Michael Strogoff
or
The Courier of the Czar
by Jules Verne
Michael Strogoff
BOOK I
CHAPTER I A FETE AT THE NEW PALACE
"SIRE, a fresh dispatch."
"Whence?"
"From Tomsk?"
"Is the wire cut beyond that city?"
"Yes, sire, since yesterday."
"Telegraph hourly to Tomsk, General, and keep me informed
of all that occurs."
"Sire, it shall be done," answered General Kissoff.
These words were exchanged about two hours after midnight,
at the moment when the fete given at the New Palace was at
the height of its splendor.
During the whole evening the bands of the Preobra-jensky and Paulowsky
regiments had played without cessation polkas, mazurkas, schottisches,
and waltzes from among the choicest of their repertoires.
Innumerable couples of dancers whirled through the magnificent saloons
of the palace, which stood at a few paces only from the "old house
of stones" - in former days the scene of so many terrible dramas,
the echoes of whose walls were this night awakened by the gay strains
of the musicians.
The grand-chamberlain of the court, was, besides, well seconded
in his arduous and delicate duties. The grand-dukes and their
aides-de-camp, the chamberlains-in-waiting and other officers of
the palace, presided personally in the arrangement of the dances.
The grand duchesses, covered with diamonds, the ladies-in-waiting
in their most exquisite costumes, set the example to the wives
of the military and civil dignitaries of the ancient "city
of white stone." When, therefore, the signal for the "polonaise"
resounded through the saloons, and the guests of all ranks took
part in that measured promenade, which on occasions of this kind
has all the importance of a national dance, the mingled costumes,
the sweeping robes adorned with lace, and uniforms covered with orders,
presented a scene of dazzling splendor, lighted by hundreds of lusters
multiplied tenfold by the numerous mirrors adorning the walls.
The grand saloon, the finest of all those contained in the New Palace,
formed to this procession of exalted personages and splendidly
dressed women a frame worthy of the magnificence they displayed.
The rich ceiling, with its gilding already softened by the touch
of time, appeared as if glittering with stars. The embroidered
drapery of the curtains and doors, falling in gorgeous folds,
assumed rich and varied hues, broken by the shadows of the heavy
masses of damask.
Through the panes of the vast semicircular bay-windows
the light, with which the saloons were filled, shone forth
with the brilliancy of a conflagration, vividly illuminating
the gloom in which for some hours the palace had been shrouded.
The attention of those of the guests not taking
part in the dancing was attracted by the contrast.
Resting in the recesses of the windows, they could discern,
standing out dimly in the darkness, the vague outlines of the
countless towers, domes, and spires which adorn the ancient city.
Below the sculptured balconies were visible numerous sentries,
pacing silently up and down, their rifles carried horizontally
on the shoulder, and the spikes of their helmets glittering
like flames in the glare of light issuing from the palace.
The steps also of the patrols could be heard beating
time on the stones beneath with even more regularity
than the feet of the dancers on the floor of the saloon.
From time to time the watchword was repeated from post to post,
and occasionally the notes of a trumpet, mingling with
the strains of the orchestra, penetrated into their midst.
Still farther down, in front of the facade, dark masses
obscured the rays of light which proceeded from the windows
of the New Palace. These were boats descending the course
of a river, whose waters, faintly illumined by a few lamps,
washed the lower portion of the terraces.
The principal personage who has been mentioned, the giver of the fete,
and to whom General Kissoff had been speaking in that tone
of respect with which sovereigns alone are usually addressed,
wore the simple uniform of an officer of chasseurs of the guard.
This was not affectation on his part, but the custom of a man
who cared little for dress, his contrasting strongly with the
gorgeous costumes amid which he moved, encircled by his escort
of Georgians, Cossacks, and Circassians - a brilliant band,
splendidly clad in the glittering uniforms of the Caucasus.
This personage, of lofty stature, affable demeanor,
and physiognomy calm, though bearing traces of anxiety,
moved from group to group, seldom speaking, and appearing to pay
but little attention either to the merriment of the younger guests
or the graver remarks of the exalted dignitaries or members
of the diplomatic corps who represented at the Russian court
the principal governments of Europe. Two or three of these
astute politicians - physiognomists by virtue of their profession -
failed not to detect on the countenance of their host symptoms
of disquietude, the source of which eluded their penetration;
but none ventured to interrogate him on the subject.
It was evidently the intention of the officer of chasseurs that his
own anxieties should in no way cast a shade over the festivities;
and, as he was a personage whom almost the population of a world
in itself was wont to obey, the gayety of the ball was not for
a moment checked.
Nevertheless, General Kissoff waited until the officer to whom
he had just communicated the dispatch forwarded from Tomsk should give
him permission to withdraw; but the latter still remained silent.
He had taken the telegram, he had read it carefully,
and his visage became even more clouded than before.
Involuntarily he sought the hilt of his sword, and then
passed his hand for an instant before his eyes, as though,
dazzled by the brilliancy of the light, he wished to shade them,
the better to see into the recesses of his own mind.
"We are, then," he continued, after having drawn General Kissoff
aside towards a window, "since yesterday without intelligence
from the Grand Duke?"
"Without any, sire; and it is to be feared that in a short time
dispatches will no longer cross the Siberian frontier."
"But have not the troops of the provinces of Amoor and Irkutsk,
as those also of the Trans-Balkan territory, received orders
to march immediately upon Irkutsk?"
"The orders were transmitted by the last telegram we were able
to send beyond Lake Baikal."
"And the governments of Yeniseisk, Omsk, Semipolatinsk,
and Tobolsk - are we still in direct communication with them
as before the insurrection?"
"Yes, sire; our dispatches have reached them, and we are assured
at the present moment that the Tartars have not advanced beyond
the Irtish and the Obi."
"And the traitor Ivan Ogareff, are there no tidings of him?"
"None," replied General Kissoff. "The head of the police cannot
state whether or not he has crossed the frontier."
"Let a description of him be immediately dispatched to
Nijni-Novgorod, Perm, Ekaterenburg, Kasirnov, Tioumen, Ishim, Omsk, Tomsk,
and to all the telegraphic stations with which communication
is yet open."
"Your majesty's orders shall be instantly carried out."
"You will observe the strictest silence as to this."
The General, having made a sign of respectful assent, bowing low,
mingled with the crowd, and finally left the apartments without
his departure being remarked.
The officer remained absorbed in thought for a few moments, when,
recovering himself, he went among the various groups in the saloon,
his countenance reassuming that calm aspect which had for an
instant been disturbed.
Nevertheless, the important occurrence which had occasioned
these rapidly exchanged words was not so unknown as the officer
of the chasseurs of the guard and General Kissoff had
possibly supposed. It was not spoken of officially, it is true,
nor even officiously, since tongues were not free; but a few
exalted personages had been informed, more or less exactly,
of the events which had taken place beyond the frontier.
At any rate, that which was only slightly known, that which was not
matter of conversation even between members of the corps diplomatique,
two guests, distinguished by no uniform, no decoration,
at this reception in the New Palace, discussed in a low voice,
and with apparently very correct information.
By what means, by the exercise of what acuteness had these two ordinary
mortals ascertained that which so many persons of the highest rank
and importance scarcely even suspected? It is impossible to say.
Had they the gifts of foreknowledge and foresight? Did they
possess a supplementary sense, which enabled them to see beyond
that limited horizon which bounds all human gaze? Had they obtained
a peculiar power of divining the most secret events? Was it owing
to the habit, now become a second nature, of living on information,
that their mental constitution had thus become really transformed?
It was difficult to escape from this conclusion.
Of these two men, the one was English, the other French; both were tall
and thin, but the latter was sallow as are the southern Provencals,
while the former was ruddy like a Lancashire gentleman.
The Anglo-Norman, formal, cold, grave, parsimonious of gestures
and words, appeared only to speak or gesticulate under
the influence of a spring operating at regular intervals.
The Gaul, on the contrary, lively and petulant, expressed himself
with lips, eyes, hands, all at once, having twenty different
ways of explaining his thoughts, whereas his interlocutor seemed
to have only one, immutably stereotyped on his brain.
The strong contrast they presented would at once have struck the most
superficial observer; but a physiognomist, regarding them closely,
would have defined their particular characteristics by saying,
that if the Frenchman was "all eyes," the Englishman was "all ears."
In fact, the visual apparatus of the one had been singularly
perfected by practice. The sensibility of its retina must
have been as instantaneous as that of those conjurors who
recognize a card merely by a rapid movement in cutting the pack
or by the arrangement only of marks invisible to others.
The Frenchman indeed possessed in the highest degree what may
be called "the memory of the eye."
The Englishman, on the contrary, appeared especially organized
to listen and to hear. When his aural apparatus had been once
struck by the sound of a voice he could not forget it, and after ten
or even twenty years he would have recognized it among a thousand.
His ears, to be sure, had not the power of moving as freely
as those of animals who are provided with large auditory flaps;
but, since scientific men know that human ears possess, in fact,
a very limited power of movement, we should not be far wrong
in affirming that those of the said Englishman became erect,
and turned in all directions while endeavoring to gather
in the sounds, in a manner apparent only to the naturalist.
It must be observed that this perfection of sight and hearing
was of wonderful assistance to these two men in their vocation,
for the Englishman acted as correspondent of the Daily Telegraph,
and the Frenchman, as correspondent of what newspaper,
or of what newspapers, he did not say; and when asked,
he replied in a jocular manner that he corresponded with "his
cousin Madeleine." This Frenchman, however, neath his
careless surface, was wonderfully shrewd and sagacious.
Even while speaking at random, perhaps the better to hide his desire
to learn, he never forgot himself. His loquacity even helped him
to conceal his thoughts, and he was perhaps even more discreet
than his confrere of the Daily Telegraph. Both were present
at this fete given at the New Palace on the night of the 15th
of July in their character of reporters.
It is needless to say that these two men were devoted to their mission
in the world - that they delighted to throw themselves in the track
of the most unexpected intelligence - that nothing terrified or
discouraged them from succeeding - that they possessed the imperturbable
sang froid and the genuine intrepidity of men of their calling.
Enthusiastic jockeys in this steeplechase, this hunt after information,
they leaped hedges, crossed rivers, sprang over fences, with the ardor
of pure-blooded racers, who will run "a good first" or die!
Their journals did not restrict them with regard to money -
the surest, the most rapid, the most perfect element of information
known to this day. It must also be added, to their honor,
that neither the one nor the other ever looked over or listened
at the walls of private life, and that they only exercised
their vocation when political or social interests were at stake.
In a word, they made what has been for some years called "the
great political and military reports."
It will be seen, in following them, that they had generally an
independent mode of viewing events, and, above all, their consequences,
each having his own way of observing and appreciating.
The French correspondent was named Alcide Jolivet. Harry Blount
was the name of the Englishman. They had just met for the first time
at this fete in the New Palace, of which they had been ordered to give
an account in their papers. The dissimilarity of their characters,
added to a certain amount of jealousy, which generally exists
between rivals in the same calling, might have rendered them
but little sympathetic. However, they did not avoid each other,
but endeavored rather to exchange with each other the chat of the day.
They were sportsmen, after all, hunting on the same ground.
That which one missed might be advantageously secured by the other,
and it was to their interest to meet and converse.
This evening they were both on the look out; they felt, in fact,
that there was something in the air.
"Even should it be only a wildgoose chase," said Alcide Jolivet
to himself, "it may be worth powder and shot."
The two correspondents therefore began by cautiously sounding each other.
"Really, my dear sir, this little fete is charming!"
said Alcide Jolivet pleasantly, thinking himself obliged to begin
the conversation with this eminently French phrase.
"I have telegraphed already, 'splendid!'" replied Harry Blount calmly,
employing the word specially devoted to expressing admiration by all
subjects of the United Kingdom.
"Nevertheless," added Alcide Jolivet, "I felt compelled to remark
to my cousin - "
"Your cousin?" repeated Harry Blount in a tone of surprise,
interrupting his brother of the pen.
"Yes," returned Alcide Jolivet, "my cousin Madeleine. It is with her
that I correspond, and she likes to be quickly and well informed,
does my cousin. I therefore remarked to her that, during this fete,
a sort of cloud had appeared to overshadow the sovereign's brow."
"To me, it seemed radiant," replied Harry Blount, who perhaps,
wished to conceal his real opinion on this topic.
"And, naturally, you made it 'radiant,' in the columns of
the Daily Telegraph."
"Exactly."
"Do you remember, Mr. Blount, what occurred at Zakret in 1812?"
"I remember it as well as if I had been there, sir,"
replied the English correspondent.
"Then," continued Alcide Jolivet, "you know that, in the middle of a
fete given in his honor, it was announced to the Emperor Alexander
that Napoleon had just crossed the Niemen with the vanguard of
the French army. Nevertheless the Emperor did not leave the fete,
and notwithstanding the extreme gravity of intelligence which might cost
him his empire, he did not allow himself to show more uneasiness."
"Than our host exhibited when General Kissoff informed him
that the telegraphic wires had just been cut between the frontier
and the government of Irkutsk."
"Ah! you are aware of that?"
"I am!"
"As regards myself, it would be difficult to avoid knowing it,
since my last telegram reached Udinsk," observed Alcide Jolivet,
with some satisfaction.
"And mine only as far as Krasnoiarsk," answered Harry Blount,
in a no less satisfied tone.
"Then you know also that orders have been sent to the
troops of Nikolaevsk?"
"I do, sir; and at the same time a telegram was sent to the Cossacks
of the government of Tobolsk to concentrate their forces."
"Nothing can be more true, Mr. Blount; I was equally well acquainted
with these measures, and you may be sure that my dear cousin shall
know of them to-morrow."
"Exactly as the readers of the Daily Telegraph shall know
it also, M. Jolivet."
"Well, when one sees all that is going on. . . ."
"And when one hears all that is said. . . ."
"An interesting campaign to follow, Mr. Blount."
"I shall follow it, M. Jolivet!"
"Then it is possible that we shall find ourselves on ground
less safe, perhaps, than the floor of this ball-room."
"Less safe, certainly, but - "
"But much less slippery," added Alcide Jolivet, holding up his companion,
just as the latter, drawing back, was about to lose his equilibrium.
Thereupon the two correspondents separated, pleased that the one
had not stolen a march on the other.
At that moment the doors of the rooms adjoining the great reception
saloon were thrown open, disclosing to view several immense tables
beautifully laid out, and groaning under a profusion of valuable
china and gold plate. On the central table, reserved for
the princes, princesses, and members of the corps diplomatique,
glittered an epergne of inestimable price, brought from London,
and around this chef-d'oeuvre of chased gold reflected under
the light of the lusters a thousand pieces of most beautiful
service from the manufactories of Sevres.
The guests of the New Palace immediately began to stream
towards the supper-rooms.
At that moment. General Kissoff, who had just re-entered, quickly
approached the officer of chasseurs.
"Well?" asked the latter abruptly, as he had done the former time.
"Telegrams pass Tomsk no longer, sire."
"A courier this moment!"
The officer left the hall and entered a large antechamber adjoining.
It was a cabinet with plain oak furniture, situated in an angle of
the New Palace. Several pictures, amongst others some by Horace Vernet,
hung on the wall.
The officer hastily opened a window, as if he felt the want
of air, and stepped out on a balcony to breathe the pure
atmosphere of a lovely July night. Beneath his eyes,
bathed in moonlight, lay a fortified inclosure, from which
rose two cathedrals, three palaces, and an arsenal.
Around this inclosure could be seen three distinct towns:
Kitai-Gorod, Beloi-Gorod, Zemlianai-Gorod - European, Tartar,
and Chinese quarters of great extent, commanded by towers,
belfries, minarets, and the cupolas of three hundred churches,
with green domes, surmounted by the silver cross.
A little winding river, here and there reflected the rays
of the moon.
This river was the Moskowa; the town Moscow; the fortified inclosure
the Kremlin; and the officer of chasseurs of the guard, who, with folded
arms and thoughtful brow, was listening dreamily to the sounds floating
from the New Palace over the old Muscovite city, was the Czar.
CHAPTER II RUSSIANS AND TARTARS
THE Czar had not so suddenly left the ball-room of the New Palace,
when the fete he was giving to the civil and military authorities
and principal people of Moscow was at the height of its brilliancy,
without ample cause; for he had just received information that serious
events were taking place beyond the frontiers of the Ural. It had become
evident that a formidable rebellion threatened to wrest the Siberian
provinces from the Russian crown.
Asiatic Russia, or Siberia, covers a superficial area of 1,790,208
square miles, and contains nearly two millions of inhabitants.
Extending from the Ural Mountains, which separate it
from Russia in Europe, to the shores of the Pacific Ocean,
it is bounded on the south by Turkestan and the Chinese Empire;
on the north by the Arctic Ocean, from the Sea of Kara
to Behring's Straits. It is divided into several governments
or provinces, those of Tobolsk, Yeniseisk, Irkutsk, Omsk,
and Yakutsk; contains two districts, Okhotsk and Kamtschatka;
and possesses two countries, now under the Muscovite dominion -
that of the Kirghiz and that of the Tshouktshes. This immense
extent of steppes, which includes more than one hundred and
ten degrees from west to east, is a land to which criminals
and political offenders are banished.
Two governor-generals represent the supreme authority of the Czar
over this vast country. The higher one resides at Irkutsk,
the far capital of Eastern Siberia. The River Tchouna separates
the two Siberias.
No rail yet furrows these wide plains, some of which are in reality
extremely fertile. No iron ways lead from those precious mines
which make the Siberian soil far richer below than above its surface.
The traveler journeys in summer in a kibick or telga; in winter,
in a sledge.
An electric telegraph, with a single wire more than eight thousand
versts in length, alone affords communication between the western
and eastern frontiers of Siberia. On issuing from the Ural, it passes
through Ekaterenburg, Kasirnov, Tioumen, Ishim, Omsk, Elamsk, Kolyvan,
Tomsk, Krasnoiarsk, Nijni-Udinsk, Irkutsk, Verkne-Nertschink, Strelink,
Albazine, Blagowstenks, Radde, Orlomskaya, Alexandrowskoe, and Nikolaevsk;
and six roubles and nineteen copecks are paid for every word sent
from one end to the other. From Irkutsk there is a branch to Kiatka,
on the Mongolian frontier; and from thence, for thirty copecks a word,
the post conveys the dispatches to Pekin in a fortnight.
It was this wire, extending from Ekaterenburg to Nikolaevsk,
which had been cut, first beyond Tomsk, and then between
Tomsk and Kolyvan.
This was why the Czar, to the communication made to him for
the second time by General Kissoff, had answered by the words,
"A courier this moment!"
The Czar remained motionless at the window for a few moments,
when the door was again opened. The chief of police appeared
on the threshold.
"Enter, General," said the Czar briefly, "and tell me all you
know of Ivan Ogareff."
"He is an extremely dangerous man, sire," replied the chief of police.
"He ranked as colonel, did he not?"
"Yes, sire."
"Was he an intelligent officer?"
"Very intelligent, but a man whose spirit it was impossible to subdue;
and possessing an ambition which stopped at nothing, he became involved
in secret intrigues, and was degraded from his rank by his Highness
the Grand Duke, and exiled to Siberia."
"How long ago was that?"
"Two years since. Pardoned after six months of exile by your
majesty's favor, he returned to Russia."
"And since that time, has he not revisited Siberia?"
"Yes, sire; but he voluntarily returned there," replied the chief
of police, adding, and slightly lowering his voice, "there was
a time, sire, when NONE returned from Siberia."
"Well, whilst I live, Siberia is and shall be a country whence
men CAN return."
The Czar had the right to utter these words with some pride,
for often, by his clemency, he had shown that Russian justice
knew how to pardon.
The head of the police did not reply to this observation, but it
was evident that he did not approve of such half-measures. According
to his idea, a man who had once passed the Ural Mountains in charge
of policemen, ought never again to cross them. Now, it was not thus
under the new reign, and the chief of police sincerely deplored it.
What! no banishment for life for other crimes than those against
social order! What! political exiles returning from Tobolsk,
from Yakutsk, from Irkutsk! In truth, the chief of police,
accustomed to the despotic sentences of the ukase which formerly
never pardoned, could not understand this mode of governing.
But he was silent, waiting until the Czar should interrogate him further.
The questions were not long in coming.
"Did not Ivan Ogareff," asked the Czar, "return to Russia
a second time, after that journey through the Siberian provinces,
the object of which remains unknown?"
"He did."
"And have the police lost trace of him since?"
"No, sire; for an offender only becomes really dangerous from the day
he has received his pardon."
The Czar frowned. Perhaps the chief of police feared that he had
gone rather too far, though the stubbornness of his ideas was at
least equal to the boundless devotion he felt for his master.
But the Czar, disdaining to reply to these indirect
reproaches cast on his policy, continued his questions.
"Where was Ogareff last heard of?"
"In the province of Perm."
"In what town?"
"At Perm itself."
"What was he doing?"
"He appeared unoccupied, and there was nothing suspicious
in his conduct."
"Then he was not under the surveillance of the secret police?"
"No, sire."
"When did he leave Perm?"
"About the month of March?"
"To go...?"
"Where, is unknown."
"And it is not known what has become of him?"
"No, sire; it is not known."
"Well, then, I myself know," answered the Czar. "I have received
anonymous communications which did not pass through the police department;
and, in the face of events now taking place beyond the frontier,
I have every reason to believe that they are correct."
"Do you mean, sire," cried the chief of police, "that Ivan Ogareff
has a hand in this Tartar rebellion?"
"Indeed I do; and I will now tell you something which you
are ignorant of. After leaving Perm, Ivan Ogareff crossed
the Ural mountains, entered Siberia, and penetrated the
Kirghiz steppes, and there endeavored, not without success,
to foment rebellion amongst their nomadic population.
He then went so far south as free Turkestan; there, in the provinces
of Bokhara, Khokhand, and Koondooz, he found chiefs willing
to pour their Tartar hordes into Siberia, and excite a general
rising in Asiatic Russia. The storm has been silently gathering,
but it has at last burst like a thunderclap, and now all means
of communication between Eastern and Western Siberia have
been stopped. Moreover, Ivan Ogareff, thirsting for vengeance,
aims at the life of my brother!"
The Czar had become excited whilst speaking, and now paced up
and down with hurried steps. The chief of police said nothing,
but he thought to himself that, during the time when the
emperors of Russia never pardoned an exile, schemes such
as those of Ivan Ogareff could never have been realized.
Approaching the Czar, who had thrown himself into an armchair,
he asked, "Your majesty has of course given orders so that this
rebellion may be suppressed as soon as possible?"
"Yes," answered the Czar. "The last telegram which reached
Nijni-Udinsk would set in motion the troops in the governments
of Yenisei, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, as well as those in the provinces
of the Amoor and Lake Baikal. At the same time, the regiments
from Perm and Nijni-Novgorod, and the Cossacks from the frontier,
are advancing by forced marches towards the Ural Mountains;
but some weeks must pass before they can attack the Tartars."
"And your majesty's brother, his Highness the Grand Duke,
is now isolated in the government of Irkutsk, and is no longer
in direct communication with Moscow?"
"That is so."
"But by the last dispatches, he must know what measures have
been taken by your majesty, and what help he may expect from
the governments nearest Irkutsk?"
"He knows that," answered the Czar; "but what he does not know is,
that Ivan Ogareff, as well as being a rebel, is also playing the part
of a traitor, and that in him he has a personal and bitter enemy.
It is to the Grand Duke that Ogareff owes his first disgrace;
and what is more serious is, that this man is not known to him.
Ogareff's plan, therefore, is to go to Irkutsk, and, under an
assumed name, offer his services to the Grand Duke. Then, after gaining
his confidence, when the Tartars have invested Irkutsk, he will
betray the town, and with it my brother, whose life he seeks.
This is what I have learned from my secret intelligence; this is
what the Grand Duke does not know; and this is what he must know!"
"Well, sire, an intelligent, courageous courier . . ."
"I momentarily expect one."
"And it is to be hoped he will be expeditious," added the chief
of police; "for, allow me to add, sire, that Siberia is a favorable
land for rebellions."
"Do you mean to say. General, that the exiles would make common
cause with the rebels?" exclaimed the Czar.
"Excuse me, your majesty," stammered the chief of police,
for that was really the idea suggested to him by his uneasy
and suspicious mind.
"I believe in their patriotism," returned the Czar.
"There are other offenders besides political exiles in Siberia,"
said the chief of police.
"The criminals? Oh, General, I give those up to you!
They are the vilest, I grant, of the human race.
They belong to no country. But the insurrection, or rather,
the rebellion, is not to oppose the emperor; it is raised
against Russia, against the country which the exiles have not
lost all hope of again seeing - and which they will see again.
No, a Russian would never unite with a Tartar, to weaken,
were it only for an hour, the Muscovite power!"
The Czar was right in trusting to the patriotism of those whom
his policy kept, for a time, at a distance. Clemency, which was
the foundation of his justice, when he could himself direct its effects,
the modifications he had adopted with regard to applications for the
formerly terrible ukases, warranted the belief that he was not mistaken.
But even without this powerful element of success in regard to
the Tartar rebellion, circumstances were not the less very serious;
for it was to be feared that a large part of the Kirghiz population
would join the rebels.
The Kirghiz are divided into three hordes, the greater, the lesser,
and the middle, and number nearly four hundred thousand "tents,"
or two million souls. Of the different tribes some are independent
and others recognize either the sovereignty of Russia or that of
the Khans of Khiva, Khokhand, and Bokhara, the most formidable chiefs
of Turkestan. The middle horde, the richest, is also the largest, and its
encampments occupy all the space between the rivers Sara Sou, Irtish,
and the Upper Ishim, Lake Saisang and Lake Aksakal. The greater horde,
occupying the countries situated to the east of the middle one, extends as
far as the governments of Omsk and Tobolsk. Therefore, if the Kirghiz
population should rise, it would be the rebellion of Asiatic Russia,
and the first thing would be the separation of Siberia, to the east
of the Yenisei.
It is true that these Kirghiz, mere novices in the art of war, are rather
nocturnal thieves and plunderers of caravans than regular soldiers.
As M. Levchine says, "a firm front or a square of good infantry could
repel ten times the number of Kirghiz; and a single cannon might destroy
a frightful number."
That may be; but to do this it is necessary for the square of good
infantry to reach the rebellious country, and the cannon to leave
the arsenals of the Russian provinces, perhaps two or three thousand
versts distant. Now, except by the direct route from Ekaterenburg
to Irkutsk, the often marshy steppes are not easily practicable,
and some weeks must certainly pass before the Russian troops could
reach the Tartar hordes.
Omsk is the center of that military organization of Western Siberia
which is intended to overawe the Kirghiz population. Here are
the bounds, more than once infringed by the half-subdued nomads,
and there was every reason to believe that Omsk was already in danger.
The line of military stations, that is to say, those Cossack
posts which are ranged in echelon from Omsk to Semipolatinsk,
must have been broken in several places. Now, it was to be
feared that the "Grand Sultans," who govern the Kirghiz
districts would either voluntarily accept, or involuntarily
submit to, the dominion of Tartars, Mussulmen like themselves,
and that to the hate caused by slavery was not united the hate
due to the antagonism of the Greek and Mussulman religions.
For some time, indeed, the Tartars of Turkestan had endeavored,
both by force and persuasion, to subdue the Kirghiz hordes.
A few words only with respect to these Tartars. The Tartars
belong more especially to two distinct races, the Caucasian and
the Mongolian. The Caucasian race, which, as Abel de Remusat says,
"is regarded in Europe as the type of beauty in our species,
because all the nations in this part of the world have sprung from it,"
includes also the Turks and the Persians. The purely Mongolian
race comprises the Mongols, Manchoux, and Thibetans.
The Tartars who now threatened the Russian Empire, belonged to
the Caucasian race, and occupied Turkestan. This immense
country is divided into different states, governed by Khans,
and hence termed Khanats. The principal khanats are
those of Bokhara, Khokhand, Koondooz, etc. At this period,
the most important and the most formidable khanat was that
of Bokhara. Russia had already been several times at war
with its chiefs, who, for their own interests, had supported
the independence of the Kirghiz against the Muscovite dominion.
The present chief, Feofar-Khan, followed in the steps
of his predecessors.
The khanat of Bokhara has a population of two million five
hundred thousand inhabitants, an army of sixty thousand men,
trebled in time of war, and thirty thousand horsemen.
It is a rich country, with varied animal, vegetable,
and mineral products, and has been increased by the accession
of the territories of Balkh, Aukoi, and Meimaneh. It possesses
nineteen large towns. Bokhara, surrounded by a wall measuring
more than eight English miles, and flanked with towers,
a glorious city, made illustrious by Avicenna and other
learned men of the tenth century, is regarded as the center
of Mussulman science, and ranks among the most celebrated
cities of Central Asia. Samarcand, which contains the tomb
of Tamerlane and the famous palace where the blue stone is kept
on which each new khan must seat himself on his accession,
is defended by a very strong citadel. Karschi, with its
triple cordon, situated in an oasis, surrounded by a marsh
peopled with tortoises and lizards, is almost impregnable,
Is-chardjoui is defended by a population of twenty thousand souls.
Protected by its mountains, and isolated by its steppes,
the khanat of Bokhara is a most formidable state; and Russia
would need a large force to subdue it.
The fierce and ambitious Feofar now governed this corner
of Tartary. Relying on the other khans - principally those of Khokhand
and Koondooz, cruel and rapacious warriors, all ready to join
an enterprise so dear to Tartar instincts - aided by the chiefs
who ruled all the hordes of Central Asia, he had placed himself at
the head of the rebellion of which Ivan Ogareff was the instigator.
This traitor, impelled by insane ambition as much as by hate,
had ordered the movement so as to attack Siberia. Mad indeed
he was, if he hoped to rupture the Muscovite Empire. Acting under
his suggestion, the Emir - which is the title taken by the khans
of Bokhara - had poured his hordes over the Russian frontier.
He invaded the government of Semipolatinsk, and the Cossacks,
who were only in small force there, had been obliged to retire
before him. He had advanced farther than Lake Balkhash,
gaining over the Kirghiz population on his way. Pillaging, ravaging,
enrolling those who submitted, taking prisoners those who resisted,
he marched from one town to another, followed by those impedimenta
of Oriental sovereignty which may be called his household,
his wives and his slaves - all with the cool audacity of a modern
Ghengis-Khan. It was impossible to ascertain where he now was;
how far his soldiers had marched before the news of the rebellion
reached Moscow; or to what part of Siberia the Russian troops
had been forced to retire. All communication was interrupted.
Had the wire between Kolyvan and Tomsk been cut by Tartar scouts,
or had the Emir himself arrived at the Yeniseisk provinces?
Was all the lower part of Western Siberia in a ferment?
Had the rebellion already spread to the eastern regions?
No one could say. The only agent which fears neither cold nor heat,
which can neither be stopped by the rigors of winter nor the heat
of summer, and which flies with the rapidity of lightning -
the electric current - was prevented from traversing the steppes,
and it was no longer possible to warn the Grand Duke, shut up
in Irkutsk, of the danger threatening him from the treason
of Ivan Ogareff.
A courier only could supply the place of the interrupted current.
It would take this man some time to traverse the five thousand two hundred
versts between Moscow and Irkutsk. To pass the ranks of the rebels
and invaders he must display almost superhuman courage and intelligence.
But with a clear head and a firm heart much can be done.
"Shall I be able to find this head and heart?" thought the Czar.
CHAPTER III MICHAEL STROGOFF MEETS THE CZAR
THE door of the imperial cabinet was again opened and
General Kissoff was announced.
"The courier?" inquired the Czar eagerly.
"He is here, sire," replied General Kissoff.
"Have you found a fitting man?"
"I will answer for him to your majesty."
"Has he been in the service of the Palace?"
"Yes, sire."
"You know him?"
"Personally, and at various times he has fulfilled difficult
missions with success."
"Abroad?"
"In Siberia itself."
"Where does he come from?"
"From Omsk. He is a Siberian."
"Has he coolness, intelligence, courage?"
"Yes, sire; he has all the qualities necessary to succeed,
even where others might possibly fail."
"What is his age?"
"Thirty."
"Is he strong and vigorous?"
"Sire, he can bear cold, hunger, thirst, fatigue, to the
very last extremities."
"He must have a frame of iron."
"Sire, he has."
"And a heart?"
"A heart of gold."
"His name?"
"Michael Strogoff."
"Is he ready to set out?"
"He awaits your majesty's orders in the guard-room."
"Let him come in," said the Czar.
In a few moments Michael Strogoff, the courier, entered the imperial
library. He was a tall, vigorous, broad-shouldered, deep-chested man.
His powerful head possessed the fine features of the Caucasian race.
His well-knit frame seemed built for the performance of feats
of strength. It would have been a difficult task to move such 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 a deep blue, looked with clear, frank, firm gaze.
The slightly-contracted eyebrows indicated lofty heroism - "the hero's
cool courage," according to the definition of the physiologist.
He possessed a fine nose, with large nostrils; and a well-shaped mouth,
with the slightly-projecting lips which denote a generous
and noble heart.
Michael Strogoff had the temperament of the man of action, who does
not bite his nails or scratch his head in doubt and indecision.