At this spot the Angara narrowed, it being half its usual breadth.
This was the cause of the accumulation of ice, which became gradually
soldered together, under the double influence of the increased pressure
and of the cold. Five hundred feet beyond, the river widened again,
and the blocks, gradually detaching themselves from the floe,
continued to drift towards Irkutsk. It was probable that had
the banks not narrowed, the barrier would not have formed.
But the misfortune was irreparable, and the fugitives must give up
all hope of attaining their object.
Had they possessed the tools usually employed by whalers to cut
channels through the ice-fields--had they been able to get
through to where the river widened--they might have been saved.
But they had nothing which could make the least incision
in the ice, hard as granite in the excessive frost.
What were they to do?
At that moment several shots on the right bank startled
the unhappy fugitives. A shower of balls fell on the raft.
The devoted passengers had been seen. Immediately afterwards
shots were heard fired from the left bank. The fugitives,
taken between two fires, became the mark of the Tartar sharpshooters.
Several were wounded, although in the darkness it was only
by chance that they were hit.
"Come, Nadia," whispered Michael in the girl's ear.
Without making a single remark, "ready for anything,"
Nadia took Michael's hand.
"We must cross the barrier," he said in a low tone.
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