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live on the way? By what superhuman energy were they to pass the slopes of the
Sayansk Mountains? Neither he nor Nadia could answer this!
And yet, twelve days after, on the 2d of October, at six o'clock in the
evening, a wide sheet of water lay at
Michael Strogoff's feet. It was Lake Baikal.
CHAPTER X BAIKAL AND ANGARA
LAKE BAIKAL is situated seventeen hundred feet above the level of the sea. Its
length is about six hundred miles, its breadth seventy. Its depth is not
known. Madame de Bourboulon states that, according to the boatmen, it likes to
be spoken of as "Madam Sea." If it is called "Sir Lake," it immediately lashes
itself into fury. However, it is reported and believed by the Siberians that a
Russian is never drowned in it.
This immense basin of fresh water, fed by more than three hundred rivers, is
surrounded by magnificent volcanic mountains. It has no other outlet than the
Angara, which after passing Irkutsk throws itself into the
Yenisei, a little above the town of Yeniseisk. As to the mountains which
encase it, they form a branch of the
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Toungouzes, and are derived from the vast system of the Altai.
In this territory, subject to peculiar climatical conditions, the autumn
appears to be absorbed in the precocious winter. It was now the beginning of
October. The sun set at five o'clock in the evening, and during the long
nights the temperature fell to zero. The first snows, which would last till
summer, already whitened the summits of the neighboring hills. During the
Siberian winter this inland sea is frozen over to a thickness of several feet,
and is crossed by the sleighs of caravans.
Either because there are people who are so wanting in politeness as to call it
"Sir Lake," or for some more meteorological reason, Lake Baikal is subject to
violent tempests. Its waves, short like those of all inland seas, are much
feared by the rafts, prahms, and steamboats, which furrow it during the
summer.
It was the southwest point of the lake which Michael had now reached, carrying
Nadia, whose whole life, so to speak, was concentrated in her eyes. But what
could these two expect, in this wild region, if it was not to die of
exhaustion and famine? And yet, what remained of the long journey of four
thousand miles for the
Czar's courier to reach his end? Nothing but forty miles on the shore of the
lake up to the mouth of the
Angara, and sixty miles from the mouth of the Angara to Irkutsk; in all, a
hundred miles, or three days'
journey for a strong man, even on foot.
Could Michael Strogoff still be that man?
Michael Strogoff
CHAPTER X BAIKAL AND ANGARA
141
Heaven, no doubt, did not wish to put him to this trial. The fatality which
had hitherto pursued his steps seemed for a time to spare him. This end of the
Baikal, this part of the steppe, which he believed to be a desert, which it
usually is, was not so now. About fifty people were collected at the angle
formed by the end of the lake.
Nadia immediately caught sight of this group, when Michael, carrying her in
his arms, issued from the mountain pass. The girl feared for a moment that it
was a Tartar detachment, sent to beat the shores of the
Baikal, in which case flight would have been impossible to them both. But
Nadia was soon reassured.
"Russians!" she exclaimed. And with this last effort, her eyes closed and her
head fell on Michael's breast.
But they had been seen, and some of these Russians, running to them, led the
blind man and the girl to a little point at which was moored a raft.
The raft was just going to start. These Russians were fugitives of different
conditions, whom the same interest had united at Lake Baikal. Driven back by
the Tartar scouts, they hoped to obtain a refuge at Irkutsk, but not being
able to get there by land, the invaders having occupied both banks of the
Angara, they hoped to reach it by descending the river which flows through the
town.
Their plan made Michael's heart leap; a last chance was before him, but he had
strength to conceal this, wishing to keep his incognito more strictly than
ever.
The fugitives' plan was very simple. A current in the lake runs along by the
upper bank to the mouth of the
Angara; this current they hoped to utilize, and with its assistance to reach
the outlet of Lake Baikal. From this point to Irkutsk, the rapid waters of the
river would bear them along at a rate of eight miles an hour. In a day and a
half they might hope to be in sight of the town.
No kind of boat was to be found; they had been obliged to make one; a raft, or
rather a float of wood, similar to those which usually are drifted down
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Siberian rivers, was constructed. A forest of firs, growing on the bank, had
supplied the necessary materials; the trunks, fastened together with osiers,
made a platform on which a hundred people could have easily found room.
On board this raft Michael and Nadia were taken. The girl had returned to
herself; some food was given to her as well as to her companion. Then, lying
on a bed of leaves, she soon fell into a deep sleep.
To those who questioned him, Michael Strogoff said nothing of what had taken
place at Tomsk. He gave himself out as an inhabitant of Krasnoiarsk, who had
not been able to get to Irkutsk before the Emir's troops arrived on the left
bank of the Dinka, and he added that, very probably, the bulk of the Tartar
forces had taken up a position before the Siberian capital.
There was not a moment to be lost; besides, the cold was becoming more and
more severe. During the night the temperature fell below zero; ice was already
forming on the surface of the Baikal. Although the raft managed to pass easily
over the lake, it might not be so easy between the banks of the Angara, should
pieces of ice be found to block up its course.
At eight in the evening the moorings were cast off, and the raft drifted in
the current along the shore. It was steered by means of long poles, under the
management of several muscular moujiks. An old Baikal boatman took command of
the raft. He was a man of sixtyfive, browned by the sun, and lake breezes. A
thick white beard flowed over his chest; a fur cap covered his head; his
aspect was grave and austere. His large greatcoat, fastened in at the waist,
reached down to his heels. This taciturn old fellow was seated in the stern,
and issued his commands by gestures. Besides, the chief work consisted in
keeping the raft in the
Michael Strogoff
CHAPTER X BAIKAL AND ANGARA
142
current, which ran along the shore, without drifting out into the open.
It has been already said that Russians of all conditions had found a place on
the raft. Indeed, to the poor moujiks, the women, old men, and children, were
joined two or three pilgrims, surprised on their journey by the invasion; a
few monks, and a priest. The pilgrims carried a staff, a gourd hung at the
belt, and they chanted psalms in a plaintive voice: one came from the Ukraine,
another from the Yellow sea, and a third from the Finland provinces. This
last, who was an aged man, carried at his waist a little padlocked
collectingbox, as if it had been hung at a church door. Of all that he
collected during his long and fatiguing pilgrimage, nothing was for himself;
he did not even possess the key of the box, which would only be opened on his
return.
The monks came from the North of the Empire. Three months before they had left
the town of Archangel.
They had visited the sacred islands near the coast of Carelia, the convent of
Solovetsk, the convent of Troitsa, those of Saint Antony and Saint Theodosia,
at Kiev, that of Kazan, as well as the church of the Old Believers, and they
were now on their way to Irkutsk, wearing the robe, the cowl, and the clothes
of serge.
As to the papa, or priest, he was a plain village pastor, one of the six
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