There are lots of these penal settlements scattered over the country.
They do not send the ordinary convict population there. There is no
danger from them; but the theory is that the politicals are always
plotting, and therefore they are for the most part sent where by no
possibility can they get up trouble."

Godfrey set his lips hard together and asked no questions for the next
half-hour. Although the journey was not continued by night the telega
was still Godfrey's constant place of abode. Sometimes it was wheeled
under a shed, sometimes it stood in the road, but in all cases the
policeman was by his side night and day. Godfrey was indifferent whether
he slept in a bed or in the telega, which, when the straw was fresh
shaken up and a couple of rugs laid upon it, was by no means
uncomfortable. The nights were not cold and no rain had fallen since he
left Nijni. He further reflected that probably there would be fleas and
other vermin in the post-houses, and that altogether he was a gainer
instead of a loser by the regulation.

He was pleased with the appearance of Atchinsk, a bright little town a
day's journey from Tomsk. It was, like all the Siberian towns, built of
wood, but the houses were all painted white or gray, picked out with
bright colours. It stood in the middle of a large grass plain, with
inclosed meadows of luxuriant herbage and bright flowers, among which
large numbers of sheep and cattle were feeding. Beyond this the country
again became dull and monotonous. Krasnoiarsk was the next town reached.
Between this town and Kansk the country was again cultivated.

Scarce a day passed without large gangs of convicts being overtaken on
the road. For some distance Godfrey suffered terribly from mosquitoes,
which swarmed so thickly that the peasants working in the fields were
obliged to wear black veils over their faces. Fortunately he had been
warned by his guard at Atchinsk that there would be trouble with these
pests on further, and the man had, at his request, bought for him a few
yards of muslin, under which they sat during the day and spread over
the telega at night. It was, however, a long and dreary journey, and
Godfrey was heartily glad when at last they saw the domes of Irkoutsk, a
city of fifty thousand inhabitants.

They drove rapidly through the town to the prison, where he was placed
in a cell by himself. The morning after his arrival the warder entered
with a man carrying a basin and shaving ap