hearty farewell the train steamed out of the station amidst ringing
cheers, which plainly told me that Paris as well as London contained
true friends who would pray for our welfare in the frozen North and
welcome our safe return to "La Belle France."

Moscow was reached three days later, and here commenced the first of a
series of minor but harassing delays which relentlessly pursued me
throughout the Asiatic portion of the journey. While alighting from the
train I was suddenly seized with such severe internal pains, accompanied
by faintness and nausea, that on arrival at the Slaviansky Bazar (the
best Hotel, by the way, in the place), I was carried to bed. The attack
was inexplicable. Harding, ever a pessimist, suggested appendicitis, and
a physician was hastily summoned. The medicine-man gravely shook his
head: "You are very ill," he said, and I did not dispute the fact. "Can
it be appendicitis?" I asked anxiously. "Appendicitis," replied the
Doctor; "what is that? I never heard of the disease!"

Morning brought me some relief, and with a not unnatural distrust of
Russian medical methods, I resolved to return at once to Berlin and
consult Professor Bergmann. To abandon the journey was now out of the
question, but our medicine-chest was up-to-date and I could at any rate
ask the famous surgeon how to treat the dread disease should it declare
itself in the wilds of Siberia. The next morning saw me back in Berlin,
and by midday my mind was at rest. I was suffering from a simple rupture
of long standing, but hitherto quiescent, which only required rest and
proper treatment for at least a fortnight. "Then it must be in the
train," I said, explaining the situation and the priceless value of
time. So, after some discussion, I departed with the Professor's good
wishes, which, however, were conveyed with an ominous shake of the head.

Two days later I arrived in Moscow, only to be confronted by another
difficulty: our rifles, revolvers and ammunition had been seized at the
Russian frontier, and at least a fortnight must elapse before we could
obtain them. Moscow fortunately boasts of an excellent gun-maker, and I
was able to replace our armoury with English weapons, though, of course,
at a ruinous expense. But time was too precious to waste. We had now but
a little over four months in which to reach Bering Straits, for by the
middle of May the bays and estuaries of the Arctic begin to break up,
and open water might mean impr