d observance in the fair of
Nijni-Novgorod, above the heads of the vast concourse a flock of birds
was allowed to escape from the cages in which they had been brought to
the spot. In return for a few copecks charitably offered by some good
people, the bird-fanciers opened the prison doors of their captives, who
flew out in hundreds, uttering their joyous notes.

It should be mentioned that England and France, at all events, were this
year represented at the great fair of Nijni-Novgorod by two of the most
distinguished products of modern civilization, Messrs. Harry Blount
and Alcide Jolivet. Jolivet, an optimist by nature, found everything
agreeable, and as by chance both lodging and food were to his taste,
he jotted down in his book some memoranda particularly favorable to the
town of Nijni-Novgorod. Blount, on the contrary, having in vain hunted
for a supper, had been obliged to find a resting-place in the open
air. He therefore looked at it all from another point of view, and was
preparing an article of the most withering character against a town in
which the landlords of the inns refused to receive travelers who only
begged leave to be flayed, "morally and physically."

Michael Strogoff, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his
cherry-stemmed pipe, appeared the most indifferent and least impatient
of men; yet, from a certain contraction of his eyebrows every now and
then, a careful observer would have seen that he was burning to be off.

For two hours he kept walking about the streets, only to find himself
invariably at the fair again. As he passed among the groups of buyers
and sellers he discovered that those who came from countries on the
confines of Asia manifested great uneasiness. Their trade was visibly
suffering. Another symptom also was marked. In Russia military uniforms
appear on every occasion. Soldiers are wont to mix freely with the
crowd, the police agents being almost invariably aided by a number
of Cossacks, who, lance on shoulder, keep order in the crowd of three
hundred thousand strangers. But on this occasion the soldiers, Cossacks
and the rest, did not put in an appearance at the great market.
Doubtless, a sudden order to move having been foreseen, they were
restricted to their barracks.

Moreover, while no soldiers were to be seen, it was not so with their
officers. Since the evening before, aides-decamp, leaving the governor's
palace, galloped in every direction. An unusual movement was