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"For the same reason
as that which made me patient even to cowardice with the villain who--"
He could not finish his sentence.

"Calm yourself, brother," said Nadia in a gentle voice.
"I only know one thing, or rather I do not know it, I feel it.
It is that all your conduct is now directed by the sentiment
of a duty more sacred--if there can be one--than that which unites
the son to the mother."

Nadia was silent, and from that moment avoided every subject
which in any way touched on Michael's peculiar situation.
He had a secret motive which she must respect. She respected it.

The next day, July 25th, at three o'clock in the morning, the tarantass
arrived at Tioukalmsk, having accomplished a distance of eighty
miles since it had crossed the Ichim. They rapidly changed horses.
Here, however, for the first time, the iemschik made difficulties
about starting, declaring that detachments of Tartars were roving
across the steppe, and that travelers, horses, and carriages would
be a fine prize for them.

Only by dint of a large bribe could Michael get over
the unwillingness of the iemschik, for in this instance,
as in many others, he did not wish to show his podorojna.
The last ukase, having been transmitted by telegraph, was known
in the Siberian provinces; and a Russian specially exempted from
obeying these words would certainly have drawn public attention
to himself--a thing above all to be avoided by the Czar's courier.
As to the iemschik's hesitation, either the rascal traded on
the traveler's impatience or he really had good reason to fear.

However, at last the tarantass started, and made such good way
that by three in the afternoon it had reached Koulatsinskoe,
fifty miles farther on. An hour after this it was on the banks
of the Irtych. Omsk was now only fourteen miles distant.

The Irtych is a large river, and one of the principal of those which flow
towards the north of Asia. Rising in the Altai Mountains, it flows
from the southeast to the northwest and empties itself into the Obi,
after a course of four thousand miles.

At this time of year, when all the rivers of the Siberian basin
are much swollen, the waters of the Irtych were very high.
In consequence the current was changed to a regular torrent,
rendering the passage difficult enough. A swimmer could not
have crossed, however powerful; and even in a ferryboat there
would be some danger.

But Michael and Nadia, determined to brave all perils whatever
they might be, did not dream of shrinking from this one.
Michael proposed to his young companion that he should cross first,
embarking in the ferryboat with the tarantass and horses,
as he feared that the weight of this load would render it less safe.
After landing the carriage he would return and fetch Nadia.

The girl refused. It would be the delay of an hour, and she would not,
for her safety alone, be the cause of it.

The embarkation was made not without difficulty, for the banks
were partly flooded and the boat could not get in near enough.

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