tection, and soon managed to fall asleep. The sleigh poising on a
runner and out-rigger, caused the doctor to roll against me during the
first hour of my slumber, and made me dream that I was run over by a
locomotive. When I waked I found my breath had congealed and frozen
my beard to the blanket. It required careful manipulation to separate
the two without injury to either.

When we stopped to change horses after this experience, the stars were
sparkling with a brilliancy peculiar to the Northern sky. The clear
starlight, unaided by the moon, enabled us to see with great
distinctness. I could discover the outline of the forest away beyond
the village, and trace the road to the edge of a valley where it
disappeared. Every individual star appeared endeavoring to outshine
his rivals, and cast his rays to the greatest distance. Vesta, Sirius,
and many others burned with a brightness that recalled my first view
of the Drummond light, and seemed to dazzle my eyes when I fixed my
gaze upon them.

The road during the night was rough but respectable, and we managed to
enjoy a fair amount of slumber in our contracted _chambre a deux_.
Before daylight we reached a station where a traveling bishop had just
secured two sets of horses. Though outside the jurisdiction of General
Korsackoff, I exhibited my special passport knowing it could not, at
all events, do any harm. Out of courtesy the smotretal offered to
supply us as soon as the bishop departed. The reverend worthy was
dilatory in starting, and as we were likely to be delayed an hour or
two, we economized the time by taking tea. I found opportunity for a
short nap after our tea-drinking was over, and only awoke when the
smotretal announced, "_loshadi gotovey"_

In the forenoon we entered upon the steppe where trees were few and
greatly scattered. Frequently the vision over this Siberian prairie
was uninterrupted for several miles. There was a thin covering of snow
on the open ground, and the dead grass peered above the surface with a
suggestion of summer fertility.

Shortly after noon I looked through the eddies of snow that whirled in
the frosty air, and distinguished the outline of a church. Another and
another followed, and very soon the roofs and walls of the more
prominent buildings in Tomsk were visible. As we entered the eastern
gate of the city, and passed a capacious powder-magazine, our
yemshick tied up his bell-tongues in obedience to the municipal law.
Our arr