During the one month gap between letters 3 and 4 what is the strange accident that walton describes has happened?

the answer is: the start of world war i, and russia’s hopes of benefiting from it

during world war i russian joined due to in their current crisis they were being supported by france and the war was already declared to them by germany, they needed to maintain their political goal and leadership role in the balkans, and is the same feeling that this excerpt evoke the eager of maintain the land value.

"it's more of an essay than story, but perhaps it is best described as a mood-piece: it uses a lot of musical imagery, not to mention sea imagery, religious imagery, and any other imagery that suits his purpose."