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Jules Verne
Michael Strogoff; Or, The Courier of the Czar
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664144805
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I A FETE AT THE NEW PALACE
CHAPTER II RUSSIANS AND TARTARS
CHAPTER III MICHAEL STROGOFF MEETS THE CZAR
CHAPTER IV FROM MOSCOW TO NIJNI-NOVGOROD
CHAPTER V THE TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS
CHAPTER VII GOING DOWN THE VOLGA
CHAPTER VIII GOING UP THE KAMA
CHAPTER IX DAY AND NIGHT IN A TARANTASS
CHAPTER X A STORM IN THE URAL MOUNTAINS
CHAPTER XI TRAVELERS IN DISTRESS
CHAPTER XIII DUTY BEFORE EVERYTHING
CHAPTER XV THE MARSHES OF THE BARABA
CHAPTER II CORRESPONDENTS IN TROUBLE
CHAPTER IV THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
CHAPTER V “LOOK WHILE YOU MAY!”
CHAPTER VI A FRIEND ON THE HIGHWAY
HALF an hour afterwards, Michael and Nadia had left Tomsk.
CHAPTER VII THE PASSAGE OF THE YENISEI
CHAPTER VIII A HARE CROSSES THE ROAD
CHAPTER XIII THE CZAR’S COURIER
CHAPTER XIV THE NIGHT OF THE FIFTH OF OCTOBER
BOOK I
CHAPTER I A FETE AT THE NEW PALACE
“SIRE, a fresh dispatch.”
“Whence?”
“From Tomsk?”
“Is the wire cut beyond that city?”
“Yes, sire, since yesterday.”
“Telegraph hourly to Tomsk, General, and keep me informed of all that occurs.”
“Sire, it shall be done,” answered General Kissoff.
These words were exchanged about two hours after midnight, at the moment when the fete given at the New Palace was at the height of its splendor.
During the whole evening the bands of the Preobra-jensky and Paulowsky regiments had played without cessation polkas, mazurkas, schottisches, and waltzes from among the choicest of their repertoires. Innumerable couples of dancers whirled through the magnificent saloons of the palace, which stood at a few paces only from the “old house of stones”—in former days the scene of so many terrible dramas, the echoes of whose walls were this night awakened by the gay strains of the musicians.
The grand-chamberlain of the court, was, besides, well seconded in his arduous and delicate duties. The grand-dukes and their aides-de-camp, the chamberlains-in-waiting and other officers of the palace, presided personally in the arrangement of the dances. The grand duchesses, covered with diamonds, the ladies-in-waiting in their most exquisite costumes, set the example to the wives of the military and civil dignitaries of the ancient “city of white stone.” When, therefore, the signal for the “polonaise” resounded through the saloons, and the guests of all ranks took part in that measured promenade, which on occasions of this kind has all the importance of a national dance, the mingled costumes, the sweeping