A few instants later, she and he, hand in hand, had descended
the steep slope, when, after having followed the high banks
of the Tom to the furthest extremity of the town, they happily
found a breach in the inclosure.
The road to Irkutsk was the only one which penetrated towards the east.
It could not be mistaken. It was possible that on the morrow,
after some hours of carousal, the scouts of the Emir, once more
scattering over the steppes, might cut off all communication.
It was of the greatest importance therefore to get in advance of them.
How could Nadia bear the fatigues of that night, from the l6th
to the 17th of August? How could she have found strength for so long
a stage? How could her feet, bleeding under that forced march,
have carried her thither? It is almost incomprehensible.
But it is none the less true that on the next morning, twelve hours
after their departure from Tomsk, Michael and she reached the town
of Semilowskoe, after a journey of thirty-five miles.
Michael had not uttered a single word. It was not Nadia who held
his hand, it was he who held that of his companion during the whole
of that night; but, thanks to that trembling little hand which guided him,
he had walked at his ordinary pace.
Semilowskoe was almost entirely abandoned. The inhabitants had fled.
Not more than two or three houses were still occupied.
All that the town contained, useful or precious, had been carried off
in wagons.
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