"And they are going fast?"

"Eagles!"

"Let them put the horses to as soon as possible."

Michael and Nadia, resolved not to stop even for an hour,
traveled all night. The weather continued fine, though the
atmosphere was heavy and becoming charged with electricity.
It was to be hoped that a storm would not burst whilst they
were among the mountains, for there it would be terrible.
Being accustomed to read atmospheric signs, Michael Strogoff
knew that a struggle of the elements was approaching.

The night passed without incident. Notwithstanding the jolting
of the tarantass, Nadia was able to sleep for some hours.
The hood was partly raised so as to give as much air as there
was in the stifling atmosphere.

Michael kept awake all night, mistrusting the iemschiks, who are
apt to sleep at their posts. Not an hour was lost at the relays,
not an hour on the road.

The next day, the 20th of July, at about eight o'clock in the morning,
they caught the first glimpse of the Ural Mountains in the east.
This important chain which separates Russia from Siberia was still
at a great distance, and they could not hope to reach it until
the end of the day. The passage of the mountains must necessarily
be performed during the next night. The sky was cloudy all day,
and the temperature was therefore more bearable, but the weather