The silence would have been complete but for the grindings of the
wheels of the tarantass over the road, the creaking of the axles,
the snorting of the horses, and the clattering of their iron
hoofs among the pebbles, sparks flying out on every side.

The road was perfectly deserted. The tarantass encountered neither
pedestrians nor horsemen, nor a vehicle of any description,
in the narrow defiles of the Ural, on this threatening night.
Not even the fire of a charcoal-burner was visible in the woods,
not an encampment of miners near the mines, not a hut
among the brushwood.

Under these peculiar circumstances it might have been
allowable to postpone the journey till the morning.
Michael Strogoff, however, had not hesitated, he had no right
to stop, but then--and it began to cause him some anxiety--
what possible reason could those travelers in the telga ahead
have for being so imprudent?

Michael remained thus on the look-out for some time.
About eleven o'clock lightning began to blaze continuously in the sky.
The shadows of huge pines appeared and disappeared in the rapid light.
Sometimes when the tarantass neared the side of the road, deep gulfs,
lit up by the flashes, could be seen yawning beneath them.
From time to time, on their vehicle giving a worse lurch than usual,
they knew that they were crossing a bridge of roughly-hewn planks
thrown over some chasm, thunder appearing actually to be rumbling
below them. Besides this, a booming sound filled the air,
which increased as they mounted higher. With these different
noises rose the shouts of the iemschik, sometimes scolding,