Michael Strogoff; Or, The Courier of the Czar — John Shaqi
Michael Strogoff; Or, The Courier of the CzarVerne, Jules
History
Michael Strogoff; Or, The Courier of the Czar
Verne, Jules
Heroes -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Russia -- History -- Alexander II, 1855-1881 -- Fiction; Tatars -- Fiction
Michael Strogoff no longer doubted that the expressions he had heard,
had proceeded from this tawny group, and had been exchanged between the
old gypsy and the woman to whom he gave the Mongolian name of Sangarre.
Michael involuntarily moved towards the gangway, as the Bohemian troop
was leaving the steamboat.
The old Bohemian was there, in a humble attitude, little conformable
with the effrontery natural to his race. One would have said that he was
endeavoring rather to avoid attention than to attract it. His battered
hat, browned by the suns of every clime, was pulled forward over his
wrinkled face. His arched back was bent under an old cloak, wrapped
closely round him, notwithstanding the heat. It would have been
difficult, in this miserable dress, to judge of either his size or face.
Near him was the Tsigane, Sangarre, a woman about thirty years old. She
was tall and well made, with olive complexion, magnificent eyes, and
golden hair.
Many of the young dancers were remarkably pretty, all possessing the
clear-cut features of their race. These Tsiganes are generally very
attractive, and more than one of the great Russian nobles, who try to
vie with the English in eccentricity, has not hesitated to choose his
wife from among these gypsy girls. One of them was humming a song of
strange rhythm, which might be thus rendered:
“Glitters brightly the gold
In my raven locks streaming
Rich coral around
My graceful neck gleaming;
Like a bird of the air,
Through the wide world I roam.”
The laughing girl continued her song, but Michael Strogoff ceased
to listen. It struck him just then that the Tsigane, Sangarre, was
regarding him with a peculiar gaze, as if to fix his features indelibly
in her memory.
It was but for a few moments, when Sangarre herself followed the old man
and his troop, who had already left the vessel. “That’s a bold gypsy,”
said Michael to himself. “Could she have recognized me as the man whom
she saw at Nijni-Novgorod? These confounded Tsiganes have the eyes of a
cat! They can see in the dark; and that woman there might well know--”
Michael Strogoff was on the point of following Sangarre and the gypsy
band, but he stopped. “No,” thought he, “no unguarded proceedings. If
I were to stop that old fortune teller and his companions my incognito
would run a risk of being discovered. Besides, now they have landed,
before they can pass the frontier I shall be far beyond it. They may
take the route from Kasan to Ishim, but that affords no resources to
travelers. Besides a tarantass, drawn by good Siberian horses, will
always go faster than a gypsy cart! Come, friend Korpanoff, be easy.”
By this time the man and Sangarre had disappeared.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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