no
hesitation.

Finally, towards half past three in the afternoon, Michael Strogoff left
the last depressions of the Baraba, and the dry and hard soil of Siberia
rang out once more beneath his horse's hoofs.

He had left Moscow on the 15th of July. Therefore on this day, the 5th
of August, including more than seventy hours lost on the banks of the
Irtych, twenty days had gone by since his departure.

One thousand miles still separated him from Irkutsk.

CHAPTER XVI A FINAL EFFORT

MICHAEL'S fear of meeting the Tartars in the plains beyond the Baraba
was by no means ungrounded. The fields, trodden down by horses' hoofs,
afforded but too clear evidence that their hordes had passed that way;
the same, indeed, might be said of these barbarians as of the Turks:
"Where the Turk goes, no grass grows."

Michael saw at once that in traversing this country the greatest caution
was necessary. Wreaths of smoke curling upwards on the horizon showed
that huts and hamlets were still burning. Had these been fired by
the advance guard, or had the Emir's army already advanced beyond the
boundaries of the province? Was Feofar-Khan himself in the government
of Yeniseisk? Michael could settle on no line of action until these
questions were answered. Was the country so deserted that he could not
discover a single Siberian to enlighten him?

Michael rode on for two versts without meeting a human being. He looked
carefully for some house which had not been deserted. Every one was
tenantless.

One hut, however, which he could just see between the trees, was still
smoking. As he approached he perceived, at some yards from the ruins of
the building, an old man surrounded by weeping children. A woman still
young, evidently his daughter and the mother of the poor children,
kneeling on the ground, was gazing on the scene of desolation. She had
at her breast a baby but a few months old; shortly she would have not
even that nourishment to give it. Ruin and desolation were all around!

Michael approached the old man.

"Will you answer me a few questions?" he asked.

"Speak," replied the old man.

"Have the Tartars passed this way?"

"Yes, for my house is in flames."

"Was it an army or a detachment?"

"An army, for, as far as eye can reach, our fields are laid waste."

"Commanded by the Emir?"

"By the Emir; for the Obi's waters are red."

"Has Feofar-Khan entered Tomsk?"

"He has."

"Do you know if his men have entered K