Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 1.djvu/132

110 anything the matter with her ankle, and anybody can see that she 's more than twelve years old."

"Stupái!" [Move on!], he said sternly to the child; "you can pick flowers better if you walk."

The mother and the child shrank away without a word, and the officer, to escape further importunities, shouted the order to "Form ranks!" The hum of conversation suddenly ceased; there was a jingling of chains as the prisoners who had been lying on the ground sprang to their feet; the soldiers of the guard shouldered their rifles; the exiles crossed themselves devoutly, bowing in the direction of the prison chapel; and at the word "March!" the whole column was instantly in motion. Three or four Cossacks, in dark-green uniforms and with rifles over their shoulders, took the lead; a dense but disorderly throng of men and women followed, marching between thin, broken lines of soldiers; next came the telégas with the old, the sick, and the small children; then a rear-guard of half a dozen Cossacks; and finally four or five wagons piled high with gray bags. Although the road was soft and muddy, in five minutes the party was out of sight. The last sounds I heard were the jingling of chains and the shouts of the Cossacks to the children to keep within the lines. These exiles were nearly all persons banished by Russian communes, and were destined for towns and villages in the southern part of the province of Tobólsk.

Having witnessed the departure of one of the marching parties, we went down Saturday afternoon to the steamer-landing to see the embarkment of 700 exiles for Tomsk. Criminals destined for points in Eastern Siberia are transported from Tiumén to Tomsk in convict barges, furnished for the purpose by a wealthy firm of contractors, and towed