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were at no great distance. Even then, on account of the darkness,
Michael could not see them, yet he heard distinctly their words.
This is what he heard, and what caused him some surprise:
"Are you coming back, blockhead?"
"You shall have a taste of the knout at the next stage."
"Do you hear, you devil's postillion! Hullo! Below!"
"This is how a carriage takes you in this country!"
"Yes, this is what you call a telga!"
"Oh, that abominable driver! He goes on and does not appear
to have discovered that he has left us behind!"
"To deceive me, too! Me, an honorable Englishman! I will make
a complaint at the chancellor's office and have the fellow hanged."
This was said in a very angry tone, but was suddenly interrupted
by a burst of laughter from his companion, who exclaimed,
"Well! this is a good joke, I must say."
"You venture to laugh!" said the Briton angrily.
"Certainly, my dear confrere, and that most heartily.
'Pon my word I never saw anything to come up to it."
Just then a crashing clap of thunder re-echoed through the defile,
and then died away among the distant peaks. When the sound
of the last growl had ceased, the merry voice went on:
"Yes, it undoubtedly is a good joke. This machine certainly
never came from France."
"Nor from England," replied the other.
On the road, by the light of the flashes, Michael saw, twenty yards
from him, two travelers, seated side by side in a most peculiar vehicle,
the wheels of which were deeply imbedded in the ruts formed in the road.
He approached them, the one grinning from ear to ear, and the other
gloomily contemplating his situation, and recognized them as the two
reporters who had been his companions on board the Caucasus.
"Good-morning to you, sir," cried the Frenchman. "Delighted to see
you here. Let me introduce you to my intimate enemy, Mr. Blount."
The English reporter bowed, and was about to introduce in his turn
his companion, Alcide Jolivet, in accordance with the rules of society,
when Michael interrupted him.
"Perfectly unnecessary, sir; we already know each other,
for we traveled together on the Volga."
"Ah, yes! exactly so! Mr.--"
"Nicholas Korpanoff, merchant, of Irkutsk. But may I know
what has happened which, though a misfortune to your companion,
amuses you so much?"
"Certainly, Mr. Korpanoff," replied Alcide. "Fancy! our driver
has gone off with the front part of this confounded carriage,
and left us quietly seated in the back part! So here we
are in the worse half of a telga; no driver, no horses.
Is it not a joke?"
"No joke at all," said the Englishman.
"Indeed it is, my dear fellow. You do not know how to look
at the bright side of things."
"How, pray, are we to go on?" asked Blount.
"That is the easiest thing in the world," replied Alcide. "Go and
harness yourself to what remains of our cart; I will take the reins,
and call you my little pigeon, like a true iemschik, and you will trot
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