CHAPTER XXIII

　　The following evening we arrived at Khathyl, a small Russiansettlement of ten scattered¹ houses in the valley of the Egingol orYaga, which here takes its waters from the Kosogol half a mileabove the village. The Kosogol is a huge Alpine² lake, deep andcold, eighty-five miles in length and from ten to thirty in width.

On the western shore live the Darkhat Soyots, who call it Hubsugul,the Mongols, Kosogol. Both the Soyots and Mongols consider this aterrible and sacred lake. It is very easy to understand thisprejudice because the lake lies in a region of present volcanicactivity, where in the summer on perfectly³ calm sunny days itsometimes lashes⁴ itself into great waves that are dangerous notonly to the native fishing boats but also to the large Russianpassenger steamers that ply⁵ on the lake. In winter also itsometimes entirely⁶ breaks up its covering of ice and gives offgreat clouds of steam. Evidently the bottom of the lake issporadically pierced by discharging hot springs or, perhaps, bystreams of lava⁷. Evidence of some great underground convulsionlike this is afforded by the mass of killed fish which at timesdams the outlet⁸ river in its shallow places. The lake isexceedingly rich in fish, chiefly varieties of trout⁹ and salmon,and is famous for its wonderful "white fish," which was previouslysent all over Siberia and even down into Manchuria so far asMoukden. It is fat and remarkably¹⁰ tender and produces fine caviar.

Another variety in the lake is the white khayrus or trout, which inthe migration¹¹ season, contrary to the customs of most fish, goesdown stream into the Yaga, where it sometimes fills the river frombank to bank with swarms¹² of backs breaking the surface of thewater. However, this fish is not caught, because it is infestedwith worms and is unfit for food. Even cats and dogs will nottouch it. This is a very interesting phemonenon and was beinginvestigated and studied by Professor Dorogostaisky of theUniversity at Irkutsk when the coming of the Bolsheviki interruptedhis work.

In Khathyl we found a panic. The Russian detachment of ColonelKazagrandi, after having twice defeated the Bolsheviki and well onits march against Irkutsk, was suddenly rendered impotent andscattered through internal strife¹³ among the officers. TheBolsheviki took advantage of this situation, increased their forcesto one thousand men and began a forward movement to recover whatthey had lost, while the remnants of Colonel Kazagrandi'sdetachment were retreating on Khathyl, where he determined¹⁴ to makehis last stand against the Reds. The inhabitants were loadingtheir movable property with their families into carts and scurryingaway from the town, leaving all their cattle and horses towhomsoever should have the power to seize and hold them. One partyintended to hide in the dense¹⁵ larch¹⁶ forest and the mountain ravinesnot far away, while another party made southward for Muren Kure andUliassutai. The morning following our arrival the Mongol officialreceived word that the Red troops had outflanked ColonelKazagrandi's men and were approaching Khathyl. The Mongol loadedhis documents and his servants on eleven camels and left his yamen.

Our Mongol guides, without ever saying a word to us, secretlyslipped off with him and left us without camels. Our situationthus became desperate. We hastened to the colonists¹⁸ who had notyet got away to bargain with them for camels, but they hadpreviously, in anticipation¹⁹ of trouble, sent their herds²⁰ to distantMongols and so could do nothing to help us. Then we betookourselves to Dr. V. G. Gay, a veterinarian living in the town,famous throughout Mongolia for his battle against rinderpest. Helived here with his family and after being forced to give up hisgovernment work became a cattle dealer²¹. He was a most interestingperson, clever and energetic, and the one who had been appointedunder the Czarist regime to purchase all the meat supplies fromMongolia for the Russian Army on the German Front. He organized ahuge enterprise in Mongolia but when the Bolsheviki seized power in1917 he transferred his allegiance and began to work with them.

Then in May, 1918, when the Kolchak forces drove the Bolsheviki outof Siberia, he was arrested and taken for trial. However, he wasreleased because he was looked upon as the single individual toorganize this big Mongolian enterprise and he handed to AdmiralKolchak all the supplies of meat and the silver formerly²² receivedfrom the Soviet²³ commissars. At this time Gay had been serving asthe chief organizer and supplier of the forces of Kazagrandi.

When we went to him, he at once suggested that we take the onlything left, some poor, broken-down horses which would be able tocarry us the sixty miles to Muren Kure, where we could securecamels to return to Uliassutai. However, even these were beingkept some distance from the town so that we should have to spendthe night there, the night in which the Red troops were expected toarrive. Also we were much astonished to see that Gay was remainingthere with his family right up to the time of the expected arrivalof the Reds. The only others in the town were a few Cossacks, whohad been ordered to stay behind to watch the movements of the Redtroops. The night came. My friend and I were prepared either tofight or, in the last event, to commit suicide. We stayed in asmall house near the Yaga, where some workmen were living who couldnot, and did not feel it necessary to, leave. They went up on ahill from which they could scan the whole country up to the rangefrom behind which the Red detachment must appear. From thisvantage point in the forest one of the workmen came running in andcried out:

"Woe²⁴, woe to us! The Reds have arrived. A horseman is gallopingfast through the forest road. I called to him but he did notanswer me. It was dark but I knew the horse was a strange one.""Do not babble²⁵ so," said another of the workmen. "Some Mongol rodeby and you jumped to the conclusion that he was a Red.""No, it was not a Mongol," he replied. "The horse was shod. Iheard the sound of iron shoes on the road. Woe to us!""Well," said my friend, "it seems that this is our finish. It is asilly way for it all to end."He was right. Just then there was a knock at our door but it wasthat of the Mongol bringing us three horses for our escape.

Immediately we saddled them, packed the third beast with our tentand food and rode off at once to take leave of Gay.

In his house we found the whole war council. Two or threecolonists and several Cossacks had galloped²⁶ from the mountains andannounced that the Red detachment was approaching Khathyl but wouldremain for the night in the forest, where they were buildingcampfires. In fact, through the house windows we could see theglare of the fires. It seemed very strange that the enemy shouldawait the morning there in the forest when they were right on thevillage they wished to capture.

An armed Cossack entered the room and announced that two armed menfrom the detachment were approaching. All the men in the roompricked up their ears. Outside were heard the horses' hoofsfollowed by men's voices and a knock at the door.

"Come in," said Gay.

Two young men entered, their moustaches and beards white and theircheeks blazing red from the cold. They were dressed in the commonSiberian overcoat with the big Astrakhan caps, but they had noweapons. Questions began. It developed that it was a detachmentof White peasants from the Irkutsk and Yakutsk districts who hadbeen fighting with the Bolsheviki. They had been defeatedsomewhere in the vicinity of Irkutsk and were now trying to make ajunction with Kazagrandi. The leader of this band was a socialist,Captain Vassilieff, who had suffered much under the Czar because ofhis tenets.

Our troubles had vanished but we decided²⁷ to start immediately toMuren Kure, as we had gathered our information and were in a hurryto make our report. We started. On the road we overtook threeCossacks who were going out to bring back the colonists who werefleeing to the south. We joined them and, dismounting, we all ledour horses over the ice. The Yaga was mad. The subterraneanforces produced underneath²⁸ the ice great heaving waves which with aswirling roar threw up and tore loose great sections of ice,breaking them into small blocks and sucking them under the unbrokendownstream field. Cracks ran like snakes over the surface indifferent directions. One of the Cossacks fell into one of thesebut we had just time to save him. He was forced by his ducking insuch extreme cold to turn back to Khathyl. Our horses slippedabout and fell several times. Men and animals felt the presence ofdeath which hovered²⁹ over them and momentarily threatened them withdestruction. At last we made the farther bank and continuedsouthward down the valley, glad to have left the geological andfigurative volcanoes behind us. Ten miles farther on we came upwith the first party of refugees. They had spread a big tent andmade a fire inside, filling it with warmth and smoke. Their campwas made beside the establishment of a large Chinese trading house,where the owners refused to let the colonists come into their amplyspacious buildings, even though there were children, women andinvalids among the refugees. We spent but half an hour here. Theroad as we continued was easy, save in places where the snow laydeep. We crossed the fairly high divide between the Egingol andMuren. Near the pass one very unexpected event occurred to us. Wecrossed the mouth of a fairly wide valley whose upper end wascovered with a dense wood. Near this wood we noticed two horsemen,evidently watching us. Their manner of sitting in their saddlesand the character of their horses told us that they were notMongols. We began shouting and waving to them; but they did notanswer. Out of the wood emerged a third and stopped to look at us.

We decided to interview them and, whipping up our horses, gallopedtoward them. When we were about one thousand yards from them, theyslipped from their saddles and opened on us with a running fire.

Fortunately we rode a little apart and thus made a poor target forthem. We jumped off our horses, dropped prone³⁰ on the ground andprepared to fight. However, we did not fire because we thought itmight be a mistake on their part, thinking that we were Reds. Theyshortly made off. Their shots from the European rifles had givenus further proof that they were not Mongols. We waited until theyhad disappeared into the woods and then went forward to investigatetheir tracks, which we found were those of shod horses, clearlycorroborating the earlier evidence that they were not Mongols. Whocould they have been? We never found out; yet what a differentrelationship they might have borne to our lives, had their shotsbeen true!

After we had passed over the divide, we met the Russian colonist¹⁷ D.

A. Teternikoff from Muren Kure, who invited us to stay in his houseand promised to secure camels for us from the Lamas. The cold wasintense and heightened by a piercing wind. During the day we frozeto the bone but at night thawed³¹ and warmed up nicely by our tentstove. After two days we entered the valley of Muren and from afarmade out the square of the Kure with its Chinese roofs and largered temples. Nearby was a second square, the Chinese and Russiansettlement. Two hours more brought us to the house of ourhospitable companion and his attractive young wife who feasted uswith a wonderful luncheon³² of tasty dishes. We spent five days atMuren waiting for the camels to be engaged. During this time manyrefugees arrived from Khathyl because Colonel Kazagrandi wasgradually falling back upon the town. Among others there were twoColonels, Plavako and Maklakoff, who had caused the disruption ofthe Kazagrandi force. No sooner had the refugees appeared in MurenKure than the Mongolian officials announced that the Chineseauthorities had ordered them to drive out all Russian refugees.

"Where can we go now in winter with women and children and no homesof our own?" asked the distraught refugees.

"That is of no moment to us," answered the Mongolian officials.

"The Chinese authorities are angry and have ordered us to drive youaway. We cannot help you at all."The refugees had to leave Muren Kure and so erected³³ their tents inthe open not far away. Plavako and Maklakoff bought horses andstarted out for Van Kure. Long afterwards I learned that both hadbeen killed by the Chinese along the road.

We secured three camels and started out with a large group ofChinese merchants and Russian refugees to make Uliassutai,preserving the warmest recollections of our courteous³⁴ hosts, T. V.

and D. A. Teternikoff. For the trip we had to pay for our camelsthe very high price of 33 lan of the silver bullion³⁵ which had beensupplied us by an American firm in Uliassutai, the equivalentroughly of 2.7 pounds of the white metal.

1 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

2 alpine   

adj.高山的；n.高山植物

参考例句：

• Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
• Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

4 lashes   

n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• Mother always lashes out food for the children's party. 孩子们聚会时，母亲总是给他们许多吃的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Never walk behind a horse in case it lashes out. 绝对不要跟在马后面，以防它突然猛踢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ply   

v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲

参考例句：

• Taxis licensed to ply for hire at the railway station.许可计程车在火车站候客。
• Ferryboats ply across the English Channel.渡船定期往返于英吉利海峡。

6 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。

7 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。

8 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

9 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

10 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

11 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

12 swarms   

蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They came to town in swarms. 他们蜂拥来到城里。
• On June the first there were swarms of children playing in the park. 6月1日那一天，这个公园里有一群群的孩子玩耍。

13 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

14 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。

15 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。

16 larch   

n.落叶松

参考例句：

• This pine is called the larch.这棵松树是落叶松。
• I shall be under those larch trees.我将在那些落叶松下面。

17 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。

18 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》

19 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

20 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。

21 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

22 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

23 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。

24 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

25 babble   

v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语

参考例句：

• No one could understand the little baby's babble. 没人能听懂这个小婴孩的话。
• The babble of voices in the next compartment annoyed all of us.隔壁的车厢隔间里不间歇的嘈杂谈话声让我们都很气恼。

26 galloped   

（使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事

参考例句：

• Jo galloped across the field towards him. 乔骑马穿过田野向他奔去。
• The children galloped home as soon as the class was over. 孩子们一下课便飞奔回家了。

27 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

28 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

29 hovered   

鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
• A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。

30 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

31 thawed   

解冻

参考例句：

• The little girl's smile thawed the angry old man. 小姑娘的微笑使发怒的老头缓和下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He thawed after sitting at a fire for a while. 在火堆旁坐了一会儿，他觉得暖和起来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

32 luncheon   

n.午宴，午餐，便宴

参考例句：

• We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
• I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。

33 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

34 courteous   

adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的

参考例句：

• Although she often disagreed with me,she was always courteous.尽管她常常和我意见不一，但她总是很谦恭有礼。
• He was a kind and courteous man.他为人友善，而且彬彬有礼。

35 bullion   

n.金条，银条

参考例句：

• In the London bullion market yesterday,the price of gold was steady.昨天伦敦金银市场黄金价格稳定。
• Police have launched a man-hunt for the bullion robbers.警方已大举搜捕抢劫金条的罪犯。