"By the highroad?"
"Yes, Nadia."
Michael was still the same man who had sworn, whatever happened,
to accomplish his object. To follow the highroad, was certainly to go
the shortest way. If the vanguard of Feofar-Khan's troops appeared,
it would then be time to strike across the country.
Nadia took Michael's hand, and they started.
The next morning, the 13th of September, twenty versts further,
they made a short halt in the village of Joulounov-skoe. It was
burnt and deserted. All night Nadia had tried to see if the body
of Nicholas had not been left on the road, but it was in vain
that she looked among the ruins, and searched among the dead.
Was he reserved for some cruel torture at Irkutsk?
Nadia, exhausted with hunger, was fortunate enough to find in one
of the houses a quantity of dried meat and "soukharis," pieces
of bread, which, dried by evaporation, preserve their nutritive
qualities for an indefinite time.
Michael and the girl loaded themselves with as much as they could carry.
They had thus a supply of food for several days, and as to water,
there would be no want of that in a district rendered fertile
by the numerous little affluents of the Angara.
They continued their journey. Michael walked with a firm step,
and only slackened his pace for his companion's sake.
Nadia, not wishing to retard him, obliged herself to walk.
Happily, he could not see to what a miserable state fatigue
had reduced her.
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