hael then returned to the other side of the Volga, to the quarter
in which was the office of the head of police. An immense crowd was
collected there; for though all foreigners were ordered to quit the
province, they had notwithstanding to go through certain forms before
they could depart.

Without this precaution, some Russian more or less implicated in
the Tartar movement would have been able, in a disguise, to pass
the frontier--just those whom the order wished to prevent going. The
strangers were sent away, but still had to gain permission to go.

Mountebanks, gypsies, Tsiganes, Zingaris, mingled with merchants from
Persia, Turkey, India, Turkestan, China, filled the court and offices of
the police station.

Everyone was in a hurry, for the means of transport would be much sought
after among this crowd of banished people, and those who did not set
about it soon ran a great risk of not being able to leave the town in
the prescribed time, which would expose them to some brutal treatment
from the governor's agents.

Owing to the strength of his elbows Michael was able to cross the court.
But to get into the office and up to the clerk's little window was a
much more difficult business. However, a word into an inspector's ear
and a few judiciously given roubles were powerful enough to gain him a
passage. The man, after taking him into the waiting-room, went to call
an upper clerk. Michael Strogoff would not be long in making everything
right with the police and being free in his movements.

Whilst waiting, he looked about him, and what did he see? There, fallen,
rather than seated, on a bench, was a girl, prey to a silent despair,
although her face could scarcely be seen, the profile alone being
visible against the wall. Michael Strogoff could not be mistaken. He
instantly recognized the young Livonian.

Not knowing the governor's orders, she had come to the police office
to get her pass signed. They had refused to sign it. No doubt she was
authorized to go to Irkutsk, but the order was peremptory--it annulled
all previous au-thorizations, and the routes to Siberia were closed to
her. Michael, delighted at having found her again, approached the girl.

She looked up for a moment and her face brightened on recognizing her
traveling companion. She instinctively rose and, like a drowning man who
clutches at a spar, she was about to ask his help.

At that moment the agent touched Michael on the shoulder, "The head of