The answer came in an instant and a chill struck his heart, as General Burgoff said sternly:
“Siberia!”
CHAPTER XVII.
INTO SIBERIA.
If there is one country in the world where the wheel of modern progress has failed to turn, that country is Siberia. True, there is a railroad, or perhaps several railroads, that traverse and extend into the broad expanse of uninhabited country; but they are few and far between. Except in times of war, such as these, they are not much traveled.
The road to Siberia, in Jack’s case, lay through Petrograd itself. There, with perhaps fifty other prisoners securely bound, he was thrown into an open freight car, bound eastward.
Muffled in his great coat, as he was, and with his heavy fur cap pulled well down over his ears, the lad was nevertheless very cold; still he was not in such imminent danger of freezing as were some of his fellow-prisoners, who, not garbed so warmly when they were arrested, shivered terribly in the frigid atmosphere.
In spite of his warm garments Jack’s teeth chattered. Try as he would he could not stop them; and when the train moved off, slowly at first, and then faster and faster, it seemed that he could bear it no longer. His hands and feet grew numb, he felt his eyes closing and then he knew no more. Unconsciousness had come to his relief.
When Jack again opened his eyes it was because he felt some one kicking the soles of his feet. He tried to move them, but the effort was vain. He could barely feel the shock of the other’s blows, but he realized that he was expected to get up and he knew that it would be best to obey, if possible.
Slowly the blood began to circulate through his legs and feet. They pained him sharply at first, but gradually the pain subsided and at last the lad, his hands still bound, struggled to his feet.
He took in his situation at a glance. The train had come to a stop, and Jack let his eyes rove to the north, to the east and to the south and west. Ahead was another freight car and behind another; but from the sides all the lad could see was a broad expanse of snow, stretching far into the distance. There was not a sign of a human habitation, although the lad knew that ahead probably was a railroad station, or a shed that marked a junction, or something.