Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-03-27
MICAAEL STROGOFF.
The Rem aG kabIR Adventure of a
Courier Of the UzRr.

Courier of the UzaT.
at the czar's brilliant fete at the
new palace of Moscow a shadow
sat upon the face of the imperial
host, who every now and then
withdrew to hold a hurried consul
tation with a trusted counselor.
Siberia had been invaded by the
Tartar hordes of Feofar Khan,
Emir of Bokhara, and the single
telegraphic wire which connected
Russia with her most distant Asiatic
provinces had been cut that night
in two places in western Siberia.
The czar had just received secret
information that Colonel Ivan
Ogaref, an able but unscrupulous
officer Of semi-Tartar origin, had
been the instigator of the war, and
was then on his way to the Asiatic
frontier to assume command of the
barbarian forces of Feofar Khan.
Ivan Ogareff cherished an undying
hate toward the czar's brother, who,
though unacquainted personally
with him, had once inflicted hu-
initiation upon him. This prince
would soon be at Irkutsk, the capi-
tai Of western Siberia, and it was
the traitor 0gareff's intention, re-
lying on the grand dukes igno-
rance of his appearance, to enter
that city during its approaching
siege and seek an opportunity to
betray the grand duke to his saw
age enemies.'
To warn the unconscious prince
of the treachery which threatened
him, a messenger must be found
who united extreme boldness to ex-
treme caution, and the utmost 10y
atty to the utmost physical endur-
ance. If anybody could elude
death, discovery or capture through
the 5000 yersts which divided Irk-
usk from Moscow it was Michael
Strogoff, the handsome captain of
the couriers of the car. So said
the czar, when he withdrew from
his guests and handed him an auto
graphic letter for the grand duke,
receiving his promise to deliver the
dispatch in the princes hand.
Possessed of II podoroiine, or i'm
perial permit, empowering Nicho-
las Korpanof, merchant, to engage
horses at all post stages on his
route, clad in disguise betting his
assumed character, and with ample
funds, Strogoff took the train to
Nini-Noygorod, which he reached
when the great annual fair had
drawn hither strangers from all
parts Of Europe and Asia. Just
after his arrival there the fair was
broken up by an imperial decree
(intended to prevent Ogareff from
crossing the Ural) lorbidding Euro
peans and commanding Asiatics to
to leave the province at once. Stro-
goff S podorojine ofcourse exempted
him from the operation of this
edict, and partly through pity,
partly as means of ayerting su:.
picion, he took with him an inter
esting girl whom he had met on
The cars, and who would otherwise
have been unable to continue her
journey to lrkotsk,Where she wished
10 join her father, a Russian exile.
A Siberian himself, and acquaint-
ed with most dialects of the steppes,
be had heard a tall gypsy at Nov
goroG making a mysterious remark,
and he alterwad noticed the came
gypsy disembarking with a troupe
ot Tsiganes from a steamer on the
Kama at a place whence lay u road
over the Urals slightly more cir
euitOus than the one he had select
cd for himself In passing over the
Urals during terrific storm, his
fair companion, Nadia, whom he
had cautioned to address him as
"brother," performed her first act
OF heroism by shQpting a bear into
whose cave they had been forced
to take shelter. Thence he went
on by relays of horses with tho
speed of a second Phineas Fogg, at
one place passively enduring a blow
from n hauphtv Russian offioer