ce; but he was now well
contented with it, though he would have preferred rather more room on
each side.

"I suppose I ought to feel very miserable," he said to himself. "I can't
make out why I don't. Here am I shut up with about a hundred as
villainous-looking fellows as one could want to see--something like half
of them murderers, all desperate criminals. I ought to be down in the
dumps. It seems unnatural that I shouldn't be. I suppose I have a sort
of Mark Tapley disposition, and get jolly under difficulties. Of course
I should feel it more if I hadn't made up my mind to escape somehow. The
colonel seems a good sort of fellow, and even the prisoners speak well
of him. Then it is a comfort to hear that all that talk about the
quicksilver mines was a lie, and the work is going to be no worse than a
gold-digger would have in California or a navvy at home. There is no
great hardship about that, at any rate for a time. If it was not for the
thought of how horribly anxious they must be at home about me, I should
not mind. It will be something to talk about all one's life. The first
thing for me to do is to learn from the others as much as possible about
the country. I have learned a lot about the geography of Siberia from
Alexis, and have got a good idea about all the rivers. I dare say I
shall learn a good deal more from some of these men. Another thing is to
pick up as much of their language as I can from these Tartar fellows.
They seem to be scattered pretty well all over the country. At least I
have seen some of them all the way I have gone. I know there are other
tribes. Those fishing chaps they call Ostjaks are the ones I should have
most to do with. I expect one could get on with them if one happened to
get them in the right vein. I suppose they speak some sort of dialect
like that of these Tartars. At any rate I should think it would be sure
to be near enough for the natives to understand each other. I believe
Russian helps with all these languages, for the Russians are themselves
only civilized Tartars. At any rate one of the first things to be done
is to learn to speak the language, and I should be able to learn a lot
about the country from them too. I have got eight or nine months before
one can think of making a start, for of course it must be done in the
spring. It is the end of September now, though I have lost all account
of the days of the month."

So he lay thinking for a long time, always confidently an