BY ORDER OF THE CZAR. 377
Moscow on their way to Siberia, for there had recently been very serious risings and plots against the Govern- ment ; but he thought it possible that if Chetwynd traveled with reasonable speed he might overtake Captain Kara- kazov and his command on this side of the Siberian frontier ; certainly within a few days of its crossing the line. As a rule the journey was commenced earlier in the year, the prisoners passing through pleasant summer and autumn weather. It might be that the difficulties of the latest bands of travelers would be somewhat enhanced by winter snows ; there were signs of severe weather coming upon them earlier than usual, but every precaution was taken for protecting the exiles, and if they had hardships to endure, the military escort, men and officers, were not exempt from atmospheric influences. This hint sufficed for Dick Chetwynd to decline the governor's invitation of hospitality on the next day.
From Moscow Chetwynd traveled night and day to Nijni Novgorod, where he halted in the midst of the latter days of the great autumn fair, which under other circum- stances would have had for him a tremendous attraction. There is nothing like Nijni Novgorod in the world. In a small way one might be reminded of it by some of the seaside resorts on the other side of the Atlantic, where enormous hotels, giant caravanserais, are occupied during the season by thousands of guests, the seashore crowded with summer attractions and thronged with people ; where, during the winter, not a soul is to be seen, except perhaps one or two guardians of the vast house of entertainment, and a few wooden huts about it, all silent as the dead.
This is Nijni Novgorod during half the year. It is a vast city 'of shops, stores, houses, hotels, churches, wide broad streets, fine showy buildings, boulevards, theatres, market places, bazaars ; but in the early summer months entirely deserted; shops barred and bolted, markets
