tical matters, Holman did not doubt that a report had reached the emperor, who, with the habitual suspicion of despotic sovereigns, determined at once to have the traveller arrested, and conducted again to the western frontier. Little time was allowed for delay, and Holman being satisfied that further remonstrance was useless, made preparations for his journey. His narrative of his return, or rather flight, through Siberia in the midst of the rigours of a Russian winter, and while the thermometer was frequently at forty-seven degrees below freezing, is among the interesting portions of his work. The sledge in which he travelled side by side with the feld-jager was covered with a head like that of a cradle, with curtains in front to protect them from the weather, while the part which was extended over their feet formed a seat for the driver. On commencing their journey they gallopped with four horses abreast, and it appeared to be a great object with his companion to keep them up to that pace. In consequence on the first day of their journey one of the horses fell with fatigue, and was left for dead by the road-side, a prey to the wolves which swarmed in those inhospitable regions. The first night was intensely cold, the mercury freezing in the thermometer. At two hundred versts from the place of their departure, they were nearly driven over a precipice. Fortunately some fallen timber stopped the horses and saved them, but it took some time to extricate them from the snow, and the irregular part of the road into which they had been led. A few hours afterwards, while descending another mountain, a sadden turn in the road brought them in contact with a peasant's sledge, which upset and in-
Page:Enterprise and Adventure.djvu/108
90
ENTERPRISE AND ADVENTURE.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Enterprise_and_Adventure.djvu/page108-1024px-Enterprise_and_Adventure.djvu.jpg)