three in the afternoon
Only by dint of a large bribe could Michael get over the unwillingness of the iemschik , for in this instance , as in many others , he did not wish to show his podorojna . The last ukase , having been transmitted by telegraph , was known in the Siberian provinces ; and a Russian specially exempted from obeying these words would certainly have drawn public attention to himself -- a thing above all to be avoided by the Czar 's courier . As to the iemschik 's hesitation , either the rascal traded on the traveler 's impatience or he really had good reason to fear . However , at last the tarantass started , and made such good way that by three in the afternoon it had reached Koulatsinskoe , fifty miles farther on . An hour after this it was on the banks of the Irtych . Omsk was now only fourteen miles distant . The Irtych is a large river , and one of the principal of those which flow towards the north of Asia .