EXPLANATORY NOTE
　　When one of the leading publicists in America, Dr. Albert Shaw ofthe Review of Reviews, after reading the manuscript of Part I ofthis volume, characterized the author as "The Robinson Crusoe ofthe Twentieth Century," he touched the feature of the narrativewhich is at once most attractive and most dangerous; for thesuccession of trying and thrilling experiences recorded seems inplaces too highly colored to be real or, sometimes, even possiblein this day and generation. I desire, therefore, to assure thereader at the outset that Dr. Ossendowski is a man of long anddiverse experience as a scientist and writer with a training forcareful observation which should put the stamp of accuracy andreliability on his chronicle. Only the extraordinary events ofthese extraordinary times could have thrown one with so manytalents back into the surroundings of the "Cave Man" and thus givento us this unusual account of personal adventure, of great humanmysteries and of the political and religious motives which areenergizing the "Heart of Asia."My share in the work has been to induce Dr. Ossendowski to writehis story at this time and to assist him in rendering hisexperiences into English.
　　LEWIS STANTON PALEN.
CHAPTER I
In the beginning of the year 1920 I happened to be living in theSiberian town of Krasnoyarsk, situated on the shores of the RiverYenisei, that noble stream which is cradled in the sun-bathedmountains of Mongolia to pour its warming life into the ArcticOcean and to whose mouth Nansen has twice come to open the shortestroad for commerce from Europe to the heart of Asia. There in thedepths of the still Siberian winter I was suddenly caught up in thewhirling storm of mad revolution raging all over Russia, sowing inthis peaceful and rich land vengeance, hate, bloodshed and crimesthat go unpunished by the law. No one could tell the hour of hisfate. The people lived from day to day and left their homes notknowing whether they should return to them or whether they shouldbe dragged from the streets and thrown into the dungeons of thattravesty of courts, the Revolutionary Committee, more terrible andmore bloody than those of the Mediaeval Inquisition. We who werestrangers in this distraught land were not saved from itspersecutions and I personally lived through them.

One morning, when I had gone out to see a friend, I suddenlyreceived the news that twenty Red soldiers had surrounded my houseto arrest me and that I must escape. I quickly put on one of myfriend's old hunting suits, took some money and hurried away onfoot along the back ways of the town till I struck the open road,where I engaged a peasant, who in four hours had driven me twentymiles from the town and set me down in the midst of a deeplyforested region. On the way I bought a rifle, three hundredcartridges, an ax, a knife, a sheepskin overcoat, tea, salt, drybread and a kettle. I penetrated into the heart of the wood to anabandoned half-burned hut. From this day I became a genuinetrapper but I never dreamed that I should follow this role as longas I did. The next morning I went hunting and had the good fortuneto kill two heathcock. I found deer tracks in plenty and felt surethat I should not want for food. However, my sojourn in this placewas not for long. Five days later when I returned from hunting Inoticed smoke curling up out of the chimney of my hut. Istealthily crept along closer to the cabin and discovered twosaddled horses with soldiers' rifles slung to the saddles. Twodisarmed men were not dangerous for me with a weapon, so I quicklyrushed across the open and entered the hut. From the bench twosoldiers started up in fright. They were Bolsheviki. On their bigAstrakhan caps I made out the red stars of Bolshevism and on theirblouses the dirty red bands. We greeted each other and sat down.

The soldiers had already prepared tea and so we drank this everwelcome hot beverage and chatted, suspiciously eyeing one anotherthe while. To disarm this suspicion on their part, I told themthat I was a hunter from a distant place and was living therebecause I found it good country for sables. They announced to methat they were soldiers of a detachment sent from a town into thewoods to pursue all suspicious people.

"Do you understand, 'Comrade,'" said one of them to me, "we arelooking for counter-revolutionists to shoot them?"I knew it without his explanations. All my forces were directed toassuring them by my conduct that I was a simple peasant hunter andthat I had nothing in common with the counter-revolutionists. Iwas thinking also all the time of where I should go after thedeparture of my unwelcome guests. It grew dark. In the darknesstheir faces were even less attractive. They took out bottles ofvodka and drank and the alcohol began to act very noticeably. Theytalked loudly and constantly interrupted each other, boasting howmany bourgeoisie they had killed in Krasnoyarsk and how manyCossacks they had slid under the ice in the river. Afterwards theybegan to quarrel but soon they were tired and prepared to sleep.

All of a sudden and without any warning the door of the hut swungwide open and the steam of the heated room rolled out in a greatcloud, out of which seemed to rise like a genie, as the steamsettled, the figure of a tall, gaunt peasant impressively crownedwith the high Astrakhan cap and wrapped in the great sheepskinovercoat that added to the massiveness of his figure. He stoodwith his rifle ready to fire. Under his girdle lay the sharp axwithout which the Siberian peasant cannot exist. Eyes, quick andglimmering like those of a wild beast, fixed themselves alternatelyon each of us. In a moment he took off his cap, made the sign ofthe cross on his breast and asked of us: "Who is the master here?"I answered him.

"May I stop the night?""Yes," I replied, "places enough for all. Take a cup of tea. Itis still hot."The stranger, running his eyes constantly over all of us and overeverything about the room, began to take off his skin coat afterputting his rifle in the corner. He was dressed in an old leatherblouse with trousers of the same material tucked in high feltboots. His face was quite young, fine and tinged with somethingakin to mockery. His white, sharp teeth glimmered as his eyespenetrated everything they rested upon. I noticed the locks ofgrey in his shaggy head. Lines of bitterness circled his mouth.

They showed his life had been very stormy and full of danger. Hetook a seat beside his rifle and laid his ax on the floor below.

"What? Is it your wife?" asked one of the drunken soldiers,pointing to the ax.

The tall peasant looked calmly at him from the quiet eyes undertheir heavy brows and as calmly answered:

"One meets a different folk these days and with an ax it is muchsafer."He began to drink tea very greedily, while his eyes looked at memany times with sharp inquiry in them and ran often round the wholecabin in search of the answer to his doubts. Very slowly and witha guarded drawl he answered all the questions of the soldiersbetween gulps of the hot tea, then he turned his glass upside downas evidence of having finished, placed on the top of it the smalllump of sugar left and remarked to the soldiers:

"I am going out to look after my horse and will unsaddle yourhorses for you also.""All right," exclaimed the half-sleeping young soldier, "bring inour rifles as well."The soldiers were lying on the benches and thus left for us onlythe floor. The stranger soon came back, brought the rifles and setthem in the dark corner. He dropped the saddle pads on the floor,sat down on them and began to take off his boots. The soldiers andmy guest soon were snoring but I did not sleep for thinking of whatnext to do. Finally as dawn was breaking, I dozed off only toawake in the broad daylight and find my stranger gone. I wentoutside the hut and discovered him saddling a fine bay stallion.

"Are you going away?" I asked.

"Yes, but I want to go together with these ---- comrades,'" hewhispered, "and afterwards I shall come back."I did not ask him anything further and told him only that I wouldwait for him. He took off the bags that had been hanging on hissaddle, put them away out of sight in the burned corner of thecabin, looked over the stirrups and bridle and, as he finishedsaddling, smiled and said:

"I am ready. I'm going to awake my 'comrades.'" Half an hourafter the morning drink of tea, my three guests took their leave.

I remained out of doors and was engaged in splitting wood for mystove. Suddenly, from a distance, rifle shots rang through thewoods, first one, then a second. Afterwards all was still. Fromthe place near the shots a frightened covey of blackcock broke andcame over me. At the top of a high pine a jay cried out. Ilistened for a long time to see if anyone was approaching my hutbut everything was still.

On the lower Yenisei it grows dark very early. I built a fire inmy stove and began to cook my soup, constantly listening for everynoise that came from beyond the cabin walls. Certainly Iunderstood at all times very clearly that death was ever beside meand might claim me by means of either man, beast, cold, accident ordisease. I knew that nobody was near me to assist and that all myhelp was in the hands of God, in the power of my hands and feet, inthe accuracy of my aim and in my presence of mind. However, Ilistened in vain. I did not notice the return of my stranger.

Like yesterday he appeared all at once on the threshold. Throughthe steam I made out his laughing eyes and his fine face. Hestepped into the hut and dropped with a good deal of noise threerifles into the corner.

"Two horses, two rifles, two saddles, two boxes of dry bread, halfa brick of tea, a small bag of salt, fifty cartridges, twoovercoats, two pairs of boots," laughingly he counted out. "Intruth today I had a very successful hunt."In astonishment I looked at him.

"What are you surprised at?" he laughed. "Komu nujny etitovarischi? Who's got any use for these fellows? Let us have teaand go to sleep. Tomorrow I will guide you to another safer placeand then go on."
CHAPTER II
At the dawn of day we started forth, leaving my first place ofrefuge. Into the bags we packed our personal estate and fastenedthem on one of the saddles.

"We must go four or five hundred versts," very calmly announced myfellow traveler, who called himself "Ivan," a name that meantnothing to my mind or heart in this land where every second manbore the same.

"We shall travel then for a very long time," I remarkedregretfully.

"Not more than one week, perhaps even less," he answered.

That night we spent in the woods under the wide spreading branchesof the fir trees. It was my first night in the forest under theopen sky. How many like this I was destined to spend in the yearand a half of my wanderings! During the day there was very sharpcold. Under the hoofs of the horses the frozen snow crunched andthe balls that formed and broke from their hoofs rolled away overthe crust with a sound like crackling glass. The heathcock flewfrom the trees very idly, hares loped slowly down the beds ofsummer streams. At night the wind began to sigh and whistle as itbent the tops of the trees over our heads; while below it was stilland calm. We stopped in a deep ravine bordered by heavy trees,where we found fallen firs, cut them into logs for the fire and,after having boiled our tea, dined.

Ivan dragged in two tree trunks, squared them on one side with hisax, laid one on the other with the squared faces together and thendrove in a big wedge at the butt ends which separated them three orfour inches. Then we placed live coals in this opening and watchedthe fire run rapidly the whole length of the squared faces vis-a-vis.

"Now there will be a fire in the morning," he announced. "This isthe 'naida' of the gold prospectors. We prospectors wandering inthe woods summer and winter always sleep beside this 'naida.'

Fine! You shall see for yourself," he continued.

He cut fir branches and made a sloping roof out of them, resting iton two uprights toward the naida. Above our roof of boughs and ournaida spread the branches of protecting fir. More branches werebrought and spread on the snow under the roof, on these were placedthe saddle cloths and together they made a seat for Ivan to rest onand to take off his outer garments down to his blouse. Soon Inoticed his forehead was wet with perspiration and that he waswiping it and his neck on his sleeves.

"Now it is good and warm!" he exclaimed.

In a short time I was also forced to take off my overcoat and soonlay down to sleep without any covering at all, while through thebranches of the fir trees and our roof glimmered the cold brightstars and just beyond the naida raged a stinging cold, from whichwe were cosily defended. After this night I was no longerfrightened by the cold. Frozen during the days on horseback, I wasthoroughly warmed through by the genial naida at night and restedfrom my heavy overcoat, sitting only in my blouse under the roofsof pine and fir and sipping the ever welcome tea.

During our daily treks Ivan related to me the stories of hiswanderings through the mountains and woods of Transbaikalia in thesearch for gold. These stories were very lively, full ofattractive adventure, danger and struggle. Ivan was a type ofthese prospectors who have discovered in Russia, and perhaps inother countries, the richest gold mines, while they themselvesremain beggars. He evaded telling me why he left Transbaikalia tocome to the Yenisei. I understood from his manner that he wishedto keep his own counsel and so did not press him. However, theblanket of secrecy covering this part of his mysterious life wasone day quite fortuitously lifted a bit. We were already at theobjective point of our trip. The whole day we had traveled withdifficulty through a thick growth of willow, approaching the shoreof the big right branch of the Yenisei, the Mana. Everywhere wesaw runways packed hard by the feet of the hares living in thisbush. These small white denizens of the wood ran to and fro infront of us. Another time we saw the red tail of a fox hidingbehind a rock, watching us and the unsuspecting hares at the sametime.

Ivan had been silent for a long while. Then he spoke up and toldme that not far from there was a small branch of the Mana, at themouth of which was a hut.

"What do you say? Shall we push on there or spend the night by thenaida?"I suggested going to the hut, because I wanted to wash and becauseit would be agreeable to spend the night under a genuine roofagain. Ivan knitted his brows but acceded.

It was growing dark when we approached a hut surrounded by thedense wood and wild raspberry bushes. It contained one small roomwith two microscopic windows and a gigantic Russian stove. Againstthe building were the remains of a shed and a cellar. We fired thestove and prepared our modest dinner. Ivan drank from the bottleinherited from the soldiers and in a short time was very eloquent,with brilliant eyes and with hands that coursed frequently andrapidly through his long locks. He began relating to me the storyof one of his adventures, but suddenly stopped and, with fear inhis eyes, squinted into a dark corner.

"Is it a rat?" he asked.

"I did not see anything," I replied.

He again became silent and reflected with knitted brow. Often wewere silent through long hours and consequently I was notastonished. Ivan leaned over near to me and began to whisper.

"I want to tell you an old story. I had a friend in Transbaikalia.

He was a banished convict. His name was Gavronsky. Through manywoods and over many mountains we traveled in search of gold and wehad an agreement to divide all we got into even shares. ButGavronsky suddenly went out to the 'Taiga' on the Yenisei anddisappeared. After five years we heard that he had found a veryrich gold mine and had become a rich man; then later that he andhis wife with him had been murdered. . . ." Ivan was still for amoment and then continued:

"This is their old hut. Here he lived with his wife and somewhereon this river he took out his gold. But he told nobody where. Allthe peasants around here know that he had a lot of money in thebank and that he had been selling gold to the Government. Herethey were murdered."Ivan stepped to the stove, took out a flaming stick and, bendingover, lighted a spot on the floor.

"Do you see these spots on the floor and on the wall? It is theirblood, the blood of Gavronsky. They died but they did not disclosethe whereabouts of the gold. It was taken out of a deep hole whichthey had drifted into the bank of the river and was hidden in thecellar under the shed. But Gavronsky gave nothing away. . . . ANDLORD HOW I TORTURED THEM! I burned them with fire; I bent backtheir fingers; I gouged out their eyes; but Gavronsky died insilence."He thought for a moment, then quickly said to me:

"I have heard all this from the peasants." He threw the log intothe stove and flopped down on the bench. "It's time to sleep," hesnapped out, and was still.

I listened for a long time to his breathing and his whispering tohimself, as he turned from one side to the other and smoked hispipe.

In the morning we left this scene of so much suffering and crimeand on the seventh day of our journey we came to the dense cedarwood growing on the foothills of a long chain of mountains.

"From here," Ivan explained to me, "it is eighty versts to the nextpeasant settlement. The people come to these woods to gather cedarnuts but only in the autumn. Before then you will not meet anyone.

Also you will find many birds and beasts and a plentiful supply ofnuts, so that it will be possible for you to live here. Do you seethis river? When you want to find the peasants, follow along thisstream and it will guide you to them."Ivan helped me build my mud hut. But it was not the genuine mudhut. It was one formed by the tearing out of the roots of a greatcedar, that had probably fallen in some wild storm, which made forme the deep hole as the room for my house and flanked this on oneside with a wall of mud held fast among the upturned roots.

Overhanging ones formed also the framework into which we interlacedthe poles and branches to make a roof, finished off with stones forstability and snow for warmth. The front of the hut was ever openbut was constantly protected by the guardian naida. In that snow-covered den I spent two months like summer without seeing any otherhuman being and without touch with the outer world where suchimportant events were transpiring. In that grave under the rootsof the fallen tree I lived before the face of nature with my trialsand my anxiety about my family as my constant companions, and inthe hard struggle for my life. Ivan went off the second day,leaving for me a bag of dry bread and a little sugar. I never sawhim again.
CHAPTER III
Then I was alone. Around me only the wood of eternally greencedars covered with snow, the bare bushes, the frozen river and, asfar as I could see out through the branches and the trunks of thetrees, only the great ocean of cedars and snow. Siberian taiga!

How long shall I be forced to live here? Will the Bolsheviki findme here or not? Will my friends know where I am? What ishappening to my family? These questions were constantly as burningfires in my brain. Soon I understood why Ivan guided me so long.

We passed many secluded places on the journey, far away from allpeople, where Ivan could have safely left me but he always saidthat he would take me to a place where it would be easier to live.

And it was so. The charm of my lone refuge was in the cedar woodand in the mountains covered with these forests which stretched toevery horizon. The cedar is a splendid, powerful tree with wide-spreading branches, an eternally green tent, attracting to itsshelter every living being. Among the cedars was alwayseffervescent life. There the squirrels were continually kicking upa row, jumping from tree to tree; the nut-jobbers cried shrilly; aflock of bullfinches with carmine breasts swept through the treeslike a flame; or a small army of goldfinches broke in and filledthe amphitheatre of trees with their whistling; a hare scooted fromone tree trunk to another and behind him stole up the hardlyvisible shadow of a white ermine, crawling on the snow, and Iwatched for a long time the black spot which I knew to be the tipof his tail; carefully treading the hard crusted snow approached anoble deer; at last there visited me from the top of the mountainthe king of the Siberian forest, the brown bear. All thisdistracted me and carried away the black thoughts from my brain,encouraging me to persevere. It was good for me also, thoughdifficult, to climb to the top of my mountain, which reached up outof the forest and from which I could look away to the range of redon the horizon. It was the red cliff on the farther bank of theYenisei. There lay the country, the towns, the enemies and thefriends; and there was even the point which I located as the placeof my family. It was the reason why Ivan had guided me here. Andas the days in this solitude slipped by I began to miss sorely thiscompanion who, though the murderer of Gavronsky, had taken care ofme like a father, always saddling my horse for me, cutting the woodand doing everything to make me comfortable. He had spent manywinters alone with nothing except his thoughts, face to face withnature--I should say, before the face of God. He had tried thehorrors of solitude and had acquired facility in bearing them. Ithought sometimes, if I had to meet my end in this place, that Iwould spend my last strength to drag myself to the top of themountain to die there, looking away over the infinite sea ofmountains and forest toward the point where my loved ones were.

However, the same life gave me much matter for reflection and yetmore occupation for the physical side. It was a continuousstruggle for existence, hard and severe. The hardest work was thepreparation of the big logs for the naida. The fallen trunks ofthe trees were covered with snow and frozen to the ground. I wasforced to dig them out and afterwards, with the help of a longstick as a lever, to move them from their place. For facilitatingthis work I chose the mountain for my supplies, where, althoughdifficult to climb, it was easy to roll the logs down. Soon I madea splendid discovery. I found near my den a great quantity oflarch, this beautiful yet sad forest giant, fallen during a bigstorm. The trunks were covered with snow but remained attached totheir stumps, where they had broken off. When I cut into thesestumps with the ax, the head buried itself and could withdifficulty be drawn and, investigating the reason, I found themfilled with pitch. Chips of this wood needed only a spark to setthem aflame and ever afterward I always had a stock of them tolight up quickly for warming my hands on returning from the hunt orfor boiling my tea.

The greater part of my days was occupied with the hunt. I came tounderstand that I must distribute my work over every day, for itdistracted me from my sad and depressing thoughts. Generally,after my morning tea, I went into the forest to seek heathcock orblackcock. After killing one or two I began to prepare my dinner,which never had an extensive menu. It was constantly game soupwith a handful of dried bread and afterwards endless cups of tea,this essential beverage of the woods. Once, during my search forbirds, I heard a rustle in the dense shrubs and, carefully peeringabout, I discovered the points of a deer's horns. I crawled alongtoward the spot but the watchful animal heard my approach. With agreat noise he rushed from the bush and I saw him very clearly,after he had run about three hundred steps, stop on the slope ofthe mountain. It was a splendid animal with dark grey coat, withalmost a black spine and as large as a small cow. I laid my rifleacross a branch and fired. The animal made a great leap, ranseveral steps and fell. With all my strength I ran to him but hegot up again and half jumped, half dragged himself up the mountain.

The second shot stopped him. I had won a warm carpet for my denand a large stock of meat. The horns I fastened up among thebranches of my wall, where they made a fine hat rack.

I cannot forget one very interesting but wild picture, which wasstaged for me several kilometres from my den. There was a smallswamp covered with grass and cranberries scattered through it,where the blackcock and sand partridges usually came to feed on theberries. I approached noiselessly behind the bushes and saw awhole flock of blackcock scratching in the snow and picking out theberries. While I was surveying this scene, suddenly one of theblackcock jumped up and the rest of the frightened flockimmediately flew away. To my astonishment the first bird begangoing straight up in a spiral flight and afterwards droppeddirectly down dead. When I approached there sprang from the bodyof the slain cock a rapacious ermine that hid under the trunk of afallen tree. The bird's neck was badly torn. I then understoodthat the ermine had charged the cock, fastened itself on his neckand had been carried by the bird into the air, as he sucked theblood from its throat, and had been the cause of the heavy fallback to the earth. Thanks to his aeronautic ability I saved onecartridge.

So I lived fighting for the morrow and more and more poisoned byhard and bitter thoughts. The days and weeks passed and soon Ifelt the breath of warmer winds. On the open places the snow beganto thaw. In spots the little rivulets of water appeared. Anotherday I saw a fly or a spider awakened after the hard winter. Thespring was coming. I realized that in spring it was impossible togo out from the forest. Every river overflowed its banks; theswamps became impassable; all the runways of the animals turnedinto beds for streams of running water. I understood that untilsummer I was condemned to a continuation of my solitude. Springvery quickly came into her rights and soon my mountain was freefrom snow and was covered only with stones, the trunks of birch andaspen trees and the high cones of ant hills; the river in placesbroke its covering of ice and was coursing full with foam andbubbles.
CHAPTER IV
One day during the hunt, I approached the bank of the river andnoticed many very large fish with red backs, as though filled withblood. They were swimming on the surface enjoying the rays of thesun. When the river was entirely free from ice, these fishappeared in enormous quantities. Soon I realized that they wereworking up-stream for the spawning season in the smaller rivers. Ithought to use a plundering method of catching, forbidden by thelaw of all countries; but all the lawyers and legislators should belenient to one who lives in a den under the roots of a fallen treeand dares to break their rational laws.

Gathering many thin birch and aspen trees I built in the bed of thestream a weir which the fish could not pass and soon I found themtrying to jump over it. Near the bank I left a hole in my barrierabout eighteen inches below the surface and fastened on the up-stream side a high basket plaited from soft willow twigs, intowhich the fish came as they passed the hole. Then I stood cruellyby and hit them on the head with a strong stick. All my catch wereover thirty pounds, some more than eighty. This variety of fish iscalled the taimen, is of the trout family and is the best in theYenisei.

After two weeks the fish had passed and my basket gave me no moretreasure, so I began anew the hunt.
CHAPTER V
The hunt became more and more profitable and enjoyable, as springanimated everything. In the morning at the break of day the forestwas full of voices, strange and undiscernible to the inhabitant ofthe town. There the heathcock clucked and sang his song of love,as he sat on the top branches of the cedar and admired the grey henscratching in the fallen leaves below. It was very easy toapproach this full-feathered Caruso and with a shot to bring himdown from his more poetic to his more utilitarian duties. Hisgoing out was an euthanasia, for he was in love and heard nothing.

Out in the clearing the blackcocks with their wide-spread spottedtails were fighting, while the hens strutting near, craning andchattering, probably some gossip about their fighting swains,watched and were delighted with them. From the distance flowed ina stern and deep roar, yet full of tenderness and love, the matingcall of the deer; while from the crags above came down the shortand broken voice of the mountain buck. Among the bushes frolickedthe hares and often near them a red fox lay flattened to the groundwatching his chance. I never heard any wolves and they are usuallynot found in the Siberian regions covered with mountains andforest.

But there was another beast, who was my neighbor, and one of us had to goaway. One day, coming back from the hunt with a big heathcock, Isuddenly noticed among the trees a black, moving mass. I stoppedand, looking very attentively, saw a bear, digging away at an ant-hill. Smelling me, he snorted violently, and very quickly shuffledaway, astonishing me with the speed of his clumsy gait. Thefollowing morning, while still lying under my overcoat, I wasattracted by a noise behind my den. I peered out very carefullyand discovered the bear. He stood on his hind legs and was noisilysniffing, investigating the question as to what living creature hadadopted the custom of the bears of housing during the winter underthe trunks of fallen trees. I shouted and struck my kettle withthe ax. My early visitor made off with all his energy; but hisvisit did not please me. It was very early in the spring that thisoccurred and the bear should not yet have left his hibernatingplace. He was the so-called "ant-eater," an abnormal type of bearlacking in all the etiquette of the first families of the bearclan.

I knew that the "ant-eaters" were very irritable and audacious andquickly I prepared myself for both the defence and the charge. Mypreparations were short. I rubbed off the ends of five of mycartridges, thus making dum-dums out of them, a sufficientlyintelligible argument for so unwelcome a guest. Putting on my coatI went to the place where I had first met the bear and where therewere many ant-hills. I made a detour of the whole mountain, lookedin all the ravines but nowhere found my caller. Disappointed andtired, I was approaching my shelter quite off my guard when Isuddenly discovered the king of the forest himself just coming outof my lowly dwelling and sniffing all around the entrance to it. Ishot. The bullet pierced his side. He roared with pain and angerand stood up on his hind legs. As the second bullet broke one ofthese, he squatted down but immediately, dragging the leg andendeavoring to stand upright, moved to attack me. Only the thirdbullet in his breast stopped him. He weighed about two hundred totwo hundred fifty pounds, as near as I could guess, and was verytasty. He appeared at his best in cutlets but only a little lesswonderful in the Hamburg steaks which I rolled and roasted on hotstones, watching them swell out into great balls that were as lightas the finest souffle omelettes we used to have at the "Medved" inPetrograd. On this welcome addition to my larder I lived from thenuntil the ground dried out and the stream ran down enough so that Icould travel down along the river to the country whither Ivan haddirected me.

Ever traveling with the greatest precautions I made the journeydown along the river on foot, carrying from my winter quarters allmy household furniture and goods, wrapped up in the deerskin bagwhich I formed by tying the legs together in an awkward knot; andthus laden fording the small streams and wading through the swampsthat lay across my path. After fifty odd miles of this I came tothe country called Sifkova, where I found the cabin of a peasantnamed Tropoff, located closest to the forest that came to be mynatural environment. With him I lived for a time.

* * * * *Now in these unimaginable surroundings of safety and peace, summingup the total of my experience in the Siberian taiga, I make thefollowing deductions. In every healthy spiritual individual of ourtimes, occasions of necessity resurrect the traits of primitiveman, hunter and warrior, and help him in the struggle with nature.

It is the prerogative of the man with the trained mind and spiritover the untrained, who does not possess sufficient science andwill power to carry him through. But the price that the culturedman must pay is that for him there exists nothing more awful thanabsolute solitude and the knowledge of complete isolation fromhuman society and the life of moral and aesthetic culture. Onestep, one moment of weakness and dark madness will seize a man andcarry him to inevitable destruction. I spent awful days ofstruggle with the cold and hunger but I passed more terrible daysin the struggle of the will to kill weakening destructive thoughts.

The memories of these days freeze my heart and mind and even now,as I revive them so clearly by writing of my experiences, theythrow me back into a state of fear and apprehension. Moreover, Iam compelled to observe that the people in highly civilized statesgive too little regard to the training that is useful to man inprimitive conditions, in conditions incident to the struggleagainst nature for existence. It is the single normal way todevelop a new generation of strong, healthy, iron men, with at thesame time sensitive souls.

Nature destroys the weak but helps the strong, awakening in thesoul emotions which remain dormant under the urban conditions ofmodern life.
CHAPTER VI
My presence in the Sifkova country was not for long but I used itin full measure. First, I sent a man in whom I had confidence andwhom I considered trustworthy to my friends in the town that I hadleft and received from them linen, boots, money and a small case offirst aid materials and essential medicines, and, what was mostimportant, a passport in another name, since I was dead for theBolsheviki. Secondly, in these more or less favorable conditions Ireflected upon the plan for my future actions. Soon in Sifkova thepeople heard that the Bolshevik commissar would come for therequisition of cattle for the Red Army. It was dangerous to remainlonger. I waited only until the Yenisei should lose its massivelock of ice, which kept it sealed long after the small rivulets hadopened and the trees had taken on their spring foliage. For onethousand roubles I engaged a fisherman who agreed to take me fifty-five miles up the river to an abandoned gold mine as soon as theriver, which had then only opened in places, should be entirelyclear of ice. At last one morning I heard a deafening roar like atremendous cannonade and ran out to find the river had lifted itsgreat bulk of ice and then given way to break it up. I rushed ondown to the bank, where I witnessed an awe-inspiring butmagnificent scene. The river had brought down the great volume ofice that had been dislodged in the south and was carrying itnorthward under the thick layer which still covered parts of thestream until finally its weight had broken the winter dam to thenorth and released the whole grand mass in one last rush for theArctic. The Yenisei, "Father Yenisei," "Hero Yenisei," is one ofthe longest rivers in Asia, deep and magnificent, especiallythrough the middle range of its course, where it is flanked andheld in canyon-like by great towering ranges. The huge stream hadbrought down whole miles of ice fields, breaking them up on therapids and on isolated rocks, twisting them with angry swirls,throwing up sections of the black winter roads, carrying down thetepees built for the use of passing caravans which in the Winteralways go from Minnusinsk to Krasnoyarsk on the frozen river. Fromtime to time the stream stopped in its flow, the roar began and thegreat fields of ice were squeezed and piled upward, sometimes ashigh as thirty feet, damming up the water behind, so that itrapidly rose and ran out over the low places, casting on the shoregreat masses of ice. Then the power of the reinforced watersconquered the towering dam of ice and carried it downward with asound like breaking glass. At the bends in the river and round thegreat rocks developed terrifying chaos. Huge blocks of ice jammedand jostled until some were thrown clear into the air, crashingagainst others already there, or were hurled against the curvingcliffs and banks, tearing out boulders, earth and trees high up thesides. All along the low embankments this giant of nature flungupward with a suddenness that leaves man but a pigmy in force agreat wall of ice fifteen to twenty feet high, which the peasantscall "Zaberega" and through which they cannot get to the riverwithout cutting out a road. One incredible feat I saw the giantperform, when a block many feet thick and many yards square washurled through the air and dropped to crush saplings and littletrees more than a half hundred feet from the bank.

Watching this glorious withdrawal of the ice, I was filled withterror and revolt at seeing the awful spoils which the Yenisei boreaway in this annual retreat. These were the bodies of the executedcounter-revolutionaries--officers, soldiers and Cossacks of theformer army of the Superior Governor of all anti-Bolshevik Russia,Admiral Kolchak. They were the results of the bloody work of the"Cheka" at Minnusinsk. Hundreds of these bodies with heads andhands cut off, with mutilated faces and bodies half burned, withbroken skulls, floated and mingled with the blocks of ice, lookingfor their graves; or, turning in the furious whirlpools among thejagged blocks, they were ground and torn to pieces into shapelessmasses, which the river, nauseated with its task, vomited out uponthe islands and projecting sand bars. I passed the whole length ofthe middle Yenisei and constantly came across these putrifying andterrifying reminders of the work of the Bolsheviki. In one placeat a turn of the river I saw a great heap of horses, which had beencast up by the ice and current, in number not less than threehundred. A verst below there I was sickened beyond endurance bythe discovery of a grove of willows along the bank which had rakedfrom the polluted stream and held in their finger-like droopingbranches human bodies in all shapes and attitudes with a semblanceof naturalness which made an everlasting picture on my distraughtmind. Of this pitiful gruesome company I counted seventy.

At last the mountain of ice passed by, followed by the muddyfreshets that carried down the trunks of fallen trees, logs andbodies, bodies, bodies. The fisherman and his son put me and myluggage into their dugout made from an aspen tree and poledupstream along the bank. Poling in a swift current is very hardwork. At the sharp curves we were compelled to row, strugglingagainst the force of the stream and even in places hugging thecliffs and making headway only by clutching the rocks with ourhands and dragging along slowly. Sometimes it took us a long whileto do five or six metres through these rapid holes. In two days wereached the goal of our journey. I spent several days in this goldmine, where the watchman and his family were living. As they wereshort of food, they had nothing to spare for me and consequently myrifle again served to nourish me, as well as contributing somethingto my hosts. One day there appeared here a trainedagriculturalist. I did not hide because during my winter in thewoods I had raised a heavy beard, so that probably my own mothercould not have recognized me. However, our guest was very shrewdand at once deciphered me. I did not fear him because I saw thathe was not a Bolshevik and later had confirmation of this. Wefound common acquaintances and a common viewpoint on currentevents. He lived close to the gold mine in a small village wherehe superintended public works. We determined to escape togetherfrom Russia. For a long time I had puzzled over this matter andnow my plan was ready. Knowing the position in Siberia and itsgeography, I decided that the best way to safety was throughUrianhai, the northern part of Mongolia on the head waters of theYenisei, then through Mongolia and out to the Far East and thePacific. Before the overthrow of the Kolchak Government I hadreceived a commission to investigate Urianhai and Western Mongoliaand then, with great accuracy, I studied all the maps andliterature I could get on this question. To accomplish thisaudacious plan I had the great incentive of my own safety.
CHAPTER VII
After several days we started through the forest on the left bankof the Yenisei toward the south, avoiding the villages as much aspossible in fear of leaving some trail by which we might befollowed. Whenever we did have to go into them, we had a goodreception at the hands of the peasants, who did not penetrate ourdisguise; and we saw that they hated the Bolsheviki, who haddestroyed many of their villages. In one place we were told that adetachment of Red troops had been sent out from Minnusinsk to chasethe Whites. We were forced to work far back from the shore of theYenisei and to hide in the woods and mountains. Here we remainednearly a fortnight, because all this time the Red soldiers weretraversing the country and capturing in the woods half-dressedunarmed officers who were in hiding from the atrocious vengeance ofthe Bolsheviki. Afterwards by accident we passed a meadow where wefound the bodies of twenty-eight officers hung to the trees, withtheir faces and bodies mutilated. There we determined never toallow ourselves to come alive into the hands of the Boisheviki. Toprevent this we had our weapons and a supply of cyanide ofpotassium.

Passing across one branch of the Yenisei, once we saw a narrow,miry pass, the entrance to which was strewn with the bodies of menand horses. A little farther along we found a broken sleigh withrifled boxes and papers scattered about. Near them were also torngarments and bodies. Who were these pitiful ones? What tragedywas staged in this wild wood? We tried to guess this enigma and webegan to investigate the documents and papers. These were officialpapers addressed to the Staff of General Pepelaieff. Probably onepart of the Staff during the retreat of Kolchak's army went throughthis wood, striving to hide from the enemy approaching from allsides; but here they were caught by the Reds and killed. Not farfrom here we found the body of a poor unfortunate woman, whosecondition proved clearly what had happened before relief camethrough the beneficent bullet. The body lay beside a shelter ofbranches, strewn with bottles and conserve tins, telling the taleof the bantering feast that had preceded the destruction of thislife.

The further we went to the south, the more pronouncedly hospitablethe people became toward us and the more hostile to the Bolsheviki.

At last we emerged from the forests and entered the spaciousvastness of the Minnusinsk steppes, crossed by the high redmountain range called the "Kizill-Kaiya" and dotted here and therewith salt lakes. It is a country of tombs, thousands of large andsmall dolmens, the tombs of the earliest proprietors of this land:

pyramids of stone ten metres high, the marks set by Jenghiz Khanalong his road of conquest and afterwards by the cripple Tamerlane-Temur. Thousands of these dolmens and stone pyramids stretch inendless rows to the north. In these plains the Tartars now live.

They were robbed by the Bolsheviki and therefore hated themardently. We openly told them that we were escaping. They gave usfood for nothing and supplied us with guides, telling us with whomwe might stop and where to hide in case of danger.

After several days we looked down from the high bank of the Yeniseiupon the first steamer, the "Oriol," from Krasnoyarsk toMinnusinsk, laden with Red soldiers. Soon we came to the mouth ofthe river Tuba, which we were to follow straight east to the Sayanmountains, where Urianhai begins. We thought the stage along theTuba and its branch, the Amyl, the most dangerous part of ourcourse, because the valleys of these two rivers had a densepopulation which had contributed large numbers of soldiers to thecelebrated Communist Partisans, Schetinkin and Krafcheno.

A Tartar ferried us and our horses over to the right bank of theYenisei and afterwards sent us some Cossacks at daybreak who guidedus to the mouth of the Tuba, where we spent the whole day in rest,gratifying ourselves with a feast of wild black currants andcherries.
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 Soviets and where spies scrutinized 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 Soviet to arrest us and send us to the "Cheka" in Minnusinsk,where we should have sung our last song. Secondly, 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 wagon 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 dissenters and the Cossacks.

Sometimes we came across villages entirely Communistic but verysoon we learned to distinguish them. When we entered a villagewith our horse bells tinkling and found the peasants who happenedto be sitting in front of their houses ready to get up with a frownand a grumble 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 emigrants 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 'appendicitis' 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 ordeal 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 militia from Karatuz.

He had on his wagon several rifles and automatic pistols, mostlyMausers, for outfitting 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 appreciative 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 fixed 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 afterward, approaching me, said:

"Let us go out doors and talk. Here it is inconvenient."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 cartridges. 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 outright.""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 sable andwhat use to me is one skin?"Word by word I attained 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 tenacity brought us through all thedangers and saved us from rolling back down our precipice ofadventure, at whose foot lay so many others who had failed to makethis same climb to freedom which we had just accomplished. Perhapsthey lacked the persistence or the presence of mind, perhaps theyhad not the poetic ability to sing odes about "roads, bridges andgold mines" or perhaps they simply had no spare trousers.
CHAPTER IX
Dense virgin wood surrounded us. In the high, already yellow grassthe trail wound hardly noticeable in among bushes and trees justbeginning to drop their many colored leaves. It is the old,already forgotten Amyl pass road. Twenty-five years ago it carriedthe provisions, machinery and workers for the numerous, nowabandoned, gold mines of the Amyl valley. The road now wound alongthe wide and rapid Amyl, then penetrated into the deep forest,guiding us round the swampy ground filled with those dangerousSiberian quagmires, through the dense bushes, across mountains andwide meadows. Our guide probably did not surmise our realintention and sometimes, apprehensively looking down at the ground,would say:

"Three riders on horses with shoes on have passed here. Perhapsthey were soldiers."His anxiety was terminated when he discovered that the tracks ledoff to one side and then returned to the trail.

"They did not proceed farther," he remarked, slyly smiling.

"That's too bad," we answered. "It would have been more lively totravel in company."But the peasant only stroked his beard and laughed. Evidently hewas not taken in by our statement.

We passed on the way a gold mine that had been formerly planned andequipped on splendid lines but was now abandoned and the buildingsall destroyed. The Bolsheviki had taken away the machinery,supplies and also some parts of the buildings. Nearby stood a darkand gloomy church with windows broken, the crucifix torn off andthe tower burned, a pitifully typical emblem of the Russia oftoday. The starving family of the watchman lived at the mine incontinuing danger and privation. They told us that in this forestregion were wandering about a band of Reds who were robbinganything that remained on the property of the gold mine, wereworking the pay dirt in the richest part of the mine and, with alittle gold washed, were going to drink and gamble it away in somedistant villages where the peasants were making the forbidden vodkaout of berries and potatoes and selling it for its weight in gold.

A meeting with this band meant death. After three days we crossedthe northern ridge of the Sayan chain, passed the border riverAlgiak and, after this day, were abroad in the territory ofUrianhai.

This wonderful land, rich in most diverse forms of natural wealth,is inhabited by a branch of the Mongols, which is now only sixtythousand and which is gradually dying off, speaking a languagequite different from any of the other dialects of this folk andholding as their life ideal the tenet of "Eternal Peace." Urianhailong ago became the scene of administrative attempts by Russians,Mongols and Chinese, all of whom claimed sovereignty over theregion whose unfortunate inhabitants, the Soyots, had to paytribute to all three of these overlords. It was due to this thatthe land was not an entirely safe refuge for us. We had heardalready from our militiaman about the expedition preparing to gointo Urianhai and from the peasants we learned that the villagesalong the Little Yenisei and farther south had formed Reddetachments, who were robbing and killing everyone who fell intotheir hands. Recently they had killed sixty-two officersattempting to pass Urianhai into Mongolia; robbed and killed acaravan of Chinese merchants; and killed some German war prisonerswho escaped from the Soviet paradise. On the fourth day we reacheda swampy valley where, among open forests, stood a single Russianhouse. Here we took leave of our guide, who hastened away to getback before the snows should block his road over the Sayans. Themaster of the establishment agreed to guide us to the Seybi Riverfor ten thousand roubles in Soviet notes. Our horses were tiredand we were forced to give them a rest, so we decided to spendtwenty-four hours here.

We were drinking tea when the daughter of our host cried:

"The Soyots are coming!" Into the room with their rifles andpointed hats came suddenly four of them.

"Mende," they grunted to us and then, without ceremony, beganexamining us critically. Not a button or a seam in our entireoutfit escaped their penetrating gaze. Afterwards one of them, whoappeared to be the local "Merin" or governor, began to investigateour political views. Listening to our criticisms of theBolsheviki, he was evidently pleased and began talking freely.

"You are good people. You do not like Bolsheviki. We will helpyou."I thanked him and presented him with the thick silk cord which Iwas wearing as a girdle. Before night they left us saying thatthey would return in the morning. It grew dark. We went to themeadow to look after our exhausted horses grazing there and cameback to the house. We were gaily chatting with the hospitable hostwhen suddenly we heard horses' hoofs in the court and raucousvoices, followed by the immediate entry of five Red soldiers armedwith rifles and swords. Something unpleasant and cold rolled upinto my throat and my heart hammered. We knew the Reds as ourenemies. These men had the red stars on their Astrakhan caps andred triangles on their sleeves. They were members of thedetachment that was out to look for Cossack officers. Scowling atus they took off their overcoats and sat down. We first opened theconversation, explaining the purpose of our journey in exploringfor bridges, roads and gold mines. From them we then learned thattheir commander would arrive in a little while with seven more menand that they would take our host at once as a guide to the SeybiRiver, where they thought the Cossack officers must be hidden.

Immediately I remarked that our affairs were moving fortunately andthat we must travel along together. One of the soldiers repliedthat that would depend upon the "Comrade-officer."During our conversation the Soyot Governor entered. Veryattentively he studied again the new arrivals and then asked: "Whydid you take from the Soyots the good horses and leave bad ones?"The soldiers laughed at him.

"Remember that you are in a foreign country!" answered the Soyot,with a threat in his voice.

"God and the Devil!" cried one of the soldiers.

But the Soyot very calmly took a seat at the table and accepted thecup of tea the hostess was preparing for him. The conversationceased. The Soyot finished the tea, smoked his long pipe and,standing up, said:

"If tomorrow morning the horses are not back at the owner's, weshall come and take them." And with these words he turned and wentout.

I noticed an expression of apprehension on the faces of thesoldiers. Shortly one was sent out as a messenger while the otherssat silent with bowed heads. Late in the night the officer arrivedwith his other seven men. As he received the report about theSoyot, he knitted his brows and said:

"It's a bad mess. We must travel through the swamp where a Soyotwill be behind every mound watching us."He seemed really very anxious and his trouble fortunately preventedhim from paying much attention to us. I began to calm him andpromised on the morrow to arrange this matter with the Soyots. Theofficer was a coarse brute and a silly man, desiring strongly to bepromoted for the capture of the Cossack officers, and feared thatthe Soyot could prevent him from reaching the Seybi.

At daybreak we started together with the Red detachment. When wehad made about fifteen kilometers, we discovered behind the bushestwo riders. They were Soyots. On their backs were their flintrifles.

"Wait for me!" I said to the officer. "I shall go for a parleywith them."I went forward with all the speed of my horse. One of the horsemenwas the Soyot Governor, who said to me:

"Remain behind the detachment and help us.""All right," I answered, "but let us talk a little, in order thatthey may think we are parleying."After a moment I shook the hand of the Soyot and returned to thesoldiers.

"All right," I exclaimed, "we can continue our journey. Nohindrance will come from the Soyots."We moved forward and, when we were crossing a large meadow, weespied at a long distance two Soyots riding at full gallop right upthe side of a mountain. Step by step I accomplished the necessarymanoeuvre to bring me and my fellow traveler somewhat behind thedetachment. Behind our backs remained only one soldier, verybrutish in appearance and apparently very hostile to us. I hadtime to whisper to my companion only one word: "Mauser," and sawthat he very carefully unbuttoned the saddle bag and drew out alittle the handle of his pistol.

Soon I understood why these soldiers, excellent woodsmen as theywere, would not attempt to go to the Seybi without a guide. Allthe country between the Algiak and the Seybi is formed by high andnarrow mountain ridges separated by deep swampy valleys. It is acursed and dangerous place. At first our horses mired to theknees, lunging about and catching their feet in the roots of bushesin the quagmires, then falling and pinning us under their sides,breaking parts of their saddles and bridles. Then we would go inup to the riders' knees. My horse went down once with his wholebreast and head under the red fluid mud and we just saved it and nomore. Afterwards the officer's horse fell with him so that hebruised his head on a stone. My companion injured one knee againsta tree. Some of the men also fell and were injured. The horsesbreathed heavily. Somewhere dimly and gloomily a crow cawed.

Later the road became worse still. The trail followed through thesame miry swamp but everywhere the road was blocked with fallentree trunks. The horses, jumping over the trunks, would land in anunexpectedly deep hole and flounder. We and all the soldiers werecovered with blood and mud and were in great fear of exhausting ourmounts. For a long distance we had to get down and lead them. Atlast we entered a broad meadow covered with bushes and borderedwith rocks. Not only horses but riders also began to sink to theirmiddle in a quagmire with apparently no bottom. The whole surfaceof the meadow was but a thin layer of turf, covering a lake withblack putrefying water. When we finally learned to open our columnand proceed at big intervals, we found we could keep on thissurface that undulated like rubber ice and swayed the bushes up anddown. In places the earth buckled up and broke.

Suddenly, three shots sounded. They were hardly more than thereport of a Flobert rifle; but they were genuine shots, because theofficer and two soldiers fell to the ground. The other soldiersgrabbed their rifles and, with fear, looked about for the enemy.

Four more were soon unseated and suddenly I noticed our rearguardbrute raise his rifle and aim right at me. However, my Mauseroutstrode his rifle and I was allowed to continue my story.

"Begin!" I cried to my friend and we took part in the shooting.

Soon the meadow began to swarm with Soyots, stripping the fallen,dividing the spoils and recapturing their horses. In some forms ofwarfare it is never safe to leave any of the enemy to renewhostilities later with overwhelming forces.

After an hour of very difficult road we began to ascend themountain and soon arrived on a high plateau covered with trees.

"After all, Soyots are not a too peaceful people," I remarked,approaching the Governor.

He looked at me very sharply and replied:

"It was not Soyots who did the killing."He was right. It was the Abakan Tartars in Soyot clothes whokilled the Bolsheviki. These Tartars were running their herds ofcattle and horses down out of Russia through Urianhai to Mongolia.

They had as their guide and negotiator a Kalmuck Lamaite. Thefollowing morning we were approaching a small settlement of Russiancolonists and noticed some horsemen looking out from the woods.

One of our young and brave Tartars galloped off at full speedtoward these men in the wood but soon wheeled and returned with areassuring smile.

"All right," he exclaimed, laughing, "keep right on."We continued our travel on a good broad road along a high woodenfence surrounding a meadow filled with a fine herd of wapiti orizubr, which the Russian colonists breed for the horns that are sovaluable in the velvet for sale to Tibetan and Chinese medicinedealers. These horns, when boiled and dried, are called panti andare sold to the Chinese at very high prices.

We were received with great fear by the settlers.

"Thank God!" exclaimed the hostess, "we thought. . ." and she brokeoff, looking at her husband.
CHAPTER X
Constant dangers develop one's watchfulness and keenness ofperception. We did not take off our clothes nor unsaddle ourhorses, tired as we were. I put my Mauser inside my coat and beganto look about and scrutinize the people. The first thing Idiscovered was the butt end of a rifle under the pile of pillowsalways found on the peasants' large beds. Later I noticed theemployees of our host constantly coming into the room for ordersfrom him. They did not look like simple peasants, although theyhad long beards and were dressed very dirtily. They examined mewith very attentive eyes and did not leave me and my friend alonewith the host. We could not, however, make out anything. But thenthe Soyot Governor came in and, noticing our strained relations,began explaining in the Soyot language to the host all about us.

"I beg your pardon," the colonist said, "but you know yourself thatnow for one honest man we have ten thousand murderers and robbers."With this we began chatting more freely. It appeared that our hostknew that a band of Bolsheviki would attack him in the search forthe band of Cossack officers who were living in his house on andoff. He had heard also about the "total loss" of one detachment.

However, it did not entirely calm the old man to have our news, forhe had heard of the large detachment of Reds that was coming fromthe border of the Usinsky District in pursuit of the Tartars whowere escaping with their cattle south to Mongolia.

"From one minute to another we are awaiting them with fear," saidour host to me. "My Soyot has come in and announced that the Redsare already crossing the Seybi and the Tartars are prepared for thefight."We immediately went out to look over our saddles and packs and thentook the horses and hid them in the bushes not far off. We madeready our rifles and pistols and took posts in the enclosure towait for our common enemy. An hour of trying impatience passed,when one of the workmen came running in from the wood andwhispered:

"They are crossing our swamp. . . . The fight is on."In fact, like an answer to his words, came through the woods thesound of a single rifle-shot, followed closely by the increasingrat-tat-tat of the mingled guns. Nearer to the house the soundsgradually came. Soon we heard the beating of the horses' hoofs andthe brutish cries of the soldiers. In a moment three of them burstinto the house, from off the road where they were being raked nowby the Tartars from both directions, cursing violently. One ofthem shot at our host. He stumbled along and fell on his knee, ashis hand reached out toward the rifle under his pillows.

"Who are YOU?" brutally blurted out one of the soldiers, turning tous and raising his rifle. We answered with Mausers andsuccessfully, for only one soldier in the rear by the door escaped,and that merely to fall into the hands of a workman in thecourtyard who strangled him. The fight had begun. The soldierscalled on their comrades for help. The Reds were strung along inthe ditch at the side of the road, three hundred paces from thehouse, returning the fire of the surrounding Tartars. Severalsoldiers ran to the house to help their comrades but this time weheard the regular volley of the workmen of our host. They fired asthough in a manoeuvre calmly and accurately. Five Red soldiers layon the road, while the rest now kept to their ditch. Before longwe discovered that they began crouching and crawling out toward theend of the ditch nearest the wood where they had left their horses.

The sounds of shots became more and more distant and soon we sawfifty or sixty Tartars pursuing the Reds across the meadow.

Two days we rested here on the Seybi. The workmen of our host,eight in number, turned out to be officers hiding from theBolsheviks. They asked permission to go on with us, to which weagreed.

When my friend and I continued our trip we had a guard of eightarmed officers and three horses with packs. We crossed a beautifulvalley between the Rivers Seybi and Ut. Everywhere we saw splendidgrazing lands with numerous herds upon them, but in two or threehouses along the road we did not find anyone living. All hadhidden away in fear after hearing the sounds of the fight with theReds. The following day we went up over the high chain ofmountains called Daban and, traversing a great area of burnedtimber where our trail lay among the fallen trees, we began todescend into a valley hidden from us by the intervening foothills.

There behind these hills flowed the Little Yenisei, the last largeriver before reaching Mongolia proper. About ten kilometers fromthe river we spied a column of smoke rising up out of the wood.

Two of the officers slipped away to make an investigation. For along time they did not return and we, fearful lest something hadhappened, moved off carefully in the direction of the smoke, allready for a fight if necessary. We finally came near enough tohear the voices of many people and among them the loud laugh of oneof our scouts. In the middle of a meadow we made out a large tentwith two tepees of branches and around these a crowd of fifty orsixty men. When we broke out of the forest all of them rushedforward with a joyful welcome for us. It appeared that it was alarge camp of Russian officers and soldiers who, after their escapefrom Siberia, had lived in the houses of the Russian colonists andrich peasants in Urianhai.

"What are you doing here?" we asked with surprise.

"Oh, ho, you know nothing at all about what has been going on?"replied a fairly old man who called himself Colonel Ostrovsky. "InUrianhai an order has been issued from the Military Commissioner tomobilize all men over twenty-eight years of age and everywheretoward the town of Belotzarsk are moving detachments of thesePartisans. They are robbing the colonists and peasants and killingeveryone that falls into their hands. We are hiding here fromthem."The whole camp counted only sixteen rifles and three bombs,belonging to a Tartar who was traveling with his Kalmuck guide tohis herds in Western Mongolia. We explained the aim of our journeyand our intention to pass through Mongolia to the nearest port onthe Pacific. The officers asked me to bring them out with us. Iagreed. Our reconnaissance proved to us that there were noPartisans near the house of the peasant who was to ferry us overthe Little Yenisei. We moved off at once in order to pass asquickly as possible this dangerous zone of the Yenisei and to sinkourselves into the forest beyond. It snowed but immediatelythawed. Before evening a cold north wind sprang up, bringing withit a small blizzard. Late in the night our party reached theriver. Our colonist welcomed us and offered at once to ferry usover and swim the horses, although there was ice still floatingwhich had come down from the head-waters of the stream. Duringthis conversation there was present one of the peasant's workmen,red-haired and squint-eyed. He kept moving around all the time andsuddenly disappeared. Our host noticed it and, with fear in hisvoice, said:

"He has run to the village and will guide the Partisans here. Wemust cross immediately."Then began the most terrible night of my whole journey. Weproposed to the colonist that he take only our food and ammunitionin the boat, while we would swim our horses across, in order tosave the time of the many trips. The width of the Yenisei in thisplace is about three hundred metres. The stream is very rapid andthe shore breaks away abruptly to the full depth of the stream.

The night was absolutely dark with not a star in the sky. The windin whistling swirls drove the snow and sleet sharply against ourfaces. Before us flowed the stream of black, rapid water, carryingdown thin, jagged blocks of ice, twisting and grinding in thewhirls and eddies. For a long time my horse refused to take theplunge down the steep bank, snorted and braced himself. With allmy strength I lashed him with my whip across his neck until, with apitiful groan, he threw himself into the cold stream. We both wentall the way under and I hardly kept my seat in the saddle. Soon Iwas some metres from the shore with my horse stretching his headand neck far forward in his efforts and snorting and blowingincessantly. I felt the every motion of his feet churning thewater and the quivering of his whole body under me in this trial.

At last we reached the middle of the river, where the currentbecame exceedingly rapid and began to carry us down with it. Outof the ominous darkness I heard the shoutings of my companions andthe dull cries of fear and suffering from the horses. I was chestdeep in the icy water. Sometimes the floating blocks struck me;sometimes the waves broke up over my head and face. I had no timeto look about or to feel the cold. The animal wish to live tookpossession of me; I became filled with the thought that, if myhorse's strength failed in his struggle with the stream, I mustperish. All my attention was turned to his efforts and to hisquivering fear. Suddenly he groaned loudly and I noticed he wassinking. The water evidently was over his nostrils, because theintervals of his frightened snorts through the nostrils becamelonger. A big block of ice struck his head and turned him so thathe was swimming right downstream. With difficulty I reined himaround toward the shore but felt now that his force was gone. Hishead several times disappeared under the swirling surface. I hadno choice. I slipped from the saddle and, holding this by my lefthand, swam with my right beside my mount, encouraging him with myshouts. For a time he floated with lips apart and his teeth setfirm. In his widely opened eyes was indescribable fear. As soonas I was out of the saddle, he had at once risen in the water andswam more calmly and rapidly. At last under the hoofs of myexhausted animal I heard the stones. One after another mycompanions came up on the shore. The well-trained horses hadbrought all their burdens over. Much farther down our colonistlanded with the supplies. Without a moment's loss we packed ourthings on the horses and continued our journey. The wind wasgrowing stronger and colder. At the dawn of day the cold wasintense. Our soaked clothes froze and became hard as leather; ourteeth chattered; and in our eyes showed the red fires of fever: butwe traveled on to put as much space as we could between ourselvesand the Partisans. Passing about fifteen kilometres through theforest we emerged into an open valley, from which we could see theopposite bank of the Yenisei. It was about eight o'clock. Alongthe road on the other shore wound the black serpent-like line ofriders and wagons which we made out to be a column of Red soldierswith their transport. We dismounted and hid in the bushes in orderto avoid attracting their attention.

All the day with the thermometer at zero and below we continued ourjourney, only at night reaching the mountains covered with larchforests, where we made big fires, dried our clothes and warmedourselves thoroughly. The hungry horses did not leave the firesbut stood right behind us with drooped heads and slept. Very earlyin the morning several Soyots came to our camp.

"Ulan? (Red?)" asked one of them.

"No! No!" exclaimed all our company.

"Tzagan? (White?)" followed the new question.

"Yes, yes," said the Tartar, "all are Whites.""Mende! Mende!" they grunted and, after starting their cups oftea, began to relate very interesting and important news. Itappeared that the Red Partisans, moving from the mountains TannuOla, occupied with their outposts all the border of Mongolia tostop and seize the peasants and Soyots driving out their cattle.

To pass the Tannu Ola now would be impossible. I saw only one way--to turn sharp to the southeast, pass the swampy valley of theBuret Hei and reach the south shore of Lake Kosogol, which isalready in the territory of Mongolia proper. It was veryunpleasant news. To the first Mongol post in Samgaltai was notmore than sixty miles from our camp, while to Kosogol by theshortest line not less than two hundred seventy-five. The horsesmy friend and I were riding, after having traveled more than sixhundred miles over hard roads and without proper food or rest,could scarcely make such an additional distance. But, reflectingupon the situation and studying my new fellow travelers, Idetermined not to attempt to pass the Tannu Ola. They werenervous, morally weary men, badly dressed and armed and most ofthem were without weapons. I knew that during a fight there is nodanger so great as that of disarmed men. They are easily caught bypanic, lose their heads and infect all the others. Therefore, Iconsulted with my friends and decided to go to Kosogol. Ourcompany agreed to follow us. After luncheon, consisting of soupwith big lumps of meat, dry bread and tea, we moved out. About twoo'clock the mountains began to rise up before us. They were thenortheast outspurs of the Tannu Ola, behind which lay the Valley ofBuret Hei.
CHAPTER XI
　In a valley between two sharp ridges we discovered a herd of yaksand cattle being rapidly driven off to the north by ten mountedSoyots. Approaching us warily they finally revealed that Noyon(Prince) of Todji had ordered them to drive the herds along theBuret Hei into Mongolia, apprehending the pillaging of the RedPartisans. They proceeded but were informed by some Soyot huntersthat this part of the Tannu Ola was occupied by the Partisans 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 muzzling theirnoses with straps and bits of rope so that they could not neigh.

It was dark when our investigators 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 bridle it on the ground. When only ahundred paces remained, I stood behind the bushes and watched. Icould see very distinctly the fire and the dozing 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 skulls. 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 descended again into a valleycovered with dense 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 yaks 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 controversy 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 determined towork westward to Kobdo and then on to the camp on the Emil Riverwhere the Chinese authorities had interned 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 entailed 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 cavalry 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 sleet; 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.
CHAPTER XII
The inhabitants of Urianhai, the Soyots, are proud of being thegenuine Buddhists and of retaining the pure doctrine of holy Ramaand the deep wisdom of Sakkia-Mouni. They are the eternal enemiesof war and of the shedding of blood. Away back in the thirteenthcentury they preferred to move out from their native land and takerefuge in the north rather than fight or become a part of theempire of the bloody conqueror Jenghiz Khan, who wanted to add tohis forces these wonderful horsemen and skilled archers. Threetimes in their history they have thus trekked northward to avoidstruggle and now no one can say that on the hands of the Soyotsthere has ever been seen human blood. With their love of peacethey struggled against the evils of war. Even the severe Chineseadministrators could not apply here in this country of peace thefull measure of their implacable laws. In the same manner theSoyots conducted themselves when the Russian people, mad with bloodand crime, brought this infection into their land. They avoidedpersistently meetings and encounters with the Red troops andPartisans, trekking off with their families and cattle southwardinto the distant principalities of Kemchik and Soldjak. Theeastern branch of this stream of emigration passed through thevalley of the Buret Hei, where we constantly outstrode groups ofthem with their cattle and herds.

We traveled quickly along the winding trail of the Buret Hei and intwo days began to make the elevations of the mountain pass betweenthe valleys of the Buret Hei and Kharga. The trail was not onlyvery steep but was also littered with fallen larch trees andfrequently intercepted, incredible as it may seem, with swampyplaces where the horses mired badly. Then again we picked ourdangerous road over cobbles and small stones that rolled away underour horses' feet and bumped off over the precipice nearby. Ourhorses fatigued easily in passing this moraine that had been strewnby ancient glaciers along the mountain sides. Sometimes the trailled right along the edge of the precipices where the horses startedgreat slides of stones and sand. I remember one whole mountaincovered with these moving sands. We had to leave our saddles and,taking the bridles in our hands, to trot for a mile or more overthese sliding beds, sometimes sinking in up to our knees and goingdown the mountain side with them toward the precipices below. Oneimprudent move at times would have sent us over the brink. Thisdestiny met one of our horses. Belly down in the moving trap, hecould not work free to change his direction and so slipped on downwith a mass of it until he rolled over the precipice and was lostto us forever. We heard only the crackling of breaking trees alonghis road to death. Then with great difficulty we worked down tosalvage the saddle and bags. Further along we had to abandon oneof our pack horses which had come all the way from the northernborder of Urianhai with us. We first unburdened it but this didnot help; no more did our shouting and threats. He only stood withhis head down and looked so exhausted that we realized he hadreached the further bourne of his land of toil. Some Soyots withus examined him, felt of his muscles on the fore and hind legs,took his head in their hands and moved it from side to side,examined his head carefully after that and then said:

"That horse will not go further. His brain is dried out." So wehad to leave him.

That evening we came to a beautiful change in scene when we toppeda rise and found ourselves on a broad plateau covered with larch.

On it we discovered the yurtas of some Soyot hunters, covered withbark instead of the usual felt. Out of these ten men with riflesrushed toward us as we approached. They informed us that thePrince of Soldjak did not allow anyone to pass this way, as hefeared the coming of murderers and robbers into his dominions.

"Go back to the place from which you came," they advised us withfear in their eyes.

I did not answer but I stopped the beginnings of a quarrel betweenan old Soyot and one of my officers. I pointed to the small streamin the valley ahead of us and asked him its name.

"Oyna," replied the Soyot. "It is the border of the principalityand the passage of it is forbidden.""All right," I said, "but you will allow us to warm and restourselves a little.""Yes, yes!" exclaimed the hospitable Soyots, and led us into theirtepees.

On our way there I took the opportunity to hand to the old Soyot acigarette and to another a box of matches. We were all walkingalong together save one Soyot who limped slowly in the rear and washolding his hand up over his nose.

"Is he ill?" I asked.

"Yes," sadly answered the old Soyot. "That is my son. He has beenlosing blood from the nose for two days and is now quite weak."I stopped and called the young man to me.

"Unbutton your outer coat," I ordered, "bare your neck and chestand turn your face up as far as you can." I pressed the jugularvein on both sides of his head for some minutes and said to him:

"The blood will not flow from your nose any more. Go into yourtepee and lie down for some time."The "mysterious" action of my fingers created on the Soyots astrong impression. The old Soyot with fear and reverencewhispered:

"Ta Lama, Ta Lama! (Great Doctor)."In the yurta we were given tea while the old Soyot sat thinkingdeeply about something. Afterwards he took counsel with hiscompanions and finally announced:

"The wife of our Prince is sick in her eyes and I think the Princewill be very glad if I lead the 'Ta Lama' to him. He will notpunish me, for he ordered that no 'bad people' should be allowed topass; but that should not stop the 'good people' from coming to us.

"Do as you think best," I replied rather indifferently. "As amatter of fact, I know how to treat eye diseases but I would goback if you say so.""No, no!" the old man exclaimed with fear. "I shall guide youmyself."Sitting by the fire, he lighted his pipe with a flint, wiped themouthpiece on his sleeve and offered it to me in true nativehospitality. I was "comme il faut" and smoked. Afterwards heoffered his pipe to each one of our company and received from eacha cigarette, a little tobacco or some matches. It was the seal onour friendship. Soon in our yurta many persons piled up around us,men, women, children and dogs. It was impossible to move. Fromamong them emerged a Lama with shaved face and close cropped hair,dressed in the flowing red garment of his caste. His clothes andhis expression were very different from the common mass of dirtySoyots with their queues and felt caps finished off with squirreltails on the top. The Lama was very kindly disposed towards us butlooked ever greedily at our gold rings and watches. I decided toexploit this avidity of the Servant of Buddha. Supplying him withtea and dried bread, I made known to him that I was in need ofhorses.

"I have a horse. Will you buy it from me?" he asked. "But I donot accept Russian bank notes. Let us exchange something."For a long time I bargained with him and at last for my goldwedding ring, a raincoat and a leather saddle bag I received a fineSoyot horse--to replace one of the pack animals we had lost--and ayoung goat. We spent the night here and were feasted with fatmutton. In the morning we moved off under the guidance of the oldSoyot along the trail that followed the valley of the Oyna, freefrom both mountains and swamps. But we knew that the mounts of myfriend and myself, together with three others, were too worn downto make Kosogol and determined to try to buy others in Soldjak.

Soon we began to meet little groups of Soyot yurtas with theircattle and horses round about. Finally we approached the shiftingcapital of the Prince. Our guide rode on ahead for the parley withhim after assuring us that the Prince would be glad to welcome theTa Lama, though at the time I remarked great anxiety and fear inhis features as he spoke. Before long we emerged on to a largeplain well covered with small bushes. Down by the shore of theriver we made out big yurtas with yellow and blue flags floatingover them and easily guessed that this was the seat of government.

Soon our guide returned to us. His face was wreathed with smiles.

He flourished his hands and cried:

"Noyon (the Prince) asks you to come! He is very glad!"From a warrior I was forced to change myself into a diplomat. Aswe approached the yurta of the Prince, we were met by twoofficials, wearing the peaked Mongol caps with peacock feathersrampants behind. With low obeisances they begged the foreign"Noyon" to enter the yurta. My friend the Tartar and I entered.

In the rich yurta draped with expensive silk we discovered afeeble, wizen-faced little old man with shaven face and croppedhair, wearing also a high pointed beaver cap with red silk apextopped off with a dark red button with the long peacock feathersstreaming out behind. On his nose were big Chinese spectacles. Hewas sitting on a low divan, nervously clicking the beads of hisrosary. This was Ta Lama, Prince of Soldjak and High Priest of theBuddhist Temple. He welcomed us very cordially and invited us tosit down before the fire burning in the copper brazier. Hissurprisingly beautiful Princess served us with tea and Chineseconfections and cakes. We smoked our pipes, though the Prince as aLama did not indulge, fulfilling, however, his duty as a host byraising to his lips the pipes we offered him and handing us inreturn the green nephrite bottle of snuff. Thus with the etiquetteaccomplished we awaited the words of the Prince. He inquiredwhether our travels had been felicitous and what were our furtherplans. I talked with him quite frankly and requested hishospitality for the rest of our company and for the horses. Heagreed immediately and ordered four yurtas set up for us.

"I hear that the foreign Noyon," the Prince said, "is a gooddoctor.""Yes, I know some diseases and have with me some medicines," Ianswered, "but I am not a doctor. I am a scientist in otherbranches."But the Prince did not understand this. In his simple directness aman who knows how to treat disease is a doctor.

"My wife has had constant trouble for two months with her eyes," heannounced. "Help her."I asked the Princess to show me her eyes and I found the typicalconjunctivitis from the continual smoke of the yurta and thegeneral uncleanliness. The Tartar brought me my medicine case. Iwashed her eyes with boric acid and dropped a little cocaine and afeeble solution of sulphurate of zinc into them.

"I beg you to cure me," pleaded the Princess. "Do not go awayuntil you have cured me. We shall give you sheep, milk and flourfor all your company. I weep now very often because I had verynice eyes and my husband used to tell me they shone like the starsand now they are red. I cannot bear it, I cannot!"She very capriciously stamped her foot and, coquettishly smiling atme, asked:

"Do you want to cure me? Yes?"The character and manners of lovely woman are the same everywhere:

on bright Broadway, along the stately Thames, on the vivaciousboulevards of gay Paris and in the silk-draped yurta of the SoyotPrincess behind the larch covered Tannu Ola.

"I shall certainly try," assuringly answered the new oculist.

We spent here ten days, surrounded by the kindness and friendshipof the whole family of the Prince. The eyes of the Princess, whicheight years ago had seduced the already old Prince Lama, were nowrecovered. She was beside herself with joy and seldom left herlooking-glass.

The Prince gave me five fairly good horses, ten sheep and a bag offlour, which was immediately transformed into dry bread. My friendpresented him with a Romanoff five-hundred-rouble note with apicture of Peter the Great upon it, while I gave to him a smallnugget of gold which I had picked up in the bed of a stream. ThePrince ordered one of the Soyots to guide us to the Kosogol. Thewhole family of the Prince conducted us to the monastery tenkilometres from the "capital." We did not visit the monastery butwe stopped at the "Dugun," a Chinese trading establishment. TheChinese merchants looked at us in a very hostile manner though theysimultaneously offered us all sorts of goods, thinking especiallyto catch us with their round bottles (lanhon) of maygolo or sweetbrandy made from aniseed. As we had neither lump silver norChinese dollars, we could only look with longing at theseattractive bottles, till the Prince came to the rescue and orderedthe Chinese to put five of them in our saddle bags.
CHAPTER XIII
　　In the evening of the same day we arrived at the Sacred Lake ofTeri Noor, a sheet of water eight kilometres across, muddy andyellow, with low unattractive shores studded with large holes. Inthe middle of the lake lay what was left of a disappearing island.

On this were a few trees and some old ruins. Our guide explainedto us that two centuries ago the lake did not exist and that a verystrong Chinese fortress stood here on the plain. A Chinese chiefin command of the fortress gave offence to an old Lama who cursedthe place and prophesied that it would all be destroyed. The verynext day the water began rushing up from the ground, destroyed thefortress and engulfed all the Chinese soldiers. Even to this daywhen storms rage over the lake the waters cast up on the shores thebones of men and horses who perished in it. This Teri Noorincreases its size every year, approaching nearer and nearer to themountains. Skirting the eastern shore of the lake, we began toclimb a snow-capped ridge. The road was easy at first but theguide warned us that the most difficult bit was there ahead. Wereached this point two days later and found there a steep mountainside thickly set with forest and covered with snow. Beyond it laythe lines of eternal snow--ridges studded with dark rocks set ingreat banks of the white mantle that gleamed bright under the clearsunshine. These were the eastern and highest branches of the TannuOla system. We spent the night beneath this wood and began thepassage of it in the morning. At noon the guide began leading usby zigzags in and out but everywhere our trail was blocked by deepravines, great jams of fallen trees and walls of rock caught intheir mad tobogganings from the mountain top. We struggled forseveral hours, wore out our horses and, all of a sudden, turned upat the place where we had made our last halt. It was very evidentour Soyot had lost his way; and on his face I noticed marked fear.

"The old devils of the cursed forest will not allow us to pass," hewhispered with trembling lips. "It is a very ominous sign. Wemust return to Kharga to the Noyon."But I threatened him and he took the lead again evidently withouthope or effort to find the way. Fortunately, one of our party, anUrianhai hunter, noticed the blazes on the trees, the signs of theroad which our guide had lost. Following these, we made our waythrough the wood, came into and crossed a belt of burned larchtimber and beyond this dipped again into a small live forestbordering the bottom of the mountains crowned with the eternalsnows. It grew dark so that we had to camp for the night. Thewind rose high and carried in its grasp a great white sheet of snowthat shut us off from the horizon on every side and buried our campdeep in its folds. Our horses stood round like white ghosts,refusing to eat or to leave the circle round our fire. The windcombed their manes and tails. Through the niches in the mountainsit roared and whistled. From somewhere in the distance came thelow rumble of a pack of wolves, punctuated at intervals by thesharp individual barking that a favorable gust of wind threw upinto high staccato.

As we lay by the fire, the Soyot came over to me and said: "Noyon,come with me to the obo. I want to show you something."We went there and began to ascend the mountain. At the bottom of avery steep slope was laid up a large pile of stones and treetrunks, making a cone of some three metres in height. These oboare the Lamaite sacred signs set up at dangerous places, the altarsto the bad demons, rulers of these places. Passing Soyots andMongols pay tribute to the spirits by hanging on the branches ofthe trees in the obo hatyk, long streamers of blue silk, shredstorn from the lining of their coats or simply tufts of hair cutfrom their horses' manes; or by placing on the stones lumps of meator cups of tea and salt.

"Look at it," said the Soyot. "The hatyks are torn off. Thedemons are angry, they will not allow us to pass, Noyon. . . ."He caught my hand and with supplicating voice whispered: "Let usgo back, Noyon; let us! The demons do not wish us to pass theirmountains. For twenty years no one has dared to pass thesemountains and all bold men who have tried have perished here. Thedemons fell upon them with snowstorm and cold. Look! It isbeginning already. . . . Go back to our Noyon, wait for the warmerdays and then. . . ."I did not listen further to the Soyot but turned back to the fire,which I could hardly see through the blinding snow. Fearing ourguide might run away, I ordered a sentry to be stationed for thenight to watch him. Later in the night I was awakened by thesentry, who said to me: "Maybe I am mistaken, but I think I hearda rifle."What could I say to it? Maybe some stragglers like ourselves weregiving a sign of their whereabouts to their lost companions, orperhaps the sentry had mistaken for a rifle shot the sound of somefalling rock or frozen ice and snow. Soon I fell asleep again andsuddenly saw in a dream a very clear vision. Out on the plain,blanketed deep with snow, was moving a line of riders. They wereour pack horses, our Kalmuck and the funny pied horse with theRoman nose. I saw us descending from this snowy plateau into afold in the mountains. Here some larch trees were growing, closeto which gurgled a small, open brook. Afterwards I noticed a fireburning among the trees and then woke up.

It grew light. I shook up the others and asked them to preparequickly so as not to lose time in getting under way. The storm wasraging. The snow blinded us and blotted out all traces of theroad. The cold also became more intense. At last we were in thesaddles. The Soyot went ahead trying to make out the trail. As weworked higher the guide less seldom lost the way. Frequently wefell into deep holes covered with snow; we scrambled up overslippery rocks. At last the Soyot swung his horse round and,coming up to me, announced very positively: "I do not want to diewith you and I will not go further."My first motion was the swing of my whip back over my head. I wasso close to the "Promised Land" of Mongolia that this Soyot,standing in the way of fulfilment of my wishes, seemed to me myworst enemy. But I lowered my flourishing hand. Into my headflashed a quite wild thought.

"Listen," I said. "If you move your horses, you will receive abullet in the back and you will perish not at the top of themountain but at the bottom. And now I will tell you what willhappen to us. When we shall have reached these rocks above, thewind will have ceased and the snowstorm will have subsided. Thesun will shine as we cross the snowy plain above and afterwards weshall descend into a small valley where there are larches growingand a stream of open running water. There we shall light our firesand spend the night."The Soyot began to tremble with fright.

"Noyon has already passed these mountains of Darkhat Ola?" he askedin amazement.

"No," I answered, "but last night I had a vision and I know that weshall fortunately win over this ridge.""I will guide you!" exclaimed the Soyot, and, whipping his horse,led the way up the steep slope to the top of the ridge of eternalsnows.

As we were passing along the narrow edge of a precipice, the Soyotstopped and attentively examined the trail.

"Today many shod horses have passed here!" he cried through theroar of the storm. "Yonder on the snow the lash of a whip has beendragged. These are not Soyots."The solution of this enigma appeared instantly. A volley rang out.

One of my companions cried out, as he caught hold of his rightshoulder; one pack horse fell dead with a bullet behind his ear.

We quickly tumbled out of our saddles, lay down behind the rocksand began to study the situation. We were separated from aparallel spur of the mountain by a small valley about one thousandpaces across. There we made out about thirty riders alreadydismounted and firing at us. I had never allowed any fighting tobe done until the initiative had been taken by the other side. Ourenemy fell upon us unawares and I ordered my company to answer.

"Aim at the horses!" cried Colonel Ostrovsky. Then he ordered theTartar and Soyot to throw our own animals. We killed six of theirsand probably wounded others, as they got out of control. Also ourrifles took toll of any bold man who showed his head from behindhis rock. We heard the angry shouting and maledictions of Redsoldiers who shot up our position more and more animatedly.

Suddenly I saw our Soyot kick up three of the horses and springinto the saddle of one with the others in leash behind. Behind himsprang up the Tartar and the Kalmuck. I had already drawn my rifleon the Soyot but, as soon as I saw the Tartar and Kalmuck on theirlovely horses behind him, I dropped my gun and knew all was well.

The Reds let off a volley at the trio but they made good theirescape behind the rocks and disappeared. The firing continued moreand more lively and I did not know what to do. From our side weshot rarely, saving our cartridges. Watching carefully the enemy,I noticed two black points on the snow high above the Reds. Theyslowly approached our antagonists and finally were hidden from viewbehind some sharp hillocks. When they emerged from these, theywere right on the edge of some overhanging rocks at the foot ofwhich the Reds lay concealed from us. By this time I had no doubtthat these were the heads of two men. Suddenly these men rose upand I watched them flourish and throw something that was followedby two deafening roars which re-echoed across the mountain valley.

Immediately a third explosion was followed by wild shouts anddisorderly firing among the Reds. Some of the horses rolled downthe slope into the snow below and the soldiers, chased by ourshots, made off as fast as they could down into the valley out ofwhich we had come.

Afterward the Tartar told me the Soyot had proposed to guide themaround behind the Reds to fall upon their rear with the bombs.

When I had bound up the wounded shoulder of the officer and we hadtaken the pack off the killed animal, we continued our journey.

Our position was complicated. We had no doubt that the Reddetachment came up from Mongolia. Therefore, were there Red troopsin Mongolia? What was their strength? Where might we meet them?

Consequently, Mongolia was no more the Promised Land? Very sadthoughts took possession of us.

But Nature pleased us. The wind gradually fell. The storm ceased.

The sun more and more frequently broke through the scudding clouds.

We were traveling upon a high, snow-covered plateau, where in oneplace the wind blew it clean and in another piled it high withdrifts which caught our horses and held them so that they couldhardly extricate themselves at times. We had to dismount and wadethrough the white piles up to our waists and often a man or horsewas down and had to be helped to his feet. At last the descentbegan and at sunset we stopped in the small larch grove, spent thenight at the fire among the trees and drank the tea boiled in thewater carried from the open mountain brook. In various places wecame across the tracks of our recent antagonists.

Everything, even Nature herself and the angry demons of DarkhatOla, had helped us: but we were not gay, because again before uslay the dread uncertainty that threatened us with new and possiblydestructive dangers.
CHAPTER XIV
　　Ulan Taiga with Darkhat Ola lay behind us. We went forward veryrapidly because the Mongol plains began here, free from theimpediments of mountains. Everywhere splendid grazing landsstretched away. In places there were groves of larch. We crossedsome very rapid streams but they were not deep and they had hardbeds. After two days of travel over the Darkhat plain we beganmeeting Soyots driving their cattle rapidly toward the northwestinto Orgarkha Ola. They communicated to us very unpleasant news.

The Bolsheviki from the Irkutsk district had crossed the Mongolianborder, captured the Russian colony at Khathyl on the southernshore of Lake Kosogol and turned, off south toward Muren Kure, aRussian settlement beside a big Lamaite monastery sixty miles southof Kosogol. The Mongols told us there were no Russian troopsbetween Khathyl and Muren Kure, so we decided to pass between thesetwo points to reach Van Kure farther to the east. We took leave ofour Soyot guide and, after having sent three scouts in advance,moved forward. From the mountains around the Kosogol we admiredthe splendid view of this broad Alpine lake. It was set like asapphire in the old gold of the surrounding hills, chased withlovely bits of rich dark forestry. At night we approached Khathylwith great precaution and stopped on the shore of the river thatflows from Kosogol, the Yaga or Egingol. We found a Mongol whoagreed to transport us to the other bank of the frozen stream andto lead us by a safe road between Khathyl and Muren Kure.

Everywhere along the shore of the river were found large obo andsmall shrines to the demons of the stream.

"Why are there so many obo?" we asked the Mongol.

"It is the River of the Devil, dangerous and crafty," replied theMongol. "Two days ago a train of carts went through the ice andthree of them with five soldiers were lost."We started to cross. The surface of the river resembled a thickpiece of looking-glass, being clear and without snow. Our horseswalked very carefully but some fell and floundered before theycould regain their feet. We were leading them by the bridle. Withbowed heads and trembling all over they kept their frightened eyesever on the ice at their feet. I looked down and understood theirfear. Through the cover of one foot of transparent ice one couldclearly see the bottom of the river. Under the lighting of themoon all the stones, the holes and even some of the grasses weredistinctly visible, even though the depth was ten metres and more.

The Yaga rushed under the ice with a furious speed, swirling andmarking its course with long bands of foam and bubbles. Suddenly Ijumped and stopped as though fastened to the spot. Along thesurface of the river ran the boom of a cannon, followed by a secondand a third.

"Quicker, quicker!" cried our Mongol, waving us forward with hishand.

Another cannon boom and a crack ran right close to us. The horsesswung back on their haunches in protest, reared and fell, many ofthem striking their heads severely on the ice. In a second itopened up two feet wide, so that I could follow its jagged coursealong the surface. Immediately up out of the opening the waterspread over the ice with a rush.

"Hurry, hurry!" shouted the guide.

With great difficulty we forced our horses to jump over thiscleavage and to continue on further. They trembled and disobeyedand only the strong lash forced them to forget this panic of fearand go on.

When we were safe on the farther bank and well into the woods, ourMongol guide recounted to us how the river at times opens in thismysterious way and leaves great areas of clear water. All the menand animals on the river at such times must perish. The furiouscurrent of cold water will always carry them down under the ice.

At other times a crack has been known to pass right under a horseand, where he fell in with his front feet in the attempt to getback to the other side, the crack has closed up and ground his legsor feet right off.

The valley of Kosogol is the crater of an extinct volcano. Itsoutlines may be followed from the high west shore of the lake.

However, the Plutonic force still acts and, asserting the glory ofthe Devil, forces the Mongols to build obo and offer sacrifices athis shrines. We spent all the night and all the next day hurryingaway eastward to avoid a meeting with the Reds and seeking goodpasturage for our horses. At about nine o'clock in the evening afire shone out of the distance. My friend and I made toward itwith the feeling that it was surely a Mongol yurta beside which wecould camp in safety. We traveled over a mile before making outdistinctly the lines of a group of yurtas. But nobody came out tomeet us and, what astonished us more, we were not surrounded by theangry black Mongolian dogs with fiery eyes. Still, from thedistance we had seen the fire and so there must be someone there.

We dismounted from our horses and approached on foot. From out ofthe yurta rushed two Russian soldiers, one of whom shot at me withhis pistol but missed me and wounded my horse in the back throughthe saddle. I brought him to earth with my Mauser and the otherwas killed by the butt end of my friend's rifle. We examined thebodies and found in their pockets the papers of soldiers of theSecond Squadron of the Communist Interior Defence. Here we spentthe night. The owners of the yurtas had evidently run away, forthe Red soldiers had collected and packed in sacks the property ofthe Mongols. Probably they were just planning to leave, as theywere fully dressed. We acquired two horses, which we found in thebushes, two rifles and two automatic pistols with cartridges. Inthe saddle bags we also found tea, tobacco, matches and cartridges--all of these valuable supplies to help us keep further hold on ourlives.

Two days later we were approaching the shore of the River Uri whenwe met two Russian riders, who were the Cossacks of a certainAtaman Sutunin, acting against the Bolsheviki in the valley of theRiver Selenga. They were riding to carry a message from Sutunin toKaigorodoff, chief of the Anti-Bolsheviki in the Altai region.

They informed us that along the whole Russian-Mongolian border theBolshevik troops were scattered; also that Communist agitators hadpenetrated to Kiakhta, Ulankom and Kobdo and had persuaded theChinese authorities to surrender to the Soviet authorities all therefugees from Russia. We knew that in the neighborhood of Urga andVan Kure engagements were taking place between the Chinese troopsand the detachments of the Anti-Bolshevik Russian General BaronUngern Sternberg and Colonel Kazagrandi, who were fighting for theindependence of Outer Mongolia. Baron Ungern had now been twicedefeated, so that the Chinese were carrying on high-handed in Urga,suspecting all foreigners of having relations with the RussianGeneral.

We realized that the whole situation was sharply reversed. Theroute to the Pacific was closed. Reflecting very carefully overthe problem, I decided that we had but one possible exit left. Wemust avoid all Mongolian cities with Chinese administration, crossMongolia from north to south, traverse the desert in the southernpart of the Principality of Jassaktu Khan, enter the Gobi in thewestern part of Inner Mongolia, strike as rapidly as possiblethrough sixty miles of Chinese territory in the Province of Kansuand penetrate into Tibet. Here I hoped to search out one of theEnglish Consuls and with his help to reach some English port inIndia. I understood thoroughly all the difficulties incident tosuch an enterprise but I had no other choice. It only remained tomake this last foolish attempt or to perish without doubt at thehands of the Boisheviki or languish in a Chinese prison. When Iannounced my plan to my companions, without in any way hiding fromthem all its dangers and quixotism, all of them answered veryquickly and shortly: "Lead us! We will follow."One circumstance was distinctly in our favor. We did not fearhunger, for we had some supplies of tea, tobacco and matches and asurplus of horses, saddles, rifles, overcoats and boots, which werean excellent currency for exchange. So then we began to initiatethe plan of the new expedition. We should start to the south,leaving the town of Uliassutai on our right and taking thedirection of Zaganluk, then pass through the waste lands of thedistrict of Balir of Jassaktu Khan, cross the Naron Khuhu Gobi andstrike for the mountains of Boro. Here we should be able to take along rest to recuperate the strength of our horses and ofourselves. The second section of our journey would be the passagethrough the western part of Inner Mongolia, through the LittleGobi, through the lands of the Torguts, over the Khara Mountains,across Kansu, where our road must be chosen to the west of theChinese town of Suchow. From there we should have to enter theDominion of Kuku Nor and then work on southward to the head watersof the Yangtze River. Beyond this I had but a hazy notion, whichhowever I was able to verify from a map of Asia in the possessionof one of the officers, to the effect that the mountain chains tothe west of the sources of the Yangtze separated that river systemfrom the basin of the Brahmaputra in Tibet Proper, where I expectedto be able to find English assistance.
CHAPTER XV
　　In no other way can I describe the journey from the River Ero tothe border of Tibet. About eleven hundred miles through the snowysteppes, over mountains and across deserts we traveled in forty-eight days. We hid from the people as we journeyed, made shortstops in the most desolate places, fed for whole weeks on nothingbut raw, frozen meat in order to avoid attracting attention by thesmoke of fires. Whenever we needed to purchase a sheep or a steerfor our supply department, we sent out only two unarmed men whorepresented to the natives that they were the workmen of someRussian colonists. We even feared to shoot, although we met agreat herd of antelopes numbering as many as five thousand head.

Behind Balir in the lands of the Lama Jassaktu Khan, who hadinherited his throne as a result of the poisoning of his brother atUrga by order of the Living Buddha, we met wandering RussianTartars who had driven their herds all the way from Altai andAbakan. They welcomed us very cordially, gave us oxen and thirty-six bricks of tea. Also they saved us from inevitable destruction,for they told us that at this season it was utterly impossible forhorses to make the trip across the Gobi, where there was no grassat all. We must buy camels by exchanging for them our horses andsome other of our bartering supplies. One of the Tartars the nextday brought to their camp a rich Mongol with whom he drove thebargain for this trade. He gave us nineteen camels and took allour horses, one rifle, one pistol and the best Cossack saddle. Headvised us by all means to visit the sacred Monastery ofNarabanchi, the last Lamaite monastery on the road from Mongolia toTibet. He told us that the Holy Hutuktu, "the Incarnate Buddha,"would be greatly offended if we did not visit the monastery and hisfamous "Shrine of Blessings," where all travelers going to Tibetalways offered prayers. Our Kalmuck Lamaite supported the Mongolin this. I decided to go there with the Kalmuck. The Tartars gaveme some big silk hatyk as presents and loaned us four splendidhorses. Although the monastery was fifty-five miles distant, bynine o'clock in the evening I entered the yurta of this holyHutuktu.

He was a middle-aged, clean shaven, spare little man, laboringunder the name of Jelyb Djamsrap Hutuktu. He received us verycordially and was greatly pleased with the presentation of thehatyk and with my knowledge of the Mongol etiquette in which myTartar had been long and persistently instructing me. He listenedto me most attentively and gave valuable advice about the road,presenting me then with a ring which has since opened for me thedoors of all Lamaite monasteries. The name of this Hutuktu ishighly esteemed not only in all Mongolia but in Tibet and in theLamaite world of China. We spent the night in his splendid yurtaand on the following morning visited the shrines where they wereconducting very solemn services with the music of gongs, tom-tomsand whistling. The Lamas with their deep voices were intoning theprayers while the lesser priests answered with their antiphonies.

The sacred phrase: "Om! Mani padme Hung!" was endlessly repeated.

The Hutuktu wished us success, presented us with a large yellowhatyk and accompanied us to the monastery gate. When we were inour saddles he said:

"Remember that you are always welcome guests here. Life is verycomplicated and anything may happen. Perhaps you will be forced infuture to re-visit distant Mongolia and then do not miss NarabanchiKure."That night we returned to the Tartars and the next day continuedour journey. As I was very tired, the slow, easy motion of thecamel was welcome and restful to me. All the day I dozed off atintervals to sleep. It turned out to be very disastrous for me;for, when my camel was going up the steep bank of a river, in oneof my naps I fell off and hit my head on a stone, lostconsciousness and woke up to find my overcoat covered with blood.

My friends surrounded me with their frightened faces. Theybandaged my head and we started off again. I only learned longafterwards from a doctor who examined me that I had cracked myskull as the price of my siesta.

We crossed the eastern ranges of the Altai and the Karlik Tag,which are the most oriental sentinels the great Tian Shan systemthrows out into the regions of the Gobi; and then traversed fromthe north to the south the entire width of the Khuhu Gobi. Intensecold ruled all this time and fortunately the frozen sands gave usbetter speed. Before passing the Khara range, we exchanged ourrocking-chair steeds for horses, a deal in which the Torgutsskinned us badly like the true "old clothes men" they are.

Skirting around these mountains we entered Kansu. It was adangerous move, for the Chinese were arresting all refugees and Ifeared for my Russian fellow-travelers. During the days we hid inthe ravines, the forests and bushes, making forced marches atnight. Four days we thus used in this passage of Kansu. The fewChinese peasants we did encounter were peaceful appearing and mosthospitable. A marked sympathetic interest surrounded the Kalmuck,who could speak a bit of Chinese, and my box of medicines.

Everywhere we found many ill people, chiefly afflicted with eyetroubles, rheumatism and skin diseases.

As we were approaching Nan Shan, the northeast branch of the AltynTag (which is in turn the east branch of the Pamir and Karakhorumsystem), we overhauled a large caravan of Chinese merchants goingto Tibet and joined them. For three days we were winding throughthe endless ravine-like valleys of these mountains and ascendingthe high passes. But we noticed that the Chinese knew how to pickthe easiest routes for caravans over all these difficult places.

In a state of semi-consciousness I made this whole journey towardthe large group of swampy lakes, feeding the Koko Nor and a wholenetwork of large rivers. From fatigue and constant nervous strain,probably helped by the blow on my head, I began suffering fromsharp attacks of chills and fever, burning up at times and thenchattering so with my teeth that I frightened my horse who severaltimes threw me from the saddle. I raved, cried out at times andeven wept. I called my family and instructed them how they mustcome to me. I remember as though through a dream how I was takenfrom the horse by my companions, laid on the ground, supplied withChinese brandy and, when I recovered a little, how they said to me:

"The Chinese merchants are heading for the west and we must travelsouth.""No! To the north," I replied very sharply.

"But no, to the south," my companions assured me.

"God and the Devil!" I angrily ejaculated, "we have just swum theLittle Yenisei and Algyak is to the north!""We are in Tibet," remonstrated my companions. "We must reach theBrahmaputra."Brahmaputra. . . . Brahmaputra. . . . This word revolved in myfiery brain, made a terrible noise and commotion. Suddenly Iremembered everything and opened my eyes. I hardly moved my lipsand soon I again lost consciousness. My companions brought me tothe monastery of Sharkhe, where the Lama doctor quickly brought meround with a solution of fatil or Chinese ginseng. In discussingour plans he expressed grave doubt as to whether we would getthrough Tibet but he did not wish to explain to me the reason forhis doubts.
CHAPTER XVI
　　A fairly broad road led out from Sharkhe through the mountains andon the fifth day of our two weeks' march to the south from themonastery we emerged into the great bowl of the mountains in whosecenter lay the large lake of Koko Nor. If Finland deserves theordinary title of the "Land of Ten Thousand Lakes," the dominion ofKoko Nor may certainly with justice be called the "Country of aMillion Lakes." We skirted this lake on the west between it andDoulan Kitt, zigzagging between the numerous swamps, lakes andsmall rivers, deep and miry. The water was not here covered withice and only on the tops of the mountains did we feel the coldwinds sharply. We rarely met the natives of the country and onlywith greatest difficulty did our Kalmuck learn the course of theroad from the occasional shepherds we passed. From the easternshore of the Lake of Tassoun we worked round to a monastery on thefurther side, where we stopped for a short rest. Besides ourselvesthere was also another group of guests in the holy place. Thesewere Tibetans. Their behavior was very impertinent and theyrefused to speak with us. They were all armed, chiefly with theRussian military rifles and were draped with crossed bandoliers ofcartridges with two or three pistols stowed beneath belts with morecartridges sticking out. They examined us very sharply and wereadily realized that they were estimating our martial strength.

After they had left on that same day I ordered our Kalmuck toinquire from the High Priest of the temple exactly who they were.

For a long time the monk gave evasive answers but when I showed himthe ring of Hutuktu Narabanchi and presented him with a largeyellow hatyk, he became more communicative.

"Those are bad people," he explained. "Have a care of them."However, he was not willing to give their names, explaining hisrefusal by citing the Law of Buddhist lands against pronouncing thename of one's father, teacher or chief. Afterwards I found outthat in North Tibet there exists the same custom as in North China.

Here and there bands of hunghutze wander about. They appear at theheadquarters of the leading trading firms and at the monasteries,claim tribute and after their collections become the protectors ofthe district. Probably this Tibetan monastery had in this bandjust such protectors.

When we continued our trip, we frequently noticed single horsemenfar away or on the horizon, apparently studying our movements withcare. All our attempts to approach them and enter intoconversation with them were entirely unsuccessful. On their speedylittle horses they disappeared like shadows. As we reached thesteep and difficult Pass on the Hamshan and were preparing to spendthe night there, suddenly far up on a ridge above us appeared aboutforty horsemen with entirely white mounts and without formalintroduction or warning spattered us with a hail of bullets. Twoof our officers fell with a cry. One had been instantly killedwhile the other lived some few minutes. I did not allow my men toshoot but instead I raised a white flag and started forward withthe Kalmuck for a parley. At first they fired two shots at us butthen ceased firing and sent down a group of riders from the ridgetoward us. We began the parley. The Tibetans explained thatHamshan is a holy mountain and that here one must not spend thenight, advising us to proceed farther where we could considerourselves in safety. They inquired from us whence we came andwhither we were going, stated in answer to our information aboutthe purpose of our journey that they knew the Bolsheviki andconsidered them the liberators of the people of Asia from the yokeof the white race. I certainly did not want to begin a politicalquarrel with them and so turned back to our companions. Ridingdown the slope toward our camp, I waited momentarily for a shot inthe back but the Tibetan hunghutze did not shoot.

We moved forward, leaving among the stones the bodies of two of ourcompanions as sad tribute to the difficulties and dangers of ourjourney. We rode all night, with our exhausted horses constantlystopping and some lying down under us, but we forced them everonward. At last, when the sun was at its zenith, we finallyhalted. Without unsaddling our horses, we gave them an opportunityto lie down for a little rest. Before us lay a broad, swampyplain, where was evidently the sources of the river Ma-chu. Notfar beyond lay the Lake of Aroung Nor. We made our fire of cattledung and began boiling water for our tea. Again without anywarning the bullets came raining in from all sides. Immediately wetook cover behind convenient rocks and waited developments. Thefiring became faster and closer, the raiders appeared on the wholecircle round us and the bullets came ever in increasing numbers.

We had fallen into a trap and had no hope but to perish. Werealized this clearly. I tried anew to begin the parley; but whenI stood up with my white flag, the answer was only a thicker rainof bullets and unfortunately one of these, ricocheting off a rock,struck me in the left leg and lodged there. At the same momentanother one of our company was killed. We had no other choice andwere forced to begin fighting. The struggle continued for abouttwo hours. Besides myself three others received slight wounds. Weresisted as long as we could. The hunghutze approached and oursituation became desperate.

"There's no choice," said one of my associates, a very expertColonel. "We must mount and ride for it . . . anywhere.""Anywhere. . . ." It was a terrible word! We consulted for but aninstant. It was apparent that with this band of cut-throats behindus the farther we went into Tibet, the less chance we had of savingour lives.

We decided to return to Mongolia. But how? That we did not know.

And thus we began our retreat. Firing all the time, we trotted ourhorses as fast as we could toward the north. One after anotherthree of my companions fell. There lay my Tartar with a bulletthrough his neck. After him two young and fine stalwart officerswere carried from their saddles with cries of death, while theirscared horses broke out across the plain in wild fear, perfectpictures of our distraught selves. This emboldened the Tibetans,who became more and more audacious. A bullet struck the buckle onthe ankle strap of my right foot and carried it, with a piece ofleather and cloth, into my leg just above the ankle. My old andmuch tried friend, the agronome, cried out as he grasped hisshoulder and then I saw him wiping and bandaging as best as hecould his bleeding forehead. A second afterward our Kalmuck washit twice right through the palm of the same hand, so that it wasentirely shattered. Just at this moment fifteen of the hunghutzerushed against us in a charge.

"Shoot at them with volley fire!" commanded our Colonel.

Six robber bodies lay on the turf, while two others of the gangwere unhorsed and ran scampering as fast as they could after theirretreating fellows. Several minutes later the fire of ourantagonists ceased and they raised a white flag. Two riders cameforward toward us. In the parley it developed that their chief hadbeen wounded through the chest and they came to ask us to "renderfirst aid." At once I saw a ray of hope. I took my box ofmedicines and my groaning, cursing, wounded Kalmuck to interpretfor me.

"Give that devil some cyanide of potassium," urged my companions.

But I devised another scheme.

We were led to the wounded chief. There he lay on the saddlecloths among the rocks, represented to us to be a Tibetan but I atonce recognized him from his cast of countenance to be a Sart orTurcoman, probably from the southern part of Turkestan. He lookedat me with a begging and frightened gaze. Examining him, I foundthe bullet had passed through his chest from left to right, that hehad lost much blood and was very weak. Conscientiously I did allthat I could for him. In the first place I tried on my own tongueall the medicines to be used on him, even the iodoform, in order todemonstrate that there was no poison among them. I cauterized thewound with iodine, sprinkled it with iodoform and applied thebandages. I ordered that the wounded man be not touched nor movedand that he be left right where he lay. Then I taught a Tibetanhow the dressing must be changed and left with him medicatedcotton, bandages and a little iodoform. To the patient, in whomthe fever was already developing, I gave a big dose of aspirin andleft several tablets of quinine with them. Afterwards, addressingmyself to the bystanders through my Kalmuck, I said very solemnly:

"The wound is very dangerous but I gave to your Chief very strongmedicine and hope that he will recover. One condition, however, isnecessary: the bad demons which have rushed to his side for hisunwarranted attack upon us innocent travelers will instantly killhim, if another shot is let off against us. You must not even keepa single cartridge in your rifles."With these words I ordered the Kalmuck to empty his rifle and I, atthe same time, took all the cartridges out of my Mauser. TheTibetans instantly and very servilely followed my example.

"Remember that I told you: 'Eleven days and eleven nights do notmove from this place and do not charge your rifles.' Otherwise thedemon of death will snatch off your Chief and will pursue you!"--and with these words I solemnly drew forth and raised above theirheads the ring of Hutuktu Narabanchi.

I returned to my companions and calmed them. I told them we weresafe against further attack from the robbers and that we must onlyguess the way to reach Mongolia. Our horses were so exhausted andthin that on their bones we could have hung our overcoats. Wespent two days here, during which time I frequently visited mypatient. It also gave us opportunity to bandage our ownfortunately light wounds and to secure a little rest; thoughunfortunately I had nothing but a jackknife with which to dig thebullet out of my left calf and the shoemaker's accessories from myright ankle. Inquiring from the brigands about the caravan roads,we soon made our way out to one of the main routes and had the goodfortune to meet there the caravan of the young Mongol PrincePounzig, who was on a holy mission carrying a message from theLiving Buddha in Urga to the Dalai Lama in Lhasa. He helped us topurchase horses, camels and food.

With all our arms and supplies spent in barter during the journeyfor the purchase of transport and food, we returned stripped andbroken to the Narabanchi Monastery, where we were welcomed by theHutuktu.

"I knew you would come back," said he. "The divinations revealedit all to me."With six of our little band left behind us in Tibet to pay theeternal toll of our dash for the south we returned but twelve tothe Monastery and waited there two weeks to re-adjust ourselves andlearn how events would again set us afloat on this turbulent sea tosteer for any port that Destiny might indicate. The officersenlisted in the detachment which was then being formed in Mongoliato fight against the destroyers of their native land, theBolsheviki. My original companion and I prepared to continue ourjourney over Mongolian plains with whatever further adventures anddangers might come in the struggle to escape to a place of safety.

And now, with the scenes of that trying march so vividly recalled,I would dedicate these chapters to my gigantic, old and ruggedlytried friend, the agronome, to my Russian fellow-travelers, andespecially, to the sacred memory of those of our companions whosebodies lie cradled in the sleep among the mountains of Tibet--Colonel Ostrovsky, Captains Zuboff and Turoff, LieutenantPisarjevsky, Cossack Vernigora and Tartar Mahomed Spirin. Alsohere I express my deep thanks for help and friendship to the Princeof Soldjak, Hereditary Noyon Ta Lama and to the Kampo Gelong ofNarabanchi Monastery, the honorable Jelyb Djamsrap Hutuktu.
CHAPTER XVII
　　In the heart of Asia lies the enormous, mysterious and rich countryof Mongolia. From somewhere on the snowy slopes of the Tian Shanand from the hot sands of Western Zungaria to the timbered ridgesof the Sayan and to the Great Wall of China it stretches over ahuge portion of Central Asia. The cradle of peoples, histories andlegends; the native land of bloody conquerors, who have left heretheir capitals covered by the sand of the Gobi, their mysteriousrings and their ancient nomad laws; the states of monks and evildevils, the country of wandering tribes administered by thedescendants of Jenghiz Khan and Kublai Khan--Khans and Princes ofthe Junior lines: that is Mongolia.

Mysterious country of the cults of Rama, Sakkia-Mouni, Djonkapa andPaspa, cults guarded by the very person of the living Buddha--Buddha incarnated in the third dignitary of the Lamaite religion--Bogdo Gheghen in Ta Kure or Urga; the land of mysterious doctors,prophets, sorcerers, fortune-tellers and witches; the land of thesign of the swastika; the land which has not forgotten the thoughtsof the long deceased great potentates of Asia and of half ofEurope: that is Mongolia.

The land of nude mountains, of plains burned by the sun and killedby the cold, of ill cattle and ill people; the nest of pests,anthrax and smallpox; the land of boiling hot springs and ofmountain passes inhabited by demons; of sacred lakes swarming withfish; of wolves, rare species of deer and mountain goats, marmotsin millions, wild horses, wild donkeys and wild camels that havenever known the bridle, ferocious dogs and rapacious birds of preywhich devour the dead bodies cast out on the plains by the people:

that is Mongolia.

The land whose disappearing primitive people gaze upon the bones oftheir forefathers whitening in the sands and dust of their plains;where are dying out the people who formerly conquered China, Siam,Northern India and Russia and broke their chests against the ironlances of the Polish knights, defending then all the Christianworld against the invasion of wild and wandering Asia: that isMongolia.

The land swelling with natural riches, producing nothing, in needof everything, destitute and suffering from the world's cataclysm:

that is Mongolia.

In this land, by order of Fate, after my unsuccessful attempt toreach the Indian Ocean through Tibet, I spent half a year in thestruggle to live and to escape. My old and faithful friend and Iwere compelled, willy-nilly, to participate in the exceedinglyimportant and dangerous events transpiring in Mongolia in the yearof grace 1921. Thanks to this, I came to know the calm, good andhonest Mongolian people; I read their souls, saw their sufferingsand hopes; I witnessed the whole horror of their oppression andfear before the face of Mystery, there where Mystery pervades alllife. I watched the rivers during the severe cold break with arumbling roar their chains of ice; saw lakes cast up on theirshores the bones of human beings; heard unknown wild voices in themountain ravines; made out the fires over miry swamps of the will-o'-the-wisps; witnessed burning lakes; gazed upward to mountainswhose peaks could not be scaled; came across great balls ofwrithing snakes in the ditches in winter; met with streams whichare eternally frozen, rocks like petrified caravans of camels,horsemen and carts; and over all saw the barren mountains whosefolds looked like the mantle of Satan, which the glow of theevening sun drenched with blood.

"Look up there!" cried an old shepherd, pointing to the slope ofthe cursed Zagastai. "That is no mountain. It is HE who lies inhis red mantle and awaits the day when he will rise again to beginthe fight with the good spirits."And as he spoke I recalled the mystic picture of the noted painterVroubel. The same nude mountains with the violet and purple robesof Satan, whose face is half covered by an approaching grey cloud.

Mongolia is a terrible land of mystery and demons. Therefore it isno wonder that here every violation of the ancient order of life ofthe wandering nomad tribes is transformed into streams of red bloodand horror, ministering to the demonic pleasure of Satan couched onthe bare mountains and robed in the grey cloak of dejection andsadness, or in the purple mantle of war and vengeance.

After returning from the district of Koko Nor to Mongolia andresting a few days at the Narabanchi Monastery, we went to live inUliassutai, the capital of Western Outer Mongolia. It is the lastpurely Mongolian town to the west. In Mongolia there are but threepurely Mongolian towns, Urga, Uliassutai and Ulankom. The fourthtown, Kobdo, has an essentially Chinese character, being the centerof Chinese administration in this district inhabited by thewandering tribes only nominally recognizing the influence of eitherPeking or Urga. In Uliassutai and Ulankom, besides the unlawfulChinese commissioners and troops, there were stationed Mongoliangovernors or "Saits," appointed by the decree of the Living Buddha.

When we arrived in that town, we were at once in the sea ofpolitical passions. The Mongols were protesting in great agitationagainst the Chinese policy in their country; the Chinese raged anddemanded from the Mongolians the payment of taxes for the fullperiod since the autonomy of Mongolia had been forcibly extractedfrom Peking; Russian colonists who had years before settled nearthe town and in the vicinity of the great monasteries or among thewandering tribes had separated into factions and were fightingagainst one another; from Urga came the news of the struggle forthe maintenance of the independence of Outer Mongolia, led by theRussian General, Baron Ungern von Sternberg; Russian officers andrefugees congregated in detachments, against which the Chineseauthorities protested but which the Mongols welcomed; theBolsheviki, worried by the formation of White detachments inMongolia, sent their troops to the borders of Mongolia; fromIrkutsk and Chita to Uliassutai and Urga envoys were running fromthe Bolsheviki to the Chinese commissioners with various proposalsof all kinds; the Chinese authorities in Mongolia were graduallyentering into secret relations with the Bolsheviki and in Kiakhtaand Ulankom delivered to them the Russian refugees, thus violatingrecognized international law; in Urga the Bolsheviki set up aRussian communistic municipality; Russian Consuls were inactive;Red troops in the region of Kosogol and the valley of the Selengahad encounters with Anti-Bolshevik officers; the Chineseauthorities established garrisons in the Mongolian towns and sentpunitive expeditions into the country; and, to complete theconfusion, the Chinese troops carried out house-to-house searches,during which they plundered and stole.

Into what an atmosphere we had fallen after our hard and dangeroustrip along the Yenisei, through Urianhai, Mongolia, the lands ofthe Turguts, Kansu and Koko Nor!

"Do you know," said my old friend to me, "I prefer stranglingPartisans and fighting with the hunghutze to listening to news andmore anxious news!"He was right; for the worst of it was that in this bustle and whirlof facts, rumours and gossip the Reds could approach troubledUliassutai and take everyone with their bare hands. We should verywillingly have left this town of uncertainties but we had no placeto go. In the north were the hostile Partisans and Red troops; tothe south we had already lost our companions and not a little ofour own blood; to the west raged the Chinese administrators anddetachments; and to the east a war had broken out, the news ofwhich, in spite of the attempts of the Chinese authorities atsecrecy, had filtered through and had testified to the seriousnessof the situation in this part of Outer Mongolia. Consequently wehad no choice but to remain in Uliassutai. Here also were livingseveral Polish soldiers who had escaped from the prison camps inRussia, two Polish families and two American firms, all in the sameplight as ourselves. We joined together and made our ownintelligence department, very carefully watching the evolution ofevents. We succeeded in forming good connections with the Chinesecommissioner and with the Mongolian Sait, which greatly helped usin our orientation.

What was behind all these events in Mongolia? The very cleverMongol Sait of Uliassutai gave me the following explanation.

"According to the agreements between Mongolia, China and Russia ofOctober 21, 1912, of October 23, 1913, and of June 7, 1915, OuterMongolia was accorded independence and the Moral Head of our'Yellow Faith,' His Holiness the Living Buddha, became the Suzerainof the Mongolian people of Khalkha or Outer Mongolia with the titleof 'Bogdo Djebtsung Damba Hutuktu Khan.' While Russia was stillstrong and carefully watched her policy in Asia, the Government ofPeking kept the treaty; but, when, at the beginning of the war withGermany, Russia was compelled to withdraw her troops from Siberia,Peking began to claim the return of its lost rights in Mongolia.

It was because of this that the first two treaties of 1912 and 1913were supplemented by the convention of 1915. However, in 1916,when all the forces of Russia were pre-occupied in the unsuccessfulwar and afterwards when the first Russian revolution broke out inFebruary, 1917, overthrowing the Romanoff Dynasty, the ChineseGovernment openly retook Mongolia. They changed all the Mongolianministers and Saits, replacing them with individuals friendly toChina; arrested many Mongolian autonomists and sent them to prisonin Peking; set up their administration in Urga and other Mongoltowns; actually removed His Holiness Bogdo Khan from the affairs ofadministration; made him only a machine for signing Chinesedecrees; and at last introduced into Mongolia their troops. Fromthat moment there developed an energetic flow of Chinese merchantsand coolies into Mongolia. The Chinese began to demand the paymentof taxes and dues from 1912. The Mongolian population were rapidlystripped of their wealth and now in the vicinities of our towns andmonasteries you can see whole settlements of beggar Mongols livingin dugouts. All our Mongol arsenals and treasuries wererequisitioned. All monasteries were forced to pay taxes; allMongols working for the liberty of their country were persecuted;through bribery with Chinese silver, orders and titles the Chinesesecured a following among the poorer Mongol Princes. It is easy tounderstand how the governing class, His Holiness, Khans, Princes,and high Lamas, as well as the ruined and oppressed people,remembering that the Mongol rulers had once held Peking and Chinain their hands and under their reign had given her the first placein Asia, were definitely hostile to the Chinese administratorsacting thus. Insurrection was, however, impossible. We had noarms. All our leaders were under surveillance and every movementby them toward an armed resistance would have ended in the sameprison at Peking where eighty of our Nobles, Princes and Lamas diedfrom hunger and torture after a previous struggle for the libertyof Mongolia. Some abnormally strong shock was necessary to drivethe people into action. This was given by the Chineseadministrators, General Cheng Yi and General Chu Chi-hsiang. Theyannounced that His Holiness Bogdo Khan was under arrest in his ownpalace, and they recalled to his attention the former decree of thePeking Government--held by the Mongols to be unwarranted andillegal--that His Holiness was the last Living Buddha. This wasenough. Immediately secret relations were made between the peopleand their Living God, and plans were at once elaborated for theliberation of His Holiness and for the struggle for liberty andfreedom of our people. We were helped by the great Prince of theBuriats, Djam Bolon, who began parleys with General Ungern, thenengaged in fighting the Bolsheviki in Transbaikalia, and invitedhim to enter Mongolia and help in the war against the Chinese.

Then our struggle for liberty began."Thus the Sait of Uliassutai explained the situation to me.

Afterwards I heard that Baron Ungern, who had agreed to fight forthe liberty of Mongolia, directed that the mobilization of theMongolians in the northern districts be forwarded at once andpromised to enter Mongolia with his own small detachment, movingalong the River Kerulen. Afterwards he took up relations with theother Russian detachment of Colonel Kazagrandi and, together withthe mobilized Mongolian riders, began the attack on Urga. Twice hewas defeated but on the third of February, 1921, he succeeded incapturing the town and replaced the Living Buddha on the throne ofthe Khans.

At the end of March, however, these events were still unknown inUliassutai. We knew neither of the fall of Urga nor of thedestruction of the Chinese army of nearly 15,000 in the battles ofMaimachen on the shore of the Tola and on the roads between Urgaand Ude. The Chinese carefully concealed the truth by preventinganybody from passing westward from Urga. However, rumours existedand troubled all. The atmosphere became more and more tense, whilethe relations between the Chinese on the one side and theMongolians and Russians on the other became more and more strained.

At this time the Chinese Commissioner in Uliassutai was Wang Tsao-tsun and his advisor, Fu Hsiang, both very young and inexperiencedmen. The Chinese authorities had dismissed the Uliassutai Sait,the prominent Mongolian patriot, Prince Chultun Beyle, and hadappointed a Lama Prince friendly to China, the former Vice-Ministerof War in Urga. Oppression increased. The searching of Russianofficers' and colonists' houses and quarters commenced, openrelations with the Bolsheviki followed and arrest and beatingsbecame common. The Russian officers formed a secret detachment ofsixty men so that they could defend themselves. However, in thisdetachment disagreements soon sprang up between Lieutenant-ColonelM. M. Michailoff and some of his officers. It was evident that inthe decisive moment the detachment must separate into factions.

We foreigners in council decided to make a thorough reconnaissancein order to know whether there was danger of Red troops arriving.

My old companion and I agreed to do this scouting. Prince ChultunBeyle gave us a very good guide--an old Mongol named Tzeren, whospoke and read Russian perfectly. He was a very interestingpersonage, holding the position of interpreter with the Mongolianauthorities and sometimes with the Chinese Commissioner. Shortlybefore he had been sent as a special envoy to Peking with veryimportant despatches and this incomparable horseman had made thejourney between Uliassutai and Peking, that is 1,800 miles, in ninedays, incredible as it may seem. He prepared himself for thejourney by binding all his abdomen and chest, legs, arms and neckwith strong cotton bandages to protect himself from the wracks andstrains of such a period in the saddle. In his cap he bore threeeagle feathers as a token that he had received orders to fly like abird. Armed with a special document called a tzara, which gave himthe right to receive at all post stations the best horses, one toride and one fully saddled to lead as a change, together with twooulatchen or guards to accompany him and bring back the horses fromthe next station or ourton, he made the distance of from fifteen tothirty miles between stations at full gallop, stopping only longenough to have the horses and guards changed before he was offagain. Ahead of him rode one oulatchen with the best horses toenable him to announce and prepare in advance the complement ofsteeds at the next station. Each oulatchen had three horses inall, so that he could swing from one that had given out and releasehim to graze until his return to pick him up and lead or ride himback home. At every third ourton, without leaving his saddle, hereceived a cup of hot green tea with salt and continued his racesouthward. After seventeen or eighteen hours of such riding hestopped at the ourton for the night or what was left of it,devoured a leg of boiled mutton and slept. Thus he ate once a dayand five times a day had tea; and so he traveled for nine days!

With this servant we moved out one cold winter morning in thedirection of Kobdo, just over three hundred miles, because fromthere we had received the disquieting rumours that the Red troopshad entered Ulankom and that the Chinese authorities had handedover to them all the Europeans in the town. We crossed the RiverDzaphin on the ice. It is a terrible stream. Its bed is full ofquicksands, which in summer suck in numbers of camels, horses andmen. We entered a long, winding valley among the mountains coveredwith deep snow and here and there with groves of the black wood ofthe larch. About halfway to Kobdo we came across the yurta of ashepherd on the shore of the small Lake of Baga Nor, where eveningand a strong wind whirling gusts of snow in our faces easilypersuaded us to stop. By the yurta stood a splendid bay horse witha saddle richly ornamerited with silver and coral. As we turned infrom the road, two Mongols left the yurta very hastily; one of themjumped into the saddle and quickly disappeared in the plain behindthe snowy hillocks. We clearly made out the flashing folds of hisyellow robe under the great outer coat and saw his large knifesheathed in a green leather scabbard and handled with horn andivory. The other man was the host of the yurta, the shepherd of alocal prince, Novontziran. He gave signs of great pleasure atseeing us and receiving us in his yurta.

"Who was the rider on the bay horse?" we asked.

He dropped his eyes and was silent.

"Tell us," we insisted. "If you do not wish to speak his name, itmeans that you are dealing with a bad character.""No! No!" he remonstrated, flourishing his hands. "He is a good,great man; but the law does not permit me to speak his name."We at once understood that the man was either the chief of theshepherd or some high Lama. Consequently we did not further insistand began making our sleeping arrangements. Our host set threelegs of mutton to boil for us, skillfully cutting out the boneswith his heavy knife. We chatted and learned that no one had seenRed troops around this region but in Kobdo and in Ulankom theChinese soldiers were oppressing the population, and were beatingto death with the bamboo Mongol men who were defending their womenagainst the ravages of these Chinese troops. Some of the Mongolshad retreated to the mountains to join detachments under thecommand of Kaigordoff, an Altai Tartar officer who was supplyingthem with weapons.
CHAPTER XVIII
　　We rested soundly in the yurta after the two days of travel whichhad brought us one hundred seventy miles through the snow and sharpcold. Round the evening meal of juicy mutton we were talkingfreely and carelessly when suddenly we heard a low, hoarse voice:

"Sayn--Good evening!"We turned around from the brazier to the door and saw a mediumheight, very heavy set Mongol in deerskin overcoat and cap withside flaps and the long, wide tying strings of the same material.

Under his girdle lay the same large knife in the green sheath whichwe had seen on the departing horseman.

"Amoursayn," we answered.

He quickly untied his girdle and laid aside his overcoat. He stoodbefore us in a wonderful gown of silk, yellow as beaten gold andgirt with a brilliant blue sash. His cleanly shaven face, shorthair, red coral rosary on the left hand and his yellow garmentproved clearly that before us stood some high Lama Priest,--with abig Colt under his blue sash!

I turned to my host and Tzeren and read in their faces fear andveneration. The stranger came over to the brazier and sat down.

"Let's speak Russian," he said and took a bit of meat.

The conversation began. The stranger began to find fault with theGovernment of the Living Buddha in Urga.

"There they liberate Mongolia, capture Urga, defeat the Chinesearmy and here in the west they give us no news of it. We arewithout action here while the Chinese kill our people and stealfrom them. I think that Bogdo Khan might send us envoys. How isit the Chinese can send their envoys from Urga and Kiakhta toKobdo, asking for assistance, and the Mongol Government cannot doit? Why?""Will the Chinese send help to Urga?" I asked.

Our guest laughed hoarsely and said: "I caught all the envoys,took away their letters and then sent them back . . . into theground."He laughed again and glanced around peculiarly with his blazingeyes. Only then did I notice that his cheekbones and eyes hadlines strange to the Mongols of Central Asia. He looked more likea Tartar or a Kirghiz. We were silent and smoked our pipes.

"How soon will the detachment of Chahars leave Uliassutai?" heasked.

We answered that we had not heard about them. Our guest explainedthat from Inner Mongolia the Chinese authorities had sent out astrong detachment, mobilized from among the most warlike tribe ofChahars, which wander about the region just outside the Great Wall.

Its chief was a notorious hunghutze leader promoted by the ChineseGovernment to the rank of captain on promising that he would bringunder subjugation to the Chinese authorities all the tribes of thedistricts of Kobdo and Urianhai. When he learned whither we weregoing and for what purpose, he said he could give us the mostaccurate news and relieve us from the necessity of going farther.

"Besides that, it is very dangerous," he said, "because Kobdo willbe massacred and burned. I know this positively."When he heard of our unsuccessful attempt to pass through Tibet, hebecame attentive and very sympathetic in his bearing toward us and,with evident feeling of regret, expressed himself strongly:

"Only I could have helped you in this enterprise, but not theNarabanchi Hutuktu. With my laissez-passer you could have goneanywhere in Tibet. I am Tushegoun Lama."Tushegoun Lama! How many extraordinary tales I had heard abouthim. He is a Russian Kalmuck, who because of his propaganda workfor the independence of the Kalmuck people made the acquaintance ofmany Russian prisons under the Czar and, for the same cause, addedto his list under the Bolsheviki. He escaped to Mongolia and atonce attained to great influence among the Mongols. It was nowonder, for he was a close friend and pupil of the Dalai Lama inPotala (Lhasa), was the most learned among the Lamites, a famousthaumaturgist and doctor. He occupied an almost independentposition in his relationship with the Living Buddha and achieved tothe leadership of all the old wandering tribes of Western Mongoliaand Zungaria, even extending his political domination over theMongolian tribes of Turkestan. His influence was irresistible,based as it was on his great control of mysterious science, as heexpressed it; but I was also told that it has its foundationlargely in the panicky fear which he could produce in the Mongols.

Everyone who disobeyed his orders perished. Such an one never knewthe day or the hour when, in his yurta or beside his gallopinghorse on the plains, the strange and powerful friend of the DalaiLama would appear. The stroke of a knife, a bullet or strongfingers strangling the neck like a vise accomplished the justice ofthe plans of this miracle worker.

Without the walls of the yurta the wind whistled and roared anddrove the frozen snow sharply against the stretched felt. Throughthe roar of the wind came the sound of many voices in mingledshouting, wailing and laughter. I felt that in such surroundingsit were not difficult to dumbfound a wandering nomad with miracles,because Nature herself had prepared the setting for it. Thisthought had scarcely time to flash through my mind before TushegounLama suddenly raised his head, looked sharply at me and said:

"There is very much unknown in Nature and the skill of using theunknown produces the miracle; but the power is given to few. Iwant to prove it to you and you may tell me afterwards whether youhave seen it before or not."He stood up, pushed back the sleeves of his yellow garment, seizedhis knife and strode across to the shepherd.

"Michik, stand up!" he ordered.

When the shepherd had risen, the Lama quickly unbuttoned his coatand bared the man's chest. I could not yet understand what was hisintention, when suddenly the Tushegoun with all his force struckhis knife into the chest of the shepherd. The Mongol fell allcovered with blood, a splash of which I noticed on the yellow silkof the Lama's coat.

"What have you done?" I exclaimed.

"Sh! Be still," he whispered turning to me his now quite blanchedface.

With a few strokes of the knife he opened the chest of the Mongoland I saw the man's lungs softly breathing and the distinctpalpitations of the heart. The Lama touched these organs with hisfingers but no more blood appeared to flow and the face of theshepherd was quite calm. He was lying with his eyes closed andappeared to be in deep and quiet sleep. As the Lama began to openhis abdomen, I shut my eyes in fear and horror; and, when I openedthem a little while later, I was still more dumbfounded at seeingthe shepherd with his coat still open and his breast normal,quietly sleeping on his side and Tushegoun Lama sitting peacefullyby the brazier, smoking his pipe and looking into the fire in deepthought.

"It is wonderful!" I confessed. "I have never seen anything likeit!""About what are you speaking?" asked the Kalmuck.

"About your demonstration or 'miracle,' as you call it," Ianswered.

"I never said anything like that," refuted the Kalmuck, withcoldness in his voice.

"Did you see it?" I asked of my companion.

"What?" he queried in a dozing voice.

I realized that I had become the victim of the hypnotic power ofTushegoun Lama; but I preferred this to seeing an innocentMongolian die, for I had not believed that Tushegoun Lama, afterslashing open the bodies of his victims, could repair them again soreadily.

The following day we took leave of our hosts. We decided toreturn, inasmuch as our mission was accomplished; and TushegounLama explained to us that he would "move through space." Hewandered over all Mongolia, lived both in the single, simple yurtaof the shepherd and hunter and in the splendid tents of the princesand tribal chiefs, surrounded by deep veneration and panic-fear,enticing and cementing to him rich and poor alike with his miraclesand prophecies. When bidding us adieu, the Kalmuck sorcerer slylysmiled and said:

"Do not give any information about me to the Chinese authorities."Afterwards he added: "What happened to you yesterday evening was afutile demonstration. You Europeans will not recognize that wedark-minded nomads possess the powers of mysterious science. Ifyou could only see the miracles and power of the Most Holy TashiLama, when at his command the lamps and candles before the ancientstatue of Buddha light themselves and when the ikons of the godsbegin to speak and prophesy! But there exists a more powerful andmore holy man. . .""Is it the King of the World in Agharti?" I interrupted.

He stared and glanced at me in amazement.

"Have you heard about him?" he asked, as his brows knit in thought.

After a few seconds he raised his narrow eyes and said: "Only oneman knows his holy name; only one man now living was ever inAgharti. That is I. This is the reason why the Most Holy DalaiLama has honored me and why the Living Buddha in Urga fears me.

But in vain, for I shall never sit on the Holy Throne of thehighest priest in Lhasa nor reach that which has come down fromJenghiz Khan to the Head of our yellow Faith. I am no monk. I ama warrior and avenger."He jumped smartly into the saddle, whipped his horse and whirledaway, flinging out as he left the common Mongolian phrase of adieu:

"Sayn! Sayn-bayna!"On the way back Tzeren related to us the hundreds of legendssurrounding Tushegoun Lama. One tale especially remained in mymind. It was in 1911 or 1912 when the Mongols by armed force triedto attain their liberty in a struggle with the Chinese. Thegeneral Chinese headquarters in Western Mongolia was Kobdo, wherethey had about ten thousand soldiers under the command of theirbest officers. The command to capture Kobdo was sent to HunBaldon, a simple shepherd who had distinguished himself in fightswith the Chinese and received from the Living Buddha the title ofPrince of Hun. Ferocious, absolutely without fear and possessinggigantic strength, Baldon had several times led to the attack hispoorly armed Mongols but each time had been forced to retreat afterlosing many of his men under the machine-gun fire. UnexpectedlyTushegoun Lama arrived. He collected all the soldiers and thensaid to them:

"You must not fear death and must not retreat. You are fightingand dying for Mongolia, for which the gods have appointed a greatdestiny. See what the fate of Mongolia will be!"He made a great sweeping gesture with his hand and all the soldierssaw the country round about set with rich yurtas and pasturescovered with great herds of horses and cattle. On the plainsappeared numerous horsemen on richly saddled steeds. The womenwere gowned in the finest of silk with massive silver rings intheir ears and precious ornaments in their elaborate head dresses.

Chinese merchants led an endless caravan of merchandise up todistinguished looking Mongol Saits, surrounded by the gaily dressedtzirik or soldiers and proudly negotiating with the merchants fortheir wares.

Shortly the vision disappeared and Tushegoun began to speak.

"Do not fear death! It is a release from our labor on earth andthe path to the state of constant blessings. Look to the East! Doyou see your brothers and friends who have fallen in battle?""We see, we see!" the Mongol warriors exclaimed in astonishment, asthey all looked upon a great group of dwellings which might havebeen yurtas or the arches of temples flushed with a warm and kindlylight. Red and yellow silk were interwoven in bright bands thatcovered the walls and floor, everywhere the gilding on pillars andwalls gleamed brightly; on the great red altar burned the thinsacrificial candles in gold candelabra, beside the massive silvervessels filled with milk and nuts; on soft pillows about the floorsat the Mongols who had fallen in the previous attack on Kobdo.

Before them stood low, lacquered tables laden with many dishes ofsteaming, succulent flesh of the lamb and the kid, with high jugsof wine and tea, with plates of borsuk, a kind of sweet, richcakes, with aromatic zatouran covered with sheep's fat, with bricksof dried cheese, with dates, raisins and nuts. These fallensoldiers smoked golden pipes and chatted gaily.

This vision in turn also disappeared and before the gazing Mongolsstood only the mysterious Kalmuck with his hand upraised.

"To battle and return not without victory! I am with you in thefight."The attack began. The Mongols fought furiously, perished by thehundreds but not before they had rushed into the heart of Kobdo.

Then was re-enacted the long forgotten picture of Tartar hordesdestroying European towns. Hun Baldon ordered carried over him atriangle of lances with brilliant red streamers, a sign that hegave up the town to the soldiers for three days. Murder andpillage began. All the Chinese met their death there. The townwas burned and the walls of the fortress destroyed. Afterwards HunBaldon came to Uliassutai and also destroyed the Chinese fortressthere. The ruins of it still stand with the broken embattlementsand towers, the useless gates and the remnants of the burnedofficial quarters and soldiers' barracks.
CHAPTER XIX
　　After our return to Uliassutai we heard that disquieting news hadbeen received by the Mongol Sait from Muren Kure. The letterstated that Red Troops were pressing Colonel Kazagrandi very hardin the region of Lake Kosogol. The Sait feared the advance of theRed troops southward to Uliassutai. Both the American firmsliquidated their affairs and all our friends were prepared for aquick exit, though they hesitated at the thought of leaving thetown, as they were afraid of meeting the detachment of Chahars sentfrom the east. We decided to await the arrival of this detachment,as their coming could change the whole course of events. In a fewdays they came, two hundred warlike Chahar brigands under thecommand of a former Chinese hunghutze. He was a tall, skinny manwith hands that reached almost to his knees, a face blackened bywind and sun and mutilated with two long scars down over hisforehead and cheek, the making of one of which had also closed oneof his hawklike eyes, topped off with a shaggy coonskin cap--suchwas the commander of the detachment of Chahars. A personage verydark and stern, with whom a night meeting on a lonely street couldnot be considered a pleasure by any bent of the imagination.

The detachment made camp within the destroyed fortress, near to thesingle Chinese building that had not been razed and which was nowserving as headquarters for the Chinese Commissioner. On the veryday of their arrival the Chahars pillaged a Chinese dugun ortrading house not half a mile from the fortress and also offendedthe wife of the Chinese Commissioner by calling her a "traitor."The Chahars, like the Mongols, were quite right in their stand,because the Chinese Commissioner Wang Tsao-tsun had on his arrivalin Uliassutai followed the Chinese custom of demanding a Mongolianwife. The servile new Sait had given orders that a beautiful andsuitable Mongolian girl be found for him. One was so run down andplaced in his yamen, together with her big wrestling Mongol brotherwho was to be a guard for the Commissioner but who developed intothe nurse for the little white Pekingese pug which the officialpresented to his new wife.

Burglaries, squabbles and drunken orgies of the Chahars followed,so that Wang Tsoa-tsun exerted all his efforts to hurry thedetachment westward to Kobdo and farther into Urianhai.

One cold morning the inhabitants of Uliassutai rose to witness avery stern picture. Along the main street of the town thedetachment was passing. They were riding on small, shaggy ponies,three abreast; were dressed in warm blue coats with sheepskinovercoats outside and crowned with the regulation coonskin caps;armed from head to foot. They rode with wild shouts and cheers,very greedily eyeing the Chinese shops and the houses of theRussian colonists. At their head rode the one-eyed hunghutze chiefwith three horsemen behind him in white overcoats, who carriedwaving banners and blew what may have been meant for music throughgreat conch shells. One of the Chahars could not resist and sojumped out of his saddle and made for a Chinese shop along thestreet. Immediately the anxious cries of the Chinese merchantscame from the shop. The hunghutze swung round, noticed the horseat the door of the shop and realized what was happening.

Immediately he reined his horse and made for the spot. With hisraucous voice he called the Chahar out. As he came, he struck himfull in the face with his whip and with all his strength. Bloodflowed from the slashed cheek. But the Chahar was in the saddle ina second without a murmur and galloped to his place in the file.

During this exit of the Chahars all the people were hidden in theirhouses, anxiously peeping through cracks and corners of thewindows. But the Chahars passed peacefully out and only when theymet a caravan carrying Chinese wine about six miles from town didtheir native tendency display itself again in pillaging andemptying several containers. Somewhere in the vicinity of Harganathey were ambushed by Tushegoun Lama and so treated that neveragain will the plains of Chahar welcome the return of these warriorsons who were sent out to conquer the Soyot descendants of theancient Tuba.

The day the column left Uliassutai a heavy snow fell, so that theroad became impassable. The horses first were up to their knees,tired out and stopped. Some Mongol horsemen reached Uliassutai thefollowing day after great hardship and exertion, having made onlytwenty-five miles in forty-eight hours. Caravans were compelled tostop along the routes. The Mongols would not consent even toattempt journeys with oxen and yaks which made but ten or twelvemiles a day. Only camels could be used but there were too few andtheir drivers did not feel that they could make the first railwaystation of Kuku-Hoto, which was about fourteen hundred miles away.

We were forced again to wait: for which? Death or salvation? Onlyour own energy and force could save us. Consequently my friend andI started out, supplied with a tent, stove and food, for a newreconnaissance along the shore of Lake Kosogol, whence the MongolSait expected the new invasion of Red troops.
CHAPTER XX
　　Our small group consisting of four mounted and one pack camel movednorthward along the valley of the River Boyagol in the direction ofthe Tarbagatai Mountains. The road was rocky and covered deep withsnow. Our camels walked very carefully, sniffing out the way asour guide shouted the "Ok! Ok!" of the camel drivers to urge themon. We left behind us the fortress and Chinese dugun, swung roundthe shoulder of a ridge and, after fording several times an openstream, began the ascent of the mountain. The scramble was hardand dangerous. Our camels picked their way most cautiously, movingtheir ears constantly, as is their habit in such stress. The trailzigzagged into mountain ravines, passed over the tops of ridges,slipped back down again into shallower valleys but ever made higherand higher altitudes. At one place under the grey clouds thattipped the ridges we saw away up on the wide expanse of snow someblack spots.

"Those are the obo, the sacred signs and altars for the bad demonswatching this pass," explained the guide. "This pass is calledJagisstai. Many very old tales about it have been kept alive,ancient as these mountains themselves."We encouraged him to tell us some of them.

The Mongol, rocking on his camel and looking carefully all aroundhim, began his tale.

"It was long ago, very long ago. . . . The grandson of the greatJenghiz Khan sat on the throne of China and ruled all Asia. TheChinese killed their Khan and wanted to exterminate all his familybut a holy old Lama slipped the wife and little son out of thepalace and carried them off on swift camels beyond the Great Wall,where they sank into our native plains. The Chinese made a longsearch for the trails of our refugees and at last found where theyhad gone. They despatched a strong detachment on fleet horses tocapture them. Sometimes the Chinese nearly came up with thefleeing heir of our Khan but the Lama called down from Heaven adeep snow, through which the camels could pass while the horseswere inextricably held. This Lama was from a distant monastery.

We shall pass this hospice of Jahantsi Kure. In order to reach itone must cross over the Jagisstai. And it was just here the oldLama suddenly became ill, rocked in his saddle and fell dead. TaSin Lo, the widow of the Great Khan, burst into tears; but, seeingthe Chinese riders galloping there below across the valley, pressedon toward the pass. The camels were tired, stopping every moment,nor did the woman know how to stimulate and drive them on. TheChinese riders came nearer and nearer. Already she heard theirshouts of joy, as they felt within their grasp the prize of themandarins for the murder of the heir of the Great Khan. The headsof the mother and the son would be brought to Peking and exposed onthe Ch'ien Men for the mockery and insults of the people. Thefrightened mother lifted her little son toward heaven andexclaimed:

"'Earth and Gods of Mongolia, behold the offspring of the man whohas glorified the name of the Mongols from one end of the world tothe other! Allow not this very flesh of Jenghiz Khan to perish!'

"At this moment she noticed a white mouse sitting on a rock nearby.

It jumped to her knees and said:

"'I am sent to help you. Go on calmly and do not fear. Thepursuers of you and your son, to whom is destined a life of glory,have come to the last bourne of their lives.'

"Ta Sin Lo did not see how one small mouse could hold in checkthree hundred men. The mouse jumped back to the ground and againspoke:

"'I am the demon of Tarbagatai, Jagasstai. I am mighty and belovedof the Gods but, because you doubted the powers of the miracle-speaking mouse, from this day the Jagasstai will be dangerous forthe good and bad alike.'

"The Khan's widow and son were saved but Jagasstai has everremained merciless. During the journey over this pass one mustalways be on one's guard. The demon of the mountain is ever readyto lead the traveler to destruction."All the tops of the ridges of the Tarbagatai are thickly dottedwith the obo of rocks and branches. In one place there was evenerected a tower of stones as an altar to propitiate the Gods forthe doubts of Ta Sin Lo. Evidently the demon expected us. When webegan our ascent of the main ridge, he blew into our faces with asharp, cold wind, whistled and roared and afterwards began castingover us whole blocks of snow torn off the drifts above. We couldnot distinguish anything around us, scarcely seeing the camelimmediately in front. Suddenly I felt a shock and looked about me.

Nothing unusual was visible. I was seated comfortably between twoleather saddle bags filled with meat and bread but . . . I couldnot see the head of my camel. He had disappeared. It seemed thathe had slipped and fallen to the bottom of a shallow ravine, whilethe bags which were slung across his back without straps had caughton a rock and stopped with myself there in the snow. This time thedemon of Jagasstai only played a joke but one that did not satisfyhim. He began to show more and more anger. With furious gusts ofwind he almost dragged us and our bags from the camels and nearlyknocked over our humped steeds, blinded us with frozen snow andprevented us from breathing. Through long hours we dragged slowlyon in the deep snow, often falling over the edge of the rocks. Atlast we entered a small valley where the wind whistled and roaredwith a thousand voices. It had grown dark. The Mongol wanderedaround searching for the trail and finally came back to us,flourishing his arms and saying:

"We have lost the road. We must spend the night here. It is verybad because we shall have no wood for our stove and the cold willgrow worse.

With great difficulties and with frozen hands we managed to set upour tent in the wind, placing in it the now useless stove. Wecovered the tent with snow, dug deep, long ditches in the driftsand forced our camels to lie down in them by shouting the "Dzuk!

Dzuk!" command to kneel. Then we brought our packs into the tent.

My companion rebelled against the thought of spending a cold nightwith a stove hard by.

"I am going out to look for firewood," said he very decisively; andat that took up the ax and started. He returned after an hour witha big section of a telegraph pole.

"You, Jenghiz Khans," said he, rubbing his frozen hands, "take youraxes and go up there to the left on the mountain and you will findthe telegraph poles that have been cut down. I made acquaintancewith the old Jagasstai and he showed me the poles."Just a little way from us the line of the Russian telegraphspassed, that which had connected Irkutsk with Uliassutai before thedays of the Bolsheviki and which the Chinese had commanded theMongols to cut down and take the wire. These poles are now thesalvation of travelers crossing the pass. Thus we spent the nightin a warm tent, supped well from hot meat soup with vermicelli, allin the very center of the dominion of the angered Jagasstai. Earlythe next morning we found the road not more than two or threehundred paces from our tent and continued our hard trip over theridge of Tarbagatai. At the head of the Adair River valley wenoticed a flock of the Mongolian crows with carmine beaks circlingamong the rocks. We approached the place and discovered therecently fallen bodies of a horse and rider. What had happened tothem was difficult to guess. They lay close together; the bridlewas wound around the right wrist of the man; no trace of knife orbullet was found. It was impossible to make out the features ofthe man. His overcoat was Mongolian but his trousers and underjacket were not of the Mongolian pattern. We asked ourselves whathad happened to him.

Our Mongol bowed his head in anxiety and said in hushed but assuredtones: "It is the vengeance of Jagasstai. The rider did not makesacrifice at the southern obo and the demon has strangled him andhis horse."At last Tarbagatai was behind us. Before us lay the valley of theAdair. It was a narrow zigzagging plain following along the riverbed between close mountain ranges and covered with a rich grass.

It was cut into two parts by the road along which the prostratetelegraph poles now lay, as the stumps of varying heights and longstretches of wire completed the debris. This destruction of thetelegraph line between Irkutsk and Uliassutai was necessary andincident to the aggressive Chinese policy in Mongolia.

Soon we began to meet large herds of sheep, which were diggingthrough the snow to the dry but very nutritious grass. In someplaces yaks and oxen were seen on the high slopes of the mountains.

Only once, however, did we see a shepherd, for all of them, spyingus first, had made off to the mountains or hidden in the ravines.

We did not even discover any yurtas along the way. The Mongols hadalso concealed all their movable homes in the folds of themountains out of sight and away from the reach of the strong winds.

Nomads are very skilful in choosing the places for their winterdwellings. I had often in winter visited the Mongolian yurtas setin such sheltered places that, as I came off the windy plains, Ifelt as though I were in a conservatory. Once we came up to a bigherd of sheep. But as we approached most of the herd graduallywithdrew, leaving one part that remained unmoved as the otherworked off across the plains. From this section soon about thirtyof forty head emerged and went scrambling and leaping right up themountain side. I took up my glasses and began to observe them.

The part of the herd that remained behind were common sheep; thelarge section that had drawn off over the plain were Mongolianantelopes (gazella gutturosa); while the few that had taken to themountain were the big horned sheep (ovis argali). All this companyhad been grazing together with the domestic sheep on the plains ofthe Adair, which attracted them with its good grass and clearwater. In many places the river was not frozen and in some placesI saw great clouds of steam over the surface of the open water. Inthe meantime some of the antelopes and the mountain sheep beganlooking at us.

"Now they will soon begin to cross our trail," laughed the Mongol;"very funny beasts. Sometimes the antelopes course for miles intheir endeavor to outrun and cross in front of our horses and then,when they have done so, go loping quietly off."I had already seen this strategy of the antelopes and I decided tomake use of it for the purpose of the hunt. We organized our chasein the following manner. We let one Mongol with the pack camelproceed as we had been traveling and the other three of us spreadout like a fan headed toward the herd on the right of our truecourse. The herd stopped and looked about puzzled, for theiretiquette required that they should cross the path of all four ofthese riders at once. Confusion began. They counted about threethousand heads. All this army began to run from one side toanother but without forming any distinct groups. Whole squadronsof them ran before us and then, noticing another rider, camecoursing back and made anew the same manoeuvre. One group of aboutfifty head rushed in two rows toward my point. When they wereabout a hundred and fifty paces away I shouted and fired. Theystopped at once and began to whirl round in one spot, running intoone another and even jumping over one another. Their panic costthem dear, for I had time to shoot four times to bring down twobeautiful heads. My friend was even more fortunate than I, for heshot only once into the herd as it rushed past him in parallellines and dropped two with the same bullet.

Meanwhile the argali had gone farther up the mountainside and takenstand there in a row like so many soldiers, turning to gaze at us.

Even at this distance I could clearly distinguish their muscularbodies with their majestic heads and stalwart horns. Picking upour prey, we overtook the Mongol who had gone on ahead andcontinued our way. In many places we came across the carcasses ofsheep with necks torn and the flesh of the sides eaten off.

"It is the work of wolves," said the Mongol. "They are alwayshereabout in large numbers."We came across several more herds of antelope, which ran alongquietly enough until they had made a comfortable distance ahead ofus and then with tremendous leaps and bounds crossed our bows likethe proverbial chicken on the road. Then, after a couple ofhundred paces at this speed, they stopped and began to graze quitecalmly. Once I turned my camel back and the whole herd immediatelytook up the challenge again, coursed along parallel with me untilthey had made sufficient distance for their ideas of safety andthen once more rushed across the road ahead of me as though it werepaved with red hot stones, only to assume their previous calmnessand graze back on the same side of the trail from which our columnhad first started them. On another occasion I did this three timeswith a particular herd and laughed long and heartily at theirstupid customs.

We passed a very unpleasant night in this valley. We stopped onthe shore of the frozen stream in a spot where we found shelterfrom the wind under the lee of a high shore. In our stove we didhave a fire and in our kettle boiling water. Also our tent waswarm and cozy. We were quietly resting with pleasant thoughts ofsupper to soothe us, when suddenly a howling and laughter as thoughfrom some inferno burst upon us from just outside the tent, whilefrom the other side of the valley came the long and doleful howlsin answer.

"Wolves," calmly explained the Mongol, who took my revolver andwent out of the tent. He did not return for some time but at lastwe heard a shot and shortly after he entered.

"I scared them a little," said he. "They had congregated on theshore of the Adair around the body of a camel.""And they have not touched our camels?" we asked.

"We shall make a bonfire behind our tent; then they will not botherus."After our supper we turned in but I lay awake for a long timelistening to the crackle of the wood in the fire, the deep sighingbreaths of the camels and the distant howling of the packs ofwolves; but finally, even with all these noises, fell asleep. Howlong I had been asleep I did not know when suddenly I was awakenedby a strong blow in the side. I was lying at the very edge of thetent and someone from outside had, without the least ceremony,pushed strongly against me. I thought it was one of the camelschewing the felt of the tent. I took my Mauser and struck thewall. A sharp scream was followed by the sound of quick runningover the pebbles. In the morning we discovered the tracks ofwolves approaching our tent from the side opposite to the fire andfollowed them to where they had begun to dig under the tent wall;but evidently one of the would-be robbers was forced to retreatwith a bruise on his head from the handle of the Mauser.

Wolves and eagles are the servants of Jagasstai, the Mongol veryseriously instructed us. However, this does not prevent theMongols from hunting them. Once in the camp of Prince Baysei Iwitnessed such a hunt. The Mongol horsemen on the best of hissteeds overtook the wolves on the open plain and killed them withheavy bamboo sticks or tashur. A Russian veterinary surgeon taughtthe Mongols to poison wolves with strychnine but the Mongols soonabandoned this method because of its danger to the dogs, thefaithful friends and allies of the nomad. They do not, however,touch the eagles and hawks but even feed them. When the Mongolsare slaughtering animals they often cast bits of meat up into theair for the hawks and eagles to catch in flight, just as we throw abit of meat to a dog. Eagles and hawks fight and drive away themagpies and crows, which are very dangerous for cattle and horses,because they scratch and peck at the smallest wound or abrasion onthe backs of the animals until they make them into uncurable areaswhich they continue to harass.
CHAPTER XXI
　　Our camels were trudging to a slow but steady measure on toward thenorth. We were making twenty-five to thirty miles a day as weapproached a small monastery that lay to the left of our route. Itwas in the form of a square of large buildings surrounded by a highfence of thick poles. Each side had an opening in the middleleading to the four entrances of the temple in the center of thesquare. The temple was built with the red lacquered columns andthe Chinese style roofs and dominated the surrounding low dwellingsof the Lamas. On the opposite side of the road lay what appearedto be a Chinese fortress but which was in reality a tradingcompound or dugun, which the Chinese always build in the form of afortress with double walls a few feet apart, within which theyplace their houses and shops and usually have twenty or thirtytraders fully armed for any emergency. In case of need theseduguns can be used as blockhouses and are capable of withstandinglong sieges. Between the dugun and the monastery and nearer to theroad I made out the camp of some nomads. Their horses and cattlewere nowhere to be seen. Evidently the Mongols had stopped herefor some time and had left their cattle in the mountains. Overseveral yurtas waved multi-colored triangular flags, a sign of thepresence of disease. Near some yurtas high poles were stuck intothe ground with Mongol caps at their tops, which indicated that thehost of the yurta had died. The packs of dogs wandering over theplain showed that the dead bodies lay somewhere near, either in theravines or along the banks of the river.

As we approached the camp, we heard from a distance the franticbeating of drums, the mournful sounds of the flute and shrill, madshouting. Our Mongol went forward to investigate for us andreported that several Mongolian families had come here to themonastery to seek aid from the Hutuktu Jahansti who was famed forhis miracles of healing. The people were stricken with leprosy andblack smallpox and had come from long distances only to find thatthe Hutuktu was not at the monastery but had gone to the LivingBuddha in Urga. Consequently they had been forced to invite thewitch doctors. The people were dying one after another. Just theday before they had cast on the plain the twenty-seventh man.

Meanwhile, as we talked, the witch doctor came out of one of theyurtas. He was an old man with a cataract on one eye and with aface deeply scarred by smallpox. He was dressed in tatters withvarious colored bits of cloth hanging down from his waist. Hecarried a drum and a flute. We could see froth on his blue lipsand madness in his eyes. Suddenly he began to whirl round anddance with a thousand prancings of his long legs and writhings ofhis arms and shoulders, still beating the drum and playing theflute or crying and raging at intervals, ever accelerating hismovements until at last with pallid face and bloodshot eyes he fellon the snow, where he continued to writhe and give out hisincoherent cries. In this manner the doctor treated his patients,frightening with his madness the bad devils that carry disease.

Another witch doctor gave his patients dirty, muddy water, which Ilearned was the water from the bath of the very person of theLiving Buddha who had washed in it his "divine" body born from thesacred flower of the lotus.

"Om! Om!" both witches continuously screamed.

While the doctors fought with the devils, the ill people were leftto themselves. They lay in high fever under the heaps ofsheepskins and overcoats, were delirious, raved and threwthemselves about. By the braziers squatted adults and children whowere still well, indifferently chatting, drinking tea and smoking.

In all the yurtas I saw the diseased and the dead and such miseryand physical horrors as cannot be described.

And I thought: "Oh, Great Jenghiz Khan! Why did you with yourkeen understanding of the whole situation of Asia and Europe, youwho devoted all your life to the glory of the name of the Mongols,why did you not give to your own people, who preserve their oldmorality, honesty and peaceful customs, the enlightenment thatwould have saved them from such death? Your bones in the mausoleumat Karakorum being destroyed by the centuries that pass over themmust cry out against the rapid disappearance of your formerly greatpeople, who were feared by half the civilized world!"Such thoughts filled my brain when I saw this camp of the deadtomorrow and when I heard the groans, shoutings and raving of dyingmen, women and children. Somewhere in the distance the dogs werehowling mournfully, and monotonously the drum of the tired witchrolled.

"Forward!" I could not witness longer this dark horror, which Ihad no means or force to eradicate. We quickly passed on from theominous place. Nor could we shake the thought that some horribleinvisible spirit was following us from this scene of terror. "Thedevils of disease?" "The pictures of horror and misery?" "Thesouls of men who have been sacrificed on the altar of darkness ofMongolia?" An inexplicable fear penetrated into our consciousnessfrom whose grasp we could not release ourselves. Only when we hadturned from the road, passed over a timbered ridge into a bowl inthe mountains from which we could see neither Jahantsi Kure, thedugun nor the squirming grave of dying Mongols could we breathefreely again.

Presently we discovered a large lake. It was Tisingol. Near theshore stood a large Russian house, the telegraph station betweenKosogol and Uliassutai.
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, lanky 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 untying 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 juncture. The wife of Kanine, a pale,young, exhausted-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 colonist fromSamgaltai, and presented the short-haired girl as his sister.

Kanine's wife looked at us with plainly discernible fear and saidnothing, evidently displeased 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 colonists, 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 shudder.

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 indifference of Gorokoff;and I determined 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 growling 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 brigands?"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 herds 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 yarns 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 astonishment on my face.

"It is an old score," growled Gorokoff.

"A malicious 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 crooked. 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 caravan, 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 dense brush, where Iwas much astonished by seeing literally 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 remains 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 methane or swamp gas generated by the putrefyingof vegetable matter in the warm damp earth.

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

"Indeed," I thought, "if in prosaic 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, promising 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 portent 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.
CHAPTER XXIII
　　The following evening we arrived at Khathyl, a small Russiansettlement of ten scattered 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 Alpine 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 perfectly calm sunny days itsometimes lashes itself into great waves that are dangerous notonly to the native fishing boats but also to the large Russianpassenger steamers that ply on the lake. In winter also itsometimes entirely 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 lava. Evidence of some great underground convulsionlike this is afforded by the mass of killed fish which at timesdams the outlet river in its shallow places. The lake isexceedingly rich in fish, chiefly varieties of trout 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 remarkably tender and produces fine caviar.

Another variety in the lake is the white khayrus or trout, which inthe migration season, contrary to the customs of most fish, goesdown stream into the Yaga, where it sometimes fills the river frombank to bank with swarms 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 strife 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 determined 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 dense larch 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 colonists who had notyet got away to bargain with them for camels, but they hadpreviously, in anticipation of trouble, sent their herds 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 dealer. 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 formerly receivedfrom the Soviet 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:

"Woe, 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 babble 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 galloped 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 decided 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 underneath 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 hovered 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 prone 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 colonist 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 thawed 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 luncheon 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 erected 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 courteous 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 bullion which had beensupplied us by an American firm in Uliassutai, the equivalentroughly of 2.7 pounds of the white metal.
CHAPTER XXIV
　　Before long we struck the road which we had travelled coming northand saw again the kindly rows of chopped down telegraph poles whichhad once so warmly protected us. Over the timbered hillocks northof the valley of Tisingol we wended just as it was growing dark.

We decided to stay in Bobroff's house and our companions thought toseek the hospitality of Kanine in the telegraph station. At thestation gate we found a soldier with a rifle, who questioned us asto who we were and whence we had come and, being apparentlysatisfied, whistled out a young officer from the house.

"Lieutenant Ivanoff," he introduced himself. "I am staying herewith my detachment of White Partisans."He had come from near Irkutsk with his following of ten men and hadformed a connection with Lieutenant-Colonel Michailoff atUliassutai, who commanded him to take possession of thisblockhouse.

"Enter, please," he said hospitably.

I explained to him that I wanted to stay with Bobroff, whereat hemade a despairing gesture with his hand and said:

"Don't trouble yourself. The Bobroffs are killed and their houseburned."I could not keep back a cry of horror.

The Lieutenant continued: "Kanine and the Pouzikoffs killed them,pillaged the place and afterwards burned the house with their deadbodies in it. Do you want to see it?"My friend and I went with the Lieutenant and looked over theominous site. Blackened uprights stood among charred beams andplanks while crockery and iron pots and pans were scattered allaround. A little to one side under some felt lay the remains ofthe four unfortunate individuals. The Lieutenant first spoke:

"I reported the case to Uliassutai and received word back that therelatives of the deceased would come with two officers, who wouldinvestigate the affair. That is why I cannot bury the bodies.""How did it happen?" we asked, oppressed by the sad picture.

"It was like this," he began. "I was approaching Tisingol at nightwith my ten soldiers. Fearing that there might be Reds here, wesneaked up to the station and looked into the windows. We sawPouzikoff, Kanine and the short-haired girl, looking over anddividing clothes and other things and weighing lumps of silver. Idid not at once grasp the significance of all this; but, feelingthe need for continued caution, ordered one of my soldiers to climbthe fence and open the gate. We rushed into the court. The firstto run from the house was Kanine's wife, who threw up her hands andshrieked in fear: "I knew that misfortune would come of all this!"and then fainted. One of the men ran out of a side door to a shedin the yard and there tried to get over the fence. I had notnoticed him but one of my soldiers caught him. We were met at thedoor by Kanine, who was white and trembling. I realized thatsomething important had taken place, placed them all under arrest,ordered the men tied and placed a close guard. All my questionswere met with silence save by Madame Kanine who cried: 'Pity, pityfor the children! They are innocent!' as she dropped on her kneesand stretched out her hands in supplication to us. The short-haired girl laughed out of impudent eyes and blew a puff of smokeinto my face. I was forced to threaten them and said:

"'I know that you have committed some crime, but you do not want toconfess. If you do not, I shall shoot the men and take the womento Uliassutai to try them there.'

"I spoke with definiteness of voice and intention, for they rousedmy deepest anger. Quite to my surprise the short-haired girl firstbegan to speak.

"'I want to tell you about everything,' she said.

"I ordered ink, paper and pen brought me. My soldiers were thewitnesses. Then I prepared the protocol of the confession ofPouzikoff's wife. This was her dark and bloody tale.

"'My husband and I are Bolshevik commissars and we have been sentto find out how many White officers are hidden in Mongolia. Butthe old fellow Bobroff knew us. We wanted to go away but Kaninekept us, telling us that Bobroff was rich and that he had for along time wanted to kill him and pillage his place. We agreed tojoin him. We decoyed the young Bobroff to come and play cards withus. When he was going home my husband stole along behind and shothim. Afterwards we all went to Bobroff's place. I climbed uponthe fence and threw some poisoned meat to the dogs, who were deadin a few minutes. Then we all climbed over. The first person toemerge from the house was Bobroff's wife. Pouzikoff, who washidden behind the door, killed her with his ax. The old fellow wekilled with a blow of the ax as he slept. The little girl ran outinto the room as she heard the noise and Kanine shot her in thehead with buckshot. Afterwards we looted the house and burned it,even destroying the horses and cattle. Later all would have beencompletely burned, so that no traces remained, but you suddenlyarrived and these stupid fellows at once betrayed us.'

"It was a dastardly affair," continued the Lieutenant, as wereturned to the station. "The hair raised on my head as I listenedto the calm description of this young woman, hardly more than agirl. Only then did I fully realize what depravity Bolshevism hadbrought into the world, crushing out faith, fear of God andconscience. Only then did I understand that all honest people mustfight without compromise against this most dangerous enemy ofmankind, so long as life and strength endure."As we walked I noticed at the side of the road a black spot. Itattracted and fixed my attention.

"What is that?" I asked, pointing to the spot.

"It is the murderer Pouzikoff whom I shot," answered theLieutenant. "I would have shot both Kanine and the wife ofPouzikoff but I was sorry for Kanine's wife and children and Ihaven't learned the lesson of shooting women. Now I shall sendthem along with you under the surveillance of my soldiers toUliassutai. The same result will come, for the Mongols who trythem for the murder will surely kill them."This is what happened at Tisingol, on whose shores the will-o'-the-wisp flits over the marshy pools and near which runs the cleavageof over two hundred miles that the last earthquake left in thesurface of the land. Maybe it was out of this cleavage thatPouzikoff, Kanine and the others who have sought to infect thewhole world with horror and crime made their appearance from theland of the inferno. One of Lieutenant Ivanoff's soldiers, who wasalways praying and pale, called them all "the servants of Satan."Our trip from Tisingol to Uliassutai in the company of thesecriminals was very unpleasant. My friend and I entirely lost ourusual strength of spirit and healthy frame of mind. Kaninepersistently brooded and thought while the impudent woman laughed,smoked and joked with the soldiers and several of our companions.

At last we crossed the Jagisstai and in a few hours descried atfirst the fortress and then the low adobe houses huddled on theplain, which we knew to be Uliassutai.
CHAPTER XXV
　　Once more we found ourselves in the whirl of events. During ourfortnight away a great deal had happened here. The ChineseCommissioner Wang Tsao-tsun had sent eleven envoys to Urga but nonehad returned. The situation in Mongolia remained far from clear.

The Russian detachment had been increased by the arrival of newcolonists and secretly continued its illegal existence, althoughthe Chinese knew about it through their omnipresent system ofspies. In the town no Russian or foreign citizens left theirhouses and all remained armed and ready to act. At night armedsentinels stood guard in all their court-yards. It was the Chinesewho induced such precautions. By order of their Commissioner allthe Chinese merchants with stocks of rifles armed their staffs andhanded over any surplus guns to the officials, who with theseformed and equipped a force of two hundred coolies into a specialgarrison of gamins. Then they took possession of the Mongolianarsenal and distributed these additional guns among the Chinesevegetable farmers in the nagan hushun, where there was always afloating population of the lowest grade of transient Chineselaborers. This trash of China now felt themselves strong, gatheredtogether in excited discussions and evidently were preparing forsome outburst of aggression. At night the coolies transported manyboxes of cartridges from the Chinese shops to the nagan hushun andthe behaviour of the Chinese mob became unbearably audacious.

These coolies and gamins impertinently stopped and searched peopleright on the streets and sought to provoke fights that would allowthem to take anything they wanted. Through secret news we receivedfrom certain Chinese quarters we learned that the Chinese werepreparing a pogrom for all the Russians and Mongols in Uliassutai.

We fully realized that it was only necessary to fire one singlehouse at the right part of the town and the entire settlement ofwooden buildings would go up in flames. The whole populationprepared to defend themselves, increased the sentinels in thecompounds, appointed leaders for certain sections of the town,organized a special fire brigade and prepared horses, carts andfood for a hasty flight. The situation became worse when newsarrived from Kobdo that the Chinese there had made a pogrom,killing some of the inhabitants and burning the whole town after awild looting orgy. Most of the people got away to the forests onthe mountains but it was at night and consequently without warmclothes and without food. During the following days thesemountains around Kobdo heard many cries of misfortune, woe anddeath. The severe cold and hunger killed off the women andchildren out under the open sky of the Mongolian winter. This newswas soon known to the Chinese. They laughed in mockery and soonorganized a big meeting at the nagan hushun to discuss letting themob and gamins loose on the town.

A young Chinese, the son of a cook of one of the colonists,revealed this news. We immediately decided to make aninvestigation. A Russian officer and my friend joined me with thisyoung Chinese as a guide for a trip to the outskirts of the town.

We feigned simply a stroll but were stopped by the Chinese sentinelon the side of the city toward the nagan hushun with an impertinentcommand that no one was allowed to leave the town. As we spokewith him, I noticed that between the town and the nagan hushunChinese guards were stationed all along the way and that streams ofChinese were moving in that direction. We saw at once it wasimpossible to reach the meeting from this approach, so we choseanother route. We left the city from the eastern side and passedalong by the camp of the Mongolians who had been reduced to beggaryby the Chinese impositions. There also they were evidentlyanxiously awaiting the turn of events, for, in spite of thelateness of the hour, none had gone to sleep. We slipped out onthe ice and worked around by the river to the nagan hushun. As wepassed free of the city we began to sneak cautiously along, takingadvantage of every bit of cover. We were armed with revolvers andhand grenades and knew that a small detachment had been prepared inthe town to come to our aid, if we should be in danger. First theyoung Chinese stole forward with my friend following him like ashadow, constantly reminding him that he would strangle him like amouse if he made one move to betray us. I fear the young guide didnot greatly enjoy the trip with my gigantic friend puffing all tooloudly with the unusual exertions. At last the fences of naganhushun were in sight and nothing between us and them save the openplain, where our group would have been easily spotted; so that wedecided to crawl up one by one, save that the Chinese was retainedin the society of my trusted friend. Fortunately there were manyheaps of frozen manure on the plain, which we made use of as coverto lead us right up to our objective point, the fence of theenclosures. In the shadow of this we slunk along to the courtyardwhere the voices of the excited crowd beckoned us. As we took goodvantage points in the darkness for listening and makingobservations, we remarked two extraordinary things in our immediateneighborhood.

Another invisible guest was present with us at the Chinesegathering. He lay on the ground with his head in a hole dug by thedogs under the fence. He was perfectly still and evidently had notheard our advance. Nearby in a ditch lay a white horse with hisnose muzzled and a little further away stood another saddled horsetied to a fence.

In the courtyard there was a great hubbub. About two thousand menwere shouting, arguing and flourishing their arms about in wildgesticulations. Nearly all were armed with rifles, revolvers,swords and axes. In among the crowd circulated the gamins,constantly talking, handing out papers, explaining and assuring.

Finally a big, broad-shouldered Chinese mounted the well combing,waved his rifle about over his head and opened a tirade in strong,sharp tones.

"He is assuring the people," said our interpreter, "that they mustdo here what the Chinese have done in Kobdo and must secure fromthe Commissioner the assurance of an order to his guard not toprevent the carrying out of their plans. Also that the ChineseCommissioner must demand from the Russians all their weapons.

'Then we shall take vengeance on the Russians for theirBlagoveschensk crime when they drowned three thousand Chinese in1900. You remain here while I go to the Commissioner and talk withhim.'"He jumped down from the well and quickly made his way to the gatetoward the town. At once I saw the man who was lying with his headunder the fence draw back out of his hole, take his white horsefrom the ditch and then run over to untie the other horse and leadthem both back to our side, which was away from the city. He leftthe second horse there and hid himself around the corner of thehushun. The spokesman went out of the gate and, seeing his horseover on the other side of the enclosure, slung his rifle across hisback and started for his mount. He had gone about half way whenthe stranger behind the corner of the fence suddenly galloped outand in a flash literally swung the man clear from the ground upacross the pommel of his saddle, where we saw him tie the mouth ofthe semi-strangled Chinese with a cloth and dash off with himtoward the west away from the town.

"Who do you suppose he is?" I asked of my friend, who answered upat once: "It must be Tushegoun Lama. . . ."His whole appearance did strongly remind me of this mysterious Lamaavenger and his manner of addressing himself to his enemy was astrict replica of that of Tushegoun. Late in the night we learnedthat some time after their orator had gone to seek theCommissioner's cooperation in their venture, his head had beenflung over the fence into the midst of the waiting audience andthat eight gamins had disappeared on their way from the hushun tothe town without leaving trace or trail. This event terrorized theChinese mob and calmed their heated spirits.

The next day we received very unexpected aid. A young Mongolgalloped in from Urga, his overcoat torn, his hair all dishevelledand fallen to his shoulders and a revolver prominent beneath hisgirdle. Proceeding directly to the market where the Mongols arealways gathered, without leaving his saddle he cried out:

"Urga is captured by our Mongols and Chiang Chun Baron Ungern!

Bogdo Hutuktu is once more our Khan! Mongols, kill the Chinese andpillage their shops! Our patience is exhausted!"Through the crowd rose the roar of excitement. The rider wassurrounded with a mob of insistent questioners. The old MongolSait, Chultun Beyli, who had been dismissed by the Chinese, was atonce informed of this news and asked to have the messenger broughtto him. After questioning the man he arrested him for inciting thepeople to riot, but he refused to turn him over to the Chineseauthorities. I was personally with the Sait at the time and heardhis decision in the matter. When the Chinese Commissioner, WangTsao-tsun, threatened the Sait for disobedience to his authority,the old man simply fingered his rosary and said:

"I believe the story of this Mongol in its every word and Iapprehend that you and I shall soon have to reverse ourrelationship."I felt that Wang Tsao-tsun also accepted the correctness of theMongol's story, because he did not insist further. From thismoment the Chinese disappeared from the streets of Uliassutai asthough they never had been, and synchronously the patrols of theRussian officers and of our foreign colony took their places. Thepanic among the Chinese was heightened by the receipt of a lettercontaining the news that the Mongols and Altai Tartars under theleadership of the Tartar officer Kaigorodoff pursued the Chinesewho were making off with their booty from the sack of Kobdo andovertook and annihilated them on the borders of Sinkiang. Anotherpart of the letter told how General Bakitch and the six thousandmen who had been interned with him by the Chinese authorities onthe River Amyl had received arms and started to join with AtamanAnnenkoff, who had been interned in Kuldja, with the ultimateintention of linking up with Baron Ungern. This rumour proved tobe wrong because neither Bakitch nor Annenkoff entertained thisintention, because Annenkoff had been transported by the Chineseinto the Depths of Turkestan. However, the news produced veritablestupefaction among the Chinese.

Just at this time there arrived at the house of the BolshevistRussian colonist Bourdukoff three Bolshevik agents from Irkutsknamed Saltikoff, Freimann and Novak, who started an agitation amongthe Chinese authorities to get them to disarm the Russian officersand hand them over to the Reds. They persuaded the Chinese Chamberof Commerce to petition the Irkutsk Soviet to send a detachment ofReds to Uliassutai for the protection of the Chinese against theWhite detachments. Freimann brought with him communistic pamphletsin Mongolian and instructions to begin the reconstruction of thetelegraph line to Irkutsk. Bourdukoff also received some messagesfrom the Bolsheviki. This quartette developed their policy verysuccessfully and soon saw Wang Tsao-tsun fall in with theirschemes. Once more the days of expecting a pogrom in Uliassutaireturned to us. The Russian officers anticipated attempts toarrest them. The representative of one of the American firms wentwith me to the Commissioner for a parley. We pointed out to himthe illegality of his acts, inasmuch as he was not authorized byhis Government to treat with the Bolsheviki when the SovietGovernment had not been recognized by Peking. Wang Tsao-tsun andhis advisor Fu Hsiang were palpably confused at finding we knew ofhis secret meetings with the Bolshevik agents. He assured us thathis guard was sufficient to prevent any such pogrom. It was quitetrue that his guard was very capable, as it consisted of welltrained and disciplined soldiers under the command of a serious-minded and well educated officer; but, what could eighty soldiersdo against a mob of three thousand coolies, one thousand armedmerchants and two hundred gamins? We strongly registered ourapprehensions and urged him to avoid any bloodshed, pointing outthat the foreign and Russian population were determined to defendthemselves to the last moment. Wang at once ordered theestablishment of strong guards on the streets and thus made a veryinteresting picture with all the Russian, foreign and Chinesepatrols moving up and down throughout the whole town. Then we didnot know there were three hundred more sentinels on duty, the menof Tushegoun Lama hidden nearby in the mountains.

Once more the picture changed very sharply and suddenly. TheMongolian Sait received news through the Lamas of the nearestmonastery that Colonel Kazagrandi, after fighting with the Chineseirregulars, had captured Van Kure and had formed there Russian-Mongolian brigades of cavalry, mobilizing the Mongols by the orderof the Living Buddha and the Russians by order of Baron Ungern. Afew hours later it became known that in the large monastery ofDzain the Chinese soldiers had killed the Russian Captain Barskyand as a result some of the troops of Kazagrandi attacked and sweptthe Chinese out of the place. At the taking of Van Kure theRussians arrested a Korean Communist who was on his way from Moscowwith gold and propaganda to work in Korea and America. ColonelKazagrandi sent this Korean with his freight of gold to BaronUngern. After receiving this news the chief of the Russiandetachment in Uliassutai arrested all the Bolsheviki agents andpassed judgment upon them and upon the murderers of the Bobroffs.

Kanine, Madame Pouzikoff and Freimann were shot. RegardingSaltikoff and Novak some doubt sprang up and, moreover, Saltikoffescaped and hid, while Novak, under advice from Lieutenant ColonelMichailoff, left for the west. The chief of the Russian detachmentgave out orders for the mobilization of the Russian colonists andopenly took Uliassutai under his protection with the tacitagreement of the Mongolian authorities. The Mongol Sait, ChultunBeyli, convened a council of the neighboring Mongolian Princes, thesoul of which was the noted Mongolian patriot, Hun Jap Lama. ThePrinces quickly formulated their demands upon the Chinese for thecomplete evacuation of the territory subject to the Sait ChultunBeyli. Out of it grew parleys, threats and friction between thevarious Chinese and Mongolian elements. Wang Tsao-tsun proposedhis scheme of settlement, which some of the Mongolian Princesaccepted; but Jap Lama at the decisive moment threw the Chinesedocument to the ground, drew his knife and swore that he would dieby his own hand rather than set it as a seal upon this treacherousagreement. As a result the Chinese proposals were rejected and theantagonists began to prepare themselves for the struggle. All thearmed Mongols were summoned from Jassaktu Khan, Sain-Noion Khan andthe dominion of Jahantsi Lama. The Chinese authorities placedtheir four machine guns and prepared to defend the fortress.

Continuous deliberations were held by both the Chinese and Mongols.

Finally, our old acquaintance Tzeren came to me as one of theunconcerned foreigners and handed to me the joint requests of WangTsao-tsun and Chultun Beyli to try to pacify the two elements andto work out a fair agreement between them. Similar requests werehanded to the representative of an American firm. The followingevening we held the first meeting of the arbitrators and theChinese and Mongolian representatives. It was passionate andstormy, so that we foreigners lost all hope of the success of ourmission. However, at midnight when the speakers were tired, wesecured agreement on two points: the Mongols announced that theydid not want to make war and that they desired to settle thismatter in such a way as to retain the friendship of the greatChinese people; while the Chinese Commissioner acknowledged thatChina had violated the treaties by which full independence had beenlegally granted to Mongolia.

These two points formed for us the groundwork of the next meetingand gave us the starting points for urging reconciliation. Thedeliberations continued for three days and finally turned so thatwe foreigners could propose our suggestions for an agreement. Itschief provisions were that the Chinese authorities should surrenderadministrative powers, return the arms to the Mongolians, disarmthe two hundred gamins and leave the country; and that the Mongolson their side should give free and honorable passage of theircountry to the Commissioner with his armed guard of eighty men.

This Chinese-Mongolian Treaty of Uliassutai was signed and sealedby the Chinese Commissioners, Wang Tsao-tsun and Fu Hsiang, by bothMongolian Saits, by Hun Jap Lama and other Princes, as well as bythe Russian and Chinese Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce andby us foreign arbitrators. The Chinese officials and convoy beganat once to pack up their belongings and prepare for departure. TheChinese merchants remained in Uliassutai because Sait ChultunBeyli, now having full authority and power, guaranteed theirsafety. The day of departure for the expedition of Wang Tsao-tsunarrived. The camels with their packs already filled the yamencourt-yard and the men only awaited the arrival of their horsesfrom the plains. Suddenly the news spread everywhere that the herdof horses had been stolen during the night and run off toward thesouth. Of two soldiers that had been sent out to follow the tracksof the herd only one came back with the news that the other hadbeen killed. Astonishment spread over the whole town while amongthe Chinese it turned to open panic. It perceptibly increased whensome Mongols from a distant ourton to the east came in andannounced that in various places along the post road to Urga theyhad discovered the bodies of sixteen of the soldiers whom WangTsao-tsun had sent out with letters for Urga. The mystery of theseevents will soon be explained.

The chief of the Russian detachment received a letter from aCossack Colonel, V. N. Domojiroff, containing the order to disarmimmediately the Chinese garrison, to arrest all Chinese officialsfor transport to Baron Ungern at Urga, to take control ofUliassutai, by force if necessary, and to join forces with hisdetachment. At the very same time a messenger from the NarabanchiHutuktu galloped in with a letter to the effect that a Russiandetachment under the leadership of Hun Boldon and ColonelDomojiroff from Urga had pillaged some Chinese firms and killed themerchants, had come to the Monastery and demanded horses, food andshelter. The Hutuktu asked for help because the ferociousconqueror of Kobdo, Hun Boldon, could very easily pillage theunprotected isolated monastery. We strongly urged ColonelMichailoff not to violate the sealed treaty and discountenance allthe foreigners and Russians who had taken part in making it, forthis would but be to imitate the Bolshevik principle of makingdeceit the leading rule in all acts of state. This touchedMichailoff and he answered Domojiroff that Uliassutai was alreadyin his hands without a fight; that over the building of the formerRussian Consulate the tri-color flag of Russia was flying; thegamins had been disarmed but that the other orders could not becarried out, because their execution would violate the Chinese-Mongolian treaty just signed in Uliassutai.

Daily several envoys traveled from Narabanchi Hutuktu toUliassutai. The news became more and more disquieting. TheHutuktu reported that Hun Boldon was mobilizing the Mongolianbeggars and horse stealers, arming and training them; that thesoldiers were taking the sheep of the monastery; that the "Noyon"Domojiroff was always drunk; and that the protests of the Hutuktuwere answered with jeers and scolding. The messengers gave veryindefinite information regarding the strength of the detachment,some placing it at about thirty while others stated that Domojiroffsaid he had eight hundred in all. We could not understand it atall and soon the messengers ceased coming. All the letters of theSait remained unanswered and the envoys did not return. Thereseemed to be no doubt that the men had been killed or captured.

Prince Chultun Beyli determined to go himself. He took with himthe Russian and Chinese Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce andtwo Mongolian officers. Three days elapsed without receiving anynews from him whatever. The Mongols began to get worried. Thenthe Chinese Commissioner and Hun Jap Lama addressed a request tothe foreigner group to send some one to Narabanchi, in order to tryto resolve the controversy there and to persuade Domojiroff torecognize the treaty and not permit the "great insult of violation"of a covenant between the two great peoples. Our group asked meonce more to accomplish this mission pro bono publico. I hadassigned me as interpreter a fine young Russian colonist, thenephew of the murdered Bobroff, a splendid rider as well as a cool,brave man. Lt.-Colonel Michailoff gave me one of his officers toaccompany me. Supplied with an express tzara for the post horsesand guides, we traveled rapidly over the way which was now familiarto me to find my old friend, Jelib Djamsrap Huktuktu of Narabanchi.

Although there was deep snow in some places, we made from onehundred to one hundred and fifteen miles per day.

CHAPTER XXVI
　　We arrived at Narabanchi late at night on the third day out. As wewere approaching, we noticed several riders who, as soon as theyhad seen us, galloped quickly back to the monastery. For some timewe looked for the camp of the Russian detachment without findingit. The Mongols led us into the monastery, where the Hutuktuimmediately received me. In his yurta sat Chultun Beyli. There hepresented me with hatyks and said to me: "The very God has sentyou here to us in this difficult moment."It seems Domojiroff had arrested both the Presidents of theChambers of Commerce and had threatened to shoot Prince Chultun.

Both Domojiroff and Hun Boldon had no documents legalizing theiractivities. Chultun Beyli was preparing to fight with them.

I asked them to take me to Domojiroff. Through the dark I saw fourbig yurtas and two Mongol sentinels with Russian rifles. Weentered the Russian "Noyon's" tent. A very strange picture waspresented to our eyes. In the middle of the yurta the brazier wasburning. In the usual place for the altar stood a throne, on whichthe tall, thin, grey-haired Colonel Domojiroff was seated. He wasonly in his undergarments and stockings, was evidently a littledrunk and was telling stories. Around the brazier lay twelve youngmen in various picturesque poses. My officer companion reported toDomojiroff about the events in Uliassutai and during theconversation I asked Domojiroff where his detachment was encamped.

He laughed and answered, with a sweep of his hand: "This is mydetachment." I pointed out to him that the form of his orders tous in Uliassutai had led us to believe that he must have a largecompany with him. Then I informed him that Lt.-Colonel Michailoffwas preparing to cross swords with the Bolshevik force approachingUliassutai.

"What?" he exclaimed with fear and confusion, "the Reds?"We spent the night in his yurta and, when I was ready to lie down,my officer whispered to me:

"Be sure to keep your revolver handy," to which I laughed and said:

"But we are in the center of a White detachment and therefore inperfect safety!""Uh-huh!" answered my officer and finished the response with oneeye closed.

The next day I invited Domojiroff to walk with me over the plain,when I talked very frankly with him about what had been happening.

He and Hun Boldon had received orders from Baron Ungern simply toget into touch with General Bakitch, but instead they beganpillaging Chinese firms along the route and he had made up his mindto become a great conqueror. On the way he had run across some ofthe officers who deserted Colonel Kazagrandi and formed his presentband. I succeeded in persuading Domojiroff to arrange matterspeacefully with Chultun Beyli and not to violate the treaty. Heimmediately went ahead to the monastery. As I returned, I met atall Mongol with a ferocious face, dressed in a blue silkoutercoat--it was Hun Boldon. He introduced himself and spoke withme in Russian. I had only time to take off my coat in the tent ofDomojiroff when a Mongol came running to invite me to the yurta ofHun Boldon. The Prince lived just beside me in a splendid blueyurta. Knowing the Mongolian custom, I jumped into the saddle androde the ten paces to his door. Hun Boldon received me withcoldness and pride.

"Who is he?" he inquired of the interpreter, pointing to me withhis finger.

I understood his desire to offend me and I answered in the samemanner, thrusting out my finger toward him and turning to theinterpreter with the same question in a slightly more unpleasanttone:

"Who is he? High Prince and warrior or shepherd and brute?"Boldon at once became confused and, with trembling voice andagitation in his whole manner, blurted out to me that he would notallow me to interfere in his affairs and would shoot every man whodared to run counter to his orders. He pounded on the low tablewith his fist and then rose up and drew his revolver. But I wasmuch traveled among the nomads and had studied them thoroughly--Princes, Lamas, shepherds and brigands. I grasped my whip and,striking it on the table with all my strength, I said to theinterpreter:

"Tell him that he has the honor to speak with neither Mongol norRussian but with a foreigner, a citizen of a great and free state.

Tell him he must first learn to be a man and then he can visit meand we can talk together."I turned and went out. Ten minutes later Hun Boldon entered myyurta and offered his apologies. I persuaded him to parley withChultun Beyli and not to offend the free Mongol people with hisactivities. That very night all was arranged. Hun Boldondismissed his Mongols and left for Kobdo, while Domojiroff with hisband started for Jassaktu Khan to arrange for the mobilization ofthe Mongols there. With the consent of Chultun Beyli he wrote toWang Tsao-tsun a demand to disarm his guard, as all of the Chinesetroops in Urga had been so treated; but this letter arrived afterWang had bought camels to replace the stolen horses and was on hisway to the border. Later Lt.-Colonel Michailoff sent a detachmentof fifty men under the command of Lieutenant Strigine to overhaulWang and receive their arms.
CHAPTER XXVII
　　Prince Chultun Beyli and I were ready to leave the Narabanchi Kure.

While the Hutuktu was holding service for the Sait in the Temple ofBlessing, I wandered around through the narrow alleyways betweenthe walls of the houses of the various grades of Lama Gelongs,Getuls, Chaidje and Rabdjampa; of schools where the learned doctorsof theology or Maramba taught together with the doctors of medicineor Ta Lama; of the residences for students called Bandi; of stores,archives and libraries. When I returned to the yurta of theHutuktu, he was inside. He presented me with a large hatyk andproposed a walk around the monastery. His face wore a preoccupiedexpression from which I gathered that he had something he wished todiscuss with me. As we went out of the yurta, the liberatedPresident of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and a Russian officerjoined us. The Hutuktu led us to a small building just back of abright yellow stone wall.

"In that building once stopped the Dalai Lama and Bogdo Khan and wealways paint the buildings yellow where these holy persons havelived. Enter!"The interior of the building was arranged with splendor. On theground floor was the dining-room, furnished with richly carved,heavy blackwood Chinese tables and cabinets filled with porcelainsand bronze. Above were two rooms, the first a bed-room hung withheavy yellow silk curtains; a large Chinese lantern richly set withcolored stones hung by a thin bronze chain from the carved woodenceiling beam. Here stood a large square bed covered with silkenpillows, mattresses and blankets. The frame work of the bed wasalso of the Chinese blackwood and carried, especially on the poststhat held the roof-like canopy, finely executed carvings with thechief motive the conventional dragon devouring the sun. By theside stood a chest of drawers completely covered with carvingssetting forth religious pictures. Four comfortable easy chairscompleted the furniture, save for the low oriental throne whichstood on a dais at the end of the room.

"Do you see this throne?" said the Hutuktu to me. "One night inwinter several horsemen rode into the monastery and demanded thatall the Gelongs and Getuls with the Hutuktu and Kanpo at their headshould congregate in this room. Then one of the strangers mountedthe throne, where he took off his bashlyk or cap-like headcovering. All of the Lamas fell to their knees as they recognizedthe man who had been long ago described in the sacred bulls ofDalai Lama, Tashi Lama and Bogdo Khan. He was the man to whom thewhole world belongs and who has penetrated into all the mysteriesof Nature. He pronounced a short Tibetan prayer, blessed all hishearers and afterwards made predictions for the coming halfcentury. This was thirty years ago and in the interim all hisprophecies are being fulfilled. During his prayers before thatsmall shrine in the next room this door opened of its own accord,the candles and lights before the altar lighted themselves and thesacred braziers without coals gave forth great streams of incensethat filled the room. And then, without warning, the King of theWorld and his companions disappeared from among us. Behind himremained no trace save the folds in the silken throne coveringswhich smoothed themselves out and left the throne as though no onehad sat upon it."The Hutuktu entered the shrine, kneeled down, covering his eyeswith his hands, and began to pray. I looked at the calm,indifferent face of the golden Buddha, over which the flickeringlamps threw changing shadows, and then turned my eyes to the sideof the throne. It was wonderful and difficult to believe but Ireally saw there the strong, muscular figure of a man with aswarthy face of stern and fixed expression about the mouth andjaws, thrown into high relief by the brightness of the eyes.

Through his transparent body draped in white raiment I saw theTibetan inscriptions on the back of the throne. I closed my eyesand opened them again. No one was there but the silk thronecovering seemed to be moving.

"Nervousness," I thought. "Abnormal and over-emphasizedimpressionability growing out of the unusual surroundings andstrains."The Hutuktu turned to me and said: "Give me your hatyk. I havethe feeling that you are troubled about those whom you love, and Iwant to pray for them. And you must pray also, importune God anddirect the sight of your soul to the King of the World who was hereand sanctified this place."The Hutuktu placed the hatyk on the shoulder of the Buddha and,prostrating himself on the carpet before the altar, whispered thewords of prayer. Then he raised his head and beckoned me to himwith a slight movement of his hand.

"Look at the dark space behind the statue of Buddha and he willshow your beloved to you."Readily obeying his deep-voiced command, I began to look into thedark niche behind the figure of the Buddha. Soon out of thedarkness began to appear streams of smoke or transparent threads.

They floated in the air, becoming more and more dense andincreasing in number, until gradually they formed the bodies ofseveral persons and the outlines of various objects. I saw a roomthat was strange to me with my family there, surrounded by somewhom I knew and others whom I did not. I recognized even the dressmy wife wore. Every line of her dear face was clearly visible.

Gradually the vision became too dark, dissipated itself into thestreams of smoke and transparent threads and disappeared. Behindthe golden Buddha was nothing but the darkness. The Hutuktu arose,took my hatyk from the shoulder of the Buddha and handed it to mewith these words:

"Fortune is always with you and with your family. God's goodnesswill not forsake you."We left the building of this unknown King of the World, where hehad prayed for all mankind and had predicted the fate of peoplesand states. I was greatly astonished to find that my companionshad also seen my vision and to hear them describe to me in minutedetail the appearance and the clothes of the persons whom I hadseen in the dark niche behind the head of Buddha.** In order that I might have the evidence of others on thisextraordinarily impressive vision, I asked them to make protocolsor affidavits concerning what they saw. This they did and I nowhave these statements in my possession.

The Mongol officer also told me that Chultun Beyli had the daybefore asked the Hutuktu to reveal to him his fate in thisimportant juncture of his life and in this crisis of his countrybut the Hutuktu only waved his hand in an expression of fear andrefused. When I asked the Hutuktu for the reason of his refusal,suggesting to him that it might calm and help Chultun Beyli as thevision of my beloved had strengthened me, the Hutuktu knitted hisbrow and answered:

"No! The vision would not please the Prince. His fate is black.

Yesterday I thrice sought his fortune on the burned shoulder bladesand with the entrails of sheep and each time came to the same direresult, the same dire result! . . ."He did not really finish speaking but covered his face with hishands in fear. He was convinced that the lot of Chultun Beyli wasblack as the night.

In an hour we were behind the low hills that hid the NarabanchiKure from our sight.
CHAPTER XXVIII
　　We arrived at Uliassutai on the day of the return of the detachmentwhich had gone out to disarm the convoy of Wang Tsao-tsun. Thisdetachment had met Colonel Domojiroff, who ordered them not only todisarm but to pillage the convoy and, unfortunately, LieutenantStrigine executed this illegal and unwarranted command. It wascompromising and ignominious to see Russian officers and soldierswearing the Chinese overcoats, boots and wrist watches which hadbeen taken from the Chinese officials and the convoy. Everyone hadChinese silver and gold also from the loot. The Mongol wife ofWang Tsao-tsun and her brother returned with the detachment andentered a complaint of having been robbed by the Russians. TheChinese officials and their convoy, deprived of their supplies,reached the Chinese border only after great distress from hungerand cold. We foreigners were astounded that Lt.-Colonel Michailoffreceived Strigine with military honors but we caught theexplanation of it later when we learned that Michailoff had beengiven some of the Chinese silver and his wife the handsomelydecorated saddle of Fu Hsiang. Chultun Beyli demanded that all theweapons taken from the Chinese and all the stolen property beturned over to him, as it must later be returned to the Chineseauthorities; but Michailoff refused. Afterwards we foreigners cutoff all contact with the Russian detachment. The relations betweenthe Russians and Mongols became very strained. Several of theRussian officers protested against the acts of Michailoff andStrigine and controversies became more and more serious.

At this time, one morning in April, an extraordinary group of armedhorsemen arrived at Uliassutai. They stayed at the house of theBolshevik Bourdukoff, who gave them, so we were told, a greatquantity of silver. This group explained that they were formerofficers in the Imperial Guard. They were Colonels Poletika, N. N.

Philipoff and three of the latter's brothers. They announced thatthey wanted to collect all the White officers and soldiers then inMongolia and China and lead them to Urianhai to fight theBolsheviki; but that first they wanted to wipe out Ungern andreturn Mongolia to China. They called themselves therepresentatives of the Central Organization of the Whites inRussia.

The society of Russian officers in Uliassutai invited them to ameeting, examined their documents and interrogated them.

Investigation proved that all the statements of these officersabout their former connections were entirely wrong, that Poletikaoccupied an important position in the war commissariat of theBolsheviki, that one of the Philipoff brothers was the assistant ofKameneff in his first attempt to reach England, that the CentralWhite Organization in Russia did not exist, that the proposedfighting in Urianhai was but a trap for the White officers and thatthis group was in close relations with the Bolshevik Bourdukoff.

A discussion at once sprang up among the officers as to what theyshould do with this group, which split the detachment into twodistinct parties. Lt.-Colonel Michailoff with several officersjoined themselves to Poletika's group just as Colonel Domojiroffarrived with his detachment. He began to get in touch with bothfactions and to feel out the politics of the situation, finallyappointing Poletika to the post of Commandant of Uliassutai andsending to Baron Ungern a full report of the events in the town.

In this document he devoted much space to me, accusing me ofstanding in the way of the execution of his orders. His officerswatched me continuously. From different quarters I receivedwarnings to take great care. This band and its leader openlydemanded to know what right this foreigner had to interfere in theaffairs of Mongolia, one of Domojiroff's officers directly givingme the challenge in a meeting in the attempt to provoke acontroversy. I quietly answered him:

"And on what basis do the Russian refugees interfere, they who haverights neither at home nor abroad?"The officer made no verbal reply but in his eyes burned a definiteanswer. My huge friend who sat beside me noticed this, strode overtoward him and, towering over him, stretched his arms and hands asthough just waking from sleep and remarked: "I'm looking for alittle boxing exercise."On one occasion Domojiroff's men would have succeeded in taking meif I had not been saved by the watchfulness of our foreign group.

I had gone to the fortress to negotiate with the Mongol Sait forthe departure of the foreigners from Uliassutai. Chultun Beylidetained me for a long time, so that I was forced to return aboutnine in the evening. My horse was walking. Half a mile from thetown three men sprang up out of the ditch and ran at me. I whippedup my horse but noticed several more men coming out of the otherditch as though to head me off. They, however, made for the othergroup and captured them and I heard the voice of a foreignercalling me back. There I found three of Domojiroff's officerssurrounded by the Polish soldiers and other foreigners under theleadership of my old trusted agronome, who was occupied with tyingthe hands of the officers behind their backs so strongly that thebones cracked. Ending his work and still smoking his perpetualpipe, he announced in a serious and important manner: "I think itbest to throw them into the river."Laughing at his seriousness and the fear of Domojiroff's officers,I asked them why they had started to attack me. They dropped theireyes and were silent. It was an eloquent silence and we perfectlyunderstood what they had proposed to do. They had revolvers hiddenin their pockets.

"Fine!" I said. "All is perfectly clear. I shall release you butyou must report to your sender that he will not welcome you backthe next time. Your weapons I shall hand to the Commandant ofUliassutai."My friend, using his former terrifying care, began to untie them,repeating over and over: "And I would have fed you to the fishesin the river!" Then we all returned to the town, leaving them togo their way.

Domojiroff continued to send envoys to Baron Ungern at Urga withrequests for plenary powers and money and with reports aboutMichailoff, Chultun Beyli, Poletika, Philipoff and myself. WithAsiatic cunning he was then maintaining good relations with allthose for whom he was preparing death at the hands of the severewarrior, Baron Ungern, who was receiving only one-sided reportsabout all the happenings in Uliassutai. Our whole colony wasgreatly agitated. The officers split into different parties; thesoldiers collected in groups and discussed the events of the day,criticising their chiefs, and under the influence of some ofDomojiroff's men began making such statements as:

"We have now seven Colonels, who all want to be in command and areall quarreling among themselves. They all ought to be pegged downand given good sound thrashings. The one who could take thegreatest number of blows ought to be chosen as our chief."It was an ominous joke that proved the demoralization of theRussian detachment.

"It seems," my friend frequently observed, "that we shall soon havethe pleasure of seeing a Council of Soldiers here in Uliassutai.

God and the Devil! One thing here is very unfortunate--there areno forests near into which good Christian men may dive and get awayfrom all these cursed Soviets. It's bare, frightfully bare, thiswretched Mongolia, with no place for us to hide."Really this possibility of the Soviet was approaching. On oneoccasion the soldiers captured the arsenal containing the weaponssurrendered by the Chinese and carried them off to their barracks.

Drunkenness, gambling and fighting increased. We foreigners,carefully watching events and in fear of a catastrophe, finallydecided to leave Uliassutai, that caldron of passions,controversies and denunciations. We heard that the group ofPoletika was also preparing to get out a few days later. Weforeigners separated into two parties, one traveling by the oldcaravan route across the Gobi considerably to the south of Urga toKuku-Hoto or Kweihuacheng and Kalgan, and mine, consisting of myfriend, two Polish soldiers and myself, heading for Urga via ZainShabi, where Colonel Kazagrandi had asked me in a recent letter tomeet him. Thus we left the Uliassutai where we had lived throughso many exciting events.

On the sixth day after our departure there arrived in the town theMongol-Buriat detachment under the command of the Buriat Vandaloffand the Russian Captain Bezrodnoff. Afterwards I met them in ZainShabi. It was a detachment sent out from Urga by Baron Ungern torestore order in Uliassutai and to march on to Kobdo. On the wayfrom Zain Shabi Bezrodnoff came across the group of Poletika andMichailoff. He instituted a search which disclosed suspiciousdocuments in their baggage and in that of Michailoff and his wifethe silver and other possessions taken from the Chinese. From thisgroup of sixteen he sent N. N. Philipoff to Baron Ungern, releasedthree others and shot the remaining twelve. Thus ended in ZainShabi the life of one party of Uliassutai refugees and theactivities of the group of Poletika. In Uliassutai Bezrodnoff shotChultun Beyli for the violation of the treaty with the Chinese, andalso some Bolshevist Russian colonists; arrested Domojiroff andsent him to Urga; and . . . restored order. The predictions aboutChultun Beyli were fulfilled.

I knew of Domojiroff's reports regarding myself but I decided,nevertheless, to proceed to Urga and not to swing round it, asPoletika had started to do when he was accidentally captured byBezrodnoff. I was accustomed now to looking into the eyes ofdanger and I set out to meet the terrible "bloody Baron." No onecan decide his own fate. I did not think myself in the wrong andthe feeling of fear had long since ceased to occupy a place in mymenage. On the way a Mongol rider who overhauled us brought thenews of the death of our acquaintances at Zain Shabi. He spent thenight with me in the yurta at the ourton and related to me thefollowing legend of death.

"It was a long time ago when the Mongolians ruled over China. ThePrince of Uliassutai, Beltis Van, was mad. He executed any one hewished without trial and no one dared to pass through his town.

All the other Princes and rich Mongols surrounded Uliassutai, whereBeltis raged, cut off communication on every road and allowed noneto pass in or out. Famine developed in the town. They consumedall the oxen, sheep and horses and finally Beltis Van determined tomake a dash with his soldiers through to the west to the land ofone of his tribes, the Olets. He and his men all perished in thefight. The Princes, following the advice of the Hutuktu Buyantu,buried the dead on the slopes of the mountains surroundingUliassutai. They buried them with incantations and exorcisings inorder that Death by Violence might be kept from a furthervisitation to their land. The tombs were covered with heavy stonesand the Hutuktu predicted that the bad demon of Death by Violencewould only leave the earth when the blood of a man should hespilled upon the covering stone. Such a legend lived among us.

Now it is fulfilled. The Russians shot there three Bolsheviki andthe Chinese two Mongols. The evil spirit of Beltis Van broke loosefrom beneath the heavy stone and now mows down the people with hisscythe. The noble Chultun Beyli has perished; the Russian NoyonMichailoff also has fallen; and death has flowed out fromUliassutai all over our boundless plains. Who shall be able tostem it now? Who shall tie the ferocious hands? An evil time hasfallen upon the Gods and the Good Spirits. The Evil Demons havemade war upon the Good Spirits. What can man now do? Only perish,only perish. . . ."
CHAPTER XXIX
The great conqueror, Jenghiz Khan, the son of sad, stern, severeMongolia, according to an old Mongolian legend "mounted to the topof Karasu Togol and with his eyes of an eagle looked to the westand the east. In the west he saw whole seas of human blood overwhich floated a bloody fog that blanketed all the horizon. Therehe could not discern his fate. But the gods ordered him to proceedto the west, leading with him all his warriors and Mongoliantribes. To the east he saw wealthy towns, shining temples, crowdsof happy people, gardens and fields of rich earth, all of whichpleased the great Mongol. He said to his sons: 'There in the westI shall be fire and sword, destroyer, avenging Fate; in the east Ishall come as the merciful, great builder, bringing happiness tothe people and to the land.'"Thus runs the legend. I found much of truth in it. I had passedover much of his road to the west and always identified it by theold tombs and the impertinent monuments of stone to the mercilessconqueror. I saw also a part of the eastern road of the hero, overwhich he traveled to China. Once when we were making a trip out ofUliassutai we stopped the night in Djirgalantu. The old host ofthe ourton, knowing me from my previous trip to Narabanchi,welcomed us very kindly and regaled us with stories during ourevening meal. Among other things he led us out of the yurta andpointed out a mountain peak brightly lighted by the full moon andrecounted to us the story of one of the sons of Jenghiz, afterwardsEmperor of China, Indo-China and Mongolia, who had been attractedby the beautiful scenery and grazing lands of Djirgalantu and hadfounded here a town. This was soon left without inhabitants, forthe Mongol is a nomad who cannot live in artificial cities. Theplain is his house and the world his town. For a time this townwitnessed battles between the Chinese and the troops of JenghizKhan but afterwards it was forgotten. At present there remainsonly a half-ruined tower, from which in the early days the heavyrocks were hurled down upon the heads of the enemy, and thedilapidated gate of Kublai, the grandson of Jenghiz Khan. Againstthe greenish sky drenched with the rays of the moon stood out thejagged line of the mountains and the black silhouette of the towerwith its loopholes, through which the alternate scudding clouds andlight flashed.

When our party left Uliassutai, we traveled on leisurely, makingthirty-five to fifty miles a day until we were within sixty milesof Zain Shabi, where I took leave of the others to go south to thisplace in order to keep my engagement with Colonel Kazagrandi. Thesun had just risen as my single Mongol guide and I without any packanimals began to ascend the low, timbered ridges, from the top ofwhich I caught the last glimpses of my companions disappearing downthe valley. I had no idea then of the many and almost fataldangers which I should have to pass through during this trip bymyself, which was destined to prove much longer than I hadanticipated. As we were crossing a small river with sandy shores,my Mongol guide told me how the Mongolians came there during thesummer to wash gold, in spite of the prohibitions of the Lamas.

The manner of working the placer was very primitive but the resultstestified clearly to the richness of these sands. The Mongol liesflat on the ground, brushes the sand aside with a feather and keepsblowing into the little excavation so formed. From time to time hewets his finger and picks up on it a small bit of grain gold or adiminutive nugget and drops these into a little bag hanging underhis chin. In such manner this primitive dredge wins about aquarter of an ounce or five dollars' worth of the yellow metal perday.

I determined to make the whole distance to Zain Shabi in a singleday. At the ourtons I hurried them through the catching andsaddling of the horses as fast as I could. At one of thesestations about twenty-five miles from the monastery the Mongolsgave me a wild horse, a big, strong white stallion. Just as I wasabout to mount him and had already touched my foot to the stirrup,he jumped and kicked me right on the leg which had been wounded inthe Ma-chu fight. The leg soon began to swell and ache. At sunsetI made out the first Russian and Chinese buildings and later themonastery at Zain. We dropped into the valley of a small streamwhich flowed along a mountain on whose peak were set white rocksforming the words of a Tibetan prayer. At the bottom of thismountain was a cemetery for the Lamas, that is, piles of bones anda pack of dogs. At last the monastery lay right below us, a commonsquare surrounded with wooden fences. In the middle rose a largetemple quite different from all those of western Mongolia, not inthe Chinese but in the Tibetan style of architecture, a whitebuilding with perpendicular walls and regular rows of windows inblack frames, with a roof of black tiles and with a most unusualdamp course laid between the stone walls and the roof timbers andmade of bundles of twigs from a Tibetan tree which never rots.

Another small quadrangle lay a little to the east and containedRussian buildings connected with the monastery by telephone.

"That is the house of the Living God of Zain," the Mongolexplained, pointing to this smaller quadrangle. "He likes Russiancustoms and manners."To the north on a conical-shaped hill rose a tower that recalledthe Babylonian zikkurat. It was the temple where the ancient booksand manuscripts were kept and the broken ornaments and objects usedin the religious ceremonies together with the robes of deceasedHutuktus preserved. A sheer cliff rose behind this museum, whichit was impossible for one to climb. On the face of this werecarved images of the Lamaite gods, scattered about without anyspecial order. They were from one to two and a half metres high.

At night the monks lighted lamps before them, so that one could seethese images of the gods and goddesses from far away.

We entered the trading settlement. The streets were deserted andfrom the windows only women and children looked out. I stoppedwith a Russian firm whose other branches I had known throughout thecountry. Much to my astonishment they welcomed me as anacquaintance. It appeared that the Hutuktu of Narabanchi had sentword to all the monasteries that, whenever I should come, they mustall render me aid, inasmuch as I had saved the Narabanchi Monasteryand, by the clear signs of the divinations, I was an incarnateBuddha beloved of the Gods. This letter of this kindly disposedHutuktu helped me very much--perhaps I should even say more, thatit saved me from death. The hospitality of my hosts proved ofgreat and much needed assistance to me because my injured leg hadswelled and was aching severely. When I took off my boot, I foundmy foot all covered with blood and my old wound re-opened by theblow. A felcher was called to assist me with treatment andbandaging, so that I was able to walk again three days later.

I did not find Colonel Kazagrandi at Zain Shabi. After destroyingthe Chinese gamins who had killed the local Commandant, he hadreturned via Van Kure. The new Commandment handed me the letter ofKazagrandi, who very cordially asked me to visit him after I hadrested in Zain. A Mongolian document was enclosed in the lettergiving me the right to receive horses and carts from herd to herdby means of the "urga," which I shall later describe and whichopened for me an entirely new vista of Mongolian life and countrythat I should otherwise never have seen. The making of thisjourney of over two hundred miles was a very disagreeable task forme; but evidently Kazagrandi, whom I had never met, had seriousreasons for wishing this meeting.

At one o'clock the day after my arrival I was visited by the local"Very God," Gheghen Pandita Hutuktu. A more strange andextraordinary appearance of a god I could not imagine. He was ashort, thin young man of twenty or twenty-two years with quick,nervous movements and with an expressive face lighted anddominated, like the countenances of all the Mongol gods, by large,frightened eyes. He was dressed in a blue silk Russian uniformwith yellow epaulets with the sacred sign of Pandita Hutuktu, inblue silk trousers and high boots, all surmounted by a whiteAstrakhan cap with a yellow pointed top. At his girdle a revolverand sword were slung. I did not know quite what to think of thisdisguised god. He took a cup of tea from the host and began totalk with a mixture of Mongolian and Russian.

"Not far from my Kure is located the ancient monastery of ErdeniDzu, erected on the site of the ruins of Karakorum, the ancientcapital of Jenghiz Khan and afterwards frequently visited by KublaiKahn for sanctuary and rest after his labors as Emperor of China,India, Persia, Afghanistan, Mongolia and half of Europe. Now onlyruins and tombs remain to mark this former 'Garden of BeatificDays.' The pious monks of Baroun Kure found in the undergroundchambers of the ruins manuscripts that were much older than ErdeniDzu itself. In these my Maramba Meetchik-Atak found the predictionthat the Hutuktu of Zain who should carry the title of 'Pandita,'

should be but twenty-one years of age, be born in the heart of thelands of Jenghiz Khan and have on his chest the natural sign of theswastika--such Hutuktu would be honored by the people in the daysof a great war and trouble, would begin the fight with the servantsof Red evil and would conquer them and bring order into theuniverse, celebrating this happy day in the city with white templesand with the songs of ten thousand bells. It is I, PanditaHutuktu! The signs and symbols have met in me. I shall destroythe Bolsheviki, the bad 'servants of the Red evil,' and in Moscow Ishall rest from my glorious and great work. Therefore I have askedColonel Kazagrandi to enlist me in the troops of Baron Ungern andgive me the chance to fight. The Lamas seek to prevent me fromgoing but who is the god here?"He very sternly stamped his foot, while the Lamas and guard whoaccompanied him reverently bowed their heads.

As he left he presented me with a hatyk and, rummaging through mysaddle bags, I found a single article that might be consideredworthy as a gift for a Hutuktu, a small bottle of osmiridium, thisrare, natural concomitant of platinum.

"This is the most stable and hardest of metals," I said. "Let itbe the sign of your glory and strength, Hutuktu!"The Pandita thanked me and invited me to visit him. When I hadrecovered a little, I went to his house, which was arranged inEuropean style: electric lights, push bells and telephone. Hefeasted me with wine and sweets and introduced me to two veryinteresting personages, one an old Tibetan surgeon with a facedeeply pitted by smallpox, a heavy thick nose and crossed eyes. Hewas a peculiar surgeon, consecrated in Tibet. His duties consistedin treating and curing Hutuktus when they were ill and . . . inpoisoning them when they became too independent or extravagant orwhen their policies were not in accord with the wishes of theCouncil of Lamas of the Living Buddha or the Dalai Lama. By nowPandita Hutuktu probably rests in eternal peace on the top of somesacred mountain, sent thither by the solicitude of hisextraordinary court physician. The martial spirit of PanditaHutuktu was very unwelcome to the Council of Lamas, who protestedagainst the adventuresomeness of this "Living God."Pandita liked wine and cards. One day when he was in the companyof Russians and dressed in a European suit, some Lamas came runningto announce that divine service had begun and that the "Living God"must take his place on the altar to be prayed to but he had goneout from his abode and was playing cards! Without any confusionPandita drew his red mantle of the Hutuktu over his European coatand long grey trousers and allowed the shocked Lamas to carry their"God" away in his palanquin.

Besides the surgeon-poisoner I met at the Hutuktu's a lad ofthirteen years, whose youthfulness, red robe and cropped hair ledme to suppose he was a Bandi or student servant in the home of theHutuktu; but it turned out otherwise. This boy was the firstHubilgan, also an incarnate Buddha, an artful teller of fortunesand the successor of Pandita Hutuktu. He was drunk all the timeand a great card player, always making side-splitting jokes thatgreatly offended the Lamas.

That same evening I made the acquaintance of the second Hubilganwho called on me, the real administrator of Zain Shabi, which is anindependent dominion subject directly to the Living Buddha. ThisHubilgan was a serious and ascetic man of thirty-two, well educatedand deeply learned in Mongol lore. He knew Russian and read muchin that language, being interested chiefly in the life and storiesof other peoples. He had a high respect for the creative genius ofthe American people and said to me:

"When you go to America, ask the Americans to come to us and leadus out from the darkness that surrounds us. The Chinese andRussians will lead us to destruction and only the Americans cansave us."It is a deep satisfaction for me to carry out the request of thisinfluential Mongol, Hubilgan, and to urge his appeal to theAmerican people. Will you not save this honest, uncorrupted butdark, deceived and oppressed people? They should not be allowed toperish, for within their souls they carry a great store of strongmoral forces. Make of them a cultured people, believing in theverity of humankind; teach them to use the wealth of their land;and the ancient people of Jenghiz Khan will ever be your faithfulfriends.

When I had sufficiently recovered, the Hutuktu invited me to travelwith him to Erdeni Dzu, to which I willingly agreed. On thefollowing morning a light and comfortable carriage was brought forme. Our trip lasted five days, during which we visited Erdeni Dzu,Karakorum, Hoto-Zaidam and Hara-Balgasun. All these are the ruinsof monasteries and cities erected by Jenghiz Khan and hissuccessors, Ugadai Khan and Kublai in the thirteenth century. Nowonly the remnants of walls and towers remain, some large tombs andwhole books of legends and stories.

"Look at these tombs!" said the Hutuktu to me. "Here the son ofKhan Uyuk was buried. This young prince was bribed by the Chineseto kill his father but was frustrated in his attempt by his ownsister, who killed him in her watchful care of her old father, theEmperor and Khan. There is the tomb of Tsinilla, the belovedspouse of Khan Mangu. She left the capital of China to go to KharaBolgasun, where she fell in love with the brave shepherd Damcharen,who overtook the wind on his steed and who captured wild yaks andhorses with his bare hands. The enraged Khan ordered hisunfaithful wife strangled but afterwards buried her with imperialhonors and frequently came to her tomb to weep for his lost love.""And what happened to Damcharen?" I inquired.

The Hutuktu himself did not know; but his old servant, the realarchive of legends, answered:

"With the aid of ferocious Chahar brigands he fought with China fora long time. It is, however, unknown how he died."Among the ruins the monks pray at certain fixed times and they alsosearch for sacred books and objects concealed or buried in thedebris. Recently they found here two Chinese rifles and two goldrings and big bundles of old manuscripts tied with leather thongs.

"Why did this region attract the powerful emperors and Khans whoruled from the Pacific to the Adriatic?" I asked myself. Certainlynot these mountains and valleys covered with larch and birch, notthese vast sands, receding lakes and barren rocks. It seems that Ifound the answer.

The great emperors, remembering the vision of Jenghiz Khan, soughthere new revelations and predictions of his miraculous, majesticdestiny, surrounded by the divine honors, obeisance and hate.

Where could they come into touch with the gods, the good and badspirits? Only there where they abode. All the district of Zainwith these ancient ruins is just such a place.

"On this mountain only such men can ascend as are born of thedirect line of Jenghiz Khan," the Pandita explained to me. "Halfway up the ordinary man suffocates and dies, if he ventures to gofurther. Recently Mongolian hunters chased a pack of wolves upthis mountain and, when they came to this part of the mountainside,they all perished. There on the slopes of the mountain lie thebones of eagles, big horned sheep and the kabarga antelope, lightand swift as the wind. There dwells the bad demon who possessesthe book of human destinies.""This is the answer," I thought.

In the Western Caucasus I once saw a mountain between Soukhoum Kaleand Tuopsei where wolves, eagles and wild goats also perish, andwhere men would likewise perish if they did not go on horsebackthrough this zone. There the earth breathes out carbonic acid gasthrough holes in the mountainside, killing all animal life. Thegas clings to the earth in a layer about half a metre thick. Menon horseback pass above this and the horses always hold their headsway up and snuff and whinny in fear until they cross the dangerouszone. Here on the top of this mountain where the bad demon perusesthe book of human destinies is the same phenomenon, and I realizedthe sacred fear of the Mongols as well as the stern attraction ofthis place for the tall, almost gigantic descendants of JenghizKhan. Their heads tower above the layers of poisonous gas, so thatthey can reach the top of this mysterious and terrible mountain.

Also it is possible to explain this phenomenon geologically,because here in this region is the southern edge of the coaldeposits which are the source of carbonic acid and swamp gases.

Not far from the ruins in the lands of Hun Doptchin Djamtso thereis a small lake which sometimes burns with a red flame, terrifyingthe Mongols and herds of horses. Naturally this lake is rich withlegends. Here a meteor formerly fell and sank far into the earth.

In the hole this lake appeared. Now, it seems, the inhabitants ofthe subterranean passages, semi-man and semi-demon, are laboring toextract this "stone of the sky" from its deep bed and it is settingthe water on fire as it rises and falls back in spite of theirevery effort. I did not see the lake myself but a Russian colonisttold me that it may be petroleum on the lake that is fired eitherfrom the campfires of the shepherds or by the blazing rays of thesun.

At any rate all this makes it very easy to understand theattractions for the great Mongol potentates. The strongestimpression was produced upon me by Karakorum, the place where thecruel and wise Jenghiz Khan lived and laid his gigantic plans foroverrunning all the west with blood and for covering the east witha glory never before seen. Two Karakorums were erected by JenghizKhan, one here near Tatsa Gol on the Caravan Road and the other inPamir, where the sad warriors buried the greatest of humanconquerors in the mausoleum built by five hundred captives who weresacrificed to the spirit of the deceased when their work was done.

The warlike Pandita Hutuktu prayed on the ruins where the shades ofthese potentates who had ruled half the world wandered, and hissoul longed for the chimerical exploits and for the glory ofJenghiz and Tamerlane.

On the return journey we were invited not far from Zain to visit avery rich Mongol by the way. He had already prepared the yurtassuitable for Princes, ornamented with rich carpets and silkdraperies. The Hutuktu accepted. We arranged ourselves on thesoft pillows in the yurtas as the Hutuktu blessed the Mongol,touching his head with his holy hand, and received the hatyks. Thehost then had a whole sheep brought in to us, boiled in a hugevessel. The Hutuktu carved off one hind leg and offered it to me,while he reserved the other for himself. After this he gave alarge piece of meat to the smallest son of the host, which was thesign that Pandita Hutuktu invited all to begin the feast. In atrice the sheep was entirely carved or torn up and in the hands ofthe banqueters. When the Hutuktu had thrown down by the brazierthe white bones without a trace of meat left on them, the host onhis knees withdrew from the fire a piece of sheepskin andceremoniously offered it on both his hands to the Hutuktu. Panditabegan to clean off the wool and ashes with his knife and, cuttingit into thin strips, fell to eating this really tasty course. Itis the covering from just above the breast bone and is called inMongolian tarach or "arrow." When a sheep is skinned, this smallsection is cut out and placed on the hot coals, where it is broiledvery slowly. Thus prepared it is considered the most dainty bit ofthe whole animal and is always presented to the guest of honor. Itis not permissible to divide it, such is the strength of the customand ceremony.

After dinner our host proposed a hunt for bighorns, a large herd ofwhich was known to graze in the mountains within less than a milefrom the yurtas. Horses with rich saddles and bridles were led up.

All the elaborate harness of the Hutuktu's mount was ornamentedwith red and yellow bits of cloth as a mark of his rank. Aboutfifty Mongol riders galloped behind us. When we left our horses,we were placed behind the rocks roughly three hundred paces apartand the Mongols began the encircling movement around the mountain.

After about half an hour I noticed way up among the rocks somethingflash and soon made out a fine bighorn jumping with tremendoussprings from rock to rock, and behind him a herd of some twenty oddhead leaping like lightning over the ground. I was vexed beyondwords when it appeared that the Mongols had made a mess of it andpushed the herd out to the side before having completed theircircle. But happily I was mistaken. Behind a rock right ahead ofthe herd a Mongol sprang up and waved his hands. Only the bigleader was not frightened and kept right on past the unarmed Mongolwhile all the rest of the herd swung suddenly round and rushedright down upon me. I opened fire and dropped two of them. TheHutuktu also brought down one as well as a musk antelope that cameunexpectedly from behind a rock hard by. The largest pair of hornsweighed about thirty pounds, but they were from a young sheep.

The day following our return to Zain Shabi, as I was feeling quiterecovered, I decided to go on to Van Kure. At my leave-taking fromthe Hutuktu I received a large hatyk from him together with warmestexpressions of thanks for the present I had given him on the firstday of our acquaintance.

"It is a fine medicine!" he exclaimed. "After our trip I feltquite exhausted but I took your medicine and am now quiterejuvenated. Many, many thanks!"The poor chap had swallowed my osmiridium. To be sure it could notharm him; but to have helped him was wonderful. Perhaps doctors inthe Occident may wish to try this new, harmless and very cheapremedy--only eight pounds of it in the whole world--and I merelyask that they leave me the patent rights for it for Mongolia,Barga, Sinkiang, Koko Nor and all the other lands of Central Asia.

An old Russian colonist went as guide for me. They gave me a bigbut light and comfortable cart hitched and drawn in a marvelousway. A straight pole four metres long was fastened athwart thefront of the shafts. On either side two riders took this poleacross their saddle pommels and galloped away with me across theplains. Behind us galloped four other riders with four extrahorses.
CHAPTER XXX
　　About twelve miles from Zain we saw from a ridge a snakelike lineof riders crossing the valley, which detachment we met half an hourlater on the shore of a deep, swampy stream. The group consistedof Mongols, Buriats and Tibetans armed with Russian rifles. At thehead of the column were two men, one of whom in a huge blackAstrakhan and black felt cape with red Caucasian cowl on hisshoulders blocked my road and, in a coarse, harsh voice, demandedof me: "Who are you, where are you from and where are you going?"I gave also a laconic answer. They then said that they were adetachment of troops from Baron Ungern under the command of CaptainVandaloff. "I am Captain Bezrodnoff, military judge."Suddenly he laughed loudly. His insolent, stupid face did notplease me and, bowing to the officers, I ordered my riders to move.

"Oh no!" he remonstrated, as he blocked the road again. "I cannotallow you to go farther. I want to have a long and seriousconversation with you and you will have to come back to Zain forit."I protested and called attention to the letter of ColonelKazagrandi, only to hear Bezrodnoff answer with coldness:

"This letter is a matter of Colonel Kazagrandi's and to bring youback to Zain and talk with you is my affair. Now give me yourweapon."But I could not yield to this demand, even though death werethreatened.

"Listen," I said. "Tell me frankly. Is yours really a detachmentfighting against the Boisheviki or is it a Red contingent?""No, I assure you!" replied the Buriat officer Vandaloff,approaching me. "We have already been fighting the Bolsheviki forthree years.""Then I cannot hand you my weapon," I calmly replied. "I broughtit from Soviet Siberia, have had many fights with this faithfulweapon and now I am to be disarmed by White officers! It is anoffence that I cannot allow."With these words I threw my rifle and my Mauser into the stream.

The officers were confused. Bezrodnoff turned red with anger.

"I freed you and myself from humiliation," I explained.

Bezrodnoff in silence turned his horse, the whole detachment ofthree hundred men passed immediately before me and only the lasttwo riders stopped, ordered my Mongols to turn my cart round andthen fell in behind my little group. So I was arrested! One ofthe horsemen behind me was a Russian and he told me that Bezrodnoffcarried with him many death decrees. I was sure that mine wasamong them.

Stupid, very stupid! What was the use of fighting one's waythrough Red detachments, of being frozen and hungry, of almostperishing in Tibet only to die from a bullet of one of Bezrodnoff'sMongols? For such a pleasure it was not worth while to travel solong and so far! In every Siberian "Cheka" I could have had thisend so joyfully accorded me.

When we arrived at Zain Shabi, my luggage was examined andBezrodnoff began to question me in minutest detail about the eventsin Uliassutai. We talked about three hours, during which I triedto defend all the officers of Uliassutai, maintaining that one mustnot trust only the reports of Domojiroff. When our conversationwas finished, the Captain stood up and offered his apologies fordetaining me in my journey. Afterwards he presented me a fineMauser with silver mountings on the handle and said:

"Your pride greatly pleased me. I beg you to receive this weaponas a memento of me."The following morning I set out anew from Zain Shabi, having in mypocket the laissez-passer of Bezrodnoff for his outposts.
CHAPTER XXXI
　　Once more we traveled along the now known places, the mountain fromwhich I espied the detachment of Bezrodnoff, the stream into whichI had thrown my weapon, and soon all this lay behind us. At thefirst ourton we were disappointed because we did not find horsesthere. In the yurtas were only the host with two of his sons. Ishowed him my document and he exclaimed:

"Noyon has the right of 'urga.' Horses will be brought very soon."He jumped into his saddle, took two of my Mongols with him,providing them and himself with long thin poles, four or fivemetres in length, and fitted at the end with a loop of rope, andgalloped away. My cart moved behind them. We left the road,crossed the plain for an hour and came upon a big herd of horsesgrazing there. The Mongol began to catch a quota of them for uswith his pole and noose or urga, when out of the mountains nearbycame galloping the owners of the herds. When the old Mongol showedmy papers to them, they submissively acquiesced and substitutedfour of their men for those who had come with me thus far. In thismanner the Mongols travel, not along the ourton or station road butdirectly from one herd to another, where the fresh horses arecaught and saddled and the new owners substituted for those of thelast herd. All the Mongols so effected by the right of urga try tofinish their task as rapidly as possible and gallop like mad forthe nearest herd in your general direction of travel to turn overtheir task to their neighbor. Any traveler having this right ofurga can catch horses himself and, if there are no owners, canforce the former ones to carry on and leave the animals in the nextherd he requisitions. But this happens very rarely because theMongol never likes to seek out his animals in another's herd, as italways gives so many chances for controversy.

It was from this custom, according to one explanation, that thetown of Urga took its name among outsiders. By the Mongolsthemselves it is always referred to as Ta Kure, "The GreatMonastery." The reason the Buriats and Russians, who were thefirst to trade into this region, called it Urga was because it wasthe principal destination of all the trading expeditions whichcrossed the plains by this old method or right of travel. A secondexplanation is that the town lies in a "loop" whose sides areformed by three mountain ridges, along one of which the River Tolaruns like the pole or stick of the familiar urga of the plains.

Thanks to this unique ticket of urga I crossed quite untraveledsections of Mongolia for about two hundred miles. It gave me thewelcome opportunity to observe the fauna of this part of thecountry. I saw many huge herds of Mongolian antelopes running fromfive to six thousand, many groups of bighorns, wapiti and kabargaantelopes. Sometimes small herds of wild horses and wild assesflashed as a vision on the horizon.

In one place I observed a big colony of marmots. All over an areaof several square miles their mounds were scattered with the holesleading down to their runways below, the dwellings of the marmot.

In and out among these mounds the greyish-yellow or brown animalsran in all sizes up to half that of an average dog. They ranheavily and the skin on their fat bodies moved as though it weretoo big for them. The marmots are splendid prospectors, alwaysdigging deep ditches, throwing out on the surface all the stones.

In many places I saw mounds the marmots had made from copper oreand farther north some from minerals containing wolfram andvanadium. Whenever the marmot is at the entrance of his hole, hesits up straight on his hind legs and looks like a bit of wood, asmall stump or a stone. As soon as he spies a rider in thedistance, he watches him with great curiosity and begins whistlingsharply. This curiosity of the marmots is taken advantage of bythe hunters, who sneak up to their holes flourishing streamers ofcloth on the tips of long poles. The whole attention of the smallanimals is concentrated on this small flag and only the bullet thattakes his life explains to him the reason for this previouslyunknown object.

I saw a very exciting picture as I passed through a marmot colonynear the Orkhon River. There were thousands of holes here so thatmy Mongols had to use all their skill to keep the horses frombreaking their legs in them. I noticed an eagle circling highoverhead. All of a sudden he dropped like a stone to the top of amound, where he sat motionless as a rock. The marmot in a fewminutes ran out of his hole to a neighbor's doorway. The eaglecalmly jumped down from the top and with one wing closed theentrance to the hole. The rodent heard the noise, turned back andrushed to the attack, trying to break through to his hole where hehad evidently left his family. The struggle began. The eaglefought with one free wing, one leg and his beak but did notwithdraw the bar to the entrance. The marmot jumped at therapacious bird with great boldness but soon fell from a blow on thehead. Only then the eagle withdrew his wing, approached themarmot, finished him off and with difficulty lifted him in histalons to carry him away to the mountains for a tasty luncheon.

In the more barren places with only occasional spears of grass inthe plain another species of rodent lives, called imouran, aboutthe size of a squirrel. They have a coat the same color as theprairie and, running about it like snakes, they collect the seedsthat are blown across by the wind and carry them down into theirdiminutive homes. The imouran has a truly faithful friend, theyellow lark of the prairie with a brown back and head. When hesees the imouran running across the plain, he settles on his back,flaps his wings in balance and rides well this swiftly gallopingmount, who gaily flourishes his long shaggy tail. The lark duringhis ride skilfully and quickly catches the parasites living on thebody of his friend, giving evidence of his enjoyment of his workwith a short agreeable song. The Mongols call the imouran "thesteed of the gay lark." The lark warns the imouran of the approachof eagles and hawks with three sharp whistles the moment he seesthe aerial brigand and takes refuge himself behind a stone or in asmall ditch. After this signal no imouran will stick his head outof his hole until the danger is past. Thus the gay lark and hissteed live in kindly neighborliness.

In other parts of Mongolia where there was very rich grass I sawanother type of rodent, which I had previously come across inUrianhai. It is a gigantic black prairie rat with a short tail andlives in colonies of from one to two hundred. He is interestingand unique as the most skilful farmer among the animals in hispreparation of his winter supply of fodder. During the weeks whenthe grass is most succulent he actually mows it down with swiftjerky swings of his head, cutting about twenty or thirty stalkswith his sharp long front teeth. Then he allows his grass to cureand later puts up his prepared hay in a most scientific manner.

First he makes a mound about a foot high. Through this he pushesdown into the ground four slanting stakes, converging toward themiddle of the pile, and binds them close over the surface of thehay with the longest strands of grass, leaving the ends protrudingenough for him to add another foot to the height of the pile, whenhe again binds the surface with more long strands--all this to keephis winter supply of food from blowing away over the prairie. Thisstock he always locates right at the door of his den to avoid longwinter hauls. The horses and camels are very fond of this smallfarmer's hay, because it is always made from the most nutritiousgrass. The haycocks are so strongly made that one can hardly kickthem to pieces.

Almost everywhere in Mongolia I met either single pairs or wholeflocks of the greyish-yellow prairie partridges, salga or"partridge swallow," so called because they have long sharp tailsresembling those of swallows and because their flight also is aclose copy of that of the swallow. These birds are very tame orfearless, allowing men to come within ten or fifteen paces of them;but, when they do break, they go high and fly long distanceswithout lighting, whistling all the time quite like swallows.

Their general markings are light grey and yellow, though the maleshave pretty chocolate spots on the backs and wings, while theirlegs and feet are heavily feathered.

My opportunity to make these observations came from travelingthrough unfrequented regions by the urga, which, however, had itscounterbalancing disadvantages. The Mongols carried me directlyand swiftly toward my destination, receiving with greatsatisfaction the presents of Chinese dollars which I gave them.

But after having made about five thousand miles on my Cossacksaddle that now lay behind me on the cart all covered with dustlike common merchandise, I rebelled against being wracked and tornby the rough riding of the cart as it was swung heedlessly overstones, hillocks and ditches by the wild horses with their equallywild riders, bounding and cracking and holding together onlythrough its tenacity of purpose in demonstrating the cosiness andattractiveness of a good Mongol equipage! All my bones began toache. Finally I groaned at every lunge and at last I suffered avery sharp attack of ischias or sciatica in my wounded leg. Atnight I could neither sleep, lie down nor sit with comfort andspent the whole night pacing up and down the plain, listening tothe loud snoring of the inhabitants of the yurta. At times I hadto fight the two huge black dogs which attacked me. The followingday I could endure the wracking only until noon and was then forcedto give up and lie down. The pain was unbearable. I could notmove my leg nor my back and finally fell into a high fever. Wewere forced to stop and rest. I swallowed all my stock of aspirinand quinine but without relief. Before me was a sleepless nightabout which I could not think without weakening fear. We hadstopped in the yurta for guests by the side of a small monastery.

My Mongols invited the Lama doctor to visit me, who gave me twovery bitter powders and assured me I should be able to continue inthe morning. I soon felt a stimulated palpitation of the heart,after which the pain became even sharper. Again I spent the nightwithout any sleep but when the sun arose the pain ceased instantlyand, after an hour, I ordered them to saddle me a horse, as I wasafraid to continue further in the cart.

While the Mongols were catching the horses, there came to my tentColonel N. N. Philipoff, who told me that he denied all theaccusations that he and his brother and Poletika were Bolshevikiand that Bezrodnoff allowed him to go to Van Kure to meet BaronUngern, who was expected there. Only Philipoff did not know thathis Mongol guide was armed with a bomb and that another Mongol hadbeen sent on ahead with a letter to Baron Ungern. He did not knowthat Poletika and his brothers were shot at the same time in ZainShabi. Philipoff was in a hurry and wanted to reach Van Kure thatday. I left an hour after him.
CHAPTER XXXII
　　From this point we began traveling along the ourton road. In thisregion the Mongols had very poor and exhausted horses, because theywere forced continuously to supply mounts to the numerous envoys ofDaichin Van and of Colonel Kazagrandi. We were compelled to spendthe night at the last ourton before Van Kure, where a stout oldMongol and his son kept the station. After our supper he took theshoulder-blade of the sheep, which had been carefully scraped cleanof all the flesh, and, looking at me, placed this bone in the coalswith some incantations and said:

"I want to tell your fortune. All my predictions come true."When the bone had been blackened he drew it out, blew off the ashesand began to scrutinize the surface very closely and to lookthrough it into the fire. He continued his examination for a longtime and then, with fear in his face, placed the bone back in thecoals.

"What did you see?" I asked, laughing.

"Be silent!" he whispered. "I made out horrible signs."He again took out the bone and began examining it all over, all thetime whispering prayers and making strange movements. In a verysolemn quiet voice he began his predictions.

"Death in the form of a tall white man with red hair will standbehind you and will watch you long and close. You will feel it andwait but Death will withdraw. . . . Another white man will becomeyour friend. . . . Before the fourth day you will lose youracquaintances. They will die by a long knife. I already see thembeing eaten by the dogs. Beware of the man with a head like asaddle. He will strive for your death."For a long time after the fortune had been told we sat smoking anddrinking tea but still the old fellow looked at me only with fear.

Through my brain flashed the thought that thus must his companionsin prison look at one who is condemned to death.

The next morning we left the fortune teller before the sun was up,and, when we had made about fifteen miles, hove in sight of VanKure. I found Colonel Kazagrandi at his headquarters. He was aman of good family, an experienced engineer and a splendid officer,who had distinguished himself in the war at the defence of theisland of Moon in the Baltic and afterwards in the fight with theBolsheviki on the Volga. Colonel Kazagrandi offered me a bath in areal tub, which had its habitat in the house of the president ofthe local Chamber of Commerce. As I was in this house, a tallyoung captain entered. He had long curly red hair and an unusuallywhite face, though heavy and stolid, with large, steel-cold eyesand with beautiful, tender, almost girlish lips. But in his eyesthere was such cold cruelty that it was quite unpleasant to look athis otherwise fine face. When he left the room, our host told methat he was Captain Veseloffsky, the adjutant of General Rezukhin,who was fighting against the Bolsheviki in the north of Mongolia.

They had just that day arrived for a conference with Baron Ungern.

After luncheon Colonel Kazagrandi invited me to his yurta and begandiscussing events in western Mongolia, where the situation hadbecome very tense.

"Do you know Dr. Gay?" Kazagrandi asked me. "You know he helped meto form my detachment but Urga accuses him of being the agent ofthe Soviets."I made all the defences I could for Gay. He had helped me and hadbeen exonerated by Kolchak.

"Yes, yes, and I justified Gay in such a manner," said the Colonel,"but Rezukhin, who has just arrived today, has brought letters ofGay's to the Bolsheviki which were seized in transit. By order ofBaron Ungern, Gay and his family have today been sent to theheadquarters of Rezukhin and I fear that they will not reach thisdestination.""Why?" I asked.

"They will be executed on the road!" answered Colonel Kazagrandi.

"What are we to do?" I responded. "Gay cannot be a Bolshevik,"because he is too well educated and too clever for it.""I don't know; I don't know!" murmured the Colonel with adespondent gesture. "Try to speak with Rezukhin."I decided to proceed at once to Rezukhin but just then ColonelPhilipoff entered and began talking about the errors being made inthe training of the soldiers. When I had donned my coat, anotherman came in. He was a small sized officer with an old greenCossack cap with a visor, a torn grey Mongol overcoat and with hisright hand in a black sling tied around his neck. It was GeneralRezukhin, to whom I was at once introduced. During theconversation the General very politely and very skilfully inquiredabout the lives of Philipoff and myself during the last threeyears, joking and laughing with discretion and modesty. When hesoon took his leave, I availed myself of the chance and went outwith him.

He listened very attentively and politely to me and afterwards, inhis quiet voice, said:

"Dr. Gay is the agent of the Soviets, disguised as a White in orderthe better to see, hear and know everything. We are surrounded byour enemies. The Russian people are demoralized and will undertakeany treachery for money. Such is Gay. Anyway, what is the use ofdiscussing him further? He and his family are no longer alive.

Today my men cut them to pieces five kilometres from here."In consternation and fear I looked at the face of this small,dapper man with such soft voice and courteous manners. In his eyesI read such hate and tenacity that I understood at once thetrembling respect of all the officers whom I had seen in hispresence. Afterwards in Urga I learned more of this GeneralRezukhin distinguished by his absolute bravery and boundlesscruelty. He was the watchdog of Baron Ungern, ready to throwhimself into the fire and to spring at the throat of anyone hismaster might indicate.

Only four days then had elapsed before "my acquaintances" died "bya long knife," so that one part of the prediction had been thusfulfilled. And now I have to await Death's threat to me. Thedelay was not long. Only two days later the Chief of the AsiaticDivision of Cavalry arrived--Baron Ungern von Sternberg.
CHAPTER XXXIII
　　"The terrible general, the Baron," arrived quite unexpectedly,unnoticed by the outposts of Colonel Kazagrandi. After a talk withKazagrandi the Baron invited Colonel N. N. Philipoff and me intohis presence. Colonel Kazagrandi brought the word to me. I wantedto go at once but was detained about half an hour by the Colonel,who then sped me with the words:

"Now God help you! Go!"It was a strange parting message, not reassuring and quiteenigmatical. I took my Mauser and also hid in the cuff of my coatmy cyanide of potassium. The Baron was quartered in the yurta ofthe military doctor. When I entered the court, Captain Veseloffskycame up to me. He had a Cossack sword and a revolver without itsholster beneath his girdle. He went into the yurta to report myarrival.

"Come in," he said, as he emerged from the tent.

At the entrance my eyes were struck with the sight of a pool ofblood that had not yet had time to drain down into the ground--anominous greeting that seemed to carry the very voice of one justgone before me. I knocked.

"Come in!" was the answer in a high tenor. As I passed thethreshold, a figure in a red silk Mongolian coat rushed at me withthe spring of a tiger, grabbed and shook my hand as though inflight across my path and then fell prone on the bed at the side ofthe tent.

"Tell me who you are! Hereabouts are many spies and agitators," hecried out in an hysterical voice, as he fixed his eyes upon me. Inone moment I perceived his appearance and psychology. A small headon wide shoulders; blonde hair in disorder; a reddish bristlingmoustache; a skinny, exhausted face, like those on the oldByzantine ikons. Then everything else faded from view save a big,protruding forehead overhanging steely sharp eyes. These eyes werefixed upon me like those of an animal from a cave. My observationslasted for but a flash but I understood that before me was a verydangerous man ready for an instant spring into irrevocable action.

Though the danger was evident, I felt the deepest offence.

"Sit down," he snapped out in a hissing voice, as he pointed to achair and impatiently pulled at his moustache. I felt my angerrising through my whole body and I said to him without taking thechair:

"You have allowed yourself to offend me, Baron. My name is wellenough known so that you cannot thus indulge yourself in suchepithets. You can do with me as you wish, because force is on yourside, but you cannot compel me to speak with one who gives meoffence."At these words of mine he swung his feet down off the bed and withevident astonishment began to survey me, holding his breath andpulling still at his moustache. Retaining my exterior calmness, Ibegan to glance indifferently around the yurta, and only then Inoticed General Rezukhin. I bowed to him and received his silentacknowledgment. After that I swung my glance back to the Baron,who sat with bowed head and closed eyes, from time to time rubbinghis brow and mumbling to himself.

Suddenly he stood up and sharply said, looking past and over me:

"Go out! There is no need of more. . . ."I swung round and saw Captain Veseloffsky with his white, coldface. I had not heard him enter. He did a formal "about face" andpassed out of the door.

"'Death from the white man' has stood behind me," I thought; "buthas it quite left me?"The Baron stood thinking for some time and then began to speak injumbled, unfinished phrases.

"I ask your pardon. . . . You must understand there are so manytraitors! Honest men have disappeared. I cannot trust anybody.

All names are false and assumed; documents are counterfeited. Eyesand words deceive. . . . All is demoralized, insulted byBolshevism. I just ordered Colonel Philipoff cut down, he whocalled himself the representative of the Russian WhiteOrganization. In the lining of his garments were found two secretBolshevik codes. . . . When my officer flourished his sword overhim, he exclaimed: 'Why do you kill me, Tavarische?' I cannottrust anybody. . . ."He was silent and I also held my peace.

"I beg your pardon!" he began anew. "I offended you; but I am notsimply a man, I am a leader of great forces and have in my head somuch care, sorrow and woe!"In his voice I felt there was mingled despair and sincerity. Hefrankly put out his hand to me. Again silence. At last Ianswered:

"What do you order me to do now, for I have neither counterfeit norreal documents? But many of your officers know me and in Urga Ican find many who will testify that I could be neither agitatornor. . .""No need, no need!" interrupted the Baron. "All is clear, all isunderstood! I was in your soul and I know all. It is the truthwhich Hutuktu Narabanchi has written about you. What can I do foryou?"I explained how my friend and I had escaped from Soviet Russia inthe effort to reach our native land and how a group of Polishsoldiers had joined us in the hope of getting back to Poland; and Iasked that help be given us to reach the nearest port.

"With pleasure, with pleasure. . . . I will help you all," heanswered excitedly. "I shall drive you to Urga in my motor car.

Tomorrow we shall start and there in Urga we shall talk aboutfurther arrangements."Taking my leave, I went out of the yurta. On arriving at myquarters, I found Colonel Kazagrandi in great anxiety walking upand down my room.

"Thanks be to God!" he exclaimed and crossed himself.

His joy was very touching but at the same time I thought that theColonel could have taken much more active measures for thesalvation of his guest, if he had been so minded. The agitation ofthis day had tired me and made me feel years older. When I lookedin the mirror I was certain there were more white hairs on my head.

At night I could not sleep for the flashing thoughts of the young,fine face of Colonel Philipoff, the pool of blood, the cold eyes ofCaptain Veseloffsky, the sound of Baron Ungern's voice with itstones of despair and woe, until finally I sank into a heavy stupor.

I was awakened by Baron Ungern who came to ask pardon that he couldnot take me in his motor car, because he was obliged to takeDaichin Van with him. But he informed me that he had leftinstructions to give me his own white camel and two Cossacks asservants. I had no time to thank him before he rushed out of myroom.

Sleep then entirely deserted me, so I dressed and began smokingpipe after pipe of tobacco, as I thought: "How much easier tofight the Bolsheviki on the swamps of Seybi and to cross the snowypeaks of Ulan Taiga, where the bad demons kill all the travelersthey can! There everything was simple and comprehensible, but hereit is all a mad nightmare, a dark and foreboding storm!" I feltsome tragedy, some horror in every movement of Baron Ungern, behindwhom paced this silent, white-faced Veseloffsky and Death.
CHAPTER XXXIV
　　At dawn of the following morning they led up the splendid whitecamel for me and we moved away. My company consisted of the twoCossacks, two Mongol soldiers and one Lama with two pack camelscarrying the tent and food. I still apprehended that the Baron hadit in mind not to dispose of me before my friends there in Van Kurebut to prepare this journey for me under the guise of which itwould be so easy to do away with me by the road. A bullet in theback and all would be finished. Consequently I was momentarilyready to draw my revolver and defend myself. I took care all thetime to have the Cossacks either ahead of me or at the side. Aboutnoon we heard the distant honk of a motor car and soon saw BaronUngern whizzing by us at full speed. With him were two adjutantsand Prince Daichin Van. The Baron greeted me very kindly andshouted:

"Shall see you again in Urga!""Ah!" I thought, "evidently I shall reach Urga. So I can be atease during my trip, and in Urga I have many friends beside thepresence there of the bold Polish soldiers whom I had worked within Uliassutai and who had outdistanced me in this journey."After the meeting with the Baron my Cossacks became very attentiveto me and sought to distract me with stories. They told me abouttheir very severe struggles with the Bolsheviki in Transbaikaliaand Mongolia, about the battle with the Chinese near Urga, aboutfinding communistic passports on several Chinese soldiers fromMoscow, about the bravery of Baron Ungern and how he would sit atthe campfire smoking and drinking tea right on the battle linewithout ever being touched by a bullet. At one fight seventy-fourbullets entered his overcoat, saddle and the boxes by his side andagain left him untouched. This is one of the reasons for his greatinfluence over the Mongols. They related how before the battle hehad made a reconnaissance in Urga with only one Cossack and on hisway back had killed a Chinese officer and two soldiers with hisbamboo stick or tashur; how he had no outfit save one change oflinen and one extra pair of boots; how he was always calm andjovial in battle and severe and morose in the rare days of peace;and how he was everywhere his soldiers were fighting.

I told them, in turn, of my escape from Siberia and with chattingthus the day slipped by very quickly. Our camels trotted all thetime, so that instead of the ordinary eighteen to twenty miles perday we made nearly fifty. My mount was the fastest of them all.

He was a huge white animal with a splendid thick mane and had beenpresented to Baron Ungern by some Prince of Inner Mongolia with twoblack sables tied on the bridle. He was a calm, strong, bold giantof the desert, on whose back I felt myself as though perched on thetower of a building. Beyond the Orkhon River we came across thefirst dead body of a Chinese soldier, which lay face up and armsoutstretched right in the middle of the road. When we had crossedthe Burgut Mountains, we entered the Tola River valley, farther upwhich Urga is located. The road was strewn with the overcoats,shirts, boots, caps and kettles which the Chinese had thrown awayin their flight; and marked by many of their dead. Further on theroad crossed a morass, where on either side lay great mounds of thedead bodies of men, horses and camels with broken carts andmilitary debris of every sort. Here the Tibetans of Baron Ungernhad cut up the escaping Chinese baggage transport; and it was astrange and gloomy contrast to see the piles of dead besides theeffervescing awakening life of spring. In every pool wild ducks ofdifferent kinds floated about; in the high grass the cranesperformed their weird dance of courtship; on the lakes great flocksof swans and geese were swimming; through the swampy places likespots of light moved the brilliantly colored pairs of the Mongoliansacred bird, the turpan or "Lama goose"; on the higher dry placesflocks of wild turkey gamboled and fought as they fed; flocks ofthe salga partridge whistled by; while on the mountain side not faraway the wolves lay basking and turning in the lazy warmth of thesun, whining and occasionally barking like playful dogs.

Nature knows only life. Death is for her but an episode whosetraces she rubs out with sand and snow or ornaments with luxuriantgreenery and brightly colored bushes and flowers. What matters itto Nature if a mother at Chefoo or on the banks of the Yangtseoffers her bowl of rice with burning incense at some shrine andprays for the return of her son that has fallen unknown for alltime on the plains along the Tola, where his bones will dry beneaththe rays of Nature's dissipating fire and be scattered by her windsover the sands of the prairie? It is splendid, this indifferenceof Nature to death, and her greediness for life!

On the fourth day we made the shores of the Tola well afternightfall. We could not find the regular ford and I forced mycamel to enter the stream in the attempt to make a crossing withoutguidance. Very fortunately I found a shallow, though somewhatmiry, place and we got over all right. This is something to bethankful for in fording a river with a camel; because, when yourmount finds the water too deep, coming up around his neck, he doesnot strike out and swim like a horse will do but just rolls over onhis side and floats, which is vastly inconvenient for his rider.

Down by the river we pegged our tent.

Fifteen miles further on we crossed a battlefield, where the thirdgreat battle for the independence of Mongolia had been fought.

Here the troops of Baron Ungern clashed with six thousand Chinesemoving down from Kiakhta to the aid of Urga. The Chinese werecompletely defeated and four thousand prisoners taken. However,these surrendered Chinese tried to escape during the night. BaronUngern sent the Transbaikal Cossacks and Tibetans in pursuit ofthem and it was their work which we saw on this field of death.

There were still about fifteen hundred unburied and as many moreinterred, according to the statements of our Cossacks, who hadparticipated in this battle. The killed showed terrible swordwounds; everywhere equipment and other debris were scattered about.

The Mongols with their herds moved away from the neighborhood andtheir place was taken by the wolves which hid behind every stoneand in every ditch as we passed. Packs of dogs that had becomewild fought with the wolves over the prey.

At last we left this place of carnage to the cursed god of war.

Soon we approached a shallow, rapid stream, where the Mongolsslipped from their camels, took off their caps and began drinking.

It was a sacred stream which passed beside the abode of the LivingBuddha. From this winding valley we suddenly turned into anotherwhere a great mountain ridge covered with dark, dense forest loomedup before us.

"Holy Bogdo-Ol!" exclaimed the Lama. "The abode of the Gods whichguard our Living Buddha!"Bogdo-Ol is the huge knot which ties together here three mountainchains: Gegyl from the southwest, Gangyn from the south, and Huntufrom the north. This mountain covered with virgin forest is theproperty of the Living Buddha. The forests are full of nearly allthe varieties of animals found in Mongolia, but hunting is notallowed. Any Mongol violating this law is condemned to death,while foreigners are deported. Crossing the Bogdo-Ol is forbiddenunder penalty of death. This command was transgressed by only oneman, Baron Ungern, who crossed the mountain with fifty Cossacks,penetrated to the palace of the Living Buddha, where the Pontiff ofUrga was being held under arrest by the Chinese, and stole him.
CHAPTER XXXV
　　At last before our eyes the abode of the Living Buddha! At thefoot of Bogdo-Ol behind white walls rose a white Tibetan buildingcovered with greenish-blue tiles that glittered under the sunshine.

It was richly set among groves of trees dotted here and there withthe fantastic roofs of shrines and small palaces, while furtherfrom the mountain it was connected by a long wooden bridge acrossthe Tola with the city of monks, sacred and revered throughout allthe East as Ta Kure or Urga. Here besides the Living Buddha livewhole throngs of secondary miracle workers, prophets, sorcerers andwonderful doctors. All these people have divine origin and arehonored as living gods. At the left on the high plateau stands anold monastery with a huge, dark red tower, which is known as the"Temple Lamas City," containing a gigantic bronze gilded statue ofBuddha sitting on the golden flower of the lotus; tens of smallertemples, shrines, obo, open altars, towers for astrology and thegrey city of the Lamas consisting of single-storied houses andyurtas, where about 60,000 monks of all ages and ranks dwell;schools, sacred archives and libraries, the houses of Bandi and theinns for the honored guests from China, Tibet, and the lands of theBuriat and Kalmuck.

Down below the monastery is the foreign settlement where theRussian, foreign and richest Chinese merchants live and where themulti-colored and crowded oriental bazaar carries forward itsbustling life. A kilometre away the greyish enclosure of Maimachensurrounds the remaining Chinese trading establishments, whilefarther on one sees a long row of Russian private houses, ahospital, church, prison and, last of all, the awkward four-storiedred brick building that was formerly the Russian Consulate.

We were already within a short distance of the monastery, when Inoticed several Mongol soldiers in the mouth of a ravine nearby,dragging back and concealing in the ravine three dead bodies.

"What are they doing?" I asked.

The Cossacks only smiled without answering. Suddenly theystraightened up with a sharp salute. Out of the ravine came asmall, stocky Mongolian pony with a short man in the saddle. As hepassed us, I noticed the epaulets of a colonel and the green capwith a visor. He examined me with cold, colorless eyes from underdense brows. As he went on ahead, he took off his cap and wipedthe perspiration from his bald head. My eyes were struck by thestrange undulating line of his skull. It was the man "with thehead like a saddle," against whom I had been warned by the oldfortune teller at the last ourton outside Van Kure!

"Who is this officer?" I inquired.

Although he was already quite a distance in front of us, theCossacks whispered: "Colonel Sepailoff, Commandant of Urga City."Colonel Sepailoff, the darkest person on the canvas of Mongolianevents! Formerly a mechanician, afterwards a gendarme, he hadgained quick promotion under the Czar's regime. He was alwaysnervously jerking and wriggling his body and talking ceaselessly,making most unattractive sounds in his throat and sputtering withsaliva all over his lips, his whole face often contracted withspasms. He was mad and Baron Ungern twice appointed a commissionof surgeons to examine him and ordered him to rest in the hope hecould rid the man of his evil genius. Undoubtedly Sepailoff was asadist. I heard afterwards that he himself executed the condemnedpeople, joking and singing as he did his work. Dark, terrifyingtales were current about him in Urga. He was a bloodhound,fastening his victims with the jaws of death. All the glory of thecruelty of Baron Ungern belonged to Sepailoff. Afterwards BaronUngern once told me in Urga that this Sepailoff annoyed him andthat Sepailoff could kill him just as well as others. Baron Ungernfeared Sepailoff, not as a man, but dominated by his ownsuperstition, because Sepailoff had found in Transbaikalia a witchdoctor who predicted the death of the Baron if he dismissedSepailoff. Sepailoff knew no pardon for Bolshevik nor for any oneconnected with the Bolsheviki in any way. The reason for hisvengeful spirit was that the Bolsheviki had tortured him in prisonand, after his escape, had killed all his family. He was nowtaking his revenge.

I put up with a Russian firm and was at once visited by myassociates from Uliassutai, who greeted me with great joy becausethey had been much exercised about the events in Van Kure and ZainShabi. When I had bathed and spruced up, I went out with them onthe street. We entered the bazaar. The whole market was crowded.

To the lively colored groups of men buying, selling and shoutingtheir wares, the bright streamers of Chinese cloth, the strings ofpearls, the earrings and bracelets gave an air of endlessfestivity; while on another side buyers were feeling of live sheepto see whether they were fat or not, the butcher was cutting greatpieces of mutton from the hanging carcasses and everywhere thesesons of the plain were joking and jesting. The Mongolian women intheir huge coiffures and heavy silver caps like saucers on theirheads were admiring the variegated silk ribbons and long chains ofcoral beads; an imposing big Mongol attentively examined a smallherd of splendid horses and bargained with the Mongol zahachine orowner of the horses; a skinny, quick, black Tibetan, who had cometo Urga to pray to the Living Buddha or, maybe, with a secretmessage from the other "God" in Lhasa, squatted and bargained foran image of the Lotus Buddha carved in agate; in another corner abig crowd of Mongols and Buriats had collected and surrounded aChinese merchant selling finely painted snuff-bottles of glass,crystal, porcelain, amethyst, jade, agate and nephrite, for one ofwhich made of a greenish milky nephrite with regular brown veinsrunning through it and carved with a dragon winding itself around abevy of young damsels the merchant was demanding of his Mongolinquirers ten young oxen; and everywhere Buriats in their long redcoats and small red caps embroidered with gold helped the Tartarsin black overcoats and black velvet caps on the back of their headsto weave the pattern of this Oriental human tapestry. Lamas formedthe common background for it all, as they wandered about in theiryellow and red robes, with capes picturesquely thrown over theirshoulders and caps of many forms, some like yellow mushrooms,others like the red Phrygian bonnets or old Greek helmets in red.

They mingled with the crowd, chatting serenely and counting theirrosaries, telling fortunes for those who would hear but chieflysearching out the rich Mongols whom they could cure or exploit byfortune telling, predictions or other mysteries of a city of 60,000Lamas. Simultaneously religious and political espionage was beingcarried out. Just at this time many Mongols were arriving fromInner Mongolia and they were continuously surrounded by aninvisible but numerous network of watching Lamas. Over thebuildings around floated the Russian, Chinese and Mongoliannational flags with a single one of the Stars and Stripes above asmall shop in the market; while over the nearby tents and yurtasstreamed the ribbons, the squares, the circles and triangles of theprinces and private persons afflicted or dying from smallpox andleprosy. All were mingled and mixed in one bright mass stronglylighted by the sun. Occasionally one saw the soldiers of BaronUngern rushing about in long blue coats; Mongols and Tibetans inred coats with yellow epaulets bearing the swastika of Jenghiz Khanand the initials of the Living Buddha; and Chinese soldiers fromtheir detachment in the Mongolian army. After the defeat of theChinese army two thousand of these braves petitioned the LivingBuddha to enlist them in his legions, swearing fealty and faith tohim. They were accepted and formed into two regiments bearing theold Chinese silver dragons on their caps and shoulders.

As we crossed this market, from around a corner came a big motorcar with the roar of a siren. There was Baron Ungern in the yellowsilk Mongolian coat with a blue girdle. He was going very fast butrecognized me at once, stopping and getting out to invite me to gowith him to his yurta. The Baron lived in a small, simply arrangedyurta, set up in the courtyard of a Chinese hong. He had hisheadquarters in two other yurtas nearby, while his servantsoccupied one of the Chinese fang-tzu. When I reminded him of hispromise to help me to reach the open ports, the General looked atme with his bright eyes and spoke in French:

"My work here is coming to an end. In nine days I shall begin thewar with the Bolsheviki and shall go into the Transbaikal. I begthat you will spend this time here. For many years I have livedwithout civilized society. I am alone with my thoughts and I wouldlike to have you know them, speaking with me not as the 'bloody madBaron,' as my enemies call me, nor as the 'severe grandfather,'

which my officers and soldiers call me, but as an ordinary man whohas sought much and has suffered even more."The Baron reflected for some minutes and then continued:

"I have thought about the further trip of your group and I shallarrange everything for you, but I ask you to remain here these ninedays."What was I to do? I agreed. The Baron shook my hand warmly andordered tea.
CHAPTER XXXVI
　　"Tell me about yourself and your trip," he urged. In response Irelated all that I thought would interest him and he appeared quiteexcited over my tale.

"Now I shall tell you about myself, who and what I am! My name issurrounded with such hate and fear that no one can judge what isthe truth and what is false, what is history and what myth. Sometime you will write about it, remembering your trip throughMongolia and your sojourn at the yurta of the 'bloody General.'"He shut his eyes, smoking as he spoke, and tumbling out hissentences without finishing them as though some one would preventhim from phrasing them.

"The family of Ungern von Sternberg is an old family, a mixture ofGermans with Hungarians--Huns from the time of Attila. My warlikeancestors took part in all the European struggles. Theyparticipated in the Crusades and one Ungern was killed under thewalls of Jerusalem, fighting under Richard Coeur de Lion. Even thetragic Crusade of the Children was marked by the death of RalphUngern, eleven years old. When the boldest warriors of the countrywere despatched to the eastern border of the German Empire againstthe Slavs in the twelfth century, my ancestor Arthur was amongthem, Baron Halsa Ungern Sternberg. Here these border knightsformed the order of Monk Knights or Teutons, which with fire andsword spread Christianity among the pagan Lithuanians, Esthonians,Latvians and Slavs. Since then the Teuton Order of Knights hasalways had among its members representatives of our family. Whenthe Teuton Order perished in the Grunwald under the swords of thePolish and Lithuanian troops, two Barons Ungern von Sternberg werekilled there. Our family was warlike and given to mysticism andasceticism.

"During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries several Barons vonUngern had their castles in the lands of Latvia and Esthonia. Manylegends and tales lived after them. Heinrich Ungern von Sternberg,called 'Ax,' was a wandering knight. The tournaments of France,England, Spain and Italy knew his name and lance, which filled thehearts of his opponents with fear. He fell at Cadiz 'neath thesword of a knight who cleft both his helmet and his skull. BaronRalph Ungern was a brigand knight between Riga and Reval. BaronPeter Ungern had his castle on the island of Dago in the BalticSea, where as a privateer he ruled the merchantmen of his day.

"In the beginning of the eighteenth century there was also a well-known Baron Wilhelm Ungern, who was referred to as the 'brother ofSatan' because he was an alchemist. My grandfather was a privateerin the Indian Ocean, taking his tribute from the English traderswhose warships could not catch him for several years. At last hewas captured and handed to the Russian Consul, who transported himto Russia where he was sentenced to deportation to the Transbaikal.

I am also a naval officer but the Russo-Japanese War forced me toleave my regular profession to join and fight with the ZabaikalCossacks. I have spent all my life in war or in the study andlearning of Buddhism. My grandfather brought Buddhism to us fromIndia and my father and I accepted and professed it. InTransbaikalia I tried to form the order of Military Buddhists foran uncompromising fight against the depravity of revolution."He fell into silence and began drinking cup after cup of tea asstrong and black as coffee.

"Depravity of revolution! . . . Has anyone ever thought of itbesides the French philosopher, Bergson, and the most learned TashiLama in Tibet?"The grandson of the privateer, quoting scientific theories, works,the names of scientists and writers, the Holy Bible and Buddhistbooks, mixing together French, German, Russian and English,continued:

"In the Buddhistic and ancient Christian books we read sternpredictions about the time when the war between the good and evilspirits must begin. Then there must come the unknown 'Curse' whichwill conquer the world, blot out culture, kill morality and destroyall the people. Its weapon is revolution. During every revolutionthe previously experienced intellect-creator will be replaced bythe new rough force of the destroyer. He will place and hold inthe first rank the lower instincts and desires. Man will befarther removed from the divine and the spiritual. The Great Warproved that humanity must progress upward toward higher ideals; butthen appeared that Curse which was seen and felt by Christ, theApostle John, Buddha, the first Christian martyrs, Dante, Leonardoda Vinci, Goethe and Dostoyevsky. It appeared, turned back thewheel of progress and blocked our road to the Divinity. Revolutionis an infectious disease and Europe making the treaty with Moscowdeceived itself and the other parts of the world. The Great Spiritput at the threshold of our lives Karma, who knows neither angernor pardon. He will reckon the account, whose total will befamine, destruction, the death of culture, of glory, of honor andof spirit, the death of states and the death of peoples. I seealready this horror, this dark, mad destruction of humanity."The door of the yurta suddenly swung open and an adjutant snappedinto a position of attention and salute.

"Why do you enter a room by force?" the General exclaimed in anger.

"Your Excellency, our outpost on the border has caught a Bolshevikreconnaissance party and brought them here."The Baron arose. His eyes sparkled and his face contracted withspasms.

"Bring them in front of my yurta!" he ordered.

All was forgotten--the inspired speech, the penetrating voice--allwere sunk in the austere order of the severe commander. The Baronput on his cap, caught up the bamboo tashur which he always carriedwith him and rushed from the yurta. I followed him out. There infront of the yurta stood six Red soldiers surrounded by theCossacks.

The Baron stopped and glared sharply at them for several minutes.

In his face one could see the strong play of his thoughts.

Afterwards he turned away from them, sat down on the doorstep ofthe Chinese house and for a long time was buried in thought. Thenhe rose, walked over to them and, with an evident show ofdecisiveness in his movements, touched all the prisoners on theshoulder with his tashur and said: "You to the left and you to theright!" as he divided the squad into two sections, four on theright and two on the left.

"Search those two! They must be commissars!" commanded the Baronand, turning to the other four, asked: "Are you peasants mobilizedby the Bolsheviki?""Just so, Your Excellency!" cried the frightened soldiers.

"Go to the Commandant and tell him that I have ordered you to beenlisted in my troops!"On the two to the left they found passports of Commissars of theCommunist Political Department. The General knitted his brows andslowly pronounced the following:

"Beat them to death with sticks!"He turned and entered the yurta. After this our conversation didnot flow readily and so I left the Baron to himself.

After dinner in the Russian firm where I was staying some ofUngern's officers came in. We were chatting animatedly whensuddenly we heard the horn of an automobile, which instantly threwthe officers into silence.

"The General is passing somewhere near," one of them remarked in astrangely altered voice.

Our interrupted conversation was soon resumed but not for long.

The clerk of the firm came running into the room and exclaimed:

"The Baron!"He entered the door but stopped on the threshold. The lamps hadnot yet been lighted and it was getting dark inside, but the Baroninstantly recognized us all, approached and kissed the hand of thehostess, greeted everyone very cordially and, accepting the cup oftea offered him, drew up to the table to drink. Soon he spoke:

"I want to steal your guest," he said to the hostess and then,turning to me, asked: "Do you want to go for a motor ride? Ishall show you the city and the environs."Donning my coat, I followed my established custom and slipped myrevolver into it, at which the Baron laughed.

"Leave that trash behind! Here you are in safety. Besides youmust remember the prediction of Narabanchi Hutuktu that Fortunewill ever be with you.""All right," I answered, also with a laugh. "I remember very wellthis prediction. Only I do not know what the Hutuktu thinks'Fortune' means for me. Maybe it is death like the rest after myhard, long trip, and I must confess that I prefer to travel fartherand am not ready to die."We went out to the gate where the big Fiat stood with its intrudinggreat lights. The chauffeur officer sat at the wheel like a statueand remained at salute all the time we were entering and seatingourselves.

"To the wireless station!" commanded the Baron.

We veritably leapt forward. The city swarmed, as earlier, with theOriental throng, but its appearance now was even more strange andmiraculous. In among the noisy crowd Mongol, Buriat and Tibetanriders threaded swiftly; caravans of camels solemnly raised theirheads as we passed; the wooden wheels of the Mongol carts screamedin pain; and all was illumined by splendid great arc lights fromthe electric station which Baron Ungern had ordered erectedimmediately after the capture of Urga, together with a telephonesystem and wireless station. He also ordered his men to clean anddisinfect the city which had probably not felt the broom since thedays of Jenghiz Khan. He arranged an auto-bus traffic betweendifferent parts of the city; built bridges over the Tola andOrkhon; published a newspaper; arranged a veterinary laboratory andhospitals; re-opened the schools; protected commerce, mercilesslyhanging Russian and Mongolian soldiers for pillaging Chinese firms.

In one of these cases his Commandant arrested two Cossacks and aMongol soldier who had stolen brandy from one of the Chinese shopsand brought them before him. He immediately bundled them all intohis car, drove off to the shop, delivered the brandy back to theproprietor and as promptly ordered the Mongol to hang one of theRussians to the big gate of the compound. With this one swung hecommanded: "Now hang the other!" and this had only just beenaccomplished when he turned to the Commandant and ordered him tohang the Mongol beside the other two. That seemed expeditious andjust enough until the Chinese proprietor came in dire distress tothe Baron and plead with him:

"General Baron! General Baron! Please take those men down from mygateway, for no one will enter my shop!"After the commercial quarter was flashed past our eyes, we enteredthe Russian settlement across a small river. Several Russiansoldiers and four very spruce-looking Mongolian women stood on thebridge as we passed. The soldiers snapped to salute like immobilestatues and fixed their eyes on the severe face of their Commander.

The women first began to run and shift about and then, infected bythe discipline and order of events, swung their hands up to saluteand stood as immobile as their northern swains. The Baron lookedat me and laughed:

"You see the discipline! Even the Mongolian women salute me."Soon we were out on the plain with the car going like an arrow,with the wind whistling and tossing the folds of our coats andcaps. But Baron Ungern, sitting with closed eyes, repeated:

"Faster! Faster!" For a long time we were both silent.

"And yesterday I beat my adjutant for rushing into my yurta andinterrupting my story," he said.

"You can finish it now," I answered.

"And are you not bored by it? Well, there isn't much left and thishappens to be the most interesting. I was telling you that Iwanted to found an order of military Buddhists in Russia. Forwhat? For the protection of the processes of evolution of humanityand for the struggle against revolution, because I am certain thatevolution leads to the Divinity and revolution to bestiality. ButI worked in Russia! In Russia, where the peasants are rough,untutored, wild and constantly angry, hating everybody andeverything without understanding why. They are suspicious andmaterialistic, having no sacred ideals. Russian intelligents liveamong imaginary ideals without realities. They have a strongcapacity for criticising everything but they lack creative power.

Also they have no will power, only the capacity for talking andtalking. With the peasants, they cannot like anything or anybody.

Their love and feelings are imaginary. Their thoughts andsentiments pass without trace like futile words. My companions,therefore, soon began to violate the regulations of the Order.

Then I introduced the condition of celibacy, the entire negation ofwoman, of the comforts of life, of superfluities, according to theteachings of the Yellow Faith; and, in order that the Russian mightbe able to live down his physical nature, I introduced thelimitless use of alcohol, hasheesh and opium. Now for alcohol Ihang my officers and soldiers; then we drank to the 'white fever,'

delirium tremens. I could not organize the Order but I gatheredround me and developed three hundred men wholly bold and entirelyferocious. Afterward they were heroes in the war with Germany andlater in the fight against the Bolsheviki, but now only a fewremain.""The wireless, Excellency!" reported the chauffeur.

"Turn in there!" ordered the General.

On the top of a flat hill stood the big, powerful radio stationwhich had been partially destroyed by the retreating Chinese butreconstructed by the engineers of Baron Ungern. The Generalperused the telegrams and handed them to me. They were fromMoscow, Chita, Vladivostok and Peking. On a separate yellow sheetwere the code messages, which the Baron slipped into his pocket ashe said to me:

"They are from my agents, who are stationed in Chita, Irkutsk,Harbin and Vladivostok. They are all Jews, very skilled and verybold men, friends of mine all. I have also one Jewish officer,Vulfovitch, who commands my right flank. He is as ferocious asSatan but clever and brave. . . . Now we shall fly into space."Once more we rushed away, sinking into the darkness of night. Itwas a wild ride. The car bounded over small stones and ditches,even taking narrow streamlets, as the skilled chauffeur only seemedto guide it round the larger rocks. On the plain, as we sped by, Inoticed several times small bright flashes of fire which lasted butfor a second and then were extinguished.

"The eyes of wolves," smiled my companion. "We have fed them tosatiety from the flesh of ourselves and our enemies!" he quietlyinterpolated, as he turned to continue his confession of faith.

"During the War we saw the gradual corruption of the Russian armyand foresaw the treachery of Russia to the Allies as well as theapproaching danger of revolution. To counteract this latter a planwas formed to join together all the Mongolian peoples which had notforgotten their ancient faiths and customs into one Asiatic State,consisting of autonomous tribal units, under the moral andlegislative leadership of China, the country of loftiest and mostancient culture. Into this State must come the Chinese, Mongols,Tibetans, Afghans, the Mongol tribes of Turkestan, Tartars,Buriats, Kirghiz and Kalmucks. This State must be strong,physically and morally, and must erect a barrier against revolutionand carefully preserve its own spirit, philosophy and individualpolicy. If humanity, mad and corrupted, continues to threaten theDivine Spirit in mankind, to spread blood and to obstruct moraldevelopment, the Asiatic State must terminate this movementdecisively and establish a permanent, firm peace. This propagandaeven during the War made splendid progress among the Turkomans,Kirghiz, Buriats and Mongols. . . . "Stop!" suddenly shouted theBaron.

The car pulled up with a jerk. The General jumped out and calledme to follow. We started walking over the prairie and the Baronkept bending down all the time as though he were looking forsomething on the ground.

"Ah!" he murmured at last, "He has gone away. . . ."I looked at him in amazement.

"A rich Mongol formerly had his yurta here. He was the outfitterfor the Russian merchant, Noskoff. Noskoff was a ferocious man asshown by the name the Mongols gave him--'Satan.' He used to havehis Mongol debtors beaten or imprisoned through the instrumentalityof the Chinese authorities. He ruined this Mongol, who losteverything and escaped to a place thirty miles away; but Noskofffound him there, took all that he had left of cattle and horses andleft the Mongol and his family to die of hunger. When I capturedUrga, this Mongol appeared and brought with him thirty other Mongolfamilies similarly ruined by Noskoff. They demanded his death. . . .

So I hung 'Satan' . . ."Anew the motor car was rushing along, sweeping a great circle onthe prairie, and anew Baron Ungern with his sharp, nervous voicecarried his thoughts round the whole circumference of Asian life.

"Russia turned traitor to France, England and America, signed theBrest-Litovsk Treaty and ushered in a reign of chaos. We thendecided to mobilize Asia against Germany. Our envoys penetratedMongolia, Tibet, Turkestan and China. At this time the Bolshevikibegan to kill all the Russian officers and we were forced to opencivil war against them, giving up our Pan-Asiatic plans; but wehope later to awake all Asia and with their help to bring peace andGod back to earth. I want to feel that I have helped this idea bythe liberation of Mongolia."He became silent and thought for a moment.

"But some of my associates in the movement do not like me becauseof my atrocities and severity," he remarked in a sad voice. "Theycannot understand as yet that we are not fighting a political partybut a sect of murderers of all contemporary spiritual culture. Whydo the Italians execute the 'Black Hand' gang? Why are theAmericans electrocuting anarchistic bomb throwers? and I am notallowed to rid the world of those who would kill the soul of thepeople? I, a Teuton, descendant of crusaders and privateers, Irecognize only death for murderers! . . . Return!" he commandedthe chauffeur.

An hour and a half later we saw the electric lights of Urga.
CHAPTER XXXVII
　　Near the entrance to the town, a motor car stood before a smallhouse.

"What does that mean?" exclaimed the Baron. "Go over there!"Our car drew up beside the other. The house door opened sharply,several officers rushed out and tried to hide.

"Stand!" commanded the General. "Go back inside." They obeyed andhe entered after them, leaning on his tashur. As the door remainedopen, I could see and hear everything.

"Woe to them!" whispered the chauffeur. "Our officers knew thatthe Baron had gone out of the town with me, which means always along journey, and must have decided to have a good time. He willorder them beaten to death with sticks."I could see the end of the table covered with bottles and tinnedthings. At the side two young women were seated, who sprang up atthe appearance of the General. I could hear the hoarse voice ofBaron Ungern pronouncing sharp, short, stern phrases.

"Your native land is perishing. . . . The shame of it is upon allyou Russians . . . and you cannot understand it . . . nor feelit. . . . You need wine and women. . . . Scoundrels! Brutes! . . .

One hundred fifty tashur for every man of you."The voice fell to a whisper.

"And you, Mesdames, do you not realize the ruin of your people?

No? For you it is of no moment. And have you no feeling for yourhusbands at the front who may even now be killed? You are notwomen. . . . I honor woman, who feels more deeply and stronglythan man; but you are not women! . . . Listen to me, Mesdames.

Once more and I will hang you. . . ."He came back to the car and himself sounded the horn several times.

Immediately Mongol horsemen galloped up.

"Take these men to the Commandant. I will send my orders later."On the way to the Baron's yurta we were silent. He was excited andbreathed heavily, lighting cigarette after cigarette and throwingthem aside after but a single puff or two.

"Take supper with me," he proposed.

He also invited his Chief of Staff, a very retiring, oppressed butsplendidly educated man. The servants spread a Chinese hot coursefor us followed by cold meat and fruit compote from California withthe inevitable tea. We ate with chopsticks. The Baron was greatlydistraught.

Very cautiously I began speaking of the offending officers andtried to justify their actions by the extremely tryingcircumstances under which they were living.

"They are rotten through and through, demoralized, sunk into thedepths," murmured the General.

The Chief of Staff helped me out and at last the Baron directed himto telephone the Commandant to release these gentlemen.

The following day I spent with my friends, walking a great dealabout the streets and watching their busy life. The great energyof the Baron demanded constant nervous activity from himself andevery one round him. He was everywhere, seeing everything butnever, interfering with the work of his subordinate administrators.

Every one was at work.

In the evening I was invited by the Chief of Staff to his quarters,where I met many intelligent officers. I related again the storyof my trip and we were all chatting along animatedly when suddenlyColonel Sepailoff entered, singing to himself. All the others atonce became silent and one by one under various pretexts theyslipped out. He handed our host some papers and, turning to us,said:

"I shall send you for supper a splendid fish pie and some hottomato soup."As he left, my host clasped his head in desperation and said:

"With such scum of the earth are we now forced after thisrevolution to work!"A few minutes later a soldier from Sepailoff brought us a tureenfull of soup and the fish pie. As the soldier bent over the tableto set the dishes down, the Chief motioned me with his eyes andslipped to me the words: "Notice his face."When the man went out, my host sat attentively listening until thesounds of the man's steps ceased.

"He is Sepailoff's executioner who hangs and strangles theunfortunate condemned ones."Then, to my amazement, he began to pour out the soup on the groundbeside the brazier and, going out of the yurta, threw the pie overthe fence.

"It is Sepailoff's feast and, though it may be very tasty, it mayalso be poison. In Sepailoff's house it is dangerous to eat ordrink anything."Distinctly oppressed by these doings, I returned to my house. Myhost was not yet asleep and met me with a frightened look. Myfriends were also there.

"God be thanked!" they all exclaimed. "Has nothing happened toyou?""What is the matter?" I asked.

"You see," began the host, "after your departure a soldier camefrom Sepailoff and took your luggage, saying that you had sent himfor it; but we knew what it meant--that they would first search itand afterwards. . . ."I at once understood the danger. Sepailoff could place anything hewanted in my luggage and afterwards accuse me. My old friend, theagronome, and I started at once for Sepailoff's, where I left himat the door while I went in and was met by the same soldier who hadbrought the supper to us. Sepailoff received me immediately. Inanswer to my protest he said that it was a mistake and, asking meto wait for a moment, went out. I waited five, ten, fifteenminutes but nobody came. I knocked on the door but no one answeredme. Then I decided to go to Baron Ungern and started for the exit.

The door was locked. Then I tried the other door and found thatalso locked. I had been trapped! I wanted at once to whistle tomy friend but just then noticed a telephone on the wall and calledup Baron Ungern. In a few minutes he appeared together withSepailoff.

"What is this?" he asked Sepailoff in a severe, threatening voice;and, without waiting for an answer, struck him a blow with histashur that sent him to the floor.

We went out and the General ordered my luggage produced. Then hebrought me to his own yurta.

"Live here, now," he said. "I am very glad of this accident," heremarked with a smile, "for now I can say all that I want to."This drew from me the question:

"May I describe all that I have heard and seen here?"He thought a moment before replying: "Give me your notebook."I handed him the album with my sketches of the trip and he wrotetherein: "After my death, Baron Ungern.""But I am older than you and I shall die before you," I remarked.

He shut his eyes, bowed his head and whispered:

"Oh, no! One hundred thirty days yet and it is finished; then . . .

Nirvana! How wearied I am with sorrow, woe and hate!"We were silent for a long time. I felt that I had now a mortalenemy in Colonel Sepailoff and that I should get out of Urga at theearliest possible moment. It was two o'clock at night. SuddenlyBaron Ungern stood up.

"Let us go to the great, good Buddha," he said with a countenanceheld in deep thought and with eyes aflame, his whole facecontracted by a mournful, bitter smile. He ordered the carbrought.

Thus lived this camp of martyrs, refugees pursued by events totheir tryst with Death, driven on by the hate and contempt of thisoffspring of Teutons and privateers! And he, martyring them, knewneither day nor night of peace. Fired by impelling, poisonousthoughts, he tormented himself with the pains of a Titan, knowingthat every day in this shortening chain of one hundred thirty linksbrought him nearer to the precipice called "Death."
CHAPTER XXXVIII
As we came to the monastery we left the automobile and dipped intothe labyrinth of narrow alleyways until at last we were before thegreatest temple of Urga with the Tibetan walls and windows and itspretentious Chinese roof. A single lantern burned at the entrance.

The heavy gate with the bronze and iron trimmings was shut. Whenthe General struck the big brass gong hanging by the gate,frightened monks began running up from all directions and, seeingthe "General Baron," fell to the earth in fear of raising theirheads.

"Get up," said the Baron, "and let us into the Temple!"The inside was like that of all Lama temples, the same multi-colored flags with the prayers, symbolic signs and the images ofholy saints; the big bands of silk cloth hanging from the ceiling;the images of the gods and goddesses. On both sides of theapproach to the altar were the low red benches for the Lamas andchoir. On the altar small lamps threw their rays on the gold andsilver vessels and candlesticks. Behind it hung a heavy yellowsilk curtain with Tibetan inscriptions. The Lamas drew the curtainaside. Out of the dim light from the flickering lamps graduallyappeared the great gilded statue of Buddha seated in the GoldenLotus. The face of the god was indifferent and calm with only asoft gleam of light animating it. On either side he was guarded bymany thousands of lesser Buddhas brought by the faithful asofferings in prayer. The Baron struck the gong to attract GreatBuddha's attention to his prayer and threw a handful of coins intothe large bronze bowl. And then this scion of crusaders who hadread all the philosophers of the West, closed his eyes, placed hishands together before his face and prayed. I noticed a blackrosary on his left wrist. He prayed about ten minutes. Afterwardshe led me to the other end of the monastery and, during ourpassage, said to me:

"I do not like this temple. It is new, erected by the Lamas whenthe Living Buddha became blind. I do not find on the face of thegolden Buddha either tears, hopes, distress or thanks of thepeople. They have not yet had time to leave these traces on theface of the god. We shall go now to the old Shrine of Prophecies."This was a small building, blackened with age and resembling atower with a plain round roof. The doors stood open. At bothsides of the door were prayer wheels ready to be spun; over it aslab of copper with the signs of the zodiac. Inside two monks, whowere intoning the sacred sutras, did not lift their eyes as weentered. The General approached them and said:

"Cast the dice for the number of my days!"The priests brought two bowls with many dice therein and rolledthem out on their low table. The Baron looked and reckoned withthem the sum before he spoke:

"One hundred thirty! Again one hundred thirty!"Approaching the altar carrying an ancient stone statue of Buddhabrought all the way from India, he again prayed. As day dawned, wewandered out through the monastery, visited all the temples andshrines, the museum of the medical school, the astrological towerand then the court where the Bandi and young Lamas have their dailymorning wrestling exercises. In other places the Lamas werepractising with the bow and arrow. Some of the higher Lamasfeasted us with hot mutton, tea and wild onions. After we returnedto the yurta I tried to sleep but in vain. Too many differentquestions were troubling me. "Where am I? In what epoch am Iliving?" I knew not but I dimly felt the unseen touch of somegreat idea, some enormous plan, some indescribable human woe.

After our noon meal the General said he wanted to introduce me tothe Living Buddha. It is so difficult to secure audience with theLiving Buddha that I was very glad to have this opportunity offeredme. Our auto soon drew up at the gate of the red and white stripedwall surrounding the palace of the god. Two hundred Lamas inyellow and red robes rushed to greet the arriving "Chiang Chun,"General, with the low-toned, respectful whisper "Khan! God ofWar!" As a regiment of formal ushers they led us to a spaciousgreat hall softened by its semi-darkness. Heavy carved doorsopened to the interior parts of the palace. In the depths of thehall stood a dais with the throne covered with yellow silkcushions. The back of the throne was red inside a gold framing; ateither side stood yellow silk screens set in highly ornamentedframes of black Chinese wood; while against the walls at eitherside of the throne stood glass cases filled with varied objectsfrom China, Japan, India and Russia. I noticed also among them apair of exquisite Marquis and Marquises in the fine porcelain ofSevres. Before the throne stood a long, low table at which eightnoble Mongols were seated, their chairman, a highly esteemed oldman with a clever, energetic face and with large penetrating eyes.

His appearance reminded me of the authentic wooden images of theBuddhist holymen with eyes of precious stones which I saw at theTokyo Imperial Museum in the department devoted to Buddhism, wherethe Japanese show the ancient statues of Amida, Daunichi-Buddha,the Goddess Kwannon and the jolly old Hotei.

This man was the Hutuktu Jahantsi, Chairman of the MongolianCouncil of Ministers, and honored and revered far beyond thebournes of Mongolia. The others were the Ministers--Khans and theHighest Princes of Khalkha. Jahantsi Hutuktu invited Baron Ungernto the place at his side, while they brought in a European chairfor me. Baron Ungern announced to the Council of Ministers throughan interpreter that he would leave Mongolia in a few days and urgedthem to protect the freedom won for the lands inhabited by thesuccessors of Jenghiz Khan, whose soul still lives and calls uponthe Mongols to become anew a powerful people and reunite again intoone great Mid-Asiatic State all the Asian kingdoms he had ruled.

The General rose and all the others followed him. He took leave ofeach one separately and sternly. Only before Jahantsi Lama he bentlow while the Hutuktu placed his hands on the Baron's head andblessed him. From the Council Chamber we passed at once to theRussian style house which is the personal dwelling of the LivingBuddha. The house was wholly surrounded by a crowd of red andyellow Lamas; servants, councilors of Bogdo, officials, fortunetellers, doctors and favorites. From the front entrance stretcheda long red rope whose outer end was thrown over the wall beside thegate. Crowds of pilgrims crawling up on their knees touch this endof the rope outside the gate and hand the monk a silken hatyk or abit of silver. This touching of the rope whose inner end is in thehand of the Bogdo establishes direct communication with the holy,incarnated Living God. A current of blessing is supposed to flowthrough this cable of camel's wool and horse hair. Any Mongol whohas touched the mystic rope receives and wears about his neck a redband as the sign of his accomplished pilgrimage.

I had heard very much about the Bogdo Khan before this opportunityto see him. I had heard of his love of alcohol, which had broughton blindness, about his leaning toward exterior western culture andabout his wife drinking deep with him and receiving in his namenumerous delegations and envoys.

In the room which the Bogdo used as his private study, where twoLama secretaries watched day and night over the chest thatcontained his great seals, there was the severest simplicity. On alow, plain, Chinese lacquered table lay his writing implements, acase of seals given by the Chinese Government and by the Dalai Lamaand wrapped in a cloth of yellow silk. Nearby was a low easychair, a bronze brazier with an iron stovepipe leading up from it;on the walls were the signs of the swastika, Tibetan and Mongolianinscriptions; behind the easy chair a small altar with a goldenstatue of Buddha before which two tallow lamps were burning; thefloor was covered with a thick yellow carpet.

When we entered, only the two Lama secretaries were there, for theLiving Buddha was in the small private shrine in an adjoiningchamber, where no one is allowed to enter save the Bogdo Khanhimself and one Lama, Kanpo-Gelong, who cares for the templearrangements and assists the Living Buddha during his prayers ofsolitude. The secretary told us that the Bogdo had been greatlyexcited this morning. At noon he had entered his shrine. For along time the voice of the head of the Yellow Faith was heard inearnest prayer and after his another unknown voice came clearlyforth. In the shrine had taken place a conversation between theBuddha on earth and the Buddha of heaven--thus the Lamas phrased itto us.

"Let us wait a little," the Baron proposed. "Perhaps he will sooncome out."As we waited the General began telling me about Jahantsi Lama,saying that, when Jahantsi is calm, he is an ordinary man but, whenhe is disturbed and thinks very deeply, a nimbus appears about hishead.

After half an hour the Lama secretaries suddenly showed signs ofdeep fear and began listening closely by the entrance to theshrine. Shortly they fell on their faces on the ground. The doorslowly opened and there entered the Emperor of Mongolia, the LivingBuddha, His Holiness Bogdo Djebtsung Damba Hutuktu, Khan of OuterMongolia. He was a stout old man with a heavy shaven faceresembling those of the Cardinals of Rome. He was dressed in theyellow silken Mongolian coat with a black binding. The eyes of theblind man stood widely open. Fear and amazement were pictured inthem. He lowered himself heavily into the easy chair andwhispered: "Write!"A secretary immediately took paper and a Chinese pen as the Bogdobegan to dictate his vision, very complicated and far from clear.

He finished with the following words:

"This I, Bogdo Hutuktu Khan, saw, speaking with the great wiseBuddha, surrounded by the good and evil spirits. Wise Lamas,Hutuktus, Kanpos, Marambas and Holy Gheghens, give the answer to myvision!"As he finished, he wiped the perspiration from his head and askedwho were present.

"Khan Chiang Chin Baron Ungern and a stranger," one of thesecretaries answered on his knees.

The General presented me to the Bogdo, who bowed his head as a signof greeting. They began speaking together in low tones. Throughthe open door I saw a part of the shrine. I made out a big tablewith a heap of books on it, some open and others lying on the floorbelow; a brazier with the red charcoal in it; a basket containingthe shoulder blades and entrails of sheep for telling fortunes.

Soon the Baron rose and bowed before the Bogdo. The Tibetan placedhis hands on the Baron's head and whispered a prayer. Then he tookfrom his own neck a heavy ikon and hung it around that of theBaron.

"You will not die but you will be incarnated in the highest form ofbeing. Remember that, Incarnated God of War, Khan of gratefulMongolia!" I understood that the Living Buddha blessed the "BloodyGeneral" before death.

During the next two days I had the opportunity to visit the LivingBuddha three times together with a friend of the Bogdo, the BuriatPrince Djam Bolon. I shall describe these visits in Part IV.

Baron Ungern organized the trip for me and my party to the shore ofthe Pacific. We were to go on camels to northern Manchuria,because there it was easy to avoid cavilling with the Chineseauthorities so badly oriented in the international relationshipwith Poland. Having sent a letter from Uliassutai to the FrenchLegation at Peking and bearing with me a letter from the ChineseChamber of Commerce, expressing thanks for the saving of Uliassutaifrom a pogrom, I intended to make for the nearest station on theChinese Eastern Railway and from there proceed to Peking. TheDanish merchant E. V. Olufsen was to have traveled out with me andalso a learned Lama Turgut, who was headed for China.

Never shall I forget the night of May 19th to 20th of 1921! Afterdinner Baron Ungern proposed that we go to the yurta of Djam Bolon,whose acquaintance I had made on the first day after my arrival inUrga. His yurta was placed on a raised wooden platform in acompound located behind the Russian settlement. Two Buriatofficers met us and took us in. Djam Bolon was a man of middleage, tall and thin with an unusually long face. Before the GreatWar he had been a simple shepherd but had fought together withBaron Ungern on the German front and afterwards against theBolsheviki. He was a Grand Duke of the Buriats, the successor offormer Buriat kings who had been dethroned by the RussianGovernment after their attempt to establish the Independence of theBuriat people. The servants brought us dishes with nuts, raisins,dates and cheese and served us tea.

"This is the last night, Djam Bolon!" said Baron Ungern. "Youpromised me . . .""I remember," answered the Buriat, "all is ready."For a long time I listened to their reminiscences about formerbattles and friends who had been lost. The clock pointed tomidnight when Djam Bolon got up and went out of the yurta.

"I want to have my fortune told once more," said Baron Ungern, asthough he were justifying himself. "For the good of our cause itis too early for me to die. . . ."Djam Bolon came back with a little woman of middle years, whosquatted down eastern style before the brazier, bowed low and beganto stare at Baron Ungern. Her face was whiter, narrower andthinner than that of a Mongol woman. Her eyes were black andsharp. Her dress resembled that of a gypsy woman. Afterwards Ilearned that she was a famous fortune teller and prophet among theBuriats, the daughter of a gypsy woman and a Buriat. She drew asmall bag very slowly from her girdle, took from it some small birdbones and a handful of dry grass. She began whispering atintervals unintelligible words, as she threw occasional handfuls ofthe grass into the fire, which gradually filled the tent with asoft fragrance. I felt a distinct palpitation of my heart and aswimming in my head. After the fortune teller had burned all hergrass, she placed the bird bones on the charcoal and turned themover again and again with a small pair of bronze pincers. As thebones blackened, she began to examine them and then suddenly herface took on an expression of fear and pain. She nervously toreoff the kerchief which bound her head and, contracted withconvulsions, began snapping out short, sharp phrases.

"I see . . . I see the God of War. . . . His life runs out . . .

horribly. . . . After it a shadow . . . black like the night. . . .

Shadow. . . . One hundred thirty steps remain. . . . Beyonddarkness. . . . Nothing . . . I see nothing. . . . The God of Warhas disappeared. . . ."Baron Ungern dropped his head. The woman fell over on her backwith her arms stretched out. She had fainted, but it seemed to methat I noticed once a bright pupil of one of her eyes showing fromunder the closed lashes. Two Buriats carried out the lifelessform, after which a long silence reigned in the yurta of the BuriatPrince. Baron Ungern finally got up and began to walk around thebrazier, whispering to himself. Afterwards he stopped and beganspeaking rapidly:

"I shall die! I shall die! . . . but no matter, no matter. . . .

The cause has been launched and will not die. . . . I know theroads this cause will travel. The tribes of Jenghiz Khan'ssuccessors are awakened. Nobody shall extinguish the fire in theheart of the Mongols! In Asia there will be a great State from thePacific and Indian Oceans to the shore of the Volga. The wisereligion of Buddha shall run to the north and the west. It will bethe victory of the spirit. A conqueror and leader will appearstronger and more stalwart than Jenghiz Khan and Ugadai. He willbe more clever and more merciful than Sultan Baber and he will keeppower in his hands until the happy day when, from his subterraneancapital, shall emerge the King of the World. Why, why shall I notbe in the first ranks of the warriors of Buddhism? Why has Karmadecided so? But so it must be! And Russia must first wash herselffrom the insult of revolution, purifying herself with blood anddeath; and all people accepting Communism must perish with theirfamilies in order that all their offspring may be rooted out!"The Baron raised his hand above his head and shook it, as though hewere giving his orders and bequests to some invisible person.

Day was dawning.

"My time has come!" said the General. "In a little while I shallleave Urga."He quickly and firmly shook hands with us and said:

"Good-bye for all time! I shall die a horrible death but the worldhas never seen such a terror and such a sea of blood as it shallnow see. . . ."The door of the yurta slammed shut and he was gone. I never sawhim again.

"I must go also, for I am likewise leaving Urga today.""I know it," answered the Prince, "the Baron has left you with mefor some purpose. I will give you a fourth companion, the MongolMinister of War. You will accompany him to your yurta. It isnecessary for you. . . ."Djam Bolon pronounced this last with an accent on every word. Idid not question him about it, as I was accustomed to the mysteryof this country of the mysteries of good and evil spirits.
CHAPTER XXXIX
　　After drinking tea at Djam Bolon's yurta I rode back to my quartersand packed my few belongings. The Lama Turgut was already there.

"The Minister of War will travel with us," he whispered. "It isnecessary.""All right," I answered, and rode off to Olufsen to summon him.

But Olufsen unexpectedly announced that he was forced to spend somefew days more in Urga--a fatal decision for him, for a month laterhe was reported killed by Sepailoff who remained as Commandant ofthe city after Baron Ungern's departure. The War Minister, astout, young Mongol, joined our caravan. When we had gone aboutsix miles from the city, we saw an automobile coming up behind us.

The Lama shrunk up inside his coat and looked at me with fear. Ifelt the now familiar atmosphere of danger and so opened my holsterand threw over the safety catch of my revolver. Soon the motorstopped alongside our caravan. In it sat Sepailoff with a smilingface and beside him his two executioners, Chestiakoff and Jdanoff.

Sepailoff greeted us very warmly and asked:

"You are changing your horses in Khazahuduk? Does the road crossthat pass ahead? I don't know the way and must overtake an envoywho went there."The Minister of War answered that we would be in Khazahuduk thatevening and gave Sepailoff directions as to the road. The motorrushed away and, when it had topped the pass, he ordered one of theMongols to gallop forward to see whether it had not stoppedsomewhere near the other side. The Mongol whipped his steed andsped away. We followed slowly.

"What is the matter?" I asked. "Please explain!"The Minister told me that Djam Bolon yesterday received informationthat Sepailoff planned to overtake me on the way and kill me.

Sepailoff suspected that I had stirred up the Baron against him.

Djam Bolon reported the matter to the Baron, who organized thiscolumn for my safety. The returning Mongol reported that the motorcar had gone on out of sight.

"Now," said the Minister, "we shall take quite another route sothat the Colonel will wait in vain for us at Khazahuduk."We turned north at Undur Dobo and at night were in the camp of alocal prince. Here we took leave of our Minister, receivedsplendid fresh horses and quickly continued our trip to the east,leaving behind us "the man with the head like a saddle" againstwhom I had been warned by the old fortune teller in the vicinity ofVan Kure.

After twelve days without further adventures we reached the firstrailway station on the Chinese Eastern Railway, from where Itraveled in unbelievable luxury to Peking.

* * * * * *Surrounded by the comforts and conveniences of the splendid hotelat Peking, while shedding all the attributes of traveler, hunterand warrior, I could not, however, throw off the spell of thosenine days spent in Urga, where I had daily met Baron Ungern,"Incarnated God of War." The newspapers carrying accounts of thebloody march of the Baron through Transbaikalia brought thepictures ever fresh to my mind. Even now, although more than sevenmonths have elapsed, I cannot forget those nights of madness,inspiration and hate.

The predictions are fulfilled. Approximately one hundred thirtydays afterwards Baron Ungern was captured by the Bolsheviki throughthe treachery of his officers and, it is reported, was executed atthe end of September.

Baron R. F. Ungern von Sternberg. . . . Like a bloody storm ofavenging Karma he spread over Central Asia. What did he leavebehind him? The severe order to his soldiers closing with thewords of the Revelations of St. John:

"Let no one check the revenge against the corrupter and slayer ofthe soul of the Russian people. Revolution must be eradicated fromthe World. Against it the Revelations of St. John have warned usthus: 'And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and deckedwith gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand agolden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of herfornication, and upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLONTHE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THEEARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints,and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.'"It is a human document, a document of Russian and, perhaps, ofworld tragedy.

But there remained another and more important trace. In the Mongolyurtas and at the fires of Buriat, Mongol, Djungar, Kirkhiz,Kalmuck and Tibetan shepherds still speak the legend born of thisson of crusaders and privateers:

"From the north a white warrior came and called on the Mongols tobreak their chains of slavery, which fell upon our freed soil.

This white warrior was the Incarnated Jenghiz Khan and he predictedthe coming of the greatest of all Mongols who will spread the fairfaith of Buddha and the glory and power of the offspring ofJenghiz, Ugadai and Kublai Khan. So it shall be!"Asia is awakened and her sons utter bold words.

It were well for the peace of the world if they go forth asdisciples of the wise creators, Ugadai and Sultan Baber, ratherthan under the spell of the "bad demons" of the destructiveTamerlane.
CHAPTER XL
　　In Mongolia, the country of miracles and mysteries, lives thecustodian of all the mysterious and unknown, the Living Buddha, HisHoliness Djebtsung Damba Hutuktu Khan or Bogdo Gheghen, Pontiff ofTa Kure. He is the incarnation of the never-dying Buddha, therepresentative of the unbroken, mysteriously continued line ofspiritual emperors ruling since 1670, concealing in themselves theever refining spirit of Buddha Amitabha joined with Chan-ra-zi orthe "Compassionate Spirit of the Mountains." In him is everything,even the Sun Myth and the fascination of the mysterious peaks ofthe Himalayas, tales of the Indian pagoda, the stern majesty of theMongolian Conquerors--Emperors of All Asia--and the ancient, hazylegends of the Chinese sages; immersion in the thoughts of theBrahmans; the severities of life of the monks of the "VirtuousOrder"; the vengeance of the eternally wandering warriors, theOlets, with their Khans, Batur Hun Taigi and Gushi; the proudbequests of Jenghiz and Kublai Khan; the clerical reactionarypsychology of the Lamas; the mystery of Tibetan kings beginningfrom Srong-Tsang Gampo; and the mercilessness of the Yellow Sect ofPaspa. All the hazy history of Asia, of Mongolia, Pamir,Himalayas, Mesopotamia, Persia and China, surrounds the Living Godof Urga. It is little wonder that his name is honored along theVolga, in Siberia, Arabia, between the Tigris and Euphrates, inIndo-China and on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.

During my stay in Urga I visited the abode of the Living Buddhaseveral times, spoke with him and observed his life. His favoritelearned Marambas gave me long accounts of him. I saw him readinghoroscopes, I heard his predictions, I looked over his archives ofancient books and the manuscripts containing the lives andpredictions of all the Bogdo Khans. The Lamas were very frank andopen with me, because the letter of the Hutuktu of Narabanchi wonfor me their confidence.

The personality of the Living Buddha is double, just as everythingin Lamaism is double. Clever, penetrating, energetic, he at thesame time indulges in the drunkenness which has brought onblindness. When he became blind, the Lamas were thrown into astate of desperation. Some of them maintained that Bogdo Khan mustbe poisoned and another Incarnate Buddha set in his place; whilethe others pointed out the great merits of the Pontiff in the eyesof Mongolians and the followers of the Yellow Faith. They finallydecided to propitiate the gods by building a great temple with agigantic statue of Buddha. However, this did not help the Bogdo'ssight but the whole incident gave him the opportunity of hurryingon to their higher life those among the Lamas who had shown toomuch radicalism in their proposed method of solving his problem.

He never ceases to ponder upon the cause of the church and ofMongolia and at the same time likes to indulge himself with uselesstrifles. He amuses himself with artillery. A retired Russianofficer presented him with two old guns, for which the donorreceived the title of Tumbaiir Hun, that is, "Prince Dear-to-my-Heart." On holidays these cannon were fired to the great amusementof the blind man. Motorcars, gramophones, telephones, crystals,porcelains, pictures, perfumes, musical instruments, rare animalsand birds; elephants, Himalayan bears, monkeys, Indian snakes andparrots--all these were in the palace of "the god" but all weresoon cast aside and forgotten.

To Urga come pilgrims and presents from all the Lamaite andBuddhist world. Once the treasurer of the palace, the HonorableBalma Dorji, took me into the great hall where the presents werekept. It was a most unique museum of precious articles. Here weregathered together rare objects unknown to the museums of Europe.

The treasurer, as he opened a case with a silver lock, said to me:

"These are pure gold nuggets from Bei Kem; here are black sablesfrom Kemchick; these the miraculous deer horns; this a box sent bythe Orochons and filled with precious ginseng roots and fragrantmusk; this a bit of amber from the coast of the 'frozen sea' and itweighs 124 lans (about ten pounds); these are precious stones fromIndia, fragrant zebet and carved ivory from China."He showed the exhibits and talked of them for a long time andevidently enjoyed the telling. And really it was wonderful!

Before my eyes lay the bundles of rare furs; white beaver, blacksables, white, blue and black fox and black panthers; smallbeautifully carved tortoise shell boxes containing hatyks ten orfifteen yards long, woven from Indian silk as fine as the webs ofthe spider; small bags made of golden thread filled with pearls,the presents of Indian Rajahs; precious rings with sapphires andrubies from China and India; big pieces of jade, rough diamonds;ivory tusks ornamented with gold, pearls and precious stones;bright clothes sewn with gold and silver thread; walrus tuskscarved in bas-relief by the primitive artists on the shores of theBehring Sea; and much more that one cannot recall or recount. In aseparate room stood the cases with the statues of Buddha, made ofgold, silver, bronze, ivory, coral, mother of pearl and from a rarecolored and fragrant species of wood.

"You know when conquerors come into a country where the gods arehonored, they break the images and throw them down. So it was morethan three hundred years ago when the Kalmucks went into Tibet andthe same was repeated in Peking when the European troops looted theplace in 1900. But do you know why this is done? Take one of thestatues and examine it."I picked up one nearest the edge, a wooden Buddha, and beganexamining it. Inside something was loose and rattled.

"Do you hear it?" the Lama asked. "These are precious stones andbits of gold, the entrails of the god. This is the reason why theconquerors at once break up the statues of the gods. Many famousprecious stones have appeared from the interior of the statues ofthe gods in India, Babylon and China."Some rooms were devoted to the library, where manuscripts andvolumes of different epochs in different languages and with manydiverse themes fill the shelves. Some of them are mouldering orpulverizing away and the Lamas cover these now with a solutionwhich partially solidifies like a jelly to protect what remainsfrom the ravages of the air. There also we saw tablets of claywith the cuneiform inscriptions, evidently from Babylonia; Chinese,Indian and Tibetan books shelved beside those of Mongolia; tomes ofthe ancient pure Buddhism; books of the "Red Caps" or corruptBuddhism; books of the "Yellow" or Lamaite Buddhism; books oftraditions, legends and parables. Groups of Lamas were perusing,studying and copying these books, preserving and spreading theancient wisdom for their successors.

One department is devoted to the mysterious books on magic, thehistorical lives and works of all the thirty-one Living Buddhas,with the bulls of the Dalai Lama, of the Pontiff from Tashi Lumpo,of the Hutuktu of Utai in China, of the Pandita Gheghen of Dolo Norin Inner Mongolia and of the Hundred Chinese Wise Men. Only theBogdo Hutuktu and Maramba Ta-Rimpo-Cha can enter this room ofmysterious lore. The keys to it rest with the seals of the LivingBuddha and the ruby ring of Jenghiz Khan ornamented with the signof the swastika in the chest in the private study of the Bogdo.

The person of His Holiness is surrounded by five thousand Lamas.

They are divided into many ranks from simple servants to the"Councillors of God," of which latter the Government consists.

Among these Councillors are all the four Khans of Mongolia and thefive highest Princes.

Of all the Lamas there are three classes of peculiar interest,about which the Living Buddha himself told me when I visited himwith Djam Bolon.

"The God" sorrowfully mourned over the demoralized and sumptuouslife led by the Lamas which decreased rapidly the number of fortunetellers and clairvoyants among their ranks, saying of it:

"If the Jahantsi and Narabanchi monasteries had not preserved theirstrict regime and rules, Ta Kure would have been left withoutprophets and fortune tellers. Barun Abaga Nar, Dorchiul-Jurdok andthe other holy Lamas who had the power of seeing that which ishidden from the sight of the common people have gone with theblessing of the gods."This class of Lamas is a very important one, because everyimportant personage visiting the monasteries at Urga is shown tothe Lama Tzuren or fortune teller without the knowledge of thevisitor for the study of his destiny and fate, which are thencommunicated to the Bogdo Hutuktu, so that with these facts in hispossession the Bogdo knows in what way to treat his guest and whatpolicy to follow toward him. The Tzurens are mostly old men,skinny, exhausted and severe ascetics. But I have met some whowere young, almost boys. They were the Hubilgan, "incarnate gods,"the future Hutuktus and Gheghens of the various Mongolianmonasteries.

The second class is the doctors or "Ta Lama." They observe theactions of plants and certain products from animals upon people,preserve Tibetan medicines and cures, and study anatomy verycarefully but without making use of vivisection and the scalpel.

They are skilful bone setters, masseurs and great connoisseurs ofhypnotism and animal magnetism.

The third class is the highest rank of doctors, consisting chieflyof Tibetans and Kalmucks--poisoners. They may be said to be"doctors of political medicine." They live by themselves, apartfrom any associates, and are the great silent weapon in the handsof the Living Buddha. I was informed that a large portion of themare dumb. I saw one such doctor,--the very person who poisoned theChinese physician sent by the Chinese Emperor from Peking to"liquidate" the Living Buddha,--a small white old fellow with adeeply wrinkled face, a curl of white hairs on his chin and withvivacious eyes that were ever shifting inquiringly about him.

Whenever he comes to a monastery, the local "god" ceases to eat anddrink in fear of the activities of this Mongolian Locusta. Buteven this cannot save the condemned, for a poisoned cap or shirt orboots, or a rosary, a bridle, books or religious articles soaked ina poisonous solution will surely accomplish the object of theBogdo-Khan.

The deepest esteem and religious faithfulness surround the blindPontiff. Before him all fall on their faces. Khans and Hutuktusapproach him on their knees. Everything about him is dark, full ofOriental antiquity. The drunken blind man, listening to the banalarias of the gramophone or shaking his servants with an electriccurrent from his dynamo, the ferocious old fellow poisoning hispolitical enemies, the Lama keeping his people in darkness anddeceiving them with his prophecies and fortune telling,--he is,however, not an entirely ordinary man.

One day we sat in the room of the Bogdo and Prince Djam Bolontranslated to him my story of the Great War. The old fellow waslistening very carefully but suddenly opened his eyes widely andbegan to give attention to some sounds coming in from outside theroom. His face became reverent, supplicant and frightened.

"The Gods call me," he whispered and slowly moved into his privateshrine, where he prayed loudly about two hours, kneeling immobileas a statue. His prayer consists of conversation with theinvisible gods, to whose questions he himself gave the answers. Hecame out of the shrine pale and exhausted but pleased and happy.

It was his personal prayer. During the regular temple service hedid not participate in the prayers, for then he is "God." Sittingon his throne, he is carried and placed on the altar and thereprayed to by the Lamas and the people. He only receives theprayers, hopes, tears, woe and desperation of the people,immobilely gazing into space with his sharp and bright but blindeyes. At various times in the service the Lamas robe him indifferent vestments, combinations of yellow and red, and change hiscaps. The service always finishes at the solemn moment when theLiving Buddha with the tiara on his head pronounces the pontificalblessing upon the congregation, turning his face to all fourcardinal points of the compass and finally stretching out his handstoward the northwest, that is, to Europe, whither in the belief ofthe Yellow Faith must travel the teachings of the wise Buddha.

After earnest prayers or long temple services the Pontiff seemsvery deeply shaken and often calls his secretaries and dictates hisvisions and prophecies, always very complicated and unaccompaniedby his deductions.

Sometimes with the words "Their souls are communicating," he putson his white robes and goes to pray in his shrine. Then all thegates of the palace are shut and all the Lamas are sunk in solemn,mystic fear; all are praying, telling their rosaries and whisperingthe orison: "Om! Mani padme Hung!" or turning the prayer wheelswith their prayers or exorcisings; the fortune tellers read theirhoroscopes; the clairvoyants write out their visions; whileMarambas search the ancient books for explanations of the words ofthe Living Buddha.
CHAPTER XLI
　　Have you ever seen the dusty cobwebs and the mould in the cellarsof some ancient castle in Italy, France or England? This is thedust of centuries. Perhaps it touched the faces, helmets andswords of a Roman Augustus, St. Louis, the Inquisitor, Galileo orKing Richard. Your heart is involuntarily contracted and you feela respect for these witnesses of elapsed ages. This sameimpression came to me in Ta Kure, perhaps more deep, morerealistic. Here life flows on almost as it flowed eight centuriesago; here man lives only in the past; and the contemporary onlycomplicates and prevents the normal life.

"Today is a great day," the Living Buddha once said to me, "the dayof the victory of Buddhism over all other religions. It was a longtime ago--on this day Kublai Khan called to him the Lamas of allreligions and ordered them to state to him how and what theybelieved. They praised their Gods and their Hutuktus. Discussionsand quarrels began. Only one Lama remained silent. At last hemockingly smiled and said:

"'Great Emperor! Order each to prove the power of his Gods by theperformance of a miracle and afterwards judge and choose.'

"Kublai Khan so ordered all the Lamas to show him a miracle but allwere silent, confused and powerless before him.

"'Now,' said the Emperor, addressing the Lama who had tendered thissuggestion, 'now you must prove the power of your Gods!'

"The Lama looked long and silently at the Emperor, turned and gazedat the whole assembly and then quietly stretched out his handtoward them. At this instant the golden goblet of the Emperorraised itself from the table and tipped before the lips of the Khanwithout a visible hand supporting it. The Emperor felt the delightof a fragrant wine. All were struck with astonishment and theEmperor spoke:

"'I elect to pray to your Gods and to them all people subject to memust pray. What is your faith? Who are you and from where do youcome?'

"'My faith is the teaching of the wise Buddha. I am Pandita Lama,Turjo Gamba, from the distant and glorious monastery of Sakkia inTibet, where dwells incarnate in a human body the Spirit of Buddha,his Wisdom and his Power. Remember, Emperor, that the peoples whohold our faith shall possess all the Western Universe and duringeight hundred and eleven years shall spread their faith throughoutthe whole world.'

"Thus it happened on this same day many centuries ago! Lama TurjoGamba did not return to Tibet but lived here in Ta Kure, wherethere was then only a small temple. From here he traveled to theEmperor at Karakorum and afterwards with him to the capital ofChina to fortify him in the Faith, to predict the fate of stateaffairs and to enlighten him according to the will of God."The Living Buddha was silent for a time, whispered a prayer andthen continued:

"Urga, the ancient nest of Buddhism. . . . With Jenghiz Khan onhis European conquest went out the Olets or Kalmucks. Theyremained there almost four hundred years, living on the plains ofRussia. Then they returned to Mongolia because the Yellow Lamascalled them to light against the Kings of Tibet, Lamas of the 'redcaps,' who were oppressing the people. The Kalmucks helped theYellow Faith but they realized that Lhasa was too distant from thewhole world and could not spread our Faith throughout the earth.

Consequently the Kalmuck Gushi Khan brought up from Tibet a holyLama, Undur Gheghen, who had visited the 'King of the World.' Fromthat day the Bogdo Gheghen has continuously lived in Urga, aprotector of the freedom of Mongolia and of the Chinese Emperors ofMongolian origin. Undur Gheghen was the first Living Buddha in theland of the Mongols. He left to us, his successors, the ring ofJenghiz Khan, which was sent by Kublai Khan to Dalai Lama in returnfor the miracle shown by the Lama Turjo Gamba; also the top of theskull of a black, mysterious miracle worker from India, using whichas a bowl, Strongtsan, King of Tibet, drank during the templeceremonies one thousand six hundred years ago; as well as anancient stone statue of Buddha brought from Delhi by the founder ofthe Yellow Faith, Paspa."The Bogdo clapped his hands and one of the secretaries took from ared kerchief a big silver key with which he unlocked the chest withthe seals. The Living Buddha slipped his hand into the chest anddrew forth a small box of carved ivory, from which he took out andshowed to me a large gold ring set with a magnificent ruby carvedwith the sign of the swastika.

"This ring was always worn on the right hand of the Khans Jenghizand Kublai," said the Bogdo.

When the secretary had closed the chest, the Bogdo ordered him tosummon his favorite Maramba, whom he directed to read some pagesfrom an ancient book lying on the table. The Lama began to readmonotonously.

"When Gushi Khan, the Chief of all the Olets or Kalmucks, finishedthe war with the 'Red Caps' in Tibet, he carried out with him themiraculous 'black stone' sent to the Dalai Lama by the 'King of theWorld.' Gushi Khan wanted to create in Western Mongolia thecapital of the Yellow Faith; but the Olets at that time were at warwith the Manchu Emperors for the throne of China and suffered onedefeat after another. The last Khan of the Olets, Amursana, ranaway into Russia but before his escape sent to Urga the sacred'black stone.' While it remained in Urga so that the Living Buddhacould bless the people with it, disease and misfortune nevertouched the Mongolians and their cattle. About one hundred yearsago, however, some one stole the sacred stone and since thenBuddhists have vainly sought it throughout the whole world. Withits disappearance the Mongol people began gradually to die.""Enough!" ordered Bogdo Gheghen. "Our neighbors hold us incontempt. They forget that we were their sovereigns but wepreserve our holy traditions and we know that the day of triumph ofthe Mongolian tribes and the Yellow Faith will come. We have theProtectors of the Faith, the Buriats. They are the truestguardians of the bequests of Jenghiz Khan."So spoke the Living Buddha and so have spoken the ancient books!
CHAPTER XLII
　　Prince Djam Bolon asked a Maramba to show us the library of theLiving Buddha. It is a big room occupied by scores of writers whoprepare the works dealing with the miracles of all the LivingBuddhas, beginning with Undur Gheghen and ending with those of theGheghens and Hutuktus of the different Mongol monasteries. Thesebooks are afterwards distributed through all the Lama Monasteries,temples and schools of Bandi. A Maramba read two selections:

". . . The beatific Bogdo Gheghen breathed on a mirror.

Immediately as through a haze there appeared the picture of avalley in which many thousands of thousands of warriors fought oneagainst another. . . .""The wise and favored-of-the-gods Living Buddha burned incense in abrazier and prayed to the Gods to reveal the lot of the Princes.

In the blue smoke all saw a dark prison and the pallid, torturedbodies of the dead Princes. . . ."A special book, already done into thousands of copies, dwelt uponthe miracles of the present Living Buddha. Prince Djam Bolondescribed to me some of the contents of this volume.

"There exists an ancient wooden Buddha with open eyes. He wasbrought here from India and Bogdo Gheghen placed him on the altarand began to pray. When he returned from the shrine, he orderedthe statue of Buddha brought out. All were struck with amazement,for the eyes of the God were shut and tears were falling from them;from the wooden body green sprouts appeared; and the Bogdo said:

"'Woe and joy are awaiting me. I shall become blind but Mongoliawill be free.'

"The prophecy is fulfilled. At another time, on a day when theLiving Buddha was very much excited, he ordered a basin of waterbrought and set before the altar. He called the Lamas and began topray. Suddenly the altar candles and lamps lighted themselves andthe water in the basin became iridescent."Afterwards the Prince described to me how the Bogdo Khan tellsfortunes with fresh blood, upon whose surface appear words andpictures; with the entrails of sheep and goats, according to whosedistribution the Bogdo reads the fate of the Princes and knowstheir thoughts; with stones and bones from which the Living Buddhawith great accuracy reads the lot of all men; and by the stars, inaccordance with whose positions the Bogdo prepares amulets againstbullets and disease.

"The former Bogdo Khans told fortunes only by the use of the 'blackstone,'" said the Maramba. "On the surface of the stone appearedTibetan inscriptions which the Bogdo read and thus learned the lotof whole nations."When the Maramba spoke of the black stone with the Tibetan legendsappearing on it, I at once recalled that it was possible. Insoutheastern Urianhai, in Ulan Taiga, I came across a place whereblack slate was decomposing. All the pieces of this slate werecovered with a special white lichen, which formed very complicateddesigns, reminding me of a Venetian lace pattern or whole pages ofmysterious runes. When the slate was wet, these designsdisappeared; and then, as they were dried, the patterns came outagain.

Nobody has the right or dares to ask the Living Buddha to tell hisfortune. He predicts only when he feels the inspiration or when aspecial delegate comes to him bearing a request for it from theDalai Lama or the Tashi Lama. When the Russian Czar, Alexander I,fell under the influence of Baroness Kzudener and of her extrememysticism, he despatched a special envoy to the Living Buddha toask about his destiny. The then Bogdo Khan, quite a young man,told his fortune according to the "black stone" and predicted thatthe White Czar would finish his life in very painful wanderingsunknown to all and everywhere pursued. In Russia today thereexists a popular belief that Alexander I spent the last days of hislife as a wanderer throughout Russia and Siberia under thepseudonym of Feodor Kusmitch, helping and consoling prisoners,beggars and other suffering people, often pursued and imprisoned bythe police and finally dying at Tomsk in Siberia, where even untilnow they have preserved the house where he spent his last days andhave kept his grave sacred, a place of pilgrimages and miracles.

The former dynasty of Romanoff was deeply interested in thebiography of Feodor Kusmitch and this interest fixed the opinionthat Kusmitch was really the Czar Alexander I, who had voluntarilytaken upon himself this severe penance.
CHAPTER XLIII
　　The Living Buddha does not die. His soul sometimes passes intothat of a child born on the day of his death and sometimestransfers itself to another being during the life of the Buddha.

This new mortal dwelling of the sacred spirit of the Buddha almostalways appears in the yurta of some poor Tibetan or Mongol family.

There is a reason of policy for this. If the Buddha appears in thefamily of a rich prince, it could result in the elevation of afamily that would not yield obedience to the clergy (and such hashappened in the past), while on the other hand any poor, unknownfamily that becomes the heritor of the throne of Jenghiz Khanacquires riches and is readily submissive to the Lamas. Only threeor four Living Buddhas were of purely Mongolian origin; theremainder were Tibetans.

One of the Councillors of the Living Buddha, Lama-Khan Jassaktu,told me the following:

"In the monasteries at Lhasa and Tashi Lumpo they are keptconstantly informed through letters from Urga about the health ofthe Living Buddha. When his human body becomes old and the Spiritof Buddha strives to extricate itself, special solemn servicesbegin in the Tibetan temples together with the telling of fortunesby astrology. These rites indicate the specially pious Lamas whomust discover where the Spirit of the Buddha will be re-incarnated.

For this purpose they travel throughout the whole land and observe.

Often God himself gives them signs and indications. Sometimes thewhite wolf appears near the yurta of a poor shepherd or a lamb withtwo heads is born or a meteor falls from the sky. Some Lamas takefish from the sacred lake Tangri Nor and read on the scales thereofthe name of the new Bogdo Khan; others pick out stones whose cracksindicate to them where they must search and whom they must find;while others secrete themselves in narrow mountain ravines tolisten to the voices of the spirits of the mountains, pronouncingthe name of the new choice of the Gods. When he is found, all thepossible information about his family is secretly collected andpresented to the Most Learned Tashi Lama, having the name ofErdeni, "The Great Gem of Learning," who, according to the runes ofRama, verifies the selection. If he is in agreement with it, hesends a secret letter to the Dalai Lama, who holds a specialsacrifice in the Temple of the "Spirit of the Mountains" andconfirms the election by putting his great seal on this letter ofthe Tashi Lama.

If the old Living Buddha be still alive, the name of his successoris kept a deep secret; if the Spirit of Buddha has already gone outfrom the body of Bogdo Khan, a special legation appears from Tibetwith the new Living Buddha. The same process accompanies theelection of the Gheghen and Hutuktus in all the Lamaite monasteriesin Mongolia; but confirmation of the election resides with theLiving Buddha and is only announced to Lhasa after the event.
CHAPTER XLIV
　　The present Bogdo Khan of Outer Mongolia is a Tibetan. He sprangfrom a poor family living in the neighborhood of Sakkia Kure inwestern Tibet. From earliest youth he had a stormy, quiteunaesthetic nature. He was fired with the idea of the independenceand glorification of Mongolia and the successors of Jenghiz Khan.

This gave him at once a great influence among the Lamas, Princesand Khans of Mongolia and also with the Russian Government whichalways tried to attract him to their side. He did not fear toarraign himself against the Manchu dynasty in China and always hadthe help of Russia, Tibet, the Buriats and Kirghiz, furnishing himwith money, weapons, warriors and diplomatic aid. The ChineseEmperors avoided open war with the Living God, because it mightarouse the protests of the Chinese Buddhists. At one time theysent to the Bogdo Khan a skilful doctor-poisoner. The LivingBuddha, however, at once understood the meaning of this medicalattention and, knowing the power of Asiatic poisons, decided tomake a journey through the Mongol monasteries and through Tibet.

As his substitute he left a Hubilgan who made friends with theChinese doctor and inquired from him the purposes and details ofhis arrival. Very soon the Chinese died from some unknown causeand the Living Buddha returned to his comfortable capital.

On another occasion danger threatened the Living God. It was whenLhasa decided that the Bogdo Khan was carrying out a policy tooindependent of Tibet. The Dalai Lama began negotiations withseveral Khans and Princes with the Sain Noion Khan and JassaktuKhan leading the movement and persuaded them to accelerate theimmigration of the Spirit of Buddha into another human form. Theycame to Urga where the Bogdo Khan met them with honors andrejoicings. A great feast was made for them and the conspiratorsalready felt themselves the accomplishers of the orders of theDalai Lama. However, at the end of the feast, they had differentfeelings and died with them during the night. The Living Buddhaordered their bodies sent with full honors to their families.

The Bogdo Khan knows every thought, every movement of the Princesand Khans, the slightest conspiracy against himself, and theoffender is usually kindly invited to Urga, from where he does notreturn alive.

The Chinese Government decided to terminate the line of the LivingBuddhas. Ceasing to fight with the Pontiff of Urga, the Governmentcontrived the following scheme for accomplishing its ends.

Peking invited the Pandita Gheghen from Dolo Nor and the head ofthe Chinese Lamaites, the Hutuktu of Utai, both of whom do notrecognize the supremacy of the Living Buddha, to come to thecapital. They decided, after consulting the old Buddhistic books,that the present Bogdo Khan was to be the last Living Buddha,because that part of the Spirit of Buddha which dwells in the BogdoKhans can abide only thirty-one times in the human body. BogdoKhan is the thirty-first Incarnated Buddha from the time of UndurGheghen and with him, therefore, the dynasty of the Urga Pontiffsmust cease. However, on hearing this the Bogdo Khan himself didsome research work and found in the old Tibetan manuscripts thatone of the Tibetan Pontiffs was married and his son was a naturalIncarnated Buddha. So the Bogdo Khan married and now has a son, avery capable and energetic young man, and thus the religious throneof Jenghiz Khan will not be left empty. The dynasty of the Chineseemperors disappeared from the stage of political events but theLiving Buddha continues to be a center for the Pan-Asiatic idea.

The new Chinese Government in 1920 held the Living Buddha underarrest in his palace but at the beginning of 1921 Baron Ungerncrossed the sacred Bogdo-Ol and approached the palace from therear. Tibetan riders shot the Chinese sentries with bow and arrowand afterwards the Mongols penetrated into the palace and stoletheir "God," who immediately stirred up all Mongolia and awakenedthe hopes of the Asiatic peoples and tribes.

In the great palace of the Bogdo a Lama showed me a special casketcovered with a precious carpet, wherein they keep the bulls of theDalai and Tashi Lamas, the decrees of the Russian and ChineseEmperors and the Treaties between Mongolia, Russia, China andTibet. In this same casket is the copper plate bearing themysterious sign of the "King of the World" and the chronicle of thelast vision of the Living Buddha.
CHAPTER XLV
　　"I prayed and saw that which is hidden from the eyes of the people.

A vast plain was spread before me surrounded by distant mountains.

An old Lama carried a basket filled with heavy stones. He hardlymoved. From the north a rider appeared in white robes and mountedon a white horse. He approached the Lama and said to him:

"'Give me your basket. I shall help you to carry them to theKure.'

"The Lama handed his heavy burden up to him but the rider could notraise it to his saddle so that the old Lama had to place it back onhis shoulder and continue on his way, bent under its heavy weight.

Then from the north came another rider in black robes and on ablack horse, who also approached the Lama and said:

"'Stupid! Why do you carry these stones when they are everywhereabout the ground?'

"With these words he pushed the Lama over with the breast of hishorse and scattered the stones about the ground. When the stonestouched the earth, they became diamonds. All three rushed to raisethem but not one of them could break them loose from the ground.

Then the old Lama exclaimed:

"'Oh Gods! All my life I have carried this heavy burden and now,when there was left so little to go, I have lost it. Help me,great, good Gods!'

"Suddenly a tottering old man appeared. He collected all thediamonds into the basket without trouble, cleaned the dust fromthem, raised the burden to his shoulder and started out, speakingwith the Lama:

"'Rest a while, I have just carried my burden to the goal and I amglad to help you with yours.'

"They went on and were soon out of sight, while the riders began tofight. They fought one whole day and then the whole night and,when the sun rose over the plain, neither was there, either aliveor dead, and no trace of either remained. This I saw, BogdoHutuktu Khan, speaking with the Great and Wise Buddha, surroundedby the good and bad demons! Wise Lamas, Hutuktus, Kampos, Marambasand Holy Gheghens, give the answer to my vision!"This was written in my presence on May 17th, 1921, from the wordsof the Living Buddha just as he came out of his private shrine tohis study. I do not know what the Hutuktu and Gheghens, thefortune tellers, sorcerers and clairvoyants replied to him; butdoes not the answer seem clear, if one realizes the presentsituation in Asia?

Awakened Asia is full of enigmas but it is also full of answers tothe questions set by the destiny of humankind. This greatcontinent of mysterious Pontiffs, Living Gods, Mahatmas and readersof the terrible book of Karma is awakening and the ocean ofhundreds of millions of human lives is lashed with monstrous waves.
CHAPTER XLVI
　　"Stop!" whispered my old Mongol guide, as we were one day crossingthe plain near Tzagan Luk. "Stop!"He slipped from his camel which lay down without his bidding. TheMongol raised his hands in prayer before his face and began torepeat the sacred phrase: "Om! Mani padme Hung!" The otherMongols immediately stopped their camels and began to pray.

"What has happened?" I thought, as I gazed round over the tendergreen grass, up to the cloudless sky and out toward the dreamy softrays of the evening sun.

The Mongols prayed for some time, whispered among themselves and,after tightening up the packs on the camels, moved on.

"Did you see," asked the Mongol, "how our camels moved their earsin fear? How the herd of horses on the plain stood fixed inattention and how the herds of sheep and cattle lay crouched closeto the ground? Did you notice that the birds did not fly, themarmots did not run and the dogs did not bark? The air trembledsoftly and bore from afar the music of a song which penetrated tothe hearts of men, animals and birds alike. Earth and sky ceasedbreathing. The wind did not blow and the sun did not move. Atsuch a moment the wolf that is stealing up on the sheep arrests hisstealthy crawl; the frightened herd of antelopes suddenly checksits wild course; the knife of the shepherd cutting the sheep'sthroat falls from his hand; the rapacious ermine ceases to stalkthe unsuspecting salga. All living beings in fear areinvoluntarily thrown into prayer and waiting for their fate. So itwas just now. Thus it has always been whenever the King of theWorld in his subterranean palace prays and searches out the destinyof all peoples on the earth."In this wise the old Mongol, a simple, coarse shepherd and hunter,spoke to me.

Mongolia with her nude and terrible mountains, her limitlessplains, covered with the widely strewn bones of the forefathers,gave birth to Mystery. Her people, frightened by the stormypassions of Nature or lulled by her deathlike peace, feel hermystery. Her "Red" and "Yellow Lamas" preserve and poetize hermystery. The Pontiffs of Lhasa and Urga know and possess hermystery.

On my journey into Central Asia I came to know for the first timeabout "the Mystery of Mysteries," which I can call by no othername. At the outset I did not pay much attention to it and did notattach to it such importance as I afterwards realized belonged toit, when I had analyzed and connoted many sporadic, hazy and oftencontroversial bits of evidence.

The old people on the shore of the River Amyl related to me anancient legend to the effect that a certain Mongolian tribe intheir escape from the demands of Jenghiz Khan hid themselves in asubterranean country. Afterwards a Soyot from near the Lake ofNogan Kul showed me the smoking gate that serves as the entrance tothe "Kingdom of Agharti." Through this gate a hunter formerlyentered into the Kingdom and, after his return, began to relatewhat he had seen there. The Lamas cut out his tongue in order toprevent him from telling about the Mystery of Mysteries. When hearrived at old age, he came back to the entrance of this cave anddisappeared into the subterranean kingdom, the memory of which hadornamented and lightened his nomad heart.

I received more realistic information about this from Hutuktu JelybDjamsrap in Narabanchi Kure. He told me the story of the semi-realistic arrival of the powerful King of the World from thesubterranean kingdom, of his appearance, of his miracles and of hisprophecies; and only then did I begin to understand that in thatlegend, hypnosis or mass vision, whichever it may be, is hidden notonly mystery but a realistic and powerful force capable ofinfluencing the course of the political life of Asia. From thatmoment I began making some investigations.

The favorite Gelong Lama of Prince Chultun Beyli and the Princehimself gave me an account of the subterranean kingdom.

"Everything in the world," said the Gelong, "is constantly in astate of change and transition--peoples science, religions, lawsand customs. How many great empires and brilliant cultures haveperished! And that alone which remains unchanged is Evil, the toolof Bad Spirits. More than sixty thousand years ago a Holymandisappeared with a whole tribe of people under the ground and neverappeared again on the surface of the earth. Many people, however,have since visited this kingdom, Sakkia Mouni, Undur Gheghen,Paspa, Khan Baber and others. No one knows where this place is.

One says Afghanistan, others India. All the people there areprotected against Evil and crimes do not exist within its bournes.

Science has there developed calmly and nothing is threatened withdestruction. The subterranean people have reached the highestknowledge. Now it is a large kingdom, millions of men with theKing of the World as their ruler. He knows all the forces of theworld and reads all the souls of humankind and the great book oftheir destiny. Invisibly he rules eight hundred million men on thesurface of the earth and they will accomplish his every order."Prince Chultun Beyli added: "This kingdom is Agharti. It extendsthroughout all the subterranean passages of the whole world. Iheard a learned Lama of China relating to Bogdo Khan that all thesubterranean caves of America are inhabited by the ancient peoplewho have disappeared underground. Traces of them are still foundon the surface of the land. These subterranean peoples and spacesare governed by rulers owing allegiance to the King of the World.

In it there is not much of the wonderful. You know that in the twogreatest oceans of the east and the west there were formerly twocontinents. They disappeared under the water but their people wentinto the subterranean kingdom. In underground caves there exists apeculiar light which affords growth to the grains and vegetablesand long life without disease to the people. There are manydifferent peoples and many different tribes. An old BuddhistBrahman in Nepal was carrying out the will of the Gods in making avisit to the ancient kingdom of Jenghiz,--Siam,--where he met afisherman who ordered him to take a place in his boat and sail withhim upon the sea. On the third day they reached an island where hemet a people having two tongues which could speak separately indifferent languages. They showed to him peculiar, unfamiliaranimals, tortoises with sixteen feet and one eye, huge snakes witha very tasty flesh and birds with teeth which caught fish for theirmasters in the sea. These people told him that they had come upout of the subterranean kingdom and described to him certain partsof the underground country."The Lama Turgut traveling with me from Urga to Peking gave mefurther details.

"The capital of Agharti is surrounded with towns of high priestsand scientists. It reminds one of Lhasa where the palace of theDalai Lama, the Potala, is the top of a mountain covered withmonasteries and temples. The throne of the King of the World issurrounded by millions of incarnated Gods. They are the HolyPanditas. The palace itself is encircled by the palaces of theGoro, who possess all the visible and invisible forces of theearth, of inferno and of the sky and who can do everything for thelife and death of man. If our mad humankind should begin a waragainst them, they would be able to explode the whole surface ofour planet and transform it into deserts. They can dry up theseas, transform lands into oceans and scatter the mountains intothe sands of the deserts. By his order trees, grasses and bushescan be made to grow; old and feeble men can become young andstalwart; and the dead can be resurrected. In cars strange andunknown to us they rush through the narrow cleavages inside ourplanet. Some Indian Brahmans and Tibetan Dalai Lamas during theirlaborious struggles to the peaks of mountains which no other humanfeet had trod have found there inscriptions carved on the rocks,footprints in the snow and the tracks of wheels. The blissfulSakkia Mouni found on one mountain top tablets of stone carryingwords which he only understood in his old age and afterwardspenetrated into the Kingdom of Agharti, from which he brought backcrumbs of the sacred learning preserved in his memory. There inpalaces of wonderful crystal live the invisible rulers of all piouspeople, the King of the World or Brahytma, who can speak with Godas I speak with you, and his two assistants, Mahytma, knowing thepurposes of future events, and Mahynga, ruling the causes of theseevents.""The Holy Panditas study the world and all its forces. Sometimesthe most learned among them collect together and send envoys tothat place where the human eyes have never penetrated. This isdescribed by the Tashi Lama living eight hundred and fifty yearsago. The highest Panditas place their hands on their eyes and atthe base of the brain of younger ones and force them into a deepsleep, wash their bodies with an infusion of grass and make themimmune to pain and harder than stones, wrap them in magic cloths,bind them and then pray to the Great God. The petrified youths liewith eyes and ears open and alert, seeing, hearing and rememberingeverything. Afterwards a Goro approaches and fastens a long,steady gaze upon them. Very slowly the bodies lift themselves fromthe earth and disappear. The Goro sits and stares with fixed eyesto the place whither he has sent them. Invisible threads join themto his will. Some of them course among the stars, observe theirevents, their unknown peoples, their life and their laws. Theylisten to their talk, read their books, understand their fortunesand woes, their holiness and sins, their piety and evil. Some aremingled with flame and see the creature of fire, quick andferocious, eternally fighting, melting and hammering metals in thedepths of planets, boiling the water for geysers and springs,melting the rocks and pushing out molten streams over the surfaceof the earth through the holes in the mountains. Others rushtogether with the ever elusive, infinitesimally small, transparentcreatures of the air and penetrate into the mysteries of theirexistence and into the purposes of their life. Others slip intothe depths of the seas and observe the kingdom of the wisecreatures of the water, who transport and spread genial warmth allover the earth, ruling the winds, waves and storms. . . . InErdeni Dzu formerly lived Pandita Hutuktu, who had come fromAgharti. As he was dying, he told about the time when he livedaccording to the will of the Goro on a red star in the east,floated in the ice-covered ocean and flew among the stormy fires inthe depths of the earth."These are the tales which I heard in the Mongolian yurtas ofPrinces and in the Lamaite monasteries. These stories were allrelated in a solemn tone which forbade challenge and doubt.

Mystery. . . .
CHAPTER XLVII
　　During my stay in Urga I tried to find an explanation of thislegend about the King of the World. Of course, the Living Buddhacould tell me most of all and so I endeavored to get the story fromhim. In a conversation with him I mentioned the name of the Kingof the World. The old Pontiff sharply turned his head toward meand fixed upon me his immobile, blind eyes. Unwillingly I becamesilent. Our silence was a long one and after it the Pontiffcontinued the conversation in such a way that I understood he didnot wish to accept the suggestion of my reference. On the faces ofthe others present I noticed expressions of astonishment and fearproduced by my words, and especially was this true of the custodianof the library of the Bogdo Khan. One can readily understand thatall this only made me the more anxious to press the pursuit.

As I was leaving the study of the Bogdo Hutuktu, I met thelibrarian who had stepped out ahead of me and asked him if he wouldshow me the library of the Living Buddha and used a very simple,sly trick with him.

"Do you know, my dear Lama," I said, "once I rode in the plain atthe hour when the King of the World spoke with God and I felt theimpressive majesty of this moment."To my astonishment the old Lama very quietly answered me: "It isnot right that the Buddhist and our Yellow Faith should conceal it.

The acknowledgment of the existence of the most holy and mostpowerful man, of the blissful kingdom, of the great temple ofsacred science is such a consolation to our sinful hearts and ourcorrupt lives that to conceal it from humankind is a sin. . . .

Well, listen," he continued, "throughout the whole year the King ofthe World guides the work of the Panditas and Goros of Agharti.

Only at times he goes to the temple cave where the embalmed body ofhis predecessor lies in a black stone coffin. This cave is alwaysdark, but when the King of the World enters it the walls arestriped with fire and from the lid of the coffin appear tongues offlame. The eldest Goro stands before him with covered head andface and with hands folded across his chest. This Goro neverremoves the covering from his face, for his head is a nude skullwith living eyes and a tongue that speaks. He is in communion withthe souls of all who have gone before.

"The King of the World prays for a long time and afterwardsapproaches the coffin and stretches out his hand. The flamesthereon burn brighter; the stripes of fire on the walls disappearand revive, interlace and form mysterious signs from the alphabetvatannan. From the coffin transparent bands of scarcely noticeablelight begin to flow forth. These are the thoughts of hispredecessor. Soon the King of the World stands surrounded by anauriole of this light and fiery letters write and write upon thewalls the wishes and orders of God. At this moment the King of theWorld is in contact with the thoughts of all the men who influencethe lot and life of all humankind: with Kings, Czars, Khans,warlike leaders, High Priests, scientists and other strong men. Herealizes all their thoughts and plans. If these be pleasing beforeGod, the King of the World will invisibly help them; if they areunpleasant in the sight of God, the King will bring them todestruction. This power is given to Agharti by the mysteriousscience of 'Om,' with which we begin all our prayers. 'Om' is thename of an ancient Holyman, the first Goro, who lived three hundredthirty thousand years ago. He was the first man to know God andwho taught humankind to believe, hope and struggle with Evil. ThenGod gave him power over all forces ruling the visible world.

"After his conversation with his predecessor the King of the Worldassembles the 'Great Council of God,' judges the actions andthoughts of great men, helps them or destroys them. Mahytma andMahynga find the place for these actions and thoughts in the causesruling the world. Afterwards the King of the World enters thegreat temple and prays in solitude. Fire appears on the altar,gradually spreading to all the altars near, and through the burningflame gradually appears the face of God. The King of the Worldreverently announces to God the decisions and awards of the'Council of God' and receives in turn the Divine orders of theAlmighty. As he comes forth from the temple, the King of the Worldradiates with Divine Light."
CHAPTER XLVIII
"Has anybody seen the King of the World?" I asked.

"Oh, yes!" answered the Lama. "During the solemn holidays of theancient Buddhism in Siam and India the King of the World appearedfive times. He rode in a splendid car drawn by white elephants andornamented with gold, precious stones and finest fabrics; he wasrobed in a white mantle and red tiara with strings of diamondsmasking his face. He blessed the people with a golden apple withthe figure of a Lamb above it. The blind received their sight, thedumb spoke, the deaf heard, the crippled freely moved and the deadarose, wherever the eyes of the King of the World rested. He alsoappeared five hundred and forty years ago in Erdeni Dzu, he was inthe ancient Sakkai Monastery and in the Narabanchi Kure.

"One of our Living Buddhas and one of the Tashi Lamas received amessage from him, written with unknown signs on golden tablets. Noone could read these signs. The Tashi Lama entered the temple,placed the golden tablet on his head and began to pray. With thisthe thoughts of the King of the World penetrated his brain and,without having read the enigmatical signs, he understood andaccomplished the message of the King.""How many persons have ever been to Agharti?" I questioned him.

"Very many," answered the Lama, "but all these people have keptsecret that which they saw there. When the Olets destroyed Lhasa,one of their detachments in the southwestern mountains penetratedto the outskirts of Agharti. Here they learned some of the lessermysterious sciences and brought them to the surface of our earth.

This is why the Olets and Kalmucks are artful sorcerers andprophets. Also from the eastern country some tribes of blackpeople penetrated to Agharti and lived there many centuries.

Afterwards they were thrust out from the kingdom and returned tothe earth, bringing with them the mystery of predictions accordingto cards, grasses and the lines of the palm. They are theGypsies. . . . Somewhere in the north of Asia a tribe existswhich is now dying and which came from the cave of Agharti,skilled in calling back the spirits of the dead as they floatthrough the air."The Lama was silent and afterwards, as though answering mythoughts, continued.

"In Agharti the learned Panditas write on tablets of stone all thescience of our planet and of the other worlds. The Chinese learnedBuddhists know this. Their science is the highest and purest.

Every century one hundred sages of China collect in a secret placeon the shores of the sea, where from its depths come out onehundred eternally-living tortoises. On their shells the Chinesewrite all the developments of the divine science of the century."As I write I am involuntarily reminded of a tale of an old Chinesebonze in the Temple of Heaven at Peking. He told me that tortoiseslive more than three thousand years without food and air and thatthis is the reason why all the columns of the blue Temple of Heavenwere set on live tortoises to preserve the wood from decay.

"Several times the Pontiffs of Lhasa and Urga have sent envoys tothe King of the World," said the Lama librarian, "but they couldnot find him. Only a certain Tibetan leader after a battle withthe Olets found the cave with the inscription: 'This is the gateto Agharti.' From the cave a fine appearing man came forth,presented him with a gold tablet bearing the mysterious signs andsaid:

"'The King of the World will appear before all people when the timeshall have arrived for him to lead all the good people of the worldagainst all the bad; but this time has not yet come. The most evilamong mankind have not yet been born.

"Chiang Chun Baron Ungern sent the young Prince Pounzig to seek outthe King of the World but he returned with a letter from the DalaiLama from Lhasa. When the Baron sent him a second time, he did notcome back."
CHAPTER XLIX
The Hutuktu of Narabanchi related the following to me, when Ivisited him in his monastery in the beginning of 1921:

"When the King of the World appeared before the Lamas, favored ofGod, in this monastery thirty years ago he made a prophecy for thecoming half century. It was as follows:

"'More and more the people will forget their souls and care abouttheir bodies. The greatest sin and corruption will reign on theearth. People will become as ferocious animals, thirsting for theblood and death of their brothers. The 'Crescent' will grow dimand its followers will descend into beggary and ceaseless war. Itsconquerors will be stricken by the sun but will not progress upwardand twice they will be visited with the heaviest misfortune, whichwill end in insult before the eye of the other peoples. The crownsof kings, great and small, will fall . . . one, two, three, four,five, six, seven, eight. . . . There will be a terrible battleamong all the peoples. The seas will become red . . . the earthand the bottom of the seas will be strewn with bones . . . kingdomswill be scattered . . . whole peoples will die . . . hunger,disease, crimes unknown to the law, never before seen in the world.

The enemies of God and of the Divine Spirit in man will come.

Those who take the hand of another shall also perish. Theforgotten and pursued shall rise and hold the attention of thewhole world. There will be fogs and storms. Bare mountains shallsuddenly be covered with forests. Earthquakes will come. . . .

Millions will change the fetters of slavery and humiliation forhunger, disease and death. The ancient roads will be covered withcrowds wandering from one place to another. The greatest and mostbeautiful cities shall perish in fire . . . one, two, three. . . .

Father shall rise against son, brother against brother and motheragainst daughter. . . . Vice, crime and the destruction of bodyand soul shall follow. . . . Families shall be scattered. . . .

Truth and love shall disappear. . . . From ten thousand men oneshall remain; he shall be nude and mad and without force and theknowledge to build him a house and find his food. . . . He willhowl as the raging wolf, devour dead bodies, bite his own flesh andchallenge God to fight. . . . All the earth will be emptied. Godwill turn away from it and over it there will be only night anddeath. Then I shall send a people, now unknown, which shall tearout the weeds of madness and vice with a strong hand and will leadthose who still remain faithful to the spirit of man in the fightagainst Evil. They will found a new life on the earth purified bythe death of nations. In the fiftieth year only three greatkingdoms will appear, which will exist happily seventy-one years.

Afterwards there will be eighteen years of war and destruction.

Then the peoples of Agharti will come up from their subterraneancaverns to the surface of the earth.'"* * * * * *Afterwards, as I traveled farther through Eastern Mongolia and toPeking, I often thought:

"And what if . . . ? What if whole peoples of different colors,faiths and tribes should begin their migration toward the West?"And now, as I write these final lines, my eyes involuntarily turnto this limitless Heart of Asia over which the trails of mywanderings twine. Through whirling snow and driving clouds of sandof the Gobi they travel back to the face of the Narabanchi Hutuktuas, with quiet voice and a slender hand pointing to the horizon, heopened to me the doors of his innermost thoughts:

"Near Karakorum and on the shores of Ubsa Nor I see the huge,multi-colored camps, the herds of horses and cattle and the blueyurtas of the leaders. Above them I see the old banners of JenghizKhan, of the Kings of Tibet, Siam, Afghanistan and of IndianPrinces; the sacred signs of all the Lamaite Pontiffs; the coats ofarms of the Khans of the Olets; and the simple signs of the northMongolian tribes. I do not hear the noise of the animated crowd.

The singers do not sing the mournful songs of mountain, plain anddesert. The young riders are not delighting themselves with theraces on their fleet steeds. . . . There are innumerable crowds ofold men, women and children and beyond in the north and west, asfar as the eye can reach, the sky is red as a flame, there is theroar and crackling of fire and the ferocious sound of battle. Whois leading these warriors who there beneath the reddened sky areshedding their own and others' blood? Who is leading these crowdsof unarmed old men and women? I see severe order, deep religiousunderstanding of purposes, patience and tenacity . . . a new greatmigration of peoples, the last march of the Mongols. . . ."Karma may have opened a new page of history!

And what if the King of the World be with them?

But this greatest Mystery of Mysteries keeps its own deep silence.

GLOSSARYAgronome.--Russian for trained agriculturalist.

Amour sayn.--Good-bye.

Ataman.--Headman or chief of the Cossacks.

Bandi.--Pupil or student of theological school in the Buddhistfaith.

Buriat.--The most civilized Mongol tribe, living in the valley ofthe Selenga in Transbaikalia.

Chahars.--A warlike Mongolian tribe living along the Great Wall ofChina in Inner Mongolia.

Chaidje.--A high Lamaite priest, but not an incarnate god.

Cheka.--The Bolshevik Counter-Revolutionary Committee, the mostrelentless establishment of the Bolsheviki, organized for thepersecution of the enemies of the Communistic government in Russia.

Chiang Chun.--Chinese for "General"--Chief of all Chinese troops inMongolia.

Dalai Lama.--The first and highest Pontiff of the Lamaite or"Yellow Faith," living at Lhasa in Tibet.

Djungar.--A West Mongolian tribe.

Dugun.--Chinese commercial and military post.

Dzuk.--Lie down!

Fang-tzu.--Chinese for "house."Fatil.--A very rare and precious root much prized in Chinese andTibetan medicines.

Felcher.--Assistant of a doctor (surgeon).

Gelong.--Lamaite priest having the right to offer sacrifices toGod.

Getul.--The third rank in the Lamaite monks.

Goro.--The high priest of the King of the World.

Hatyk.--An oblong piece of blue (or yellow) silk cloth, presentedto honored guests, chiefs, Lamas and gods. Also a kind of coin,worth from 25 to 50 cents.

Hong.--A Chinese mercantile establishment.

Hun.--The lowest rank of princes.

Hunghutze.--Chinese brigand.

Hushun.--A fenced enclosure, containing the houses, paddocks,stores, stables, etc., of Russian Cossacks in Mongolia.

Hutuktu.--The highest rank of Lamaite monks; the form of anyincarnated god; holy.

Imouran.--A small rodent like a gopher.

Izubr.--The American elk.

Kabarga.--The musk antelope.

Kalmuck.--A Mongolian tribe, which migrated from Mongolia underJenghiz Khan (where they were known as the Olets or Eleuths), andnow live in the Urals and on the shores of the Volga in Russia.

Kanpo.--The abbot of a Lamaite monastery, a monk; also the firstrank of "white" clergy (not monks).

Kanpo-Gelong.--The highest rank of Gelongs (q.v.); an honorarytitle.

Karma.--The Buddhist materialization of the idea of Fate, aparallel with the Greek and Roman Nemesis (Justice).

Khan.--A king.

Khayrus.--A kind of trout.

Khirghiz.--The great Mongol nation living between the river Irtishin western Siberia, Lake Balhash and the Volga in Russia.

Kuropatka.--A partridge.

Lama.--The common name for a Lamaite priest.

Lan.--A weight of silver or gold equivalent to about one-eleventhof a Russian pound, or 9/110ths of a pound avoirdupois.

Lanhon.--A round bottle of clay.

Maramba.--A doctor of theology.

Merin.--The civil chief of police in every district of the Soyotcountry in Urianhai.

"Om! Mani padme Hung!".--"Om" has two meanings. It is the name ofthe first Goro and also means: "Hail!" In this connection:

"Hail! Great Lama in the Lotus Flower!"Mende.--Soyot greeting--"Good Day."Nagan-hushun.--A Chinese vegetable garden or enclosure in Mongolia.

Naida.--A form of fire used by Siberian woodsmen.

Noyon.--A Prince or Khan. In polite address: "Chief,""Excellency."Obo.--The sacred and propitiatory signs in all the dangerous placesin Urianhai and Mongolia.

Olets.--Vid: Kalmuck.

Om.--The name of the first Goro (q.v.) and also of the mysterious,magic science of the Subterranean State. It means, also: "Hail!"Orochons.--A Mongolian tribe, living near the shores of the AmurRiver in Siberia.

Oulatchen.--The guard for the post horses; official guide.

Ourton.--A post station, where the travelers change horses andoulatchens.

Pandita.--The high rank of Buddhist monks.

Panti.--Deer horns in the velvet, highly prized as a Tibetan andChinese medicine.

Pogrom.--A wholesale slaughter of unarmed people; a massacre.

Paspa.--The founder of the Yellow Sect, predominating now in theLamaite faith.

Sait.--A Mongolian governor.

Salga.--A sand partridge.

Sayn.--"Good day!" "Good morning!" "Good evening!" All right;good.

Taiga.--A Siberian word for forest.

Taimen.--A species of big trout, reaching 120 pounds.

Ta Lama.--Literally: "the great priest," but it means now "adoctor of medicine."Tashur.--A strong bamboo stick.

Turpan.--The red wild goose or Lama-goose.

Tzagan.--White.

Tzara.--A document, giving the right to receive horses andoulatchens at the post stations.

Tsirik.--Mongolian soldiers mobilized by levy.

Tzuren.--A doctor-poisoner.

Ulan.--Red.

Urga.--The name of the capital of Mongolia; (2) a kind of Mongolianlasso.

Vatannen.--The language of the Subterranean State of the King ofthe World.

Wapiti.--The American elk.

Yurta.--The common Mongolian tent or house, made of felt.

Zahachine.--A West Mongolian wandering tribe.

Zaberega.--The ice-mountains formed along the shores of a river inspring.

Zikkurat.--A high tower of Babylonish style.

The End