Book 2 Chapter 35 Not Men But Strange and Terrible Creatures?

The procession was such a long one that the carts with the
luggage and the weak started only when those in front were
already out of sight. When the last of the carts moved,
Nekhludoff got into the trap that stood waiting for him and told
the isvostchik to catch up the prisoners in front, so that he
could see if he knew any of the men in the gang, and then try and
find out Maslova among the women and ask her if she had received
the things he sent.

It was very hot, and a cloud of dust that was raised by a
thousand tramping feet stood all the time over the gang that was
moving down the middle of the street. The prisoners were walking
quickly, and the slow-going isvostchik's horse was some time in
catching them up. Row upon row they passed, those strange and
terrible-looking creatures, none of whom Nekhludoff knew.

On they went, all dressed alike, moving a thousand feet all shod
alike, swinging their free arms as if to keep up their spirits.
There were so many of them, they all looked so much alike, and
they were all placed in such unusual, peculiar circumstances,
that they seemed to Nekhludoff to be not men but some sort of
strange and terrible creatures. This impression passed when he
recognised in the crowd of convicts the murderer Federoff, and
among the exiles Okhotin the wit, and another tramp who had
appealed to him for assistance. Almost all the prisoners turned
and looked at the trap that was passing them and at the gentleman
inside. Federoff tossed his head backwards as a sign that he had
recognised Nekhludoff, Okhotin winked, but neither of them bowed,
considering it not the thing.