Michael Strogoff.
FROM
by JULES VERNE.
CHAPTER II.
If the Czar so abruptly withdrew from the saloons of the
Asiatic Russia, or
This
immense extent of steppes comprising more than 110° from west to east, is at once a land for transporting criminals and a
land of exile for all on whom a ukase of expulsion falls.
Two
governors-general represent the supreme authority of the Czar in this vast country.
One resides at Irkoutsk,. capital
of
No
railroad yet furrows these immense plains— some of which are really extremely
fertile. No iron road taps the precious mines, which in vast beds render the
Siberian soil richer below the surface than above it. In Summer
you travel by tarentass or telega; in winter by sleigh.
A
single mode of communication, but a telegraphic one, unites the eastern and
western frontiers of
This
wire running from Ekaterineburg to Nikolaevsk had been cut first before
“A courier instantly!”
The
Czar stood some moments motionless at the window of his cabinet, when the usher
again opened the door. The grand-master of the Russian police appeared at the
threshold.
“Enter,
general.” said the Czar, in a curt tone, “and tell me what you know of Ivan
Ogareff”
“An
extremely dangerous man, sire,” replied the grand-master of the police.
“He
held the rank of colonel?”
“Yes,
sire.”
“He
was a capable officer?”
“He
was, but he was beyond control,
and his boundless ambition shrunk from nothing. He soon plunged into secret-
intrigues, and he was then deprived of his rank, and exiled to
When?”
“Two
years ago. Pardoned after six months’ exile, through your majesty’s favor, he
returned to
“Well,
as long as I live,
The
Czar might justly utter these words proudly, for he had frequently shown by his
clemency that Russian justice can pardon.
The
grand-master of police made no reply, but he was evidently not a man of half
measures. To his way of thinking, every man who crossed the
What!
no more condemnations for life except for brutal crime!
Political exiles returning from Tobolsk, Jakoutsk and Irkoutsk! In that, the
grand-master of police, habituated to the decisions of ukases which in the old
time did not pardon, could not accept this new style of governing. But he kept silence,
awaiting the Czar’s further command.
“Did
not Ivan Ogareff enter
‘He
did return.”
“And
since then the police has lost all trace of him?“
“No,
sire; for a condemned man becomes really dangerous only from the moment mercy is shown him.”
The Czar’s brow gathered for a moment. The director
of the police may have thought he had gone too far, although his obstinate
adherence to old views was at least equaled by his unbounded dcvotedness to his
master: but the Czar, disdaining this indirect reproach on his system of administration,
continued briefly his series of interrogatories.
Where was Ivan Ogareff last reported
?“
In the government of
‘‘In what city?”
Perm itself.”
“What was he doing?”
He seemed disengaged and his conduct excited no
suspicion.
Then he was not under the eye of the
higher police “
No, sire.”
“When did he leave
‘‘About the month of March.”
“To go where?”
“No one knew.
“And since then no one knows where he
is?”
No one.”
Well, I know !“ replied
the Czar.
“Anonymous intelligence, which did not pass through the
police bureaux, and in face of the facts now going on beyond the frontier, I
have every reason to believe it correct.
“Do
you mean to say, sire, that Ivan Ogareff is implicated in this Tartar
invasion?” cried the grand-master.
“Yes,
general; and I will tell you more that you do not know. After leaving the
government of Perm, Ivan Ogareff crossed the Ural Mountains, pushed on into
Siberia, to the Kirghis Steppes, and there has endeavored, and not in vain, to
rouse those wandering hordes. He then struck south into Independent Turkestan.
Then in the Khanates of Boukhara, Khokhand and Koundouze, he found chiefs ready
to hurl their Tartar hordes upon the Siberian provinces and provoke a general
invasion of the Russian Empire in
The
Czar became excited as he spoke, and strode rapidly up and down.
The
grand-master made no reply, but he said to himself that in the times when the
Russian emperors never pardoned an exile, no such plot as Ivan Ogareff’s could have
been carried out.
Some
moments elapsed, during which he remained silent. Then, approaching the Czar,
who had thrown himself into an armchair, he said:
“Your
majesty has doubtless ordered this invasion to be repelled at once ?”
“Yes,”
replied the Czar. “The last telegram which could get beyond Nijni-Oudinsk must
have set in motion the troops in the government of Yenieisk, Irkoutsk,
Jakoutsk, as well as those of the Amour province and
“And your majesty’s brother, his highness the grand duke,
is at this moment isolated in the government of Irkoutsk, and no longer in direct
communication with
“No.”
But he must know by the last dispatches the steps taken by
your majesty, and the reinforcements he may expect from the governments nearest
to Irkoutsk ?“
“He knows that,’ replied the Czar; “but he does not know that Ivan
Ogareff, while acting the part of a rebel, is to play that of a traitor also,
and that he must look upon that man as his personal and deadly enemy. Ivan
Ogareff owes his first disgrace to the grand duke, and it is a serious fact
that my brother does not actually know the man by sight. Ivan Ogareff’s project
is to penetrate to Irkoutsk, and there, under a feigned name, offer his
services to the grand duke, Then, when he gains his
confidence and Irkoutsk is invested by the Tartars, he will betray the city
into their hands, with my brother, whose life is directly menaced. This I know by my reports; but the grand duke does not, and
know it he must.”
Well, sire, an intelligent, courageous courier—”
I am expecting one.’
‘‘And let him make haste,” added the
grand-master of police ; ‘‘ for. permit
me to observe, sire, that this
“Do you mean, general, that the exiles will make common
cause with the invaders?’’ exclaimed the Czar, who was unable to control himself before this insinuation of the grand-master of police.
“Excuse me, your
majesty,’’ murmured the grand-master of
police in reply, for that
was really the very thought which, had suggested itself to his own anxious and
distrustful mind.
“I believe the exiles have more patriotism,” continued the Czar.
“There are other convicts besides political exiles in
“The criminals ! Oh, general, those I abandon to you. They are the scum of the human race. They are of no country. But the
rebellion, or, rather, invasion,
is not made against the Emperor, it is against
The Czar was right in believing in the
patriotism of those whom, for the moment, political offenses kept at a distance. The kindness which
was the foundation of his
justice, when he himself could direct its operation, the merciful policy he had
adopted in the enforcement of the ukases,
formerly so terrible, assured him he could not be mistaken. But
even with this powerful element
of success against the invasion of the Tartars, matters were none the less serious; for it was to be feared that a large portion of the Kirghis population would join the invaders.
(To be continued.)