ts current. If therefore the Tartars have no other means of crossing
the river, I can assure your Highness that they will not enter Irkutsk
in that way."

The governor-general confirmed this assertion.

"It is a fortunate circumstance," responded the Grand Duke.
"Nevertheless, we must hold ourselves ready for any emergency."

He then, turning towards the head of the police, asked, "Have you
nothing to say to me, sir?"

"I have your Highness," answered the head of police, "a petition which
is addressed to you through me."

"Addressed by whom?"

"By the Siberian exiles, whom, as your Highness knows, are in the town
to the number of five hundred."

The political exiles, distributed over the province, had been collected
in Irkutsk, from the beginning of the invasion. They had obeyed the
order to rally in the town, and leave the villages where they exercised
their different professions, some doctors, some professors, either
at the Gymnasium, or at the Japanese School, or at the School of
Navigation. The Grand Duke, trusting like the Czar in their patriotism,
had armed them, and they had thoroughly proved their bravery.

"What do the exiles ask?" said the Grand Duke.

"They ask the consent of your Highness," answered the head of police,
"to their forming a special corps and being placed in the front of the
first sortie."

"Yes," replied the Grand Duke with an emotion which he did not seek to
hide, "these exiles are Russians, and it is their right to fight for
their country!"

"I believe I may assure your Highness," said the governor-general, "you
will have no better soldiers."

"But they must have a chief," said the Grand Duke, "who will he be?"

"They wish to recommend to your Highness," said the head of police, "one
of their number, who has distinguished himself on several occasions."

"Is he a Russian?"

"Yes, a Russian from the Baltic provinces."

"His name?"

"Is Wassili Fedor."

This exile was Nadia's father. Wassili Fedor, as we have already said,
followed his profession of a medical man in Irkutsk. He was clever and
charitable, and also possessed the greatest courage and most sincere
patriotism. All the time which he did not devote to the sick he employed
in organizing the defense. It was he who had united his companions
in exile in the common cause. The exiles, till then mingled with the
population, had behaved in such a way as to draw on themselves the
attention of the Grand Duke. In several