twelve o’clock
`` Good , '' replied Michael ; `` but do not lose an instant . Buy or hire a carriage whose -- '' `` Whose hind wheels , '' added Alcide , `` are warranted to arrive at the same time as its front wheels . '' Half an hour afterwards the energetic Frenchman had found a tarantass in which he and his companion at once seated themselves . Michael and Nadia once more entered their own carriage , and at twelve o'clock the two vehicles left the town of Ekaterenburg together . Nadia was at last in Siberia , on that long road which led to Irkutsk . What must then have been the thoughts of the young girl ? Three strong swift horses were taking her across that land of exile where her parent was condemned to live , for how long she knew not , and so far from his native land .