Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/355

Rh to be provided with fire-arms and skilled in their use. My companion and myself each had a revolver, and kept it where it could be conveniently seized in case of trouble. We never had any occasion to use our weapons, and I will say here that not once in all my journey through Siberia was I molested by highwaymen.

"When we left Verckne IJdinsk we crossed the Selenga, a river which rises in Chinese Tartary, and after a long and tortuous course falls into Lake Baikal, whence its waters reach the Arctic Ocean. There was no

bridge, and we traversed the stream on a ferry. The river was full of floating ice, and the huge cakes ground very unpleasantly against the sides of the craft which bore ourselves and our tarantasse. The river was on the point of freezing; there was just a possibility that it would close while we were crossing, and keep us imprisoned until such time as the ice was thick enough to bear us safely. As this would involve a detention of several hours where the accommodations were wretched, the outlook was not at all pleasant.

"All's well that ends well; we landed on a sand-bank on the other side, and after a little delay the boatmen succeeded in getting our carriage on shore without accident. About six miles from the river the road