"She came with a caravan of prisoners sent from St. Petersburg." (Petrograd.) "I am told that she is looking for her husband who was sent to Siberia a few years ago as a political exile.[16] If she can find him, she wishes to share his fate."
Here I exclaimed impulsively: "It ought to be easy to find him. The government officials can surely tell her where he is."
Kuzmin smiled bitterly. "They can, perhaps, if they wish. You must remember, however, that Siberia is no little state. When I came here, it was with many thousands of prisoners, mostly Poles who had fought for their country's independence, and they are now so scattered that you might not meet a dozen in a lifetime."
"How big is Siberia?" I asked.
"In figures, it is more than five million square miles, but see that map hanging on the wall," said the old man with some eagerness, as if glad of the change in the conversation, "and see that little dot. That stands for the biggest city you know, the one you are now in, Habarovsk."
"That little dot!" I exclaimed in surprise, for no one had ever explained a map to me before.
"This waving line," continued Kuzmin, "is the Amur River."
Again I stared incredulously. How could a little line stand for the very wide Amur whose waters ran from horizon to horizon!