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to the leeward of fires of green wood, which were kept burning night and day,
and the pungent smoke of which floated over the vast swamp.
Michael Strogoff
CHAPTER XV THE MARSHES OF THE BARABA
77
When Michael Strogoff perceived that his horse, tired out, was on the point of
succumbing, he halted at one of these wretched hamlets, and there, forgetting
his own fatigue, he himself rubbed the wounds of the poor animal with hot
grease according to the Siberian custom; then he gave him a good feed; and it
was only after he had well groomed and provided for him that he thought of
himself, and recruited his strength by a hasty meal of bread and meat and a
glass of kwass. One hour afterwards, or at the most two, he resumed with all
speed the interminable road to Irkutsk.
On the 30th of July, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Michael Strogoff,
insensible of every fatigue, arrived at
Elamsk. There it became necessary to give a night's rest to his horse. The
brave animal could no longer have continued the journey. At Elamsk, as indeed
elsewhere, there existed no means of transport, for the same reasons as at the
previous villages, neither carriages nor horses were to be had.
Michael Strogoff resigned himself therefore to pass the night at Elamsk, to
give his horse twelve hours' rest.
He recalled the instructions which had been given to him at Moscowto cross
Siberia incognito, to arrive at
Irkutsk, but not to sacrifice success to the rapidity of the journey; and
consequently it was necessary that he should husband the sole means of
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transport which remained to him.
On the morrow, Michael Strogoff left Elamsk at the moment when the first
Tartar scouts were signaled ten versts behind upon the road to the Baraba, and
he plunged again into the swampy region. The road was level, which made it
easy, but very tortuous, and therefore long. It was impossible, moreover, to
leave it, and to strike a straight line across that impassable network of
pools and bogs.
On the next day, the 1st of August, eighty miles farther, Michael Strogoff
arrived at midday at the town of
Spaskoe, and at two o'clock he halted at Pokrowskoe. His horse, jaded since
his departure from Elamsk, could not have taken a single step more.
There Michael Strogoff was again compelled to lose, for necessary rest, the
end of that day and the entire night; but starting again on the following
morning, and still traversing the semiinundated soil, on the 2nd of
August, at four o'clock in the afternoon, after a stage of fifty miles he
reached Kamsk.
The country had changed. This little village of Kamsk lies, like an island,
habitable and healthy, in the midst of the uninhabitable district. It is
situated in the very center of the Baraba. The emigration caused by the
Tartar invasion had not yet depopulated this little town of Kamsk. Its
inhabitants probably fancied themselves safe in the center of the Baraba,
whence at least they thought they would have time to flee if they were
directly menaced.
Michael Strogoff, although exceedingly anxious for news, could ascertain
nothing at this place. It would have been rather to him that the Governor
would have addressed himself had he known who the pretended merchant of
Irkutsk really was. Kamsk, in fact, by its very situation seemed to be outside
the Siberian world and the grave events which troubled it.
Besides, Michael Strogoff showed himself little, if at all. To be unperceived
was not now enough for him: he would have wished to be invisible. The
experience of the past made him more and more circumspect in the present and
the future. Therefore he secluded himself, and not caring to traverse the
streets of the village, he would not even leave the inn at which he had
halted.
As for his horse, he did not even think of exchanging him for another animal.
He had become accustomed to this brave creature. He knew to what extent he
could rely upon him. In buying him at Omsk he had been lucky, and in taking
him to the postmaster the generous mujik had rendered him a great service.
Besides, if
Michael Strogoff had already become attached to his horse, the horse himself
seemed to become inured, by degrees, to the fatigue of such a journey, and
provided that he got several hours of repose daily, his rider
Michael Strogoff
CHAPTER XV THE MARSHES OF THE BARABA
78
might hope that he would carry him beyond the invaded provinces.
So, during the evening and night of the 2nd of August, Michael Strogoff
remained confined to his inn, at the entrance of the town; which was little
frequented and out of the way of the importunate and curious.
Exhausted with fatigue, he went to bed after having seen that his horse lacked
nothing; but his sleep was broken. What he had seen since his departure from
Moscow showed him the importance of his mission. The rising was an extremely
serious one, and the treachery of Ogareff made it still more formidable. And
when his eyes fell upon the letter bearing upon it the authority of the
imperial seal the letter which, no doubt, contained the remedy for so many
evils, the safety of all this warravaged countryMichael Strogoff felt within
himself a fierce desire to dash on across the steppe, to accomplish the
distance which separated him from Irkutsk as the crow would fly it, to be an
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eagle that he might overtop all obstacles, to be a hurricane that he might
sweep through the air at a hundred versts an hour, and to be at last face to
face with the Grand Duke, and to exclaim: "Your highness, from his Majesty the
Czar!"
On the next morning at six o'clock, Michael Strogoff started off again. Thanks
to his extreme prudence this part of the journey was signalized by no incident
whatever. At Oubinsk he gave his horse a whole night's rest, for he wished on
the next day to accomplish the hundred versts which lie between Oubinsk and
Ikoulskoe without halting. He started therefore at dawn; but unfortunately the
Baraba proved more detestable than ever.
In fact, between Oubinsk and Kamakore the very heavy rains of some previous
weeks were retained by this shallow depression as in a watertight bowl. There
was, for a long distance, no break in the succession of swamps, pools, and
lakes. One of these lakes large enough to warrant its geographical
nomenclatureTchang, Chinese in name, had to be coasted for more than twenty
versts, and this with the greatest difficulty. Hence certain delays occurred,
which all the impatience of Michael Strogoff could not avoid. He had been well
advised in not taking a carriage at Kamsk, for his horse passed places which
would have been impracticable for a conveyance on wheels.
In the evening, at nine o'clock, Michael Strogoff arrived at Ikoulskoe, and
halted there over night. In this remote village of the Baraba news of the war
was utterly wanting. From its situation, this part of the province, lying in
the fork formed by the two Tartar columns which had bifurcated, one upon Omsk
and the other upon
Tomsk, had hitherto escaped the horrors of the invasion.
But the natural obstacles were now about to disappear, for, if he experienced
no delay, Michael Strogoff should on the morrow be free of the Baraba and
arrive at Kolyvan. There he would be within eighty miles of
Tomsk. He would then be guided by circumstances, and very probably he would
decide to go around Tomsk, which, if the news were true, was occupied by
FeofarKhan.
But if the small towns of Ikoulskoe and Karguinsk, which he passed on the next
day, were comparatively quiet, owing to their position in the Baraba, was it
not to be dreaded that, upon the right banks of the Obi, Michael Strogoff
would have much more to fear from man? It was probable. However, should it
become necessary, he would not hesitate to abandon the beaten path to Irkutsk.
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