when the steamer's chimney sent forth a plume of ruddy flames,
the sparks seemed to fall amongst the group as though thousands
of spangles had been suddenly illuminated.

Michael was about to step up the ladder, when a few words reached his ear,
uttered in that strange tongue which he had heard during the night
at the fair. Instinctively he stopped to listen. Protected by
the shadow of the forecastle, he could not be perceived himself.
As to seeing the passengers who were talking, that was impossible.
He must confine himself to listening.

The first words exchanged were of no importance--to him at least--but they
allowed him to recognize the voices of the man and woman whom he had heard
at Nijni-Novgorod. This, of course, made him redouble his attention.
It was, indeed, not at all impossible that these same Tsiganes,
now banished, should be on board the Caucasus.

And it was well for him that he listened, for he distinctly
heard this question and answer made in the Tartar idiom:
"It is said that a courier has set out from Moscow for Irkutsk."

"It is so said, Sangarre; but either this courier will arrive too late,
or he will not arrive at all."

Michael Strogoff started involuntarily at this reply,
which concerned him so directly. He tried to see if the man
and woman who had just spoken were really those whom he suspected,
but he could not succeed.

In a few moments Michael Strogoff had regained the stern of the vessel