Condemned as a Nihilist: A Story of Escape from SiberiaHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
Condemned as a Nihilist: A Story of Escape from Siberia
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Escapes -- Fiction; Russia -- History -- Alexander II, 1855-1881 -- Fiction; Siberia (Russia) -- Fiction
"There is nothing to do but to wait," Godfrey said. "Get your fur coat
on; it is bitterly cold. There is one comfort, what wind there is is
towards the shore, and we shall drift that way."
"I can't feel any wind at all," Luka said.
"No, it is very slight; but there must have been some to bring this fog
down from the north. We were not more than half a mile from the shore
when it closed in upon us. If we only drift fifty yards an hour we shall
be there in time. Let us have a cup of tea and then we will rig up the
cover and turn in. We have a lot of sleep to make up for. There is one
comfort, there is no chance of our being run down."
Godfrey saw by his watch when he woke that he had been asleep for four
hours, and he sat up and looked round. The fog was as thick as before.
The movement woke Luka, and he too sat up.
"Listen, Luka!" Godfrey exclaimed as he was about to speak. "I heard a
bird chirp." The sound was repeated. "It is over there," Godfrey said.
"Hurrah! we shall soon be ashore," and they seized their paddles.
After rowing for a minute or two they stopped and again listened. "There
it is again," Godfrey said; "right ahead. Paddle gently, Luka; we
sha'n't see the shore until we are on it, and we must not risk running
head on to a rock." Presently something dark appeared just in front of
the canoe.
"Hold water!" Godfrey exclaimed, and as they stopped her way the boat
drifted quietly against a rock. They brought her broadside to it and
stepped out.
"That is a comfort. The fog can last for a week now. Let us get the
canoe ashore. We can moor the boat; the water is as smooth as glass, and
there is no risk whatever of her damaging herself. Bring an armful of
firewood ashore," he went on as they laid the canoe down gently on a
flat rock. "I will look about for a place for the tent."
"Do not go far or you will lose yourself."
"I will take care of that. I won't go beyond speaking distance."
Godfrey soon found a patch of sand large enough for the tent, and this
was soon erected and a fire lit. Jack as usual indulged in a wild
scamper, but returned to Godfrey's whistle. "Don't go too far, Jack, or
you will be losing your way too."
The fog did not clear off for another forty-eight hours, but when at the
end of that time they looked out of their tent the sky was clear and the
birds were singing gaily. The ground rose almost perpendicularly behind
them to a height of from twenty to thirty feet. It was rocky, with some
deep indentations.
"We will do some shooting, Luka; but as there may be some natives near
we will hide the canoe. It is no use running any risks. We will stow the
tent and get everything packed before we start, and then we shall be
able to set out when we return."
The canoe was packed and carried some fifty yards along the shore, and
then laid behind a great boulder that had fallen at the mouth of a cleft
in the rock.
"Shall we pull up the boat?" Luka asked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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