CHAPTER VIII

Armed with our false passports, we moved along up the valley of theTuba. Every ten or fifteen versts we came across large villages offrom one to six hundred houses, where all administration was in thehands of Soviets² and where spies scrutinized³ all passers-by. Wecould not avoid these villages for two reasons. First, ourattempts to avoid them when we were constantly meeting the peasantsin the country would have aroused suspicion and would have causedany Soviet¹ to arrest us and send us to the "Cheka" in Minnusinsk,where we should have sung our last song. Secondly⁴, in hisdocuments my fellow traveler was granted permission to use thegovernment post relays for forwarding him on his journey.

Therefore, we were forced to visit the village Soviets and changeour horses. Our own mounts we had given to the Tartar and Cossackwho helped us at the mouth of the Tuba, and the Cossack brought usin his wagon⁵ to the first village, where we received the posthorses. All except a small minority of the peasants were againstthe Bolsheviki and voluntarily assisted us. I paid them for theirhelp by treating their sick and my fellow traveler gave thempractical advice in the management of their agriculture. Those whohelped us chiefly were the old dissenters⁶ and the Cossacks.

Sometimes we came across villages entirely⁷ Communistic but verysoon we learned to distinguish them. When we entered a villagewith our horse bells tinkling⁸ and found the peasants who happenedto be sitting in front of their houses ready to get up with a frownand a grumble⁹ that here were more new devils coming, we knew thatthis was a village opposed to the Communists and that here we couldstop in safety. But, if the peasants approached and greeted uswith pleasure, calling us "Comrades," we knew at once that we wereamong the enemy and took great precautions. Such villages wereinhabited by people who were not the Siberian liberty-lovingpeasants but by emigrants¹⁰ from the Ukraine, idle and drunk, livingin poor dirty huts, though their village were surrounded with theblack and fertile soil of the steppes. Very dangerous and pleasantmoments we spent in the large village of Karatuz. It is rather atown. In the year 1912 two colleges were opened here and thepopulation reached 15,000 people. It is the capital of the SouthYenisei Cossacks. But by now it is very difficult to recognizethis town. The peasant emigrants and Red army murdered all theCossack population and destroyed and burned most of the houses; andit is at present the center of Bolshevism and Communism in theeastern part of the Minnusinsk district. In the building of theSoviet, where we came to exchange our horses, there was being helda meeting of the "Cheka." We were immediately surrounded andquestioned about our documents. We were not any too calm about theimpression which might be made by our papers and attempted to avoidthis examination. My fellow traveler afterwards often said to me:

"It is great good fortune that among the Bolsheviki the good-for-nothing shoemaker of yesterday is the Governor of today andscientists sweep the streets or clean the stables of the Redcavalry. I can talk with the Bolsheviki because they do not knowthe difference between 'disinfection' and 'diphtheria,'

'anthracite' and 'appendicitis¹²' and can talk them round in allthings, even up to persuading them not to put a bullet into me."And so we talked the members of the "Cheka" round to everythingthat we wanted. We presented to them a bright scheme for thefuture development of their district, when we would build the roadsand bridges which would allow them to export the wood fromUrianhai, iron and gold from the Sayan Mountains, cattle and fursfrom Mongolia. What a triumph of creative work for the SovietGovernment! Our ode occupied about an hour and afterwards themembers of the "Cheka," forgetting about our documents, personallychanged our horses, placed our luggage on the wagon and wished ussuccess. It was the last ordeal¹³ within the borders of Russia.

When we had crossed the valley of the river Amyl, Happiness smiledon us. Near the ferry we met a member of the militia¹⁴ from Karatuz.

He had on his wagon several rifles and automatic pistols, mostlyMausers, for outfitting¹⁵ an expedition through Urianhai in quest ofsome Cossack officers who had been greatly troubling theBolsheviki. We stood upon our guard. We could very easily havemet this expedition and we were not quite assured that the soldierswould be so appreciative¹⁶ of our high-sounding phrases as were themembers of the "Cheka." Carefully questioning the militiaman, weferreted out the route their expedition was to take. In the nextvillage we stayed in the same house with him. I had to open myluggage and suddenly I noticed his admiring glance fixed¹⁷ upon mybag.

"What pleases you so much?" I asked.

He whispered: "Trousers . . . Trousers."I had received from my townsmen quite new trousers of black thickcloth for riding. Those trousers attracted the rapt attention ofthe militiaman.

"If you have no other trousers. . . ." I remarked, reflecting uponmy plan of attack against my new friend.

"No," he explained with sadness, "the Soviet does not furnishtrousers. They tell me they also go without trousers. And mytrousers are absolutely worn out. Look at them."With these words he threw back the corner of his overcoat and I wasastonished how he could keep himself inside these trousers, forthey had such large holes that they were more of a net thantrousers, a net through which a small shark could have slipped.

"Sell me," he whispered, with a question in his voice.

"I cannot, for I need them myself," I answered decisively.

He reflected for a few minutes and afterward¹¹, approaching me, said:

"Let us go out doors and talk. Here it is inconvenient¹⁸."We went outside. "Now, what about it?" he began. "You are goinginto Urianhai. There the Soviet bank-notes have no value and youwill not be able to buy anything, where there are plenty of sables,fox-skins, ermine and gold dust to be purchased, which they verywillingly exchange for rifles and cartridges²⁰. You have each of youa rifle and I will give you one more rifle with a hundredcartridges if you give me the trousers.""We do not need weapons. We are protected by our documents," Ianswered, as though I did not understand.

"But no," he interrupted, "you can change that rifle there intofurs and gold. I shall give you that rifle outright²¹.""Ah, that's it, is it? But it's very little for those trousers.

Nowhere in Russia can you now find trousers. All Russia goeswithout trousers and for your rifle I should receive a sable¹⁹ andwhat use to me is one skin?"Word by word I attained²² to my desire. The militia-man got mytrousers and I received a rifle with one hundred cartridges and twoautomatic pistols with forty cartridges each. We were armed now sothat we could defend ourselves. Moreover, I persuaded the happypossessor of my trousers to give us a permit to carry the weapons.

Then the law and force were both on our side.

In a distant village we bought three horses, two for riding and onefor packing, engaged a guide, purchased dried bread, meat, salt andbutter and, after resting twenty-four hours, began our trip up theAmyl toward the Sayan Mountains on the border of Urianhai. Therewe hoped not to meet Bolsheviki, either sly or silly. In threedays from the mouth of the Tuba we passed the last Russian villagenear the Mongolian-Urianhai border, three days of constant contactwith a lawless population, of continuous danger and of the everpresent possibility of fortuitous death. Only iron will power,presence of mind and dogged tenacity²³ brought us through all thedangers and saved us from rolling back down our precipice²⁴ ofadventure, at whose foot lay so many others who had failed to makethis same climb to freedom which we had just accomplished²⁵. Perhapsthey lacked the persistence²⁶ or the presence of mind, perhaps theyhad not the poetic²⁷ ability to sing odes about "roads, bridges andgold mines" or perhaps they simply had no spare trousers.

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

3 scrutinized   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The jeweler scrutinized the diamond for flaws. 宝石商人仔细察看钻石有无瑕庇 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Together we scrutinized the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen shop. 我们一起把甜食店里买来的十二块柠檬蛋糕细细打量了一番。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比

4 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

5 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

6 dissenters   

n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He attacked the indulgence shown to religious dissenters. 他抨击对宗教上持不同政见者表现出的宽容。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• (The dissenters would have allowed even more leeway to the Secretary.) （持异议者还会给行政长官留有更多的余地。） 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 tinkling   

n.丁当作响声

参考例句：

• I could hear bells tinkling in the distance. 我能听到远处叮当铃响。
• To talk to him was like listening to the tinkling of a worn-out musical-box. 跟他说话，犹如听一架老掉牙的八音盒子丁冬响。 来自英汉文学

9 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

10 emigrants   

n.（从本国移往他国的）移民( emigrant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At last the emigrants got to their new home. 移民们终于到达了他们的新家。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• 'Truly, a decree for selling the property of emigrants.' “有那么回事，是出售外逃人员财产的法令。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

11 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

12 appendicitis   

n.阑尾炎，盲肠炎

参考例句：

• He came down with appendicitis.他得了阑尾炎。
• Acute appendicitis usually develops without relation to the ingestion of food.急性阑尾炎的发生通常与饮食无关。

13 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

14 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

15 outfitting   

v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The outfitting installation activities carried out on the building berth or dock. 舾装在船台上或船钨内完成。 来自互联网
• There is so much outfitting work. Do you subcontract some of them? 有这么多的舾装工作要做，你们将工程分包出去吗？ 来自互联网

16 appreciative   

adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的

参考例句：

• She was deeply appreciative of your help.她对你的帮助深表感激。
• We are very appreciative of their support in this respect.我们十分感谢他们在这方面的支持。

17 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

18 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

19 sable   

n.黑貂；adj.黑色的

参考例句：

• Artists' brushes are sometimes made of sable.画家的画笔有的是用貂毛制的。
• Down the sable flood they glided.他们在黑黝黝的洪水中随波逐流。

20 cartridges   

子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头

参考例句：

• computer consumables such as disks and printer cartridges 如磁盘、打印机墨盒之类的电脑耗材
• My new video game player came with three game cartridges included. 我的新电子游戏机附有三盘游戏带。

21 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

22 attained   

（通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况）

参考例句：

• She has attained the degree of Master of Arts. 她已获得文学硕士学位。
• Lu Hsun attained a high position in the republic of letters. 鲁迅在文坛上获得崇高的地位。

23 tenacity   

n.坚韧

参考例句：

• Tenacity is the bridge to success.坚韧是通向成功的桥。
• The athletes displayed great tenacity throughout the contest.运动员在比赛中表现出坚韧的斗志。

24 precipice   

n.悬崖，危急的处境

参考例句：

• The hut hung half over the edge of the precipice.那间小屋有一半悬在峭壁边上。
• A slight carelessness on this precipice could cost a man his life.在这悬崖上稍一疏忽就会使人丧生。

25 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

26 persistence   

n.坚持，持续，存留

参考例句：

• The persistence of a cough in his daughter puzzled him.他女儿持续的咳嗽把他难住了。
• He achieved success through dogged persistence.他靠着坚持不懈取得了成功。

27 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。