CHAPTER        II.
FROM MOSCOW TO NIJNE-NOVGOROD.
THE bells attached to the yoke of our shaft-horse
jingled merrily; our sleigh slid upon the slippery road from one side to the other; the driver selected the smoothest places, and the clatter of the horses' feet grew faster and faster, as, answering to the command of the captain -poshol! poshol-skoro!-go ! go quick ! he applied the
lash to his frosty horses.
The road on which we were travelling is the artery of
an extensive commerce, dotted with villages, towns and cities. At every change of horses at the post-stations, we found a warm room, where we could prepare our own tea, from the quickly-steaming samovar, and procure such fare as the house afforded, in addition to what we had in our own provision-box. Night or day, these rooms are always heated, and if not quite as comfortable or as luxuriously furnished as the hotels we left behind us in New York, Paris, or St. Petersburg, they were nevertheless / very acceptable.
Post after post, and station after station succeeded
night hung heavy and chill upon me; morning came, but I had not closed an eye. In fact, I did not require sleep,
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