88 THE BREAK-UP OF THE ICE 



startled by the appearance of M. Znaminski, who had 

 just gone out, and now came hurrying back in a state of 

 great excitement, beckoning to us to come. 



We seized our guns, expecting to see some great 

 or rare bird ; we rushed to the door, and there we paused 

 and stood still, gazing before us in mute astonishment. 

 Our road was in movement, and was going to Ust-Zylma 

 at the rate of two or three miles an hour. There was no 

 doubt about it, the Zylma was breaking up. The scene 

 was wild and picturesque. In a few hours it was very 

 impressive. The ice had broken into the Petchora at 

 the mouth of the Zylma. Here and there piles of it lay 

 upon the banks. Finally it had blocked, and gradually 

 the Zylma became a confused mass of jammed ice and tree- 

 trunks, while an occasional ice-floe, thicker than the rest, 

 formed where the water had been stiller and deeper, 

 rising above the level. While the ice moved the sound 

 was like that of a waterfall : as it cracked on the Petchora, 

 the noise was as that of rumbling thunder. The water 

 was rapidly rising, and our predicament was serious. It 

 was obvious that no horses could reach us. The Russians, 

 who at first did not realise the situation, soon began to 

 look grave. We took counsel together, and we decided 

 to transport ourselves and our baggage to some houses 

 that stood on higher ground, halfway towards the mouth 

 of the Zylma. It took us some hours to do this. We 

 were beginning to make preparations for a week's camping 

 in the midst of floods, when towards four o'clock we dis- 

 cerned in the distance the figures of our yemschiks. 

 They were coming, but they were coming without horses. 

 When they reached us we learned from them that the ice 

 had broken up on both shores of the Petchora. They 

 had come across in a boat, which they had dragged for 

 a couple of versts in a sledge across the central field 



