Buried Alive; Or, Ten Years Penal Servitude in Siberia

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter xx. I leave the prison. The incidents which I have related in the last chapter occurred during the last year of my captivity. In looking hack upon this time now it seems to me as if, of all those dreary ten years, the first and the last had been the most remarkable, so clearly do I remember every trifling incident which happened in them. In spite of my intense desire to be free once more I began to find my life much less hard than it had been during the previous years. In the first place, I had succeeded at last in making friends with several convicts, who had finally arrived at the conclusion that I was not a bad man. Some of them were even sincerely attached to me--e.g. the pioneer, who nearly cried when my comrade and I left the prison. We had to remain in the town for another month before leaving the place altogether, and hardly a day passed without his coming to call on us, just to take a look at us, as he used to say. Others, it is true, remained cold and repellent to the very last, and hardly ever exchanged a word with me. In the second place, I enjoy etl more liberty during this memorable last year. I found out, by a mere chance, that some of my old schoolfellows were among the officers who were in garrison in the town. I renewed our acquaintance, and they helped me to the utmost of their power. I had more money at my disposal, was able to write to my friends once more, and, what was the greatest boon of all, they gave me books to read. I had been denied that pleasure for many years, and it is difficult to describe the mixed sensation of joy and bitterness with which I read the first book. It happened to be an odd number of some magazine:' I remember sitting down to read it one evening, after we had been locked in for the...