Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/337

Rh "They had a good laugh over the circumstances of their journey, where each was in mortal terror of the other. The one was talkative and the other silent for exactly the same reason—to disarm suspicion.

"I could tell you other stories of escaping from exile, but this one is a fair sample of them all. Of those who attempt to leave the country not one in twenty ever succeeds, owing to the difficulties I have mentioned, and the watchfulness of the police. The peasants of Siberia will generally help an escaping exile, but they do not dare to do it openly. Many of them put loaves of bread outside their windows at night, so that the runaways can come and obtain food without being seen. They plant little patches of turnips near the villages for the same reason, and call them gifts to the 'unfortunates.' Whenever the soldiers find any of these turnip-patches they destroy them, in order to hinder the progress of fugitives.

"There is said to be a secret road or path through Siberia known only to the exiles; it is about two thousand miles long, avoids all the regular lines of travel, and keeps away from the towns and villages. It winds over plains and among the mountains, through forests and near the rivers, and is marked by little mounds of earth, and by notches cut in the trees.

"Those who travel this road must undergo great hardship, and it is said that not more than half who undertake it are ever heard of again. They perish of starvation or cold, or may venture too near the villages in search of food, and fall into the hands of the police. The path must be travelled on foot, as it is not sufficiently broad for horses; and when any part of it is discovered by the soldiers the route must be changed. The exiles have means of communicating with each other, and no matter how closely the authorities may watch them, an occurrence in one Siberian prison will soon be known at all others in the country."