three o’clock in the morning
The Tartar troops , divided into two columns , had marched to the left on Omsk , to the right on Tomsk , neglecting the intermediate country . Michael Strogoff 's plan was simply this -- to reach Kolyvan before the arrival of the Usbeck horsemen , who would ascend the other bank of the Obi to the ferry . There he would procure clothes and a horse , and resume the road to Irkutsk across the southern steppe . It was now three o'clock in the morning . The neighborhood of Kolyvan was very still , and appeared to have been totally abandoned . The country population had evidently fled to the northwards , to the province of Yeniseisk , dreading the invasion , which they could not resist . Michael was walking at a rapid pace towards Kolyvan when distant firing struck his ear .