CHAPTER XI

　In a valley between two sharp ridges¹ we discovered a herd² of yaksand cattle being rapidly driven off to the north by ten mountedSoyots. Approaching us warily⁴ they finally revealed that Noyon(Prince) of Todji had ordered them to drive the herds⁵ along theBuret Hei into Mongolia, apprehending⁶ the pillaging⁷ of the RedPartisans. They proceeded but were informed by some Soyot huntersthat this part of the Tannu Ola was occupied by the Partisans⁸ fromthe village of Vladimirovka. Consequently they were forced toreturn. We inquired from them the whereabouts of these outpostsand how many Partisans were holding the mountain pass over intoMongolia. We sent out the Tartar and the Kalmuck for areconnaissance while all of us prepared for the further advance bywrapping the feet of our horses in our shirts and by muzzling⁹ theirnoses with straps¹⁰ and bits of rope so that they could not neigh.

It was dark when our investigators¹¹ returned and reported to us thatabout thirty Partisans had a camp some ten kilometers from us,occupying the yurtas of the Soyots. At the pass were two outposts,one of two soldiers and the other of three. From the outposts tothe camp was a little over a mile. Our trail lay between the twooutposts. From the top of the mountain one could plainly see thetwo posts and could shoot them all. When we had come near to thetop of this mountain, I left our party and, taking with me myfriend, the Tartar, the Kalmuck and two of the young officers,advanced. From the mountain I saw about five hundred yards aheadtwo fires. At each of the fires sat a soldier with his rifle andthe others slept. I did not want to fight with the Partisans butwe had to do away with these outposts and that without firing or wenever should get through the pass. I did not believe the Partisanscould afterwards track us because the whole trail was thicklymarked with the spoors of horses and cattle.

"I shall take for my share these two," whispered my friend,pointing to the left outpost.

The rest of us were to take care of the second post. I crept alongthrough the bushes behind my friend in order to help him in case ofneed; but I am bound to admit that I was not at all worried abouthim. He was about seven feet tall and so strong that, when a horseused to refuse sometimes to take the bit, he would wrap his armaround its neck, kick its forefeet out from under it and throw itso that he could easily bridle¹² it on the ground. When only ahundred paces remained, I stood behind the bushes and watched. Icould see very distinctly the fire and the dozing¹³ sentinel. He satwith his rifle on his knees. His companion, asleep beside him, didnot move. Their white felt boots were plainly visible to me. Fora long time I did not remark my friend. At the fire all was quiet.

Suddenly from the other outpost floated over a few dim shouts andall was still. Our sentinel slowly raised his head. But just atthis moment the huge body of my friend rose up and blanketed thefire from me and in a twinkling the feet of the sentinel flashedthrough the air, as my companion had seized him by the throat andswung him clear into the bushes, where both figures disappeared.

In a second he re-appeared, flourished the rifle of the Partisanover his head and I heard the dull blow which was followed by anabsolute calm. He came back toward me and, confusedly smiling,said:

"It is done. God and the Devil! When I was a boy, my motherwanted to make a priest out of me. When I grew up, I became atrained agronome in order . . . to strangle the people and smashtheir skulls¹⁴. Revolution is a very stupid thing!"And with anger and disgust he spit and began to smoke his pipe.

At the other outpost also all was finished. During this night wereached the top of the Tannu Ola and descended¹⁵ again into a valleycovered with dense¹⁶ bushes and twined with a whole network of smallrivers and streams. It was the headwaters of the Buret Hei. Aboutone o'clock we stopped and began to feed our horses, as the grassjust there was very good. Here we thought ourselves in safety. Wesaw many calming indications. On the mountains were seen thegrazing herds of reindeers and yaks³ and approaching Soyotsconfirmed our supposition. Here behind the Tannu Ola the Soyotshad not seen the Red soldiers. We presented to these Soyots abrick of tea and saw them depart happy and sure that we were"Tzagan," a "good people."While our horses rested and grazed on the well-preserved grass, wesat by the fire and deliberated upon our further progress. Theredeveloped a sharp controversy¹⁷ between two sections of our company,one led by a Colonel who with four officers were so impressed bythe absence of Reds south of the Tannu Ola that they determined¹⁸ towork westward¹⁹ to Kobdo and then on to the camp on the Emil Riverwhere the Chinese authorities had interned²⁰ six thousand of theforces of General Bakitch, which had come over into Mongolianterritory. My friend and I with sixteen of the officers chose tocarry through our old plan to strike for the shores of Lake Kosogoland thence out to the Far East. As neither side could persuade theother to abandon its ideas, our company was divided and the nextday at noon we took leave of one another. It turned out that ourown wing of eighteen had many fights and difficulties on the way,which cost us the lives of six of our comrades, but that theremainder of us came through to the goal of our journey so closelyknit by the ties of devotion which fighting and struggling for ourvery lives entailed²¹ that we have ever preserved for one another thewarmest feelings of friendship. The other group under ColonelJukoff perished. He met a big detachment of Red cavalry²² and wasdefeated by them in two fights. Only two officers escaped. Theyrelated to me this sad news and the details of the fights when wemet four months later in Urga.

Our band of eighteen riders with five packhorses moved up thevalley of the Buret Hei. We floundered in the swamps, passedinnumerable miry streams, were frozen by the cold winds and weresoaked through by the snow and sleet²³; but we persistedindefatigably toward the south end of Kosogol. As a guide ourTartar led us confidently over these trails well marked by the feetof many cattle being run out of Urianhai to Mongolia.

1 ridges   

n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊

参考例句：

• The path winds along mountain ridges. 峰回路转。
• Perhaps that was the deepest truth in Ridges's nature. 在里奇斯的思想上，这大概可以算是天经地义第一条了。

2 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

3 yaks   

牦牛( yak的名词复数 )； 笑话

参考例句：

• The jokes get yaks. 那笑话引人发笑。
• Social species including birds, fish and yaks must have companionship. 习惯群居的生物，包括鸟类、鱼类和（牛毛）牛必须有伙伴。

4 warily   

adv.留心地

参考例句：

• He looked warily around him,pretending to look after Carrie.他小心地看了一下四周，假装是在照顾嘉莉。
• They were heading warily to a point in the enemy line.他们正小心翼翼地向着敌人封锁线的某一处前进。

5 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

6 apprehending   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的现在分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• China has not been totally unsuccessful apprehending corruption suspects. 在逮捕腐化分子方面，中国并非毫无进展。
• Apprehending violence is not an easy task. 惧怕暴力不是一件容易的事。

7 pillaging   

v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The rebels went looting and pillaging. 叛乱者趁火打劫，掠夺财物。
• Soldiers went on a rampage, pillaging stores and shooting. 士兵们横冲直撞，洗劫商店并且开枪射击。 来自辞典例句

8 partisans   

游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙

参考例句：

• Every movement has its partisans. 每一运动都有热情的支持者。
• He was rescued by some Italian partisans. 他被几名意大利游击队员所救。

9 muzzling   

给（狗等）戴口套( muzzle的现在分词 )； 使缄默，钳制…言论

参考例句：

• They accused the government of muzzling the press. 他们指责政府压制新闻自由。

10 straps   

n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• the shoulder straps of her dress 她连衣裙上的肩带
• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。

11 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 bridle   

n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒

参考例句：

• He learned to bridle his temper.他学会了控制脾气。
• I told my wife to put a bridle on her tongue.我告诉妻子说话要谨慎。

13 dozing   

v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡

参考例句：

• The economy shows no signs of faltering. 经济没有衰退的迹象。
• He never falters in his determination. 他的决心从不动摇。

14 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

15 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

16 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

17 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

18 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

19 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

20 interned   

v.拘留，关押( intern的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was interned but,as he was in no way implicated in war crimes,was released. 他曾被拘留过，但因未曾涉嫌战争罪行而被释放了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These soldiers were interned in a neutral country until the war was over. 这些士兵被拘留在一个中立国，直到战争结束。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

21 entailed   

使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需

参考例句：

• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son. 城堡和土地限定由长子继承。
• The house and estate are entailed on the eldest daughter. 这所房子和地产限定由长女继承。

22 cavalry   

n.骑兵；轻装甲部队

参考例句：

• We were taken in flank by a troop of cavalry. 我们翼侧受到一队骑兵的袭击。
• The enemy cavalry rode our men down. 敌人的骑兵撞倒了我们的人。

23 sleet   

n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹

参考例句：

• There was a great deal of sleet last night.昨夜雨夹雪下得真大。
• When winter comes,we get sleet and frost.冬天来到时我们这儿会有雨夹雪和霜冻。