midnight
They said , amongst other things , that Feofar-Khan 's army was rapidly approaching the valley of the Ichim , and they confirmed the report that the Tartar chief was soon to be joined by Colonel Ogareff , if he had not been so already . Hence the conclusion was that operations would be pushed in Eastern Siberia with the greatest activity . However , the loyal Cossacks of the government of Tobolsk were advancing by forced marches towards Tomsk , in the hope of cutting off the Tartar columns . At midnight the town of Novo-Saimsk was reached ; and the travelers now left behind them the country broken by tree-covered hills , the last remains of the Urals . Here began the regular Siberian steppe which extends to the neighborhood of Krasnoiarsk . It is a boundless plain , a vast grassy desert ; earth and sky here form a circle as distinct as that traced by a sweep of the compasses . The steppe presents nothing to attract notice but the long line of the telegraph posts , their wires vibrating in the breeze like the strings of a harp .