Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1902-03-15

energy had never abandoned him. All
ready he looked forward to the moment
when at Iastsit would be permitted him
to think of his mother, Of Nadia, Of
4 himself He only feared one last and
evil chance. 1t was lest the raft should
| be absolutely stopped by a barrier Of
/ thick ice before having reached r.
I kutsk. He did not think Of anything
but that, being, moreover, decided il IT
/ were necessary to attempt some SUI.
pTeIne act Of daring
i Nadia, refreshed by some hours OF re-
pose, had recovered that physical en-
4 ergy which misery had sometimes been
able to subdue without ever having
shaken her moral energy. She was
thinking also that in case Michael Str07EE
goff should make a new effort to attain
his end she must be there to guide him.
/ But at the time that she was approach
| ing Irkutsk the image Of her father was
pictured more wildly in her mind. She
saw him in the invested town, far from
those he cherished, but for she did
not doubt it struggling against the in,
vaders with all the dash Of his patriots
/ ism. Before many hours, if heaven.
should at length favor them, she would
be in his arms, reciting to him the last
words of her mother, and nothing
should again separate them.
The raft still moved on, unperceiyed,
amid the mass Of floating ice.
1 Up to this time no Tartar detachment
had been signaled on the high banks
/ of the Angara, and this indicated that
the raft had not as yet come on q line
with their outposts.
4 Meanwhile it was necessary to ma
neuyer with more care in the midst OF
the ice, which was fast closing.
Is The old mariner rose up, and the mu-
| jiks took up again their boathooks.
All had as much as they could do, and
the management of the raft became
more and more difficult, for the bed OF
TIE river was becoming obstructed.
Michael Strogoff had moved softly to
the fore part of the raft.
Alcide Jolivet had followed him.
Both listened to what the old sailor
| and his men were saying.
"Guard there on the right!'
"Look! The blocks Of ice are thick
ening on the left!' 81
.Keep it off! Keep it off with your
boathook!'
Before an hour we shall be stop
pedv'
sTf God wills itp' replied the old sail
or. Against his will nothing can be
done"
"You hear them? p said A1cide Jolivet.
eyes, replied Michael Strogoff, Ebut
God is with u.s."
Meantime the situation became more
and more serious. If the raft once
ceased to make Roadway, the fugitives
would not only never reach Irkutsk,
but they would be obliged to abandon
heir floating apparatus, which, crush
Id by the ice blocks, would not be long
in sinking under the waters. The will
low bindings were already breaking,
the fir trunks, violently separated, were
becoming entangled under the hard
crust, and soon the unfortunate people
! would have no other refuge than the
ice itself. Then, when daylight should
come, they would be perceived by the
Tartars and massacred without pity.
Michael Strogof returned to the back
part of the raft, where Nadia was wait
ing for him. He approached the young
girl. he took her hand and put to her
that invariable question. nadia, are,
you ready?' to which she answered as
usual:
81 am ready" !.
For some versts more the raft con-
tinued to make it's way through the
floating ice. If the Angara should be
choked up with ice, it would form
barrier, and Consequently it would be
impossible to follow the current, AL
ready the passage down the river was
slower At every instant there were
collisions, or time was lost by having
to make long turnings. Here they must
escape landing on the ice; there they
must take narrow pass between it,
In fine, many anxious drawbacks.
And now only few hours Of the
night remained. If the fugitives did
not reach Irkutsk before 5 o'clock in
the morning, they must give up all
hope of ever entering there:
At length, at half past 1, in spite Of
all their united efforts, the raft struck
against thick barrier and stopped al
together. The ice which was floating
down the river cast itself upon it and
forced it against the obstacle and held
it motionless as if it had been driven
upon reef.
Atthis place the Angara becomes mar
rowed to not more than half it's normal
hence the accumulation of ice
blocks, which were by little and littlee
piled one upon another under the action
Of the double pressure, which was con-
siderable, and of the cold, whose in
tensity was redoubling. At 500 PAGES
down the river again became wide, and
ice blocks, detaching themselves by lit
lie and little from the lower edge of that
field, continued to float down to Irkutsk;.
hence it is probable that without that
narrowing Of the banks the barrier would