Two carriages were perhaps more than the postmaster could provide for, at least in a short space of time.
Half an hour after the berlin was left far behind, looking only a speck on the horizon of the steppe.
It was eight o'clock in the evening when the two carriages reached Ichim.

The news was worse and worse with regard to the invasion.

The town itself was menaced by the Tartar vanguard; and two days before the authorities had been obliged to retreat to Tobolsk.

There was not an officer nor a soldier left in Ichim.
On arriving at the relay, Michael Strogoff immediately asked for horses.
He had been fortunate in distancing the berlin.

Only three horses were fit to be harnessed.