the neighborhood, or to the mines underground.
An hour passed in cruel suspense while this was debated. At length one
of the council announced to him that he was to be sent to the
distillery of Ekaterinski, three hundred miles to the north of Omsk.
The clerks around congratulated him on his destination, and his
departure was immediate.

On a wintry morning he reached a vast plain near the river Irtish, on
which a village of about two hundred wooden huts was built around a
factory. When introduced into the clerks' office, a young man who was
writing jumped up and threw himself into his arms: he also was a Pole
from Cracow, a well-known poet, and sent away for life as "a measure
of precaution." Soon they were joined by another political criminal:
these spoke rapidly and with extreme emotion, entreating their new
friend to bear everything in the most submissive and patient manner,
as the only means of escaping from menial employment, and being
promoted to the clerks' office. Not long was he permitted to rest. A
convict came and ordered him to take a broom and sweep away a mass of
dirt that some masons had left; a murderer was his companion; and thus
he went on until nightfall, when his two friends were permitted to
visit him, in the presence of the soldiers and convicts, most of the
latter of whom had been guilty of frightful crimes.

Thus day after day passed on, in sweeping, carrying wood and water,
amid snow and frost. His good conduct brought him, in a year and a
half, to the office, where he received ten francs a month and his
rations, and the work was light. During this time he saw and conversed
with many farmers and travelers from a distance, and gained every
information about the roads, rivers, etc., with a view to the escape
he was ever meditating. Some of the natives unite with the soldiers in
exercising an incessant supervision over the convicts, and a common
saying among the Tartars is: "In killing a squirrel you get but one
skin, whilst a convict has three--his coat, his shirt, and his skin."

Slowly and painfully he collected the materials for his journey. First
of all, a passport was an essential. A convict who had been sentenced
for making false money, still possessed an excellent stamp of the
royal arms; this Piotrowski bought for a few francs. The sheet of
paper was easily obtained in the office, and the passport forged.
After long waiting, he procured a Siberian wig--that is, a sheepskin
with the wool