“There are blocks drifting on to us on the left!”
“Fend! fend off with your boat-hook!”
“Before an hour is past we shall be stopped!”
“If it is God’s will!” answered the old man. “Against His will there is
nothing to be done.”
“You hear them,” said Alcide.
“Yes,” replied Michael, “but God is with us!”
The situation became more and more serious. Should the raft be stopped,
not only would the fugitives not reach Irkutsk, but they would be
obliged to leave their floating platform, for it would be very soon
smashed to pieces in the ice. The osier ropes would break, the fir
trunks torn asunder would drift under the hard crust, and the unhappy
people would have no refuge but the ice blocks themselves. Then, when
day came, they would be seen by the Tartars, and massacred without
mercy!
Michael returned to the spot where Nadia was waiting for him. He
approached the girl, took her hand, and put to her the invariable
question: “Nadia, are you ready?” to which she replied as usual, “I am
ready!”
For a few versts more the raft continued to drift amongst the floating
ice. Should the river narrow, it would soon form an impassable barrier.
Already they seemed to drift slower. Every moment they encountered
severe shocks or were compelled to make detours; now, to avoid running
foul of a block, there to enter a channel, of which it was necessary
to take advantage. At length the stoppages became still more alarming.
There were only a few more hours of night. Could the fugitives not reach
Irkutsk by five o’clock in the morning, they must lose all hope of ever
getting there at all.
At half-past one, notwithstanding all efforts, the raft came up against
a thick barrier and stuck fast. The ice, which was drifting down behind
it, pressed it still closer, and kept it motionless, as though it had
been stranded.
At this spot the Angara narrowed, it being half its usual breadth.
This was the cause of the accumulation of ice, which became gradually
soldered together, under the double influence of the increased pressure
and of the cold. Five hundred feet beyond, the river widened again, and
the blocks, gradually detaching themselves from the floe, continued to
drift towards Irkutsk. It was probable that had the banks not narrowed,
the barrier would not have formed. But the misfortune was irreparable,
and the fugitives must give up all hope of attaining their object.
Had they possessed the tools usually employed by whalers to cut channels
through the ice-fields--had they been able to get through to where the
river widened--they might have been saved. But they had nothing which
could make the least incision in the ice, hard as granite in the
excessive frost. What were they to do?
At that moment several shots on the right bank startled the unhappy
fugitives. A shower of balls fell on the raft. The devoted passengers
had been seen. Immediately afterwards shots were heard fired from the
left bank. The fugitives, taken between two fires, became the mark of
the Tartar sharpshooters. Several were wounded, although in the darkness
it was only by chance that they were hit.
“Come, Nadia,” whispered Michael in the girl’s ear.
Without making a single remark, “ready for anything,” Nadia took
Michael’s hand.
“We must cross the barrier,” he said in a low tone. “Guide me, but let
no one see us leave the raft.”
Nadia obeyed. Michael and she glided rapidly over the floe in the
obscurity, only broken now and again by the flashes from the muskets.
Nadia crept along in front of Michael. The shot fell around them like a
tempest of hail, and pattered on the ice. Their hands were soon covered
with blood from the sharp and rugged ice over which they clambered, but
still on they went.
In ten minutes, the other side of the barrier was reached. There
the waters of the Angara again flowed freely. Several pieces of ice,
detached gradually from the floe, were swept along in the current down
towards the town. Nadia guessed what Michael wished to attempt. One of
the blocks was only held on by a narrow strip.
“Come,” said Nadia. And the two crouched on the piece of ice, which
their weight detached from the floe.
It began to drift. The river widened, the way was open. Michael and
Nadia heard the shots, the cries of distress, the yells of the Tartars.
Then, little by little, the sounds of agony and of ferocious joy grew
faint in the distance.
“Our poor companions!” murmured Nadia.
For half an hour the current hurried along the block of ice which bore
Michael and Nadia. They feared every moment that it would give
way beneath them. Swept along in the middle of the current, it was
unnecessary to give it an oblique direction until they drew near the
quays of Irkutsk. Michael, his teeth tight set, his ear on the strain,
did not utter a word. Never had he been so near his object. He felt that
he was about to attain it!
Towards two in the morning a double row of lights glittered on the dark
horizon in which were confounded the two banks of the Angara. On the
right hand were the lights of Irkutsk; on the left, the fires of the
Tartar camp.
Michael Strogoff was not more than half a verst from the town. “At
last!” he murmured.
But suddenly Nadia uttered a cry.
At the cry Michael stood up on the ice, which was wavering. His hand
was extended up the Angara. His face, on which a bluish light cast a
peculiar hue, became almost fearful to look at, and then, as if his eyes
had been opened to the bright blaze spreading across the river, “Ah!” he
exclaimed, “then Heaven itself is against us!”
CHAPTER XII IRKUTSK
IRKUTSK, the capital of Eastern Siberia, is a populous town, containing,
in ordinary times, thirty thousand inhabitants. On the right side of
the Angara rises a hill, on which are built numerous churches, a lofty
cathedral, and dwellings disposed in picturesque disorder.
Seen at a distance, from the top of the mountain which rises at about
twenty versts off along the Siberian highroad, this town, with its
cupolas, its bell-towers, its steeples slender as minarets, its domes
like pot-bellied Chinese jars, presents something of an oriental aspect.
But this similarity vanishes as the traveler enters.
The town, half Byzantine, half Chinese, becomes European as soon as
he sees its macadamized roads, bordered with pavements, traversed by
canals, planted with gigantic birches, its houses of brick and wood,
some of which have several stories, the numerous equipages which drive
along, not only tarantasses but broughams and coaches; lastly, its
numerous inhabitants far advanced in civilization, to whom the latest
Paris fashions are not unknown.
Being the refuge for all the Siberians of the province, Irkutsk was
at this time very full. Stores of every kind had been collected
in abundance. Irkutsk is the emporium of the innumerable kinds of
merchandise which are exchanged between China, Central Asia, and Europe.
The authorities had therefore no fear with regard to admitting the
peasants of the valley of the Angara, and leaving a desert between the
invaders and the town.
Irkutsk is the residence of the governor-general of Eastern Siberia.
Below him acts a civil governor, in whose hands is the administration
of the province; a head of police, who has much to do in a town where
exiles abound; and, lastly, a mayor, chief of the merchants, and a
person of some importance, from his immense fortune and the influence
which he exercises over the people.
The garrison of Irkutsk was at that time composed of an infantry
regiment of Cossacks, consisting of two thousand men, and a body of
police wearing helmets and blue uniforms laced with silver. Besides,
as has been said, in consequence of the events which had occurred, the
brother of the Czar had been shut up in the town since the beginning of
the invasion.
A journey of political importance had taken the Grand Duke to these
distant provinces of Central Asia. After passing through the principal
Siberian cities, the Grand Duke, who traveled en militaire rather than
en prince, without any parade, accompanied by his officers, and escorted
by a regiment of Cossacks, arrived in the Trans-Baikalcine provinces.
Nikolaevsk, the last Russian town situated on the shore of the Sea of
Okhotsk, had been honored by a visit from him. Arrived on the confines
of the immense Muscovite Empire, the Grand Duke was returning towards
Irkutsk, from which place he intended to retake the road to Moscow,
when, sudden as a thunder clap, came the news of the invasion.
He hastened to the capital, but only reached it just before
communication with Russia had been interrupted. There was time to
receive only a few telegrams from St. Petersburg and Moscow, and with
difficulty to answer them before the wire was cut. Irkutsk was isolated
from the rest of the world.
The Grand Duke had now only to prepare for resistance, and this he
did with that determination and coolness of which, under other
circumstances, he had given incontestable proofs. The news of the
taking of Ichim, Omsk, and Tomsk, successively reached Irkutsk. It was
necessary at any price to save the capital of Siberia. Reinforcements
could not be expected for some time. The few troops scattered about in
the provinces of Siberia could not arrive in sufficiently large numbers
to arrest the progress of the Tartar columns. Since therefore it was
impossible for Irkutsk to escape attack, the most important thing to be
done was to put the town in a state to sustain a siege of some duration.
The preparations were begun on the day Tomsk fell into the hands of the
Tartars. At the same time with this last news, the Grand Duke heard that
the Emir of Bokhara and the allied Khans were directing the invasion
in person, but what he did not know was, that the lieutenant of these
barbarous chiefs was Ivan Ogareff, a Russian officer whom he had himself
reduced to the ranks, but with whose person he was not acquainted.
First of all, as we have seen, the inhabitants of the province of
Irkutsk were compelled to abandon the towns and villages. Those who
did not take refuge in the capital had to retire beyond Lake Baikal, a
district to which the invasion would probably not extend its ravages.
The harvests of corn and fodder were collected and stored up in the
town, and Irkutsk, the last bulwark of the Muscovite power in the
Far East, was put in a condition to resist the enemy for a lengthened
period.
Irkutsk, founded in 1611, is situated at the confluence of the Irkut
and the Angara, on the right bank of the latter river. Two wooden
draw-bridges, built on piles, connected the town with its suburbs on the
left bank. On this side, defence was easy. The suburbs were abandoned,
the bridges destroyed. The Angara being here very wide, it would not be
possible to pass it under the fire of the besieged.
But the river might be crossed both above and below the town, and
consequently, Irkutsk ran a risk of being attacked on its east side, on
which there was no wall to protect it.
The whole population were immediately set to work on the fortifications.
They labored day and night. The Grand Duke observed with satisfaction
the zeal exhibited by the people in the work, whom ere long he would
find equally courageous in the defense. Soldiers, merchants, exiles,
peasants, all devoted themselves to the common safety. A week before the
Tartars appeared on the Angara, earth-works had been raised. A fosse,
flooded by the waters of the Angara, was dug between the scarp and
counterscarp. The town could not now be taken by a coup de main. It must
be invested and besieged.
The third Tartar column--the one which came up the valley of the Yenisei
on the 24th of September--appeared in sight of Irkutsk. It immediately
occupied the deserted suburbs, every building in which had been
destroyed so as not to impede the fire of the Grand Duke’s guns,
unfortunately but few in number and of small caliber. The Tartar troops
as they arrived organized a camp on the bank of the Angara, whilst
waiting the arrival of the two other columns, commanded by the Emir and
his allies.
The junction of these different bodies was effected on the 25th of
September, in the Angara camp, and the whole of the invading army,
except the garrisons left in the principal conquered towns, was
concentrated under the command of Feofar-Khan.
The passage of the Angara in front of Irkutsk having been regarded
by Ogareff as impracticable, a strong body of troops crossed, several
versts up the river, by means of bridges formed with boats. The Grand
Duke did not attempt to oppose the enemy in their passage. He could only
impede, not prevent it, having no field-artillery at his disposal, and
he therefore remained in Irkutsk.
The Tartars now occupied the right bank of the river; then, advancing
towards the town, they burnt, in passing, the summer-house of the
governor-general, and at last having entirely invested Irkutsk, took up
their positions for the siege.
Ivan Ogareff, who was a clever engineer, was perfectly competent
to direct a regular siege; but he did not possess the materials for
operating rapidly. He was disappointed too in the chief object of all
his efforts--the surprise of Irkutsk. Things had not turned out as he
hoped. First, the march of the Tartar army was delayed by the battle of
Tomsk; and secondly, the preparations for the defense were made far more
rapidly than he had supposed possible; these two things had balked his
plans. He was now under the necessity of instituting a regular siege of
the town.
However, by his suggestion, the Emir twice attempted the capture of the
place, at the cost of a large sacrifice of men. He threw soldiers on the
earth-works which presented any weak point; but these two assaults were
repulsed with the greatest courage. The Grand Duke and his officers did
not spare themselves on this occasion. They appeared in person; they
led the civil population to the ramparts. Citizens and peasants both did
their duty.
At the second attack, the Tartars managed to force one of the gates. A
fight took place at the head of Bolchaia Street, two versts long, on the
banks of the Angara. But the Cossacks, the police, the citizens, united
in so fierce a resistance that the Tartars were driven out.
Ivan Ogareff then thought of obtaining by stratagem what he could not
gain by force. We have said that his plan was to penetrate into the
town, make his way to the Grand Duke, gain his confidence, and, when the
time came, give up the gates to the besiegers; and, that done, wreak
his vengeance on the brother of the Czar. The Tsigane Sangarre, who had
accompanied him to the Angara, urged him to put this plan in execution.
Indeed, it was necessary to act without delay. The Russian troops from
the government of Yakutsk were advancing towards Irkutsk. They had
concentrated along the upper course of the Lena. In six days they would
arrive. Therefore, before six days had passed, Irkutsk must be betrayed.
Ogareff hesitated no longer.
One evening, the 2d of October, a council of war was held in the grand
saloon of the palace of the governor-general. This palace, standing at
the end of Bolchaia Street, overlooked the river. From its windows could
be seen the camp of the Tartars, and had the invaders possessed guns of
wider range, they would have rendered the palace uninhabitable.
The Grand Duke, General Voranzoff, the governor of the town, and
the chief of the merchants, with several officers, had collected to
determine upon various proposals.
“Gentlemen,” said the Grand Duke, “you know our situation exactly. I
have the firm hope that we shall be able to hold out until the arrival
of the Yakutsk troops. We shall then be able to drive off these
barbarian hordes, and it will not be my fault if they do not pay dearly
for this invasion of the Muscovite territory.”
“Your Highness knows that all the population of Irkutsk may be relied
on,” said General Voranzoff.
“Yes, general,” replied the Grand Duke, “and I do justice to their
patriotism. Thanks to God, they have not yet been subjected to the
horrors of epidemic and famine, and I have reason to hope that they will
escape them; but I cannot admire their courage on the ramparts enough.
You hear my words, Sir Merchant, and I beg you to repeat such to them.”
“I thank your Highness in the name of the town,” answered the merchant
chief. “May I ask you what is the most distant date when we may expect
the relieving army?”
“Six days at most, sir,” replied the Grand Duke. “A brave and clever
messenger managed this morning to get into the town, and he told me that
fifty thousand Russians under General Kisselef, are advancing by forced
marches. Two days ago, they were on the banks of the Lena, at Kirensk,
and now, neither frost nor snow will keep them back. Fifty thousand good
men, taking the Tartars on the flank, will soon set us free.”
“I will add,” said the chief of the merchants, “that we shall be
ready to execute your orders, any day that your Highness may command a
sortie.”
“Good, sir,” replied the Grand Duke. “Wait till the heads of the
relieving columns appear on the heights, and we will speedily crush
these invaders.”
Then turning to General Voranzoff, “To-morrow,” said he, “we will visit
the works on the right bank. Ice is drifting down the Angara, which
will not be long in freezing, and in that case the Tartars might perhaps
cross.”
“Will your Highness allow me to make an observation?” said the chief of
the merchants.
“Do so, sir.”
“I have more than once seen the temperature fall to thirty and forty
degrees below zero, and the Angara has still carried down drifting ice
without entirely freezing. This is no doubt owing to the swiftness of
its current. If therefore the Tartars have no other means of crossing
the river, I can assure your Highness that they will not enter Irkutsk
in that way.”
The governor-general confirmed this assertion.
“It is a fortunate circumstance,” responded the Grand Duke.
“Nevertheless, we must hold ourselves ready for any emergency.”
He then, turning towards the head of the police, asked, “Have you
nothing to say to me, sir?”
“I have your Highness,” answered the head of police, “a petition which
is addressed to you through me.”
“Addressed by whom?”
“By the Siberian exiles, whom, as your Highness knows, are in the town
to the number of five hundred.”
The political exiles, distributed over the province, had been collected
in Irkutsk, from the beginning of the invasion. They had obeyed the
order to rally in the town, and leave the villages where they exercised
their different professions, some doctors, some professors, either
at the Gymnasium, or at the Japanese School, or at the School of
Navigation. The Grand Duke, trusting like the Czar in their patriotism,
had armed them, and they had thoroughly proved their bravery.
“What do the exiles ask?” said the Grand Duke.
“They ask the consent of your Highness,” answered the head of police,
“to their forming a special corps and being placed in the front of the
first sortie.”
“Yes,” replied the Grand Duke with an emotion which he did not seek to
hide, “these exiles are Russians, and it is their right to fight for
their country!”
“I believe I may assure your Highness,” said the governor-general, “you
will have no better soldiers.”
“But they must have a chief,” said the Grand Duke, “who will he be?”
“They wish to recommend to your Highness,” said the head of police, “one
of their number, who has distinguished himself on several occasions.”
“Is he a Russian?”
“Yes, a Russian from the Baltic provinces.”
“His name?”
“Is Wassili Fedor.”
This exile was Nadia’s father. Wassili Fedor, as we have already said,
followed his profession of a medical man in Irkutsk. He was clever and
charitable, and also possessed the greatest courage and most sincere
patriotism. All the time which he did not devote to the sick he employed
in organizing the defense. It was he who had united his companions
in exile in the common cause. The exiles, till then mingled with the
population, had behaved in such a way as to draw on themselves the
attention of the Grand Duke. In several sorties, they had paid with
their blood their debt to holy Russia--holy as they believe, and adored
by her children! Wassili Fedor had behaved heroically; his name had been
mentioned several times, but he never asked either thanks or favors, and
when the exiles of Irkutsk thought of forming themselves into a special
corps, he was ignorant of their intention of choosing him for their
captain.
When the head of police mentioned this name, the Grand Duke answered
that it was not unknown to him.
“Indeed,” remarked General Voranzoff, “Wassili Fedor is a man of worth
and courage. His influence over his companions has always been very
great.”
“How long has he been at Irkutsk?” asked the Duke.
“For two years.”
“And his conduct?”
“His conduct,” answered the head of police, “is that of a man obedient
to the special laws which govern him.”
“General,” said the Grand Duke, “General, be good enough to present him
to me immediately.”
The orders of the Grand Duke were obeyed, and before half an hour had
passed, Fedor was introduced into his presence. He was a man over forty,
tall, of a stern and sad countenance. One felt that his whole life was
summed up in a single word--strife--he had striven and suffered. His
features bore a marked resemblance to those of his daughter, Nadia
Fedor.
This Tartar invasion had severely wounded him in his tenderest
affections, and ruined the hope of the father, exiled eight thousand
versts from his native town. A letter had apprised him of the death of
his wife, and at the same time of the departure of his daughter, who had
obtained from the government an authorization to join him at Irkutsk.
Nadia must have left Riga on the 10th of July. The invasion had begun
on the 15th of July; if at that time Nadia had passed the frontier, what
could have become of her in the midst of the invaders? The anxiety
of the unhappy father may be supposed when, from that time, he had no
further news of his daughter.
Wassili Fedor entered the presence of the Grand Duke, bowed, and waited
to be questioned.
“Wassili Fedor,” said the Grand Duke, “your companions in exile have
asked to be allowed to form a select corps. They are not ignorant that
in this corps they must make up their minds to be killed to the last
man?”
“They are not ignorant of it,” replied Fedor.
“They wish to have you for their captain.”
“I, your Highness?”
“Do you consent to be placed at their head?”
“Yes, if it is for the good of Russia.”
“Captain Fedor,” said the Grand Duke, “you are no longer an exile.”
“Thanks, your Highness, but can I command those who are so still?”
“They are so no longer!” The brother of the Czar had granted a pardon to
all Fedor’s companions in exile, now his companions in arms!
Wassili Fedor wrung, with emotion, the hand which the Grand Duke held
out to him, and retired.
The latter, turned to his officers, “The Czar will not refuse to ratify
that pardon,” said he, smiling; “we need heroes to defend the capital of
Siberia, and I have just made some.”
This pardon, so generously accorded to the exiles of Irkutsk, was indeed
an act of real justice and sound policy.
It was now night. Through the windows of the palace burned the fires of
the Tartar camp, flickering beyond the Angara. Down the river drifted
numerous blocks of ice, some of which stuck on the piles of the old
bridges; others were swept along by the current with great rapidity.
It was evident, as the merchant had observed, that it would be very
difficult for the Angara to freeze all over. The defenders of Irkutsk
had not to dread being attacked on that side. Ten o’clock had just
struck. The Grand Duke was about to dismiss his officers and retire to
his apartments, when a tumult was heard outside the palace.
Almost immediately the door was thrown open, an aide-de-camp appeared,
and advanced rapidly towards the Grand Duke.
“Your Highness,” said he, “a courier from the Czar!”
CHAPTER XIII THE CZAR’S COURIER
ALL the members of the council simultaneously started forward. A courier
from the Czar arrived in Irkutsk! Had these officers for a moment
considered the improbability of this fact, they would certainly not have
credited what they heard.
The Grand Duke advanced quickly to his aide-de-camp. “This courier!” he
exclaimed.
A man entered. He appeared exhausted with fatigue. He wore the dress
of a Siberian peasant, worn into tatters, and exhibiting several
shot-holes. A Muscovite cap was on his head. His face was disfigured
by a recently-healed scar. The man had evidently had a long and painful
journey; his shoes being in a state which showed that he had been
obliged to make part of it on foot.
“His Highness the Grand Duke?” he asked.
The Grand Duke went up to him. “You are a courier from the Czar?” he
asked.
“Yes, your Highness.”
“You come?”
“From Moscow.”
“You left Moscow?”
“On the 15th of July.”
“Your name?”
“Michael Strogoff.”
It was Ivan Ogareff. He had taken the designation of the man whom he
believed that he had rendered powerless. Neither the Grand Duke
nor anyone knew him in Irkutsk, and he had not even to disguise his
features. As he was in a position to prove his pretended identity,
no one could have any reason for doubting him. He came, therefore,
sustained by his iron will, to hasten by treason and assassination the
great object of the invasion.
After Ogareff had replied, the Grand Duke signed to all his officers
to withdraw. He and the false Michael Strogoff remained alone in the
saloon.
The Grand Duke looked at Ivan Ogareff for some moments with extreme
attention. Then he said, “On the 15th of July you were at Moscow?”
“Yes, your Highness; and on the night of the 14th I saw His Majesty the
Czar at the New Palace.”
“Have you a letter from the Czar?”
“Here it is.”
And Ivan Ogareff handed to the Grand Duke the Imperial letter, crumpled
to almost microscopic size.
“Was the letter given you in this state?”
“No, your Highness, but I was obliged to tear the envelope, the better
to hide it from the Emir’s soldiers.”
“Were you taken prisoner by the Tartars?”
“Yes, your Highness, I was their prisoner for several days,” answered
Ogareff. “That is the reason that, having left Moscow on the 15th of
July, as the date of that letter shows, I only reached Irkutsk on the 2d
of October, after traveling seventy-nine days.”
The Grand Duke took the letter. He unfolded it and recognized the Czar’s
signature, preceded by the decisive formula, written by his brother’s
hand. There was no possible doubt of the authenticity of this letter,
nor of the identity of the courier. Though Ogareff’s countenance had at
first inspired the Grand Duke with some distrust, he let nothing of it
appear, and it soon vanished.
The Grand Duke remained for a few minutes without speaking. He read the
letter slowly, so as to take in its meaning fully. “Michael Strogoff, do
you know the contents of this letter?” he asked.
“Yes, your Highness. I might have been obliged to destroy it, to prevent
its falling into the hands of the Tartars, and should such have been the
case, I wished to be able to bring the contents of it to your Highness.”
“You know that this letter enjoins us all to die, rather than give up
the town?”
“I know it.”
“You know also that it informs me of the movements of the troops which
have combined to stop the invasion?”
“Yes, your Highness, but the movements have failed.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that Ichim, Omsk, Tomsk, to speak only of the more important
towns of the two Siberias, have been successively occupied by the
soldiers of Feofar-Khan.”
“But there has been fighting? Have not our Cossacks met the Tartars?”
“Several times, your Highness.”
“And they were repulsed?”
“They were not in sufficient force to oppose the enemy.”
“Where did the encounters take place?”
“At Kolyvan, at Tomsk.” Until now, Ogareff had only spoken the truth,
but, in the hope of troubling the defenders of Irkutsk by exaggerating
the defeats, he added, “And a third time before Krasnoiarsk.”
“And what of this last engagement?” asked the Grand Duke, through whose
compressed lips the words could scarcely pass.
“It was more than an engagement, your Highness,” answered Ogareff; “it
was a battle.”
“A battle?”
“Twenty thousand Russians, from the frontier provinces and the
government of Tobolsk, engaged with a hundred and fifty thousand
Tartars, and, notwithstanding their courage, were overwhelmed.”
“You lie!” exclaimed the Grand Duke, endeavoring in vain to curb his
passion.
“I speak the truth, your Highness,” replied Ivan Ogareff coldly. “I
was present at the battle of Krasnoiarsk, and it was there I was made
prisoner!”
The Grand Duke grew calmer, and by a significant gesture he gave Ogareff
to understand that he did not doubt his veracity. “What day did this
battle of Krasnoiarsk take place?” he asked.
“On the 2d of September.”
“And now all the Tartar troops are concentrated here?”
“All.”
“And you estimate them?”
“At about four hundred thousand men.”
Another exaggeration of Ogareff’s in the estimate of the Tartar army,
with the same object as before.
“And I must not expect any help from the West provinces?” asked the
Grand Duke.
“None, your Highness, at any rate before the end of the winter.”
“Well, hear this, Michael Strogoff. Though I must expect no help either
from the East or from the West, even were these barbarians six hundred
thousand strong, I will never give up Irkutsk!”
Ogareff’s evil eye slightly contracted. The traitor thought to himself
that the brother of the Czar did not reckon the result of treason.
The Grand Duke, who was of a nervous temperament, had great difficulty
in keeping calm whilst hearing this disastrous news. He walked to and
fro in the room, under the gaze of Ogareff, who eyed him as a victim
reserved for vengeance. He stopped at the windows, he looked forth at
the fires in the Tartar camp, he listened to the noise of the ice-blocks
drifting down the Angara.
A quarter of an hour passed without his putting any more questions. Then
taking up the letter, he re-read a passage and said, “You know that in
this letter I am warned of a traitor, of whom I must beware?”
“Yes, your Highness.”
“He will try to enter Irkutsk in disguise; gain my confidence, and
betray the town to the Tartars.”
“I know all that, your Highness, and I know also that Ivan Ogareff has
sworn to revenge himself personally on the Czar’s brother.”
“Why?”
“It is said that the officer in question was condemned by the Grand Duke
to a humiliating degradation.”
“Yes, I remember. But it is a proof that the villain, who could
afterwards serve against his country and head an invasion of barbarians,
deserved it.”
“His Majesty the Czar,” said Ogareff, “was particularly anxious that you
should be warned of the criminal projects of Ivan Ogareff against your
person.”
“Yes; of that the letter informs me.”
“And His Majesty himself spoke to me of it, telling me I was above all
things to beware of the traitor.”
“Did you meet with him?”
“Yes, your Highness, after the battle of Krasnoiarsk. If he had only
guessed that I was the bearer of a letter addressed to your Highness, in
which his plans were revealed, I should not have got off so easily.”
“No; you would have been lost!” replied the Grand Duke. “And how did you
manage to escape?”
“By throwing myself into the Irtych.”
“And how did you enter Irkutsk?”
“Under cover of a sortie, which was made this evening to repulse a
Tartar detachment. I mingled with the defenders of the town, made myself
known, and was immediately conducted before your Highness.”
“Good, Michael Strogoff,” answered the Grand Duke. “You have shown
courage and zeal in your difficult mission. I will not forget you. Have
you any favor to ask?”
“None; unless it is to be allowed to fight at the side of your
Highness,” replied Ogareff.
“So be it, Strogoff. I attach you from to-day to my person, and you
shall be lodged in the palace.”
“And if according to his intention, Ivan Ogareff should present himself
to your Highness under a false name?”
“We will unmask him, thanks to you, who know him, and I will make him
die under the knout. Go!”
Ogareff gave a military salute, not forgetting that he was a captain of
the couriers of the Czar, and retired.
Ogareff had so far played his unworthy part with success. The Grand
Duke’s entire confidence had been accorded him. He could now betray it
whenever it suited him. He would inhabit the very palace. He would be
in the secret of all the operations for the defense of the town. He thus
held the situation in his hand, as it were. No one in Irkutsk knew him,
no one could snatch off his mask. He resolved therefore to set to work
without delay.
Indeed, time pressed. The town must be captured before the arrival of
the Russians from the North and East, and that was only a question of a
few days. The Tartars once masters of Irkutsk, it would not be easy
to take it again from them. At any rate, even if they were obliged to
abandon it later, they would not do so before they had utterly destroyed
it, and before the head of the Grand Duke had rolled at the feet of
Feofar-Khan.
Ivan Ogareff, having every facility for seeing, observing, and acting,
occupied himself the next day with visiting the ramparts. He was
everywhere received with cordial congratulations from officers,
soldiers, and citizens. To them this courier from the Czar was a link
which connected them with the empire.
Ogareff recounted, with an assurance which never failed, numerous
fictitious events of his journey. Then, with the cunning for which he
was noted, without dwelling too much on it at first, he spoke of the
gravity of the situation, exaggerating the success of the Tartars and
the numbers of the barbarian forces, as he had when speaking to
the Grand Duke. According to him, the expected succors would be
insufficient, if ever they arrived at all, and it was to be feared that
a battle fought under the walls of Irkutsk would be as fatal as the
battles of Kolyvan, Tomsk, and Krasnoiarsk.
Ogareff was not too free in these insinuations. He wished to allow
them to sink gradually into the minds of the defenders of Irkutsk.
He pretended only to answer with reluctance when much pressed with
questions. He always added that they must fight to the last man, and
blow up the town rather than yield!
These false statements would have done more harm had it been possible;
but the garrison and the population of Irkutsk were too patriotic to let
themselves be moved. Of all the soldiers and citizens shut up in this
town, isolated at the extremity of the Asiatic world, not one dreamed of
even speaking of a capitulation. The contempt of the Russians for these
barbarians was boundless.
No one suspected the odious part played by Ivan Ogareff; no one guessed
that the pretended courier of the Czar was a traitor. It occurred very
naturally that on his arrival in Irkutsk, a frequent intercourse was
established between Ogareff and one of the bravest defenders of the
town, Wassili Fedor. We know what anxiety this unhappy father suffered.
If his daughter, Nadia Fedor, had left Russia on the date fixed by the
last letter he had received from Riga, what had become of her? Was she
still trying to cross the invaded provinces, or had she long since been
taken prisoner? The only alleviation to Wassili Fedor’s anxiety was
when he could obtain an opportunity of engaging in battle with the
Tartars--opportunities which came too seldom for his taste. The very
evening the pretended courier arrived, Wassili Fedor went to
the governor-general’s palace and, acquainting Ogareff with the
circumstances under which his daughter must have left European Russia,
told him all his uneasiness about her. Ogareff did not know Nadia,
although he had met her at Ichim on the day she was there with Michael
Strogoff; but then, he had not paid more attention to her than to the
two reporters, who at the same time were in the post-house; he therefore
could give Wassili Fedor no news of his daughter.
“But at what time,” asked Ogareff, “must your daughter have left the
Russian territory?”
“About the same time that you did,” replied Fedor.
“I left Moscow on the 15th of July.”
“Nadia must also have quitted Moscow at that time. Her letter told me so
expressly.”
“She was in Moscow on the 15th of July?”
“Yes, certainly, by that date.”
“Then it was impossible for her--But no, I am mistaken--I was confusing
dates. Unfortunately, it is too probable that your daughter must have
passed the frontier, and you can only have one hope, that she stopped on
learning the news of the Tartar invasion!”
The father’s head fell! He knew Nadia, and he knew too well that
nothing would have prevented her from setting out. Ivan Ogareff had just
committed gratuitously an act of real cruelty. With a word he might
have reassured Fedor. Although Nadia had passed the frontier under
circumstances with which we are acquainted, Fedor, by comparing the date
on which his daughter would have been at Nijni-Novgorod, and the date of
the proclamation which forbade anyone to leave it, would no doubt have
concluded thus: that Nadia had not been exposed to the dangers of the
invasion, and that she was still, in spite of herself, in the European
territory of the Empire.
Ogareff obedient to his nature, a man who was never touched by the
sufferings of others, might have said that word. He did not say it.
Fedor retired with his heart broken. In that interview his last hope was
crushed.
During the two following days, the 3rd and 4th of October, the Grand
Duke often spoke to the pretended Michael Strogoff, and made him
repeat all that he had heard in the Imperial Cabinet of the New Palace.
Ogareff, prepared for all these questions, replied without the least
hesitation. He intentionally did not conceal that the Czar’s government
had been utterly surprised by the invasion, that the insurrection had
been prepared in the greatest possible secrecy, that the Tartars were
already masters of the line of the Obi when the news reached Moscow, and
lastly, that none of the necessary preparations were completed in the
Russian provinces for sending into Siberia the troops requisite for
repulsing the invaders.
Ivan Ogareff, being entirely free in his movements, began to study
Irkutsk, the state of its fortifications, their weak points, so as to
profit subsequently by his observations, in the event of being prevented
from consummating his act of treason. He examined particularly the
Bolchaia Gate, the one he wished to deliver up.
Twice in the evening he came upon the glacis of this gate. He walked
up and down, without fear of being discovered by the besiegers, whose
nearest posts were at least a mile from the ramparts. He fancied that he
was recognized by no one, till he caught sight of a shadow gliding along
outside the earthworks. Sangarre had come at the risk of her life for
the purpose of putting herself in communication with Ivan Ogareff.
For two days the besieged had enjoyed a tranquillity to which
the Tartars had not accustomed them since the commencement of the
investment. This was by Ogareff’s orders. Feofar-Khan’s lieutenant
wished that all attempts to take the town by force should be suspended.
He hoped the watchfulness of the besieged would relax. At any rate,
several thousand Tartars were kept in readiness at the outposts, to
attack the gate, deserted, as Ogareff anticipated that it would be, by
its defenders, whenever he should summon the besiegers to the assault.
This he could not now delay in doing. All must be over by the time
that the Russian troops should come in sight of Irkutsk. Ogareff’s
arrangements were made, and on this evening a note fell from the top of
the earthworks into Sangarre’s hands.
On the next day, that is to say during the hours of darkness from the
5th to the 6th of October, at two o’clock in the morning, Ivan Ogareff
had resolved to deliver up Irkutsk.
CHAPTER XIV THE NIGHT OF THE FIFTH OF OCTOBER
IVAN OGAREFF’S plan had been contrived with the greatest care, and
except for some unforeseen accident he believed that it must succeed.
It was of importance that the Bolchaia Gate should be unguarded or
only feebly held when he gave it up. The attention of the besieged
was therefore to be drawn to another part of the town. A diversion was
agreed upon with the Emir.
This diversion was to be effected both up and down the river, on the
Irkutsk bank. The attack on these two points was to be conducted in
earnest, and at the same time a feigned attempt at crossing the Angara
from the left bank was to be made. The Bolchaia Gate, would be probably
deserted, so much the more because on this side the Tartar outposts
having drawn back, would appear to have broken up.
It was the 5th of October. In four and twenty hours, the capital of
Eastern Siberia would be in the hands of the Emir, and the Grand Duke in
the power of Ivan Ogareff.
During the day, an unusual stir was going on in the Angara camp. From
the windows of the palace important preparations on the opposite shore
could be distinctly seen. Numerous Tartar detachments were converging
towards the camp, and from hour to hour reinforced the Emir’s troops.
These movements, intended to deceive the besieged, were conducted in the
most open manner possible before their eyes.
Ogareff had warned the Grand Duke that an attack was to be feared. He
knew, he said, that an assault was to be made, both above and below
the town, and he counselled the Duke to reinforce the two directly
threatened points. Accordingly, after a council of war had been held in
the palace, orders were issued to concentrate the defense on the bank
of the Angara and at the two ends of the town, where the earthworks
protected the river.
This was exactly what Ogareff wished. He did not expect that the
Bolchaia Gate would be left entirely without defenders, but that there
would only be a small number. Besides, Ogareff meant to give such
importance to the diversion, that the Grand Duke would be obliged to
oppose it with all his available forces. The traitor planned also to
produce so frightful a catastrophe that terror must inevitably overwhelm
the hearts of the besieged.
All day the garrison and population of Irkutsk were on the alert. The
measures to repel an attack on the points hitherto unassailed had
been taken. The Grand Duke and General Voranzoff visited the posts,
strengthened by their orders. Wassili Fedor’s corps occupied the North
of the town, but with orders to throw themselves where the danger was
greatest. The right bank of the Angara had been protected with the few
guns possessed by the defenders. With these measures, taken in time,
thanks to the advice so opportunely given by Ivan Ogareff, there was
good reason to hope that the expected attack would be repulsed. In
that case the Tartars, momentarily discouraged, would no doubt not
make another attempt against the town for several days. Now the troops
expected by the Grand Duke might arrive at any hour. The safety or the
loss of Irkutsk hung only by a thread.
On this day, the sun which had risen at twenty minutes to six, set at
forty minutes past five, having traced its diurnal arc for eleven
hours above the horizon. The twilight would struggle with the night
for another two hours. Then it would be intensely dark, for the sky was
cloudy, and there would be no moon. This gloom would favor the plans of
Ivan Ogareff.
For a few days already a sharp frost had given warning of the
approaching rigor of the Siberian winter, and this evening it was
especially severe. The Russians posted by the bank of the Angara,
obliged to conceal their position, lighted no fires. They suffered
cruelly from the low temperature. A few feet below them, the ice in
large masses drifted down the current. All day these masses had been
seen passing rapidly between the two banks.
This had been considered by the Grand Duke and his officers as
fortunate. Should the channel of the Angara continue to be thus
obstructed, the passage must be impracticable. The Tartars could use
neither rafts nor boats. As to their crossing the river on the ice, that
was not possible. The newly-frozen plain could not bear the weight of an
assaulting column.
This circumstance, as it appeared favorable to the defenders of Irkutsk,
Ogareff might have regretted. He did not do so, however. The traitor
knew well that the Tartars would not try to pass the Angara, and that,
on its side at least, their attempt was only a feint.
About ten in the evening, the state of the river sensibly improved, to
the great surprise of the besieged and still more to their disadvantage.
The passage till then impracticable, became all at once possible. The
bed of the Angara was clear. The blocks of ice, which had for some days
drifted past in large numbers, disappeared down the current, and five or
six only now occupied the space between the banks. The Russian officers
reported this change in the river to the Grand Duke. They suggested that
it was probably caused by the circumstance that in some narrower part of
the Angara, the blocks had accumulated so as to form a barrier.
We know this was the case. The passage of the Angara was thus open to
the besiegers. There was great reason for the Russians to be on their
guard.
Up to midnight nothing had occurred. On the Eastern side, beyond the
Bolchaia Gate, all was quiet. Not a glimmer was seen in the dense
forest, which appeared confounded on the horizon with the masses of
clouds hanging low down in the sky. Lights flitting to and fro in the
Angara camp, showed that a considerable movement was taking place. From
a verst above and below the point where the scarp met the river’s bank,
came a dull murmur, proving that the Tartars were on foot, expecting
some signal. An hour passed. Nothing new.
The bell of the Irkutsk cathedral was about to strike two o’clock in
the morning, and not a movement amongst the besiegers had yet shown that
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