  Michael Strogoff  8. A Hare Crosses The Road MICHAEL STROGOFF
might at last hope that the road to Irkutsk was clear. He had
distanced the Tartars, now detained at Tomsk, and when the
Emir's soldiers should arrive at Krasnoiarsk they would find
only a deserted town. There being no communication between the
two banks of the Yenisei, a delay of some days would be caused
until a bridge of boats could be established, and to accomplish
this would be a difficult undertaking. For the first time since
the encounter with Ivan Ogareff at Omsk, the courier of the Czar
felt less uneasy, and began to hope that no fresh obstacle would
delay his progress. The road was good, for that part of it which
extends between Krasnoiarsk and Irkutsk is considered the best
in the whole journey; fewer jolts for travelers, large trees to
shade them from the heat of the sun, sometimes forests of pines
or cedars covering an extent of a hundred versts. It was no
longer the wide steppe with limitless horizon; but the rich
country was empty.