He did not show himself. This was fortunate, no doubt. A sign,
a word from him might have been the signal for some bloody execution.
But he intrenched himself in that isolation which constitutes
in part the majesty of Eastern kings. He who does not show himself
is admired, and, above all, feared.
As to the prisoners, they were to be penned up in some enclosure,
where, ill-treated, poorly fed, and exposed to all the inclemencies
of the weather, they would await Feofar's pleasure.
The most docile and patient of them all was undoubtedly
Michael Strogoff. He allowed himself to be led, for they were
leading him where he wished to go, and under conditions of safety
which free he could not have found on the road from Kolyvan
to Tomsk. To escape before reaching that town was to risk
again falling into the hands of the scouts, who were scouring
the steppe. The most eastern line occupied by the Tartar
columns was not situated beyond the eighty-fifth meridian,
which passes through Tomsk. This meridian once passed,
Michael considered that he should be beyond the hostile zones,
that he could traverse Genisci without danger, and gain
Krasnoiarsk before Feofar-Khan had invaded the province.
"Once at Tomsk," he repeated to himself, to repress some feelings
of impatience which he could not entirely master, "in a few minutes
I should be beyond the outposts; and twelve hours gained on Feofar,
twelve hours on Ogareff, that surely would be enough to give me
a start of them to Irkutsk.
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