The obliging commander of the steamer went on shore with the doctor to the police office, attended by Vroome, the third master. A description of the fugitives was given through the captain, and the police officer made a note of Vroome's uniform, as like those worn by De Forrest and Beckwith. The party returned to the steamer, and as the hour for starting had arrived, the fasts were cast off, and the Stafet was soon making her way down the mighty Volga. Her deck was crowded with third-class passengers, who were the peasants and laboring men of the country. They were abominably dirty and miserably dressed, several of them wearing the long sheep-skin coats, the wool inside. Others wore long, light-colored coats, very ragged. Not a few of them, instead of boots, had coarse cloths wound around their feet and ankles, bound on with strings nearly as large as a bed-cord. Some of them were eating their dinners, which they carried with them, consisting of the blackest of bread and dried fish. These men were the serfs who had been liberated by the noble policy of the present emperor. The Volga, at Nijni, is about two thirds of a mile wide, and is covered with boats of all sorts and sizes. The depth of water between this point and Kazan does not admit of the passage of the largest passenger steamers. The voyager from Tver to the Caspian would change steamers for larger ones at Nijni and at Kazan. Merchandise is transported on the river in boats, the largest of which are about a hundred and fifty feet long, with a single mast, well forward, and appear to be very substantially built. In the middle there is a house on deck, generally with an Oriental dome, painted green, which is possibly a chapel. There are other smaller boats, and a tug steamer tows from four to eight of the different sizes. These boats are owned by corporations, such as the Volga Transportation Company. Vast quantities of wheat are conveyed from Saratoff, and other places, to the head of navigation. The students gathered on the bridge, or hurricane deck would be a more proper name for it. Two Russian pilots were at the tall wheel, and they looked as little like sailors as it is possible to conceive. They wore the long sheep-skin pelisse, with pants stuffed into their boots, and Cossack or Tartar caps. They looked particularly solemn; but they are said to know their business perfectly.