The Duke nodded. “You speak truly. Why should a man work more than he need if there is no prospect of his becoming rich? What of the north? Think you our chances would be better there?”
“I do not think so. Not if what one hears is true. Things may be better in the towns that lie to the east, perhaps, but I do not know.”
“To the eastward?” said the Duke softly. “You mean in Omsk?”
The landlord shrugged. “There, and at other places in Siberia, there are not so many Tchinovinks as here, trading is more free.”
“What of Tobolsk?”
“That would perhaps be the best place of all if you could get there, but Tobolsk is in the forbidden territory.”
“The forbidden territory? What is that?” asked the Duke with a frown.
The man shrugged again. “It is some madness of the Tchinovinks; a great area, where, without special papers, no man may go — but they are the lords, and it is useless to protest.”
“If we could get within reasonable distance of Tobolsk we could send messengers,” the Duke suggested, “and the traders could bring their furs for us to see.”
“That should be possible. There is a train which goes to Turinsk; farther than that you may not go; the railway to Tobolsk is finished, but it is for the officials and the military only.”