About eleven
o’clock
Under these peculiar circumstances it might have been allowable to postpone the journey till the morning . Michael Strogoff , however , had not hesitated , he had no right to stop , but then -- and it began to cause him some anxiety -- what possible reason could those travelers in the telga ahead have for being so imprudent ? Michael remained thus on the look-out for some time . About eleven o'clock lightning began to blaze continuously in the sky . The shadows of huge pines appeared and disappeared in the rapid light . Sometimes when the tarantass neared the side of the road , deep gulfs , lit up by the flashes , could be seen yawning beneath them . From time to time , on their vehicle giving a worse lurch than usual , they knew that they were crossing a bridge of roughly-hewn planks thrown over some chasm , thunder appearing actually to be rumbling below them .