GETTING OUT OF DIFFICULTY.
"It had been raining before we arrived at Stratensk, and consequently we found a great deal of mud on the roads. Several times we were mired, and had to send to neighboring farm-houses for additional horses, and twice we removed all our baggage and put our own shoulders to the wheel to get out of trouble. One of these performances was during a shower, and did not improve our condition or temper. I was ready to vote Siberian travelling a first-class nuisance, and felt downhearted at the immense distance that lay between me and the railway-station at Nijni Novgorod.
"To make things worse, our Cossack servant had placed our pillows and blankets on the wet ground, and piled heavy baggage on top. For this stupidity my companion, the captain, remonstrated in very strong language, but all that he said could not dry our property. At the next station we stopped for dinner; while we were eating our meal the dampened articles were somewhat improved by being placed in front of the kitchen fire.
"Once while descending a hill at full speed a wheel of the tarantasse came off, but no damage was done beyond bringing us to a very sudden stop. The two axles of the vehicle were about twelve feet apart, and connected by a pair of stout poles which had a great deal of 'spring' in them. Properly made, a tarantasse is by no means an uncomfortable vehicle to ride in, provided, of course, you are travelling over good roads."
"What did you get for dinner at the station?" Frank asked.
"We had the samovar, with some tea and sugar, from our own stock, and then we had boiled eggs and bread. They had some cold mutton, of which I ate liberally, as I had an appetite like a tiger, but my friend would hardly touch it. He told me that mutton was rarely eaten by the Russians, and during my journey through Siberia I do not remember seeing it on the table, except in a few of the way-side stations. This was all the more singular when there were great flocks of sheep in the country where we were travelling. The sheep belong principally to the Bouriats, a Mongol people who were the occupants of the country before the Russians went there.
"Eggs and bread are the only articles of food you can rely upon getting at the stations, and sometimes even the eggs are wanting. Bread is made from rye flour rather than from wheat, and its complexion is darker than that of the Boston brown bread of America. It is the bread of the peasant from one end of the Empire to the other, and a good many of the nobility prefer it to white bread. For my own part I never liked the black bread of Russia, but often ate it for lack of anything else.
"Up hill and down dale we went, and on the second morning of our journey the broad and beautiful valley of the Nertcha River lay before us. Two or three miles above the point where the Nertcha joins the Shilka lies the town of Nertchinsk, a well-built place with five or six thousand inhabitants. It has an air of wealth and solidity, and large fortunes have been made there by men interested in gold-mining. We entered the town through an arched gate-way, and drove to the house of a rich gold-miner with whom my friend was well acquainted. Hardly had we thrown off our wrappings before the samovar was steaming on the table. We were urged to stay to dinner, and, much to my satisfaction, the invitation was accepted by my companion."
"Haven't I read about Nertchinsk as a place of exile?" said one of the youths.