CHAPTER XXII

　　As we approached the telegraph station, we were met by a blondeyoung man who was in charge of the office, Kanine by name. Withsome little confusion he offered us a place in his house for thenight. When we entered the room, a tall, lanky¹ man rose from thetable and indecisively walked toward us, looking very attentivelyat us the while.

"Guests . . ." explained Kanine. "They are going to Khathyl.

Private persons, strangers, foreigners . . .""A-h," drawled the stranger in a quiet, comprehending tone.

While we were untying² our girdles and with difficulty getting outof our great Mongolian coats, the tall man was animatedlywhispering something to our host. As we approached the table tosit down and rest, I overheard him say: "We are forced to postponeit," and saw Kanine simply nod in answer.

Several other people were seated at the table, among them theassistant of Kanine, a tall blonde man with a white face, whotalked like a Gatling gun about everything imaginable. He was halfcrazy and his semi-madness expressed itself when any loud talking,shouting or sudden sharp report led him to repeat the words of theone to whom he was talking at the time or to relate in amechanical, hurried manner stories of what was happening around himjust at this particular juncture³. The wife of Kanine, a pale,young, exhausted⁴-looking woman with frightened eyes and a facedistorted by fear, was also there and near her a young girl offifteen with cropped hair and dressed like a man, as well as thetwo small sons of Kanine. We made acquaintance with all of them.

The tall stranger called himself Gorokoff, a Russian colonist⁵ fromSamgaltai, and presented the short-haired girl as his sister.

Kanine's wife looked at us with plainly discernible fear and saidnothing, evidently displeased⁶ over our being there. However, wehad no choice and consequently began drinking tea and eating ourbread and cold meat.

Kanine told us that ever since the telegraph line had beendestroyed all his family and relatives had felt very keenly thepoverty and hardship that naturally followed. The Bolsheviki didnot send him any salary from Irkutsk, so that he was compelled toshift for himself as best he could. They cut and cured hay forsale to the Russian colonists⁷, handled private messages andmerchandise from Khathyl to Uliassutai and Samgaltai, bought andsold cattle, hunted and in this manner managed to exist. Gorokoffannounced that his commercial affairs compelled him to go toKhathyl and that he and his sister would be glad to join ourcaravan. He had a most unprepossessing, angry-looking face withcolorless eyes that always avoided those of the person with whom hewas speaking. During the conversation we asked Kanine if therewere Russian colonists near by, to which he answered with knittedbrow and a look of disgust on his face:

"There is one rich old man, Bobroff, who lives a verst away fromour station; but I would not advise you to visit him. He is amiserly, inhospitable old fellow who does not like guests."During these words of her husband Madame Kanine dropped her eyesand contracted her shoulders in something resembling a shudder⁹.

Gorokoff and his sister smoked along indifferently. I very clearlyremarked all this as well as the hostile tone of Kanine, theconfusion of his wife and the artificial indifference¹⁰ of Gorokoff;and I determined¹¹ to see the old colonist given such a bad name byKanine. In Uliassutai I knew two Bobroffs. I said to Kanine thatI had been asked to hand a letter personally to Bobroff and, afterfinishing my tea, put on my overcoat and went out.

The house of Bobroff stood in a deep sink in the mountains,surrounded by a high fence over which the low roofs of the housescould be seen. A light shone through the window. I knocked at thegate. A furious barking of dogs answered me and through the cracksof the fence I made out four huge black Mongol dogs, showing theirteeth and growling¹² as they rushed toward the gate. Inside thecourt someone opened the door and called out: "Who is there?"I answered that I was traveling through from Uliassutai. The dogswere first caught and chained and I was then admitted by a man wholooked me over very carefully and inquiringly from head to foot. Arevolver handle stuck out of his pocket. Satisfied with hisobservations and learning that I knew his relatives, he warmlywelcomed me to the house and presented me to his wife, a dignifiedold woman, and to his beautiful little adopted daughter, a girl offive years. She had been found on the plain beside the dead bodyof her mother exhausted in her attempt to escape from theBolsheviki in Siberia.

Bobroff told me that the Russian detachment of Kazagrandi hadsucceeded in driving the Red troops away from the Kosogol and thatwe could consequently continue our trip to Khathyl without danger.

"Why did you not stop with me instead of with those brigands¹³?"asked the old fellow.

I began to question him and received some very important news. Itseemed that Kanine was a Bolshevik, the agent of the IrkutskSoviet, and stationed here for purposes of observation. However,now he was rendered harmless, because the road between him andIrkutsk was interrupted. Still from Biisk in the Altai country hadjust come a very important commissar.

"Gorokoff?" I asked.

"That's what he calls himself," replied the old fellow; "but I amalso from Biisk and I know everyone there. His real name isPouzikoff and the short-haired girl with him is his mistress. Heis the commissar of the 'Cheka' and she is the agent of thisestablishment. Last August the two of them shot with theirrevolvers seventy bound officers from Kolchak's army. Villainous,cowardly murderers! Now they have come here for a reconnaissance.

They wanted to stay in my house but I knew them too well andrefused them place.""And you do not fear him?" I asked, remembering the different wordsand glances of these people as they sat at the table in thestation.

"No," answered the old man. "I know how to defend myself and myfamily and I have a protector too--my son, such a shot, a rider anda fighter as does not exist in all Mongolia. I am very sorry thatyou will not make the acquaintance of my boy. He has gone off tothe herds¹⁴ and will return only tomorrow evening."We took most cordial leave of each other and I promised to stopwith him on my return.

"Well, what yarns¹⁵ did Bobroff tell you about us?" was the questionwith which Kanine and Gorokoff met me when I came back to thestation.

"Nothing about you," I answered, "because he did not even want tospeak with me when he found out that I was staying in your house.

What is the trouble between you?" I asked of them, expressingcomplete astonishment¹⁶ on my face.

"It is an old score," growled¹⁷ Gorokoff.

"A malicious¹⁸ old churl," Kanine added in agreement, the while thefrightened, suffering-laden eyes of his wife again gave expressionto terrifying horror, as if she momentarily expected a deadly blow.

Gorokoff began to pack his luggage in preparation for the journeywith us the following morning. We prepared our simple beds in anadjoining room and went to sleep. I whispered to my friend to keephis revolver handy for anything that might happen but he onlysmiled as he dragged his revolver and his ax from his coat to placethem under his pillow.

"This people at the outset seemed to me very suspicious," hewhispered. "They are cooking up something crooked¹⁹. Tomorrow Ishall ride behind this Gorokoff and shall prepare for him a veryfaithful one of my bullets, a little dum-dum."The Mongols spent the night under their tent in the open courtbeside their camels, because they wanted to be near to feed them.

About seven o'clock we started. My friend took up his post as rearguard to our caravan⁸, keeping all the time behind Gorokoff, whowith his sister, both armed from tip to toe, rode splendid mounts.

"How have you kept your horses in such fine condition coming allthe way from Samgaltai?" I inquired as I looked over their finebeasts.

When he answered that these belonged to his host, I realized thatKanine was not so poor as he made out; for any rich Mongol wouldhave given him in exchange for one of these lovely animals enoughsheep to have kept his household in mutton for a whole year.

Soon we came to a large swamp surrounded by dense²⁰ brush, where Iwas much astonished by seeing literally²¹ hundreds of white kuropatkaor partridges. Out of the water rose a flock of duck with a madrush as we hove in sight. Winter, cold driving wind, snow and wildducks! The Mongol explained it to me thus:

"This swamp always remains²² warm and never freezes. The wild duckslive here the year round and the kuropatka too, finding fresh foodin the soft warm earth."As I was speaking with the Mongol I noticed over the swamp a tongueof reddish-yellow flame. It flashed and disappeared at once butlater, on the farther edge, two further tongues ran upward. Irealized that here was the real will-o'-the-wisp surrounded by somany thousands of legends and explained so simply by chemistry asmerely a flash of methane²³ or swamp gas generated by the putrefyingof vegetable matter in the warm damp earth.

"Here dwell the demons²⁴ of Adair, who are in perpetual war withthose of Muren," explained the Mongol.

"Indeed," I thought, "if in prosaic²⁵ Europe in our days theinhabitants of our villages believe these flames to be some wildsorcery, then surely in the land of mystery they must be at leastthe evidences of war between the demons of two neighboring rivers!"After passing this swamp we made out far ahead of us a largemonastery. Though this was some half mile off the road, theGorokoffs said they would ride over to it to make some purchases inthe Chinese shops there. They quickly rode away, promising²⁶ toovertake us shortly, but we did not see them again for a while.

They slipped away without leaving any trail but we met them laterin very unexpected circumstances of fatal portent²⁷ for them. On ourpart we were highly satisfied that we were rid of them so soon and,after they were gone, I imparted to my friend the informationgleaned from Bobroff the evening before.

1 lanky   

adj.瘦长的

参考例句：

• He was six feet four,all lanky and leggy.他身高6英尺4英寸，瘦高个儿，大长腿。
• Tom was a lanky boy with long skinny legs.汤姆是一个腿很细的瘦高个儿。

2 untying   

untie的现在分词

参考例句：

• The tying of bow ties is an art; the untying is easy. 打领带是一种艺术，解领带则很容易。
• As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 33他们解驴驹的时候，主人问他们说，解驴驹作什么？

3 juncture   

n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头

参考例句：

• The project is situated at the juncture of the new and old urban districts.该项目位于新老城区交界处。
• It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景。

4 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

5 colonist   

n.殖民者，移民

参考例句：

• The indians often attacked the settlements of the colonist.印地安人经常袭击殖民者的定居点。
• In the seventeenth century, the colonist here thatched their roofs with reeds and straw,just as they did in england.在17世纪，殖民者在这里用茅草盖屋，就像他们在英国做的一样。

6 displeased   

a.不快的

参考例句：

• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。
• He was displeased about the whole affair. 他对整个事情感到很不高兴。

7 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

9 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

10 indifference   

n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎

参考例句：

• I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
• He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。

11 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。

12 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。

13 brigands   

n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say there are brigands hiding along the way. 他们说沿路隐藏着土匪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The brigands demanded tribute from passing vehicles. 土匪向过往车辆勒索钱财。 来自辞典例句

14 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。

15 yarns   

n.纱( yarn的名词复数 )；纱线；奇闻漫谈；旅行轶事

参考例句：

• ...vegetable-dyed yarns. 用植物染料染过色的纱线 来自辞典例句
• Fibers may be loosely or tightly twisted into yarns. 纤维可以是膨松地或紧密地捻成纱线。 来自辞典例句

16 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

17 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

19 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

20 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。

21 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

22 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

23 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

24 demons   

n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念

参考例句：

• demons torturing the sinners in Hell 地狱里折磨罪人的魔鬼
• He is plagued by demons which go back to his traumatic childhood. 他为心魔所困扰，那可追溯至他饱受创伤的童年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 prosaic   

adj.单调的，无趣的

参考例句：

• The truth is more prosaic.真相更加乏味。
• It was a prosaic description of the scene.这是对场景没有想象力的一个描述。

26 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

27 portent   

n.预兆；恶兆；怪事

参考例句：

• I see it as a portent of things to come.我把它看作是将要到来的事物的前兆。
• As for her engagement with Adam,I would say the portents are gloomy.至于她和亚当的婚约，我看兆头不妙。