bohemian replied in words which signify,

epeated the wo

an; "to-morrow, and the Father hims

n entered the cottage, and

gipsies do not wish to be understood when they spea

as been said, understood almost all the languages in usage from Tartary to the Sea of Ice. As to the exa

epose. He followed, as he did so, the course of the Volga, whose waters we

f those Russian beds which always seem so hard to strangers,

he rose, dressed himself, placed the letter with the imperial arms on it carefully at the bottom of its usual pocket within the lining of his coat, over which he fastened his belt; he then closed his bag and threw it over his shoulder. This done, he had no wish to return to the City of Constantinople, and intending to breakfast on the bank of the Volga near the wharf, he settled his bill and left

bles that of Moscow, was altogether abandoned. Even the governor did not reside there. Bu

gipsy camp. This was somewhat outside the town, where the fair of Nijni-Novgorod was held. In a vast plain rose the temporary palace of the governor-general, where

y arranged in such a manner as to leave avenues bro

r, the woolen quarter, the quarter of the wood merchants, the weavers' quarter, the dried fish quarter, etc. Some booths were even built of fancy materials, some of bricks of tea, others

emed to be heaped up in this square. Furs, precious stones, silks, Cashmere shawls, Turkey carpets, weapons from the Caucasus, gauzes from Smyrna and Ispahan. Tiflis armor, caravan teas. European bronzes, Swiss clocks, velvets and silks from Lyons, English cottons, harness, fruits, vegetables,

hey were completely outdone by their visitors. There were merchants from Central Asia, who had occupied a year in escorting their merchandise across its vast plains, and who would not again see their s

and dancing their most original dances; comedians of foreign theaters, acting Shakespeare, adapted to the taste of spectators who crowded to witness them. In the long avenues the bear showmen accompanied their four-footed dancers, menageries resounded with the hoarse cries of animals under the influence of the stinging whip or red-hot irons of the tamer; and, besides all thes

s was allowed to escape from the cages in which they had been brought to the spot. In return for a few copecks charitably offered by

ything agreeable, and as by chance both lodging and food were to his taste, he jotted down in his book some memoranda particularly favorable to the town of Nijni-Novgorod. Blount, on the contrary, having in vain hunted for a supper, had been obliged to find a resting-place i

d the most indifferent and least impatient of men; yet, from a certain contraction of his ey

rade was visibly suffering. Another symptom also was marked. In Russia military uniforms appear on every occasion. Soldiers are wont to mix freely with the crowd, the police agents being almost invariably aided by a number of Cossacks, who, lance on shoulder, k

palace, galloped in every direction. An unusual movement was going forward which a serious state of affairs could alone account for. There were

t the head of police had been summoned by a courier to the palace of the govern

to be close

ovgorod has received the

t the Tartars

d, which subsided by degrees, and finally was succeeded by absolute silence. The head of police arri

following announcements: "By orde

forbidden to quit the provinc

are commanded to leave the province wi