. Siberia and the exile system. not nearly so greatas the danger of having them taken from me as the resultof a police search. The material in question amounted inweight to about forty pounds, but as packages of all sizesare commonly sent by mail in Russia, mere bulk in itselfwas not a suspicious circumstance. I had a box made byan exiled Polish carpenter, took it to my room at night, putinto it the entire results of my Siberian experience,—mostof the dangerous papers being already concealed in thecovers of books and the hollow sides of small boxes,— sewedit up carefully in strong canvas, seal
. Siberia and the exile system. not nearly so greatas the danger of having them taken from me as the resultof a police search. The material in question amounted inweight to about forty pounds, but as packages of all sizesare commonly sent by mail in Russia, mere bulk in itselfwas not a suspicious circumstance. I had a box made byan exiled Polish carpenter, took it to my room at night, putinto it the entire results of my Siberian experience,—mostof the dangerous papers being already concealed in thecovers of books and the hollow sides of small boxes,— sewedit up carefully in strong canvas, sealed it with more thantwenty seals, and addressed it to a friend in St. Petersburgwhose political trustworthiness was beyond suspicion andwhose mail, I believed, would not be tampered with. Thurs-day morning about half an hour before the semi-weeklypost was to leave Minusinsk for St, Petersburg, I carriedthe box down into the courtyard under the cover of anovercoat, put it into a sleigh, threw a robe over it, and 414 SIBERIA. ¥ THE PLAGUE GUARD. went with it myself to the post-office. The officials askedno question, but weighed the package, gave me a writtenreceipt for it, and tossed it carelessly upon a pile of othermail matter that a clerk was putting into large leatherpouches. I gave one last look at it, and left the post-office OUR LAST DAYS IN SIBERIA 415 with a heavy heart. From that time forward I was neverfree from anxiety about it. That package contained all theresults of my Siberian work, and its loss would have beensimply irreparable. As week after week passed, and I heardnothing about it, I was strongly tempted to telegraph myfriend and find out whether it had reached him; but I knewthat such a telegram might increase the risk, and I refrained. On many accounts we were more reluctant to leave Min-usinsk than any other town at which we had stopped onour homeward way, but as a distance of 3000 miles still laybetween us and St. Petersburg, and as we were anxious tor
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