It was mid-April: he had been
journeying on foot for two months. Easter was approaching, when these
pious journeys were frequent, and not far from Veliki-Oustiog he fell
in with several bands of men and women--_bohomolets_, as they are
called--on their way to Solovetsk. There were more than two thousand
in the town waiting for the frozen Dwina to open, that they might
proceed by water to Archangel. It being Holy Week, Piotrowski was
forced to conform to the innumerable observances of the Greek
ritual--prayers, canticles, genuflexions, prostrations, crossings and
bowings, as manifold as in his own, but different. His inner
consciousness suffered from this hypocrisy, but it was necessary to
his part. They were detained at Veliki-Oustiog a mortal month, during
which these acts of devotion went on with almost unabated zeal among
the _boholomets._ At length the river was free, and they set out.
Their vessel was a huge hulk which looked like a floating barn: it was
manned by twenty or thirty rowers, and to replenish his purse a little
the fugitive took an oar. The agent who had charge of the expedition
required their passports: among the number the irregularity of
Piotrowski's escaped notice. The prayers and prostrations went on
during the voyage, which lasted a fort-night. One morning the early
sunshine glittered on the gilded domes of Archangel: the vessel soon
touched the shore, and his passport was returned to him uninspected,
with the small sum he had earned by rowing.
Pages:
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40