Siberia and the exile system . irst Russianprisons we had seen, and was, moreover, on the exile route toSiberia, we naturally looked at it with interest and after passing it we discovered that the hill wasmore distant than we had supposed it to be; and as theafternoon was far advanced, we decided to postpone oursketching excursion until the following day. We thereuponretraced our steps, passed the prison the second time, andreturned to our hotel. Early the next morning we againset out for the hill; and as we did not know any better ormore direct route to it we took again the
Siberia and the exile system . irst Russianprisons we had seen, and was, moreover, on the exile route toSiberia, we naturally looked at it with interest and after passing it we discovered that the hill wasmore distant than we had supposed it to be; and as theafternoon was far advanced, we decided to postpone oursketching excursion until the following day. We thereuponretraced our steps, passed the prison the second time, andreturned to our hotel. Early the next morning we againset out for the hill; and as we did not know any better ormore direct route to it we took again the street that ledpast the prison. On this occasion we reached our destina-tion. Mr. Frost made a sketch of the city and its suburbs,and at the expiration of an hour, or an hour and a half, westrolled homeward. On a large, open common near the pri- 26 SIBEKIA son we were met by two (Iroshkies, in which were fourofficers armed with swords and revolvers, and in full noticed that the first couple regarded us with attentive. scrutiny as they passed; but I was not as familiar at thattime as I am now with the uniforms of the Russian policeand gendarmes, and I did not recognize them. The twoofficers in the second droshky left their vehicle just before ACROSS THE SIBERIAN FRONTIER 27 reaeliing us, walked away from each other until they wereforty or fifty feet apart, and then advanced on converginglines to meet us. Upon looking around I found that thefirst pair had left their carriages and separated in a similarway Ijehind us, and were converging upon us from that di-rection. Then for the first time it flashed upon my mindthat they were police officers, and that we, for some incon-ceivable reason, were objects of suspicion, and were aboutto be arrested. As they closed in upon us, one of them, agood-looking gendarme officer about thirty years of age,bowed to us stiffly, and said, Will you permit me to in-quire who you ai*e! Certainly, I replied; we are American travelers. Where ar
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectsiberiarussiadescrip
