"Forward, Nadia!" he said.
Michael could not follow the road, now occupied by the Tartars. He must
cross the steppe and turn to Irkutsk. He had not now to trouble himself
about crossing the Dinka. Nadia could not move, but she could see
for him. He took her in his arms and went on towards the southwest
of the province.
A hundred and forty miles still remained to be traversed.
How was the distance to be performed? Should they not succumb
to such fatigue? On what were they to live on the way?
By what superhuman energy were they to pass the slopes of
the Sayansk Mountains? Neither he nor Nadia could answer this!
And yet, twelve days after, on the 2d of October, at six o'clock
in the evening, a wide sheet of water lay at Michael Strogoff's feet.
It was Lake Baikal.
CHAPTER X BAIKAL AND ANGARA
LAKE BAIKAL is situated seventeen hundred feet above the level of
the sea. Its length is about six hundred miles, its breadth seventy.
Its depth is not known. Madame de Bourboulon states that,
according to the boatmen, it likes to be spoken of as "Madam Sea." If it
is called "Sir Lake," it immediately lashes itself into fury.
However, it is reported and believed by the Siberians that a Russian
is never drowned in it.
This immense basin of fresh water, fed by more than three
hundred rivers, is surrounded by magnificent volcanic mountains.
It has no other outlet than the Angara, which after passing
Irkutsk throws itself into the Yenisei, a little above the town
of Yeniseisk.
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