It would perhaps have been more prudent not to have ascended the mountains during the night, and Michael would not have done so, had he been permitted to wait; but when, at the last stage, the iemschik drew his attention to a peal of thunder reverberating among the rocks, he merely said:
Horrelako zeru ilunaren azpian, beharbada ez zen zuhurrena gau beltzean mendietan gora saiatzea, eta itxaron egingo zuen Mikel Strogoffek, itxarotea edukiz gero, baina, azken postan, iemstxikak mendien artean burrunbatzen hasiak ziren trumoiak erakutsi zizkionean, garbi adierazi zion zein zen bere asmoa.