nine o’clock in the morning
When he did halt for a moment at some turn in the road it was to breathe his horse . Now he would dismount to ease his steed for a moment , and again he would place his ear to the ground to listen for the sound of galloping horses upon the steppe . Nothing arousing his suspicions , he resumed his way . On the 30th of July , at nine o'clock in the morning , Michael Strogoff passed through the station of Touroumoff and entered the swampy district of the Baraba . There , for a distance of three hundred versts , the natural obstacles would be extremely great . He knew this , but he also knew that he would certainly surmount them . These vast marshes of the Baraba , form the reservoir to all the rain-water which finds no outlet either towards the Obi or towards the Irtych .