Below him flowed the roaring waters of the Angara. Ogareff took
a match from his pocket, struck it and lighted a small bunch of tow,
impregnated with priming powder, which he threw into the river.
It was by the orders of Ivan Ogareff that the torrents of mineral oil
had been thrown on the surface of the Angara! There are numerous
naphtha springs above Irkutsk, on the right bank, between the suburb
of Poshkavsk and the town. Ogareff had resolved to employ this terrible
means to carry fire into Irkutsk. He therefore took possession
of the immense reservoirs which contained the combustible liquid.
It was only necessary to demolish a piece of wall in order to allow
it to flow out in a vast stream.
This had been done that night, a few hours previously, and this
was the reason that the raft which carried the true Courier of
the Czar, Nadia, and the fugitives, floated on a current of mineral oil.
Through the breaches in these reservoirs of enormous dimensions rushed
the naphtha in torrents, and, following the inclination of the ground,
it spread over the surface of the river, where its density allowed
it to float. This was the way Ivan Ogareff carried on warfare!
Allied with Tartars, he acted like a Tartar, and against
his own countrymen!
The tow had been thrown on the waters of the Angara. In an instant,
with electrical rapidity, as if the current had been of alcohol,
the whole river was in a blaze above and below the town.
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