CHAPTER XXIX. 



MR. NEWCOMB'S NARRATIVE. 

 (CONTINUED.) 



next night, March 13th, Lieutenant Danenhower 

 -L with Mr. Cole, our steward, and myself bade good-bye 

 to our Irkutsk friends and started towards home, following 

 the first detachment, which, 1 have omitted to state, left 

 Irkutsk the evening before the departure of Jackson and 

 Larsen. We journeyed on, sometimes on runners, then on 

 wheels, the snow having already begun to disappear. We 

 got as far as Nijni Ujinsk and then waited to meet the 

 officers sent out by government for our assistance and 

 relief. After some delay (the roads were very bad) those 

 gentlemen, Lieutenant Harber and Master Schurtze, U. S. N., 

 arrived with letters. Thus, after more than two and one-half 

 years, I was talking with real live Americans, fresh from 

 home. 



As Lieutenant Harber was clothed with the authority to 

 employ those of our party who were of use and available, 

 despatches were sent to Seaman Leach, who, with our first 

 detachment, had reached Krosnayarsk. Every member of 

 our party had previously volunteered his services to the 

 department for a continuation of the search for the missing, 

 and Leach's party willingly returned. They left Krosnay- 

 arsk about the time we left Nijni Ujinsk, and we met them and 

 said good-bye on the road. We, as ordered, kept on towards 

 home. They pushed on for Irkutsk, where they met Lieuten- 

 ant Harber and Master Schurtze, and subsequently went 

 north with them. 



Continuing our journey, we passed through several minor 

 towns to Krosnayarsk, where we spent a part of a day and 

 night. Pushing forward again we reached Tomsk, the 



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