At last, on the morning of December 24th, 1885, we arrived at Ust-Kara, a little village wherein is situated the prison for ordinary convicts and the prison for women “politicals.” Here we had to part from Maria Kalyùshnaya, and I saw her that morning for the last time. Tchuikòv and I had fifteen versts more to travel to Nizhnaya Kara, where was the prison for male “politicals”; and we had to wait till next day for the commandant, who received in charge both ourselves and the ordinary criminals. Our luggage was put into a cart; and accompanied by a guard, we marched off, having previously donned our fetters in due form. It was a frightfully cold day, and despite the chains and our heavy clothing, we stepped out briskly as though we were in a hurry to get under lock and key. We knew that this was our last tramp in the open, that for many long years there would be only a trot round the prison-yard for us, and our thoughts dwelt dismally on the prospect. “There is your prison,” said one of the soldiers, and pointed out, a little way ahead, a stockade made of tall posts set side by side. Suddenly there appeared coming towards us a group of people—two women, a Cossack, and a man in civilian dress. “Victor!” I cried, recognising the latter as we approached nearer. It was my old friend Victor Kostyùrin, whom I had not seen for nine years.[75] He was now being removed from prison to his place of internment. Footnote 75: He had been sentenced in 1879 to ten years’ “katorga,” on account of the assault on Gorinòvitch (see page 11). After hasty greetings he introduced me to the two ladies who accompanied him—Natalia Armfeld and Raissa Prybylyèva, both “colonists” in Kara. Kennan has given Natalia Armfeld’s story in his book,[76] and I will only mention here that in 1879 she (with Maria Kovalèvskaya) was implicated in armed resistance to the gendarmerie, and sentenced to fourteen years and ten months’ penal servitude. Raissa Prybylyèva had been a member of the _Naròdnaia Vòlya_, and had been sentenced in 1883 to four years’ “katorga.” Footnote 76: _Siberia and the Exile System_, by George Kennan. Victor and I had, of course, much to say to each other, but our time was short, for our guards naturally did not see the fun of remaining longer than necessary in the freezing cold of the open field, and a few brief sentences were all we could exchange. “A Frenchman would have had a lot to say about this,” I said: “we two friends meeting on the threshold of a prison, one going in, the other coming out.” Another pressure of the hand, and we parted.[77] Footnote 77: Everyone will see the dramatic element in this situation if it is remembered that this friend had been tried and condemned on account of that attempt to kill the spy Gorinòvitch, in which Deutsch had been the chief actor; and that now the one had just finished his term of imprisonment, while the other was commencing his.—_Trans._ “Shall we ever meet again?” I asked.