godfrey found it a difficult matter to decide what was best to be done; but after two hours' thinking his mind was quite made up. he did not stand in the same position as alexis with the buriats. it was alexis who had laid them under such an obligation by saving their child's life. he himself was simply liked as the doctor's companion, and without alexis the long months of winter would be dreary indeed. he thought that imprisonment would be preferable to living alone in a buriat hut. accordingly he rose at last, and told the buriat that his course was decided.
"i shall give myself up," he said. "i know that you would make me welcome in your tents; but from what you have told me, i see that there is no prospect whatever of an escape through china, and that if i go out to the plains i shall be there for life, while if i go to a prison i may in time be released, or at any rate i can again escape."
"whenever you come to us you will be welcome," the buriat said. "for yourself, you know best; but we shall be all sorry to lose you. is there anything i can do for you? i know the governor here, for i have had large dealings with him for sheep and cattle for the troops."
"i shall be very glad if you will go with me to him," godfrey said. "a word from you may be of great advantage to me. there are no prisons here, and i am most anxious to be sent to nertchinsk and not to irkutsk, because it was from there we escaped."
the buriat's wife and sister were sorry when they heard godfrey's determination, but they were too much occupied with alexis to try and dispute it.
[143]
"when will you go?" the buriat said.
"at once, if you will take me. i have no preparations to make; i only cause extra trouble here, and can be of no assistance. but first, if you will procure paper, pen, and ink, i will write a letter for you to give to alexis when he recovers, telling him why i leave him."
the buriat sent out one of his men, who presently returned with writing materials, and godfrey then wrote a long letter to alexis, explaining at length the reasons that actuated him in deciding to give himself up.
"you are in good hands," he said, "and i could do nothing for you; and in any case i should have to leave you now, for did i not give myself up i must leave this evening, therefore i could do no good to you in any case. i know that you were half inclined to stay with the buriats, and you will now have even greater reasons for doing so than before. if, however, you should at any future time change your mind and try to make your escape, i need not tell you how delighted i should be to see you in england. i inclose the address of my father's office, where you will be sure either to find me or to hear of me. but even if i have not got home you will receive the heartiest welcome when you tell him of our having been together and show him this letter, and you may rely upon it that my father will be able to procure a situation for you in london, even if he cannot find a berth for you in his own house of business."
when he had finished he handed the letter to the buriat to give to alexis.
"here is money," the buriat said, "which my wife found upon alexis. you had better take it with you."
"i cannot do that," godfrey said, "it is his; i have some of my own. i know he would gladly give it to me if he were conscious; but i cannot take it now."
"very well," the buriat said, "you are doubtless right; but at any rate you can take some from me. i am rich. i have many thousands of sheep and cattle. if you do not[144] take it i shall be offended, and shall think that in some way we have displeased you. a thousand roubles are nothing to me; i have given as much for one suit of furs for my wife. you must take this; if you ever attempt to escape again, you will need money."
after much debate godfrey accepted five hundred roubles in notes, seeing that the buriat would be really pained by his refusal, and knowing that the money would indeed be useful to him when he next tried to make his escape. being anxious to hear the surgeon's next report about alexis, godfrey delayed his start until after his visit.
"there is no change," the doctor said, after examining his patient, "nor did i expect there would be after such serious injuries as he has received. it would be strange, indeed, if he did not suffer from the shock. it may be some days before any change takes place. it is vastly better that he should be restless, or even wildly delirious, than lying unconscious as he was when i first saw him. well, and what are you going to do, young fellow?"
"i am going to give myself up," he said.
"you have had enough of the plains, eh?"
"yes, sir, for the present."
"mind, don't be foolish enough to say that you have escaped; there is not the least occasion for that; that would make the case a great deal worse."
"my friend here was going with me to the governor, doctor, to tell him that i have been living with him for some time."
"yes, that is all well enough; but if you give yourself up it is a confession that you have escaped; that won't do at all. i tell you what will be the best thing: i will go with you to colonel prescoff, the governor. i shall tell him the truth, that i was attending one of the buriat's men, who had been badly injured by a bear, when i saw you there. i found that you could not give a good account of yourself, and had no papers, and that, therefore, as was my duty, i[145] brought you to him. then you must say that you have been working here and there, and that you come from, say, tomsk. i suppose you have been there?"
godfrey smiled.
"that is near enough," the doctor went on. "as for your papers, you lost them, or they were burnt or stolen from you. he won't ask you many questions. then the buriat will speak up for you—he is rather an important man, being one of the richest of his tribe—and say what he can for you. is there anything you want done particularly?"
"i want to be sent to nertchinsk instead of to irkutsk. i would rather work in the mines or anywhere else than be shut up in prison."
"and besides, you would not be known?" the doctor laughed.
"that is the principal thing, sir."
"whatever you do, my lad," the doctor said, "if you have been a political prisoner—mind, i don't ask the question, and don't want to know—but if you have been, don't let it out. it is better to have been a murderer than a nihilist out here. i dare say the colonel would send you to nertchinsk if your friend here asks him, but it is a good deal further and a more expensive journey."
"i will gladly pay for the vehicle, sir."
"ah, well; if you will do that, i should think it could be managed. i will go in first with your friend and have a talk with the colonel, and we will see if we can put the matter straight for you before you are called in."
godfrey took his fur-lined coat, said good-bye to the two ladies, gently put his hand on his comrade's shoulder, and followed the doctor and his host. when they arrived at the governor's house the doctor left him in the room where two military clerks were writing, and went in with the buriat to the governor. in five minutes the bell rang. an orderly answered it, and returning, bade godfrey follow[146] him. the governor was seated at a table, the doctor and the buriat standing near.
"so i hear," the colonel said, looking sharply at godfrey, "that you are unable to give an account of yourself, and have nothing but a cock-and-bull story of having wandered about through the country. we understand what that means. however, our friend here," and he motioned to the buriat, "speaks well of you, and says that you have done him some service. however that cannot be taken into consideration. it is clear that having no papers and no domicile, you are a vagabond, and as such must be committed to prison. you will be taken to nertchinsk." godfrey bowed. the colonel touched the bell again, and the orderly entered. "take this man to the cells."
the buriat stepped forward and shook hands with godfrey. "come again," he said in a low voice, "you will always be welcome."
the doctor nodded. "i shall see you before you start," he said. godfrey saluted the colonel and followed the orderly out of the room. he was taken across a court-yard to a cell.
"a good style of young fellow," the colonel said when he left. "he has either been an officer and got into some scrape with his colonel, or he is a political."
"one or the other, colonel, no doubt," the doctor agreed.
"well, it is no business of mine," the colonel said. "i suppose he has had four or five months in the woods and wants to get into snug quarters again before winter. well, good morning, gentlemen!" and his visitors took their leave.
late in the evening the doctor came into godfrey's cell. "by the bye," he said, "i put your name down as ivan holstoff. it was as good as any other, and you had to be entered by some name. i feared that you might blurt out your own whatever it may be, and that might be fatal, for if you are a political prisoner your name will have been sent to every station where there are troops."
[147]
"i am very much obliged to you, doctor, for your kindness," godfrey said. "i will take care to remain ivan holstoff. how much am i to pay for the carriage?"
"your friend the buriat has seen to that, and handed the governor money for a vehicle there and back, as the soldier in charge of you will have to return."
"it is very good of him," godfrey said gratefully. "please tell him when you see him how much obliged i am to him for his kindness to me."
"i think my patient will do," the doctor said. "he is quieter and less feverish this evening. i think he will pull round; and now good bye! i think you have done right in giving yourself up. you are but a lad yet, and with good conduct, now that you are entered only as a vagabond, you will get leave to work outside the prison in two or three years, and get a permit to settle anywhere in siberia a couple of years later."
the next morning at daybreak godfrey was placed in a vehicle. a soldier mounted by the side of the driver, the latter shouted to his horses, and started at full gallop. soon after leaving the town they passed a caravan of forty carts carrying tea. the soldier, who appeared a chatty fellow, told him they would be three months on their way to moscow. at a town named verchne udinsk they regained the main road and turned east and continued their journey through chita, a town of three thousand inhabitants, to nertchinsk, a distance of six hundred miles. the country was hilly, and for the most part wooded, but varied at times by rolling prairies on which large herds of cattle were grazing. the journey was far more pleasant than that godfrey had before made, for being no longer regarded as a political prisoner his guard chatted with him freely; and at night, instead of having to sleep in the vehicle in the open air, he was lodged in the convict stations, which, as the season was late, were for the most part unoccupied. he was glad, however, when he arrived at nertchinsk, for the[148] jolting of the springless vehicle was very trying. he did not see the governor of the prison, but was at once assigned to a cell there on the guard handing to the authorities the official report of the governor at kiakhta.
"you are to go on again to-morrow," the warder said to him that evening. "we are full here, and there is a party going on to kara. you will go with them. the barber will be here to shave you directly. you have not been out very long, judging by the length of your hair. here is your prison dress. you must put that on to-morrow instead of the one you have on, but you may carry yours with you if you like, it will be useful to you when your term in the prison is done."
accordingly the next morning godfrey was taken into the court-yard, where some fifty other prisoners were assembled, and ten minutes later marched off under a guard of eight mounted cossacks. he carried his peasant's clothes and fur coat rolled up into a bundle on his shoulder, and had, after he changed his dress, sewn up his money in the collar of his jacket with a needle and thread he had brought with him, keeping out some twenty roubles for present purposes. the journey occupied five days, the marches averaging twenty-five miles apiece. the prisoners talked and sung by the way, picked the blackberries and raspberries that grew thickly on the bushes by the wayside, and at night slept in the stations, their food consisting of very fair broth, with cabbage in it, meat, and black bread. godfrey was asked no questions. he did not know whether this was because the convicts thought only of themselves, and had no curiosity about their companions, or whether it was a sort of etiquette observed among them. godfrey was surprised to find how much the country differed from the ideas he had formed of siberia.
the forests were beautiful with a great variety of foliage. late lilies bloomed by the roadside with flowers of other kinds, of whose names he was ignorant. to the north was[149] a chain of hills of considerable height. the forest was alive with birds, and he frequently caught sight of squirrels running about among the branches. no objection was offered by the guards to their making purchases at the villages through which they passed, except that they would not allow them to buy spirits. at the first opportunity godfrey laid out four or five roubles in tea and tobacco, some of which he presented to the guards, and divided the rest among his fellow-prisoners, who forthwith dubbed him "the count." at length kara was reached. it was not a town, but purely a convict settlement, the prisoners being divided among four or five prisons situated two or three miles from each other. they were first marched to the most central of these. here they were inspected by the governor, who had the details of each case reported by the authorities of the prisons they had left. they were at once divided into parties in accordance with the vacancies in the various prisons.
only four were left behind. these were taken to a guardroom until allotted to the various wards. one by one they were taken out, godfrey being the last to be summoned. he was conducted to a room in which several convicts were seated writing; through this a long passage led to the governor's room.
"you are known as ivan holstoff," the governor said when the warder had retired.
"yes, sir."
"age?"
"seventeen."
"charged with being a vagabond, found without papers or documents, and unable to give a satisfactory account of yourself."
godfrey bowed. the colonel glanced through the paper by his side signed by the governor at kiakhta, and saying that the prisoner had been most favourably reported upon by a wealthy buriat, a government contractor with whom he had been living out on the plains.
[150]
"you persist in giving no further account of yourself?" the governor asked.
"i would rather say nothing further, sir," godfrey replied.
"you are not a russian," the governor said sharply.
"i am a russian born," the lad replied.
"you speak with a slight accent."
"i was away for some years from my country," godfrey replied.
"i suppose you would call yourself a student?"
"yes, sir, i was a student until lately."
"you are a young lad to have got yourself into trouble. how was it? do not tell me what crime you are charged with, but you can tell me anything else. it will go no farther, and there will be no record of what you say."
godfrey liked the officer's face. it was stern, but sternness is a necessity when a man is in charge of some three thousand prisoners, the greater proportion of whom are desperate men; but there was a kindness in the half-smile with which he spoke.
"i am here, sir, from pure misfortune. i have no doubt most people you question declare they are innocent, and i do not expect you to believe me. the facts against me were very strong, so strong that i believe any jury would have convicted me upon them, but in spite of that i was innocent. i behaved like a fool, and was made the dupe of others, but beyond that i have nothing whatever to blame myself for or to regret."
"it may be as you say," colonel konovovitch said. "i am not here to revise sentences, but to see them carried out. conduct yourself well, lad, and in two years you will get a permit to reside outside the prison. three years later you will be practically free, and can go where you like in siberia and earn your living in any way you choose. many of the richest men in the country have been convicts. i shall keep an eye on you, and shall make matters as easy for you as i can."
[151]
he touched the bell, and the warder re-entered and led godfrey away. the colonel sat for some little time in thought. he liked the lad's face and his manner, which, although perfectly respectful, had none of the servility with which russians generally address their superiors. "he did not say that he was a russian," he said to himself, "only that he was born in russia. i should say from his appearance and manner that he was english. what was he sent out here for, i wonder? he may have been a clerk and been condemned for forgery or embezzlement. he may have been a political prisoner, most likely that i should say. he may have got mixed up in some of these nihilist plots; if so, he has done well to become a vagabond. i can't help thinking he was speaking the truth when he declared he was innocent. well, perhaps in the long run it will be the best for him. a clerk's lot is not a very bright one, and i should say he is likely to make his way anywhere. he has a hard two years' time before him among those scoundrels, but i should think he is likely to hold his own."
then he dismissed the subject from his thoughts and turned to a pile of papers before him.
godfrey, on leaving the presence of the governor, was taken by the warder to one of the prison blocks, and was handed over to the prison official in charge of it. he was taken to a small room and there furnished with a bag in which to keep his underclothing and other effects.
"you will use this bag for a pillow at night," the official said. "what money you have you can either give to me to take charge of for you, or can hand it over to the head man of the room to lay out for you as you require it, or you can keep it yourself. if you choose to hold it yourself you had better keep a very sharp look-out; not that there are any professional thieves here, it is only for very serious offences that men are sent east of irkutsk."
godfrey thanked the official, but said that what little he had he might as well keep with him. his money in paper[152] was safely hidden in the lining of his convict jacket, and as he knew that that would be worn by night as well as by day, it was perfectly safe there. he was provided with some flannel shirts and other underclothing.
"i see you have underclothing of your own," the official said; "but of course you have the regular allowance given you; if you run short of money you can sell them. now come along with me."
godfrey was led into a large room, where the scene somewhat widely differed from what he had pictured to himself would be the interior of a prison at the dreaded mines of kara. the room was large and fairly lofty; the walls were clean and whitewashed; down both sides ran benches, six feet wide, similar to one he had seen in an english guard-house. there were some sixty men in the room; some of these were lying upon the bed-places smoking pipes, others were sitting on them talking together or mending their clothes, and several parties were engaged in card-playing. save for the ugly gray uniforms with the coloured patches in the centre of the back, significant of the term of imprisonment to which their wearers had been sentenced, and the strangely shaved heads of those present, he might have been in a singularly free-and-easy barrack-room. most of the men looked up as the official entered.
"a new comrade," he said. "mikail stomoff, do you take him in your charge;" and having said this he at once left the room.
mikail stomoff, a big powerful man, came across to godfrey. he was the starosta or head man of the ward, elected to the position by the votes of his fellow-prisoners. it was his duty to keep order and prevent quarrelling, and to see that the ward was swept out and kept tidy. he transacted all business for the prisoners, made their purchases outside, and was generally the intermediary between them and the authorities. in return for all this he was free from labour at the mines.
[153]
"well, my lad," he said, "you began early. how long are you in for, and what have you done?"
"i am in here for being a vagabond," godfrey said, "and i believe the punishment for that is five years."
"a vagabond, eh? we have not many of them here. the wanderers generally work their way west. however, i daresay you had your reasons, and i don't know that you are not right, for most of us prefer hard work here to the dulness of the prisons in the west. now, lad," he went on, dropping his voice, "if you have got any money do not say a word about it. you will be robbed to a certainty if you keep it yourself. the best thing you can do is to hand it over to me, and i will take care of it for you." godfrey nodded, and putting his hand in his pocket pulled out the ten-rouble note he had set aside, and two or three smaller notes, and slipped them into the man's hand.
"you can have it out as you want it," the man said; "and anything you want outside i can get for you out of it. the only thing prohibited is vodka."
some of the other men came round, and godfrey thought he had never seen more villainous faces. some of them were heavy, stolid, and stupid; others were fierce and passionate.
"he is a vagabond," mikail said to them. "i don't know what he has been before that, and if he is wise," and he gave a significant glance at godfrey, "he will keep that to himself."
"i should say he had been a political," one of the men said in a tone of contempt, for there was a certain jealousy of the politicals among the convict class; because, although their lot was really much harder than that of ordinary convicts, they were allowed to retain their own clothes, were lodged separately, and were almost all men of education, and in many cases of noble family. the feeling was evidenced by the indifference with which the rest of the men strolled away again when they heard the suggestion.
[154]
"how do they all get tobacco?" godfrey asked the starosta. "is it part of the rations? surely the money they may have when they come in here must soon be spent."
"we may buy the tobacco," mikail said. "every man has something for his work. they pretend it is half the value of the work we do, but of course we know better than that. still we all get something each day, and can spend it as we like. i don't think they allow smoking in the western prisons, but they do in all those east of irkutsk. the authorities encourage it, indeed, for it is considered healthy and keeps away fever. there are no fevers in summer, but in winter, from so many men being shut up together, the air gets bad and sometimes we have outbreaks of fever."
"but where do you buy your tobacco?"
"people come to the prison gates and sell it as we come back from work. you can buy anything except vodka, and you can buy that, though not openly; it gets smuggled in."
"how many hours do you work a day?"
"thirteen; but of course it is only for five months in the year. in winter the ground is too hard."
"too hard!" godfrey repeated. "why, it never gets cold in mines."
"you don't think you are going to work underground, do you?" the man said; "there are very few underground mines here. it is all on the surface. there are some underground, because i have worked in them. i would rather work there than here. they can't look after you so sharp, and you can take it as easily as you like."
godfrey looked astonished. his ideas of the siberian mines had been taken from stories written by men who had never been within thousands of miles of them, and who drew terrible pictures of the sufferings of exiles simply for the purpose of exciting feeling throughout europe against the russian government.
"but it is very unhealthy in the mines underground, is it not?"
[155]
"no; why should it be? it is much cooler and pleasanter working underground than it is in the dust and heat, i can tell you."
"but i thought all quicksilver mines were unhealthy."
"quicksilver!" the man repeated; "there is not a quicksilver mine in all siberia. there is gold and silver, but i don't believe there is a place where quicksilver is found. anyhow there is not one that is worked. they have been gammoning you, young fellow."
"well, they have gammoned a good many other people too," godfrey said. "i know i have read frightful accounts of the sufferings of prisoners in quicksilver mines."
"who wrote them?" mikail asked. "there are a few convicts who may years afterwards be proved innocent, and allowed to return to russia, but they are not the sort that would write lies about this place, for if they did they would soon find themselves on the road again. there are not a dozen men who have ever made their escape. some of them may have invented lies for the sake of getting pity, and make themselves out to be hard used. have you ever read any books by them?"
"only one," godfrey said. "it was written by baron rosen; he was a political prisoner who was pardoned after being here a great many years. he described the life of political prisoners, of course, and even that was not very bad. many of them had their wives with them, and they seem to have lived together pretty comfortably."
"ah! well, i don't think a political prisoner who came here now would say as much. they are sent to lonely settlements, many of them up at yakutsk; though, of course, there are some down here. it is a horribly dull life. some of them do work in the mines, but they are better off than those who have no work to do at all. i would rather be in for murder a hundred times than be a political; and what name do you go by, young fellow?"
"i am entered as ivan holstoff."
[156]
"that will do well enough. don't you be fool enough to tell any one what your real name is. there are sneaks here as well as elsewhere who are glad enough to curry favour so as to get easy jobs, or to be let out sooner than they otherwise would be, by acting as spies; so you keep your real name to yourself. if it got to the ears of the governor he might find out what prison you escaped from and what you were in for, and if you were a political you would either be sent back there, or put with the politicals here, so keep it to yourself."
"shall i give you my watch?"
"yes, i think you had better. it would be of no good to anyone who took it as long as he was in here, but he would be able to sell it when he went to live outside. i will take care of it for you. i have got a safe where i keep the money and things locked.
"we have got to work, and pretty hard, but i tell you we are a good bit better off than they are in the prisons of russia. we have got plenty to eat, though i cannot say much for its niceness; anyhow we are a long way better fed than the soldiers who look after us; but here comes the food."
a warder brought in a huge tray upon which were placed bowls of a sort of soup, while two others brought baskets piled up with huge chunks of black bread. mikail took from a cupboard a spoon, and gave it to godfrey. "you keep this for yourself," he said; "we don't have knives and forks, and do not want them."
"is this a day's allowance of bread?" godfrey asked, as he took hold of one of the lumps.
"no. you get as much as that in the morning. our allowance is four pounds a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. the evening bread generally lasts for evening and morning soup, and we take the morning bread away with us to eat in the middle of the day."
godfrey sat down on the edge of the bed bench and ate[157] his supper. as he looked at the men more carefully he saw that there were greater differences between them than he had at first noticed. some of them he judged to have been gentlemen, and he afterwards found that there were three or four who had been officers in the army, but sentenced for grave military crimes. there were half a dozen in for forgery or embezzlement, and over thirty for murder. some among the prisoners were tartars. these were all in for murder or robbery with violence.
"where am i to sleep?" he presently asked mikail.
"i sleep in that corner next to the wall. put your bag next to mine. they are not so likely to play tricks with you then."
godfrey was not sorry to lay himself down on the boards. there was no attempt at undressing on the part of any of the convicts. he would have thought the bed a very hard one a few months since; 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[158] 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 and hopefully. soon after daylight the convicts were astir.
"is there any place where we can get water to wash?" he asked mikail.
"there is a tap and a trough out there in the yard," the man said, looking somewhat surprised at the request.
godfrey hurried out, threw off his jacket and shirt, turned the tap on to his head, and enjoyed a thorough sluice. feeling vastly better for the wash, he slipped on his things again and went into the room. he was not surprised now that he had woke with something like a headache, for the air of the room was close and unwholesome. breakfast[159] similar to the supper the night before was soon served. godfrey had plenty of bread left from the evening before, and put the piece now served out to him under his jacket. half an hour later the convicts, ranged two and two, started for the mines. the distance was five miles. the heavy tools were taken in carts drawn by horses, and a guard of soldiers with loaded muskets marched beside the line.
the mine was a large open cutting, and the prisoners were employed in digging the sand and carrying it on hand-barrows to the place where it was to be washed. the work was not entirely performed by prisoners, as there were many free labourers also employed. godfrey was given a shovel, and his work consisted in loading the sand and gravel, as the pickmen got it down, on to the barrows. being unaccustomed to work, his back ached and his hands were blistered by the end of the day; but he knew, from his experience in rowing, that this would pass off before long. at any rate the labour was far easier than he had anticipated. he had expected to see overseers with whips, but there was nothing of the sort. a few men directed the labour, and spoke sharply enough if they saw any of the prisoners shirking, but there was nothing to distinguish it from any other work of the kind, save the cossack guards here and there leaning upon their muskets, and certainly the men worked no harder than ordinary labourers would do. indeed, when the time was up and the prisoners started on their return towards the prison, the free labourers continued their work, and would do so, he afterwards learned, for some hours, as it would take a considerable time for all the sand obtained during the day to be thoroughly washed up and the gold extracted. godfrey had at first looked narrowly at the sand as he shovelled it, for specks of gold, but had seen none; and indeed the proportion of gold at the mines of kara was so small that they would not have paid if worked by free labour; but the produce served to lessen the expenses of the prisons, and the mines afforded work to the[160] convicts. the prisoners were not forbidden to talk, and godfrey, who had happened to be placed next to a young fellow of the better class, learned a good many particulars as to the mines. he had seen no women at them, and asked if they were not employed at that labour.
"i never heard of such a thing," the other said. "they have to work; they wash and mend our clothes, and scrub the floors, and help the cooks, but that is all. after working for a certain time, according to the length of their sentence, they are allowed to live out of prison, and after a still further time are at liberty to settle down anywhere in siberia they choose."
"have you been here long?" godfrey asked.
"i have been here three years," he said, "and i should be out by this time if i had not run away last year."
"how did you get on?"
"i got on well enough till the cold weather came. there are plenty of berries in the woods, and besides we occasionally came down and stole things from the carts waiting at night at the post-houses. we got a chest of tea once, and that lasted us all through the summer. there were ten of us together. besides that, the people all along the road are very good to escaped prisoners. they dare not give them anything, because, if it were known they did so, they would be severely punished; but on the window-sill of almost every house is placed at night a plate with food on it, in case any wanderer should come along. of course when winter came i had to give myself up."
"do you think escape altogether is possible?"
"i don't say that it is not possible, for some have done it; but i suppose for every one who has tried it, hundreds have died. there is no living in the mountains in winter. men do get free. there are a great many private mines, and in some of these they ask no questions, but are glad enough to engage anyone who comes along. after working there as a free labourer for a couple of years it is compara[161]tively easy to move somewhere else, and in time one may even settle down as a free labourer in a town; but there is no getting right away then, for no one can leave siberia without a passport giving particulars of all his life.
"you are not thinking of trying, are you? because, if you will take my advice, you won't. it is all very well to go out for a summer holiday, but that is a very different thing from attempting an escape. i was a fool to try it, but i had such a longing to be in the woods that i could not help it. so now i shall be obliged to work here for a couple of years longer before i can live outside the prison. i am here for knocking down my colonel. we were both in love with the same girl. she liked me best, and her father liked him best. he was a tyrannical brute. one day he insulted me before her, and i knocked him down. i was tried for that, and he trumped up a lot of other charges against me; and there was no difficulty in getting plenty of hounds to swear to them. so you see here i am with a ten years' sentence. i don't know that i am not lucky."
"how is that?" godfrey asked.
"there were half a dozen fellows in the regiment—i was one of them—who ventured to think for themselves. we had secret meetings, and were in communication with men of other regiments. well, i was sent off before anything came of it. but they got hold of the names of the others when they arrested some nihilists at kieff, and they were all sent out here for life. i met one of them a few months back, and he told me so. so you see it was rather lucky that i knocked down the colonel when i did. besides, it is ever so much better to be a convict than a political. i don't know how it was you had the luck to get turned in with us. i can tell you there is no comparison between their lot and ours. still it is hateful, of course, living among such a gang as these fellows."
"they look pretty bad," godfrey said.
[162]
"bad is not the word for it," the other said. "a man i know who works as a clerk in the office told me that there are about two thousand two hundred prisoners in the six prisons of kara, but of these only about a hundred and fifty are women. they are even worse than the men, for of the hundred and fifty there are a hundred and twenty-five murderesses, and of the others twelve are classed as vagabonds, and i suppose most of these are murderesses too. out of the two thousand men there are about six hundred and seventy murderers. that is not such a big proportion as among the women, though, as there are nearly seven hundred classed as vagabonds, you would not be far wrong if you put down every other man as a murderer."
"it is horrible," godfrey said.
"well, it is not pleasant; but you must remember that a great many of these murderers may be otherwise pretty honest fellows. a great many of them have killed a man or woman when mad with vodka; some of the others have done it in a fit of jealousy; a few perhaps out of vengeance for some great wrong. the rest, i grant, are thoroughly bad.
"by the way, my name is osip ivanoff. there are two or three decent fellows in our ward. i will introduce you to them this evening. it makes it pleasanter keeping together. we have got some cards, and that helps pass away the summer evenings. in winter it is too dark to play. there is only one candle in the ward; so there is nothing for it but to lay up and go to sleep as soon as it gets dark. there is the prison. i dare say you won't be sorry when you are back. the first three or four days' work is always trying."
