He therefore noted in his book this perfectly correct observation,
"My fellow-travelers extremely anxious. Nothing is talked of but war,
and they speak of it, with a freedom which is astonishing, as having
broken out between the Volga and the Vistula."

The readers of the Daily Telegraph would not fail to be as well informed
as Alcide Jolivet's "cousin." But as Harry Blount, seated at the left
of the train, only saw one part of the country, which was hilly,
without giving himself the trouble of looking at the right side,
which was composed of wide plains, he added, with British assurance,
"Country mountainous between Moscow and Wladimir."

It was evident that the Russian government purposed taking severe
measures to guard against any serious eventualities even in the interior
of the empire. The rebel lion had not crossed the Siberian frontier,
but evil influences might be feared in the Volga provinces, so near
to the country of the Kirghiz.

The police had as yet found no traces of Ivan Ogareff. It was not
known whether the traitor, calling in the foreigner to avenge his
personal rancor, had rejoined Feofar-Khan, or whether he was endeavoring
to foment a revolt in the government of Nijni-Novgorod, which at this time
of year contained a population of such diverse elements. Perhaps among
the Persians, Armenians, or Kalmucks, who flocked to the great market,
he had agents, instructed to provoke a rising in the interior.
All this was possible, especially in such a country as Russia. In fact,
this vast empire, 4,000,000 square miles in extent, does not possess
the homogeneousness of the states of Western Europe. The Russian
territory in Europe and Asia contains more than seventy millions