Once more on solid ground Michael stopped to consider what
he should do next. He wished to avoid Tomsk, now occupied
by the Tartar troops. Nevertheless, he must reach some town,
or at least a post-house, where he could procure a horse.
A horse once found, he would throw himself out of the beaten track,
and not again take to the Irkutsk road until in the neighborhood
of Krasnoiarsk. From that place, if he were quick, he hoped
to find the way still open, and he intended to go through
the Lake Baikal provinces in a southeasterly direction.
Michael began by going eastward. By following the course
of the Obi two versts further, he reached a picturesque little
town lying on a small hill. A few churches, with Byzantine
cupolas colored green and gold, stood up against the gray sky.
This is Kolyvan, where the officers and people employed at Kamsk
and other towns take refuge during the summer from the unhealthy
climate of the Baraba. According to the latest news obtained
by the Czar's courier, Kolyvan could not be yet in the hands
of the invaders. The Tartar troops, divided into two columns,
had marched to the left on Omsk, to the right on Tomsk,
neglecting the intermediate country.
Michael Strogoff's plan was simply this--to reach Kolyvan before
the arrival of the Usbeck horsemen, who would ascend the other bank
of the Obi to the ferry. There he would procure clothes and a horse,
and r‚sum‚ the road to Irkutsk across the southern steppe.
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