Michael Strogoff Chapter 7 - Going Down the Volga

In which the steamboat Caucasus departs from Nijni-Novgorod along the great and winding Volga, carrying a motley company of travellers whose fortunes are shadowed by recent edicts and whispered anxieties. Among them, Michael Strogoff watches and listens discreetly, pondering the knowledge of his mission lurking in the murmurings of strangers and the uneasy stirrings of the journey ahead.