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Michael Strogoff

J >> Jules Verne >> Michael Strogoff




"Do you mean, sire," cried the chief of police, "that
Ivan Ogareff has a hand in this Tartar rebellion?"

"Indeed I do; and I will now tell you something which
you are ignorant of. After leaving Perm, Ivan Ogareff
crossed the Ural mountains, entered Siberia, and penetrated
the Kirghiz steppes, and there endeavored, not without suc-
cess, to foment rebellion amongst their nomadic population.
He then went so far south as free Turkestan; there, in the
provinces of Bokhara, Khokhand, and Koondooz, he found
chiefs willing to pour their Tartar hordes into Siberia, and
excite a general rising in Asiatic Russia. The storm has
been silently gathering, but it has at last burst like a thunder-
clap, and now all means of communication between Eastern
and Western Siberia have been stopped. Moreover, Ivan
Ogareff, thirsting for vengeance, aims at the life of my
brother!"

The Czar had become excited whilst speaking, and now
paced up and down with hurried steps. The chief of police
said nothing, but he thought to himself that, during the
time when the emperors of Russia never pardoned an exile,
schemes such as those of Ivan Ogareff could never have
been realized. Approaching the Czar, who had thrown
himself into an armchair, he asked, "Your majesty has of
course given orders so that this rebellion may be suppressed
as soon as possible?"

"Yes," answered the Czar. "The last telegram which
reached Nijni-Udinsk would set in motion the troops in the
governments of Yenisei, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, as well as those
in the provinces of the Amoor and Lake Baikal. At the
same time, the regiments from Perm and Nijni-Novgorod,
and the Cossacks from the frontier, are advancing by forced
marches towards the Ural Mountains; but some weeks must
pass before they can attack the Tartars."

"And your majesty's brother, his Highness the Grand
Duke, is now isolated in the government of Irkutsk, and
is no longer in direct communication with Moscow?"

"That is so."

"But by the last dispatches, he must know what measures
have been taken by your majesty, and what help he may
expect from the governments nearest Irkutsk?"

"He knows that," answered the Czar; "but what he
does not know is, that Ivan Ogareff, as well as being a
rebel, is also playing the part of a traitor, and that in him
he has a personal and bitter enemy. It is to the Grand
Duke that Ogareff owes his first disgrace; and what is more
serious is, that this man is not known to him. Ogareff's
plan, therefore, is to go to Irkutsk, and, under an assumed
name, offer his services to the Grand Duke. Then, after
gaining his confidence, when the Tartars have invested
Irkutsk, he will betray the town, and with it my brother,
whose life he seeks. This is what I have learned from my
secret intelligence; this is what the Grand Duke does not
know; and this is what he must know!"

"Well, sire, an intelligent, courageous courier . . ."

"I momentarily expect one."

"And it is to be hoped he will be expeditious," added
the chief of police; "for, allow me to add, sire, that Siberia
is a favorable land for rebellions."

"Do you mean to say. General, that the exiles would
make common cause with the rebels?" exclaimed the Czar.

"Excuse me, your majesty," stammered the chief of
police, for that was really the idea suggested to him by his
uneasy and suspicious mind.

"I believe in their patriotism," returned the Czar.

"There are other offenders besides political exiles in
Siberia," said the chief of police.

"The criminals? Oh, General, I give those up to you!
They are the vilest, I grant, of the human race. They
belong to no country. But the insurrection, or rather, the
rebellion, is not to oppose the emperor; it is raised against
Russia, against the country which the exiles have not lost
all hope of again seeing -- and which they will see again.
No, a Russian would never unite with a Tartar, to weaken,
were it only for an hour, the Muscovite power!"

The Czar was right in trusting to the patriotism of
those whom his policy kept, for a time, at a distance.
Clemency, which was the foundation of his justice, when
he could himself direct its effects, the modifications he had
adopted with regard to applications for the formerly ter-
rible ukases, warranted the belief that he was not mis-
taken. But even without this powerful element of success
in regard to the Tartar rebellion, circumstances were not
the less very serious; for it was to be feared that a large
part of the Kirghiz population would join the rebels.

The Kirghiz are divided into three hordes, the greater,
the lesser, and the middle, and number nearly four hundred
thousand "tents," or two million souls. Of the different
tribes some are independent and others recognize either
the sovereignty of Russia or that of the Khans of Khiva,
Khokhand, and Bokhara, the most formidable chiefs of
Turkestan. The middle horde, the richest, is also the larg-
est, and its encampments occupy all the space between the
rivers Sara Sou, Irtish, and the Upper Ishim, Lake Saisang
and Lake Aksakal. The greater horde, occupying the coun-
tries situated to the east of the middle one, extends as far
as the governments of Omsk and Tobolsk. Therefore, if
the Kirghiz population should rise, it would be the rebel-
lion of Asiatic Russia, and the first thing would be the
separation of Siberia, to the east of the Yenisei.

It is true that these Kirghiz, mere novices in the art of
war, are rather nocturnal thieves and plunderers of cara-
vans than regular soldiers. As M. Levchine says, "a firm
front or a square of good infantry could repel ten times the
number of Kirghiz; and a single cannon might destroy a
frightful number."

That may be; but to do this it is necessary for the square
of good infantry to reach the rebellious country, and the
cannon to leave the arsenals of the Russian provinces, per-
haps two or three thousand versts distant. Now, except by
the direct route from Ekaterenburg to Irkutsk, the often
marshy steppes are not easily practicable, and some weeks
must certainly pass before the Russian troops could reach
the Tartar hordes.

Omsk is the center of that military organization of West-
ern Siberia which is intended to overawe the Kirghiz popu-
lation. Here are the bounds, more than once infringed by
the half-subdued nomads, and there was every reason to be-
lieve that Omsk was already in danger. The line of military
stations, that is to say, those Cossack posts which are ranged
in echelon from Omsk to Semipolatinsk, must have been
broken in several places. Now, it was to be feared that the
"Grand Sultans," who govern the Kirghiz districts would
either voluntarily accept, or involuntarily submit to, the
dominion of Tartars, Mussulmen like themselves, and that
to the hate caused by slavery was not united the hate due to
the antagonism of the Greek and Mussulman religions.
For some time, indeed, the Tartars of Turkestan had en-
deavored, both by force and persuasion, to subdue the
Kirghiz hordes.

A few words only with respect to these Tartars. The
Tartars belong more especially to two distinct races, the
Caucasian and the Mongolian. The Caucasian race, which,
as Abel de Remusat says, "is regarded in Europe as the
type of beauty in our species, because all the nations in this
part of the world have sprung from it," includes also the
Turks and the Persians. The purely Mongolian race com-
prises the Mongols, Manchoux, and Thibetans.

The Tartars who now threatened the Russian Empire, be-
longed to the Caucasian race, and occupied Turkestan.
This immense country is divided into different states, gov-
erned by Khans, and hence termed Khanats. The principal
khanats are those of Bokhara, Khokhand, Koondooz, etc.
At this period, the most important and the most formidable
khanat was that of Bokhara. Russia had already been
several times at war with its chiefs, who, for their own in-
terests, had supported the independence of the Kirghiz
against the Muscovite dominion. The present chief,
Feofar-Khan, followed in the steps of his predecessors.

The khanat of Bokhara has a population of two million
five hundred thousand inhabitants, an army of sixty thou-
sand men, trebled in time of war, and thirty thousand horse-
men. It is a rich country, with varied animal, vegetable,
and mineral products, and has been increased by the acces-
sion of the territories of Balkh, Aukoi, and Meimaneh. It
possesses nineteen large towns. Bokhara, surrounded by a
wall measuring more than eight English miles, and flanked
with towers, a glorious city, made illustrious by Avicenna
and other learned men of the tenth century, is regarded as
the center of Mussulman science, and ranks among the
most celebrated cities of Central Asia. Samarcand, which
contains the tomb of Tamerlane and the famous palace
where the blue stone is kept on which each new khan must
seat himself on his accession, is defended by a very strong
citadel. Karschi, with its triple cordon, situated in an
oasis, surrounded by a marsh peopled with tortoises and
lizards, is almost impregnable, Is-chardjoui is defended
by a population of twenty thousand souls. Protected by its
mountains, and isolated by its steppes, the khanat of Bok-
hara is a most formidable state; and Russia would need a
large force to subdue it.

The fierce and ambitious Feofar now governed this corner
of Tartary. Relying on the other khans -- principally those
of Khokhand and Koondooz, cruel and rapacious warriors,
all ready to join an enterprise so dear to Tartar instincts --
aided by the chiefs who ruled all the hordes of Central Asia,
he had placed himself at the head of the rebellion of which
Ivan Ogareff was the instigator. This traitor, impelled by
insane ambition as much as by hate, had ordered the move-
ment so as to attack Siberia. Mad indeed he was, if he
hoped to rupture the Muscovite Empire. Acting under his
suggestion, the Emir -- which is the title taken by the khans
of Bokhara -- had poured his hordes over the Russian
frontier. He invaded the government of Semipolatinsk,
and the Cossacks, who were only in small force there, had
been obliged to retire before him. He had advanced farther
than Lake Balkhash, gaining over the Kirghiz population
on his way. Pillaging, ravaging, enrolling those who sub-
mitted, taking prisoners those who resisted, he marched
from one town to another, followed by those impedimenta
of Oriental sovereignty which may be called his household,
his wives and his slaves -- all with the cool audacity of a
modern Ghengis-Khan. It was impossible to ascertain
where he now was; how far his soldiers had marched be-
fore the news of the rebellion reached Moscow; or to what
part of Siberia the Russian troops had been forced to retire.
All communication was interrupted. Had the wire between
Kolyvan and Tomsk been cut by Tartar scouts, or had the
Emir himself arrived at the Yeniseisk provinces? Was all
the lower part of Western Siberia in a ferment? Had the
rebellion already spread to the eastern regions? No one
could say. The only agent which fears neither cold nor
heat, which can neither be stopped by the rigors of winter
nor the heat of summer, and which flies with the rapidity of
lightning -- the electric current -- was prevented from trav-
ersing the steppes, and it was no longer possible to warn
the Grand Duke, shut up in Irkutsk, of the danger threaten-
ing him from the treason of Ivan Ogareff.

A courier only could supply the place of the interrupted
current. It would take this man some time to traverse the
five thousand two hundred versts between Moscow and
Irkutsk. To pass the ranks of the rebels and invaders he
must display almost superhuman courage and intelligence.
But with a clear head and a firm heart much can be done.

"Shall I be able to find this head and heart?" thought
the Czar.


CHAPTER III
MICHAEL STROGOFF MEETS THE CZAR

THE door of the imperial cabinet was again opened and
General Kissoff was announced.

"The courier?" inquired the Czar eagerly.

"He is here, sire," replied General Kissoff.

"Have you found a fitting man?"

"I will answer for him to your majesty."

"Has he been in the service of the Palace?"

"Yes, sire."

"You know him?"

"Personally, and at various times he has fulfilled difficult
missions with success."

"Abroad?"

"In Siberia itself."

"Where does he come from?"

"From Omsk. He is a Siberian."

"Has he coolness, intelligence, courage?"

"Yes, sire; he has all the qualities necessary to succeed,
even where others might possibly fail."

"What is his age?"

"Thirty."

"Is he strong and vigorous?"

"Sire, he can bear cold, hunger, thirst, fatigue, to the
very last extremities."

"He must have a frame of iron."

"Sire, he has."

"And a heart?"

"A heart of gold."

"His name?"

"Michael Strogoff."

"Is he ready to set out?"

"He awaits your majesty's orders in the guard-room."

"Let him come in," said the Czar.

In a few moments Michael Strogoff, the courier, entered
the imperial library. He was a tall, vigorous, broad-shoul-
dered, deep-chested man. His powerful head possessed the
fine features of the Caucasian race. His well-knit frame
seemed built for the performance of feats of strength. It
would have been a difficult task to move such a man against
his will, for when his feet were once planted on the ground,
it was as if they had taken root. As he doffed his Mus-
covite cap, locks of thick curly hair fell over his broad,
massive forehead. When his ordinarily pale face became at
all flushed, it arose solely from a more rapid action of the
heart. His eyes, of a deep blue, looked with clear, frank,
firm gaze. The slightly-contracted eyebrows indicated lofty
heroism -- "the hero's cool courage," according to the defini-
tion of the physiologist. He possessed a fine nose, with
large nostrils; and a well-shaped mouth, with the slightly-
projecting lips which denote a generous and noble heart.

Michael Strogoff had the temperament of the man of
action, who does not bite his nails or scratch his head in
doubt and indecision. Sparing of gestures as of words, he
always stood motionless like a soldier before his superior;
but when he moved, his step showed a firmness, a freedom
of movement, which proved the confidence and vivacity of
his mind.

Michael Strogoff wore a handsome military uniform
something resembling that of a light-cavalry officer in the
field -- boots, spurs, half tightly-fitting trousers, brown
pelisse, trimmed with fur and ornamented with yellow braid.
On his breast glittered a cross and several medals.

Michael Strogoff belonged to the special corps of the
Czar's couriers, ranking as an officer among those picked
men. His most discernible characteristic -- particularly in
his walk, his face, in the whole man, and which the Czar
perceived at a glance -- was, that he was "a fulfiller of
orders." He therefore possessed one of the most service-
able qualities in Russia -- one which, as the celebrated novel-
ist Tourgueneff says, "will lead to the highest positions in
the Muscovite empire."

In short, if anyone could accomplish this journey from
Moscow to Irkutsk, across a rebellious country, surmount
obstacles, and brave perils of all sorts, Michael Strogoff was
the man.

A circumstance especially favorable to the success of
his plan was, that he was thoroughly acquainted with the
country which he was about to traverse, and understood its
different dialects -- not only from having traveled there be-
fore, but because he was of Siberian origin.

His father -- old Peter Strogoff, dead ten years since --
inhabited the town of Omsk, situated in the government
of the same name; and his mother, Marfa Strogoff, lived
there still. There, amid the wild steppes of the provinces
of Omsk and Tobolsk, had the famous huntsman brought
up his son Michael to endure hardship. Peter Strogoff was
a huntsman by profession. Summer and winter -- in the
burning heat, as well as when the cold was sometimes fifty
degrees below zero -- he scoured the frozen plains, the
thickets of birch and larch, the pine forests; setting traps;
watching for small game with his gun, and for large game
with the spear or knife. The large game was nothing less
than the Siberian bear, a formidable and ferocious animal,
in size equaling its fellow of the frozen seas. Peter
Strogoff had killed more than thirty-nine bears -- that is
to say, the fortieth had fallen under his blows; and, accord-
ing to Russian legends, most huntsmen who have been lucky
enough up to the thirty-ninth bear, have succumbed to the
fortieth.

Peter Strogoff had, however, passed the fatal number
without even a scratch. From that time, his son Michael,
aged eleven years, never failed to accompany him to the
hunt, carrying the ragatina or spear to aid his father, who
was armed only with the knife. When he was fourteen,
Michael Strogoff had killed his first bear, quite alone -- that
was nothing; but after stripping it he dragged the gigantic
animal's skin to his father's house, many versts distant, ex-
hibiting remarkable strength in a boy so young.

This style of life was of great benefit to him, and when
he arrived at manhood he could bear any amount of cold,
heat, hunger, thirst, or fatigue. Like the Yakout of the
northern countries, he was made of iron. He could go
four-and-twenty hours without eating, ten nights without
sleeping, and could make himself a shelter in the open
steppe where others would have been frozen to death.
Gifted with marvelous acuteness, guided by the instinct
of the Delaware of North America, over the white plain,
when every object is hidden in mist, or even in higher
latitudes, where the polar night is prolonged for many
days, he could find his way when others would have had
no idea whither to turn. All his father's secrets were
known to him. He had learnt to read almost imperceptible
signs -- the forms of icicles, the appearance of the small
branches of trees, mists rising far away in the horizon,
vague sounds in the air, distant reports, the flight of birds
through the foggy atmosphere, a thousand circumstances
which are so many words to those who can decipher them.
Moreover, tempered by snow like a Damascus blade in the
waters of Syria, he had a frame of iron, as General Kissoff
had said, and, what was no less true, a heart of gold.

The only sentiment of love felt by Michael Strogoff was
that which he entertained for his mother, the aged Marfa,
who could never be induced to leave the house of the
Strogoffs, at Omsk, on the banks of the Irtish, where the
old huntsman and she had lived so long together. When
her son left her, he went away with a full heart, but promis-
ing to come and see her whenever he could possibly do so;
and this promise he had always religiously kept.

When Michael was twenty, it was decided that he should
enter the personal service of the Emperor of Russia, in the
corps of the couriers of the Czar. The hardy, intelligent,
zealous, well-conducted young Siberian first distinguished
himself especially, in a journey to the Caucasus, through
the midst of a difficult country, ravaged by some restless
successors of Schamyl; then later, in an important mission
to Petropolowski, in Kamtschatka, the extreme limit of
Asiatic Russia. During these long journeys he displayed
such marvelous coolness, prudence, and courage, as to gain
him the approbation and protection of his chiefs, who
rapidly advanced him in his profession.

The furloughs which were his due after these distant
missions, he never failed to devote to his old mother. Hav-
ing been much employed in the south of the empire, he had
not seen old Marfa for three years -- three ages! -- the first
time in his life he had been so long absent from her. Now,
however, in a few days he would obtain his furlough, and he
had accordingly already made preparations for departure
for Omsk, when the events which have been related occurred.
Michael Strogoff was therefore introduced into the Czar's
presence in complete ignorance of what the emperor ex-
pected from him.

The Czar fixed a penetrating look upon him without
uttering a word, whilst Michael stood perfectly motionless.

The Czar, apparently satisfied with his scrutiny, motioned
to the chief of police to seat himself, and dictated in a low
voice a letter of not more than a few lines.

The letter penned, the Czar re-read it attentively, then
signed it, preceding his name with the words "Byt po
semou," which, signifying "So be it," constitutes the deci-
sive formula of the Russian emperors.

The letter was then placed in an envelope, which was
sealed with the imperial arms.

The Czar, rising, told Michael Strogoff to draw near.

Michael advanced a few steps, and then stood motionless,
ready to answer.

The Czar again looked him full in the face and their
eyes met. Then in an abrupt tone, "Thy name?" he asked.

"Michael Strogoff, sire."

"Thy rank?"

"Captain in the corps of couriers of the Czar."

"Thou dost know Siberia?"

"I am a Siberian."

"A native of?"

"Omsk, sire."

"Hast thou relations there?"

"Yes sire."

"What relations?"

"My old mother."

The Czar suspended his questions for a moment. Then,
pointing to the letter which he held in his hand, "Here is a
letter which I charge thee, Michael Strogoff, to deliver into
the hands of the Grand Duke, and to no other but him."

"I will deliver it, sire."

"The Grand Duke is at Irkutsk."

"I will go to Irkutsk."

"Thou wilt have to traverse a rebellious country, invaded
by Tartars, whose interest it will be to intercept this letter."

"I will traverse it."

"Above all, beware of the traitor, Ivan Ogareff, who
will perhaps meet thee on the way."

"I will beware of him."

"Wilt thou pass through Omsk?"

"Sire, that is my route."

"If thou dost see thy mother, there will be the risk of
being recognized. Thou must not see her!"

Michael Strogoff hesitated a moment.

"I will not see her," said he.

"Swear to me that nothing will make thee acknowledge
who thou art, nor whither thou art going."

"I swear it."

"Michael Strogoff," continued the Czar, giving the letter
to the young courier, "take this letter; on it depends the
safety of all Siberia, and perhaps the life of my brother the
Grand Duke."

"This letter shall be delivered to his Highness the Grand
Duke."

"Then thou wilt pass whatever happens?"

"I shall pass, or they shall kill me."

"I want thee to live."

"I shall live, and I shall pass," answered Michael
Strogoff.

The Czar appeared satisfied with Strogoff's calm and
simple answer.

"Go then, Michael Strogoff," said he, "go for God, for
Russia, for my brother, and for myself!"

The courier, having saluted his sovereign, immediately
left the imperial cabinet, and, in a few minutes, the New
Palace.

"You made a good choice there, General," said the Czar.

"I think so, sire," replied General Kissoff; "and your
majesty may be sure that Michael Strogoff will do all that
a man can do."

"He is indeed a man," said the Czar.


CHAPTER IV
FROM MOSCOW TO NIJNI-NOVGOROD

THE distance between Moscow and Irkutsk, about to be
traversed by Michael Strogoff, was three thousand four
hundred miles. Before the telegraph wire extended from
the Ural Mountains to the eastern frontier of Siberia, the
dispatch service was performed by couriers, those who trav-
eled the most rapidly taking eighteen days to get from
Moscow to Irkutsk. But this was the exception, and the
journey through Asiatic Russia usually occupied from four
to five weeks, even though every available means of trans-
port was placed at the disposal of the Czar's messengers.

Michael Strogoff was a man who feared neither frost nor
snow. He would have preferred traveling during the severe
winter season, in order that he might perform the whole
distance by sleighs. At that period of the year the diffi-
culties which all other means of locomotion present are
greatly diminished, the wide steppes being leveled by snow,
while there are no rivers to cross, but simply sheets of glass,
over which the sleigh glides rapidly and easily.

Perhaps certain natural phenomena are most to be feared
at that time, such as long-continuing and dense fogs, exces-
sive cold, fearfully heavy snow-storms, which sometimes
envelop whole caravans and cause their destruction. Hungry
wolves also roam over the plain in thousands. But it would
have been better for Michael Strogoff to face these risks;
for during the winter the Tartar invaders would have been
stationed in the towns, any movement of their troops would
have been impracticable, and he could consequently have
more easily performed his journey. But it was not in his
power to choose either weather or time. Whatever the cir-
cumstances, he must accept them and set out.

Such were the difficulties which Michael Strogoff boldly
confronted and prepared to encounter.

In the first place, he must not travel as a courier of the
Czar usually would. No one must even suspect what he
really was. Spies swarm in a rebellious country; let him
be recognized, and his mission would be in danger. Also,
while supplying him with a large sum of money, which was
sufficient for his journey, and would facilitate it in some
measure, General Kissoff had not given him any document
notifying that he was on the Emperor's service, which is the
Sesame par excellence. He contented himself with furnish-
ing him with a "podorojna."

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