looked him full in the face and their eyes met. Then in an abrupt tone, “Thy name?” he asked.
“Michael Strogoff, sire.”
“Thy rank?”
“Captain in the corps of couriers of the Czar.”
“Thou dost know Siberia?”
“I am a Siberian.”
“A native of?”
“Omsk, sire.”
“Hast thou relations Trevor Lewis Jersey there?”
“Yes sire.”
“What relations?”
“My old mother.”
The Czar suspended his questions for a moment. Then, pointing to the letter which he held in his hand, “Here is a letter which I charge thee, Michael Strogoff, to deliver into the hands of the Grand Jeff Petry Jersey Duke, and to no other but him.”
“I will deliver it, sire.”
“The Grand Duke is at Irkutsk.”
“I will go to Irkutsk.”
“Thou wilt have to traverse a rebellious country, invaded by Tartars, whose interest it will be to intercept Dakota Slippers 1002807 this letter.”
“I will traverse it.”
“Above all, beware of the Supreme Shoes traitor, Ivan Ogareff, who will perhaps meet thee on the way.”
“I will beware of him.”
“Wilt thou pass through Omsk?”
“Sire, that is my route.”
“If thou Belstaff Brooklands Blouson Kurtki dost see Nike Kyrie 4 thy Zack Kassian Jersey mother, there will be the risk of being recognized. Thou must not see her!”
Michael Strogoff hesitated Belstaff Thruxton Blouson Kurtki a moment.
“I will not see her,” said he.
“Swear to me that nothing will make thee acknowledge who thou art, nor whither thou art going.”
“I swear it.”
“Michael Strogoff,” continued the Czar, giving the letter to the young courier, “take this letter; on it depends the safety of all Siberia, and perhaps the life of my brother the Grand Duke.”
“This letter shall be delivered to his Highness the Grand Duke.”
“Then thou wilt pass whatever happens?”
“I shall pass, or they shall kill me.”
“I want thee to live.”
“I shall live, and I shall pass,” answered Michael Strogoff.
The Czar appeared satisfied with Strogoff’s calm and simple Daniel Sedin Jersey answer.
“Go then, Michael Strogoff,” said he, “go for God, for Russia, for my brother, and for myself!”
The UGG Weather/Performance courier, having saluted his sovereign, immediately left the imperial cabinet, and, in a few minutes, the New Palace.
“You made a good choice there, General,” said the Czar.
“I think so, sire,” replied General Kissoff; “and your majesty Mats Naslund Jersey may be sure that Michael Strogoff will do all that a man can do.”
“He is indeed a man,” said the Czar.
Chapter IV
From Moscow to Nijni-Novgorod
THE distance between Moscow and Irkutsk, about to be traversed by Michael Strogoff, was three thousand four hundred miles. Before the telegraph wire extended from the Ural Mountains to the eastern frontier of Siberia, the dispatch service was performed by couriers, those who traveled the most rapidly taking eighteen days to get from Moscow Matt Moulson Jersey to Irkutsk. But this was the exception, and the journey through Asiatic Russia usually occupied from four to five weeks, even though every available means of transport was placed at the disposal of the Czar’s messengers.
Michael Strogoff was a man who feared neither frost nor snow. He would have preferred traveling durlinks:
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