Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends with biographical sketchTO HIS MOTHER.STEAMER “YERMAK,” June 20, 1890.Greeting, dear ones at home!At last I can take off my heavy muddy boots, my shabby breeches,and my blue shirt which is shiny with dust and sweat; I can washand dress like a human being. I am not sitting in a chaise but in afirst-class cabin of the steamer Yermak. This change took place tendays ago, and this is how it happened. I wrote to you fromListvenitchnaya that I was late for the Baikal steamer, that I had tocross Lake Baikal on Friday instead of Tuesday, and that owing tothis I should only be able to catch the Amur steamer on the 30th.But fate is capricious, and often plays us tricks we do not expect.On Thursday morning I went out for a walk on the shores of LakeBaikal; behold—the funnel of one of the little steamers is smoking.I inquire where the steamer is going. They tell me, “Across the sea”to Klyuevo; some merchant had hired it to take his waggons of goodsacross the Lake. We, too, wanted to cross “the sea” and to go toBoyarskaya station. I inquire how many versts from Klyuevo toBoyarskaya. They tell me twenty-seven. I run back to my companionsand beg them to take the risk of going to Klyuevo. I say the“risk” because, going to Klyuevo where there is nothing but a harbourand a watchman’s hut, we ran the risk of not finding horses, havingto stay on at Klyuevo, and being late for Friday’s steamer, which forus would be worse than Igor’s death, as we should have to wait tillTuesday. My companions consented. We gathered together our belongings,with cheerful legs stepped on to the steamer and straightto the refreshment bar: soup, for the love of God! Half my kingdomfor a plate of soup! The refreshment bar was very nasty and cramped;but the cook, Grigory Ivanitch, who had been a house-serf atVoronezh, turned out to be at the tip-top of his profession. He fedus magnificently. The weather was still and sunny. The water ofLake Baikal is the colour of turquoise, more transparent than theBlack Sea. They say that in deep places you can see the bottom overa verst below; and I myself have seen to such a depth, with rocksand mountains plunged in the turquoise-blue, that it sent a shiver186