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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beasts, Men and Gods, by Ferdinand Ossendowski
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Beasts, Men and Gods
+
+Author: Ferdinand Ossendowski
+
+Translator: Lewis Stanton Palen
+
+Release Date: May 13, 2006 [EBook #2067]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEASTS, MEN AND GODS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+BEASTS, MEN AND GODS
+
+by Ferdinand Ossendowski
+
+
+
+
+EXPLANATORY NOTE
+
+
+When one of the leading publicists in America, Dr. Albert Shaw of
+the Review of Reviews, after reading the manuscript of Part I of
+this volume, characterized the author as "The Robinson Crusoe of the
+Twentieth Century," he touched the feature of the narrative which is at
+once most attractive and most dangerous; for the succession of trying
+and thrilling experiences recorded seems in places too highly colored
+to be real or, sometimes, even possible in this day and generation.
+I desire, therefore, to assure the reader at the outset that Dr.
+Ossendowski is a man of long and diverse experience as a scientist and
+writer with a training for careful observation which should put
+the stamp of accuracy and reliability on his chronicle. Only the
+extraordinary events of these extraordinary times could have thrown one
+with so many talents back into the surroundings of the "Cave Man" and
+thus given to us this unusual account of personal adventure, of great
+human mysteries and of the political and religious motives which are
+energizing the "Heart of Asia."
+
+My share in the work has been to induce Dr. Ossendowski to write his
+story at this time and to assist him in rendering his experiences into
+English.
+
+LEWIS STANTON PALEN.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PART I. DRAWING LOTS WITH DEATH
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.      INTO THE FORESTS
+
+II.     THE SECRET OF MY FELLOW TRAVELER
+
+III.    THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE
+
+IV.     A FISHERMAN
+
+V.      A DANGEROUS NEIGHBOR
+
+VI.     A RIVER IN TRAVAIL
+
+VII.    THROUGH SOVIET SIBERIA
+
+VIII.   THREE DAYS ON THE EDGE OF A PRECIPICE
+
+IX.     TO THE SAYANS AND SAFETY
+
+X.      THE BATTLE OF THE SEYBI
+
+XI.     THE BARRIER OF RED PARTISANS
+
+XII.    IN THE COUNTRY OF ETERNAL PEACE
+
+XIII.   MYSTERIES, MIRACLES AND A NEW FIGHT
+
+XIV.    THE RIVER OF THE DEVIL
+
+XV.     THE MARCH OF GHOSTS
+
+XVI.    IN MYSTERIOUS TIBET
+
+
+
+PART II. THE LAND OF DEMONS
+
+
+XVII.    MYSTERIOUS MONGOLIA
+
+XVIII.   THE MYSTERIOUS LAMA AVENGER
+
+XIX.     WILD CHAHARS
+
+XX.      THE DEMON OF JAGISSTAI
+
+XXI.     THE NEST OF DEATH
+
+XXII.    AMONG THE MURDERERS
+
+XXIII.   ON A VOLCANO
+
+XXIV.    A BLOODY CHASTISEMENT
+
+XXV.     HARASSING DAYS
+
+XXVI.    THE BAND OF WHITE HUNGHUTZES
+
+XXVII.   MYSTERY IN A SMALL TEMPLE
+
+XXVIII.  THE BREATH OF DEATH
+
+
+
+PART III. THE STRAINING HEART OF ASIA
+
+
+XXIX.    ON THE ROAD OF GREAT CONQUERORS
+
+XXX.     ARRESTED!
+
+XXXI.    TRAVELING BY "URGA"
+
+XXXII.   AN OLD FORTUNE TELLER
+
+XXXIII.  "DEATH FROM THE WHITE MAN WILL STAND BEHIND YOU"
+
+XXXIV.   THE HORROR OF WAR!
+
+XXXV.    IN THE CITY OF LIVING GODS, 30,000 BUDDHAS AND 60,000 MONKS
+
+XXXVI.   A SON OF CRUSADERS AND PRIVATEERS
+
+XXXVII.  THE CAMP OF MARTYRS
+
+XXXVIII. BEFORE THE FACE OF BUDDHA
+
+XXXIX.   "THE MAN WITH A HEAD LIKE A SADDLE"
+
+
+
+PART IV. THE LIVING BUDDHA
+
+
+XL.     IN THE BLISSFUL GARDEN OF A THOUSAND JOYS
+
+XLI.    THE DUST OF CENTURIES
+
+XLII.   THE BOOKS OF MIRACLES
+
+XLIII.  THE BIRTH OF THE LIVING BUDDHA
+
+XLIV.   A PAGE IN THE HISTORY OF THE PRESENT LIVING BUDDHA
+
+XLV.    THE VISION OF THE LIVING BUDDHA OF MAY 17, 1921
+
+
+
+PART V. MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES--THE KING OF THE WORLD
+
+
+XLVI.   THE SUBTERRANEAN KINGDOM
+
+XLVII.  THE KING OF THE WORLD BEFORE THE FACE OF GOD
+
+XLVIII. REALITY OR RELIGIOUS FANTASY?
+
+XLIX.   THE PROPHECY OF THE KING OF THE WORLD IN 1890
+
+
+There are times, men and events about which History alone can record the
+final judgments; contemporaries and individual observers must only write
+what they have seen and heard. The very truth demands it.
+
+TITUS LIVIUS.
+
+
+
+
+BEASTS, MEN AND GODS
+
+
+
+
+Part I
+
+DRAWING LOTS WITH DEATH
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTO THE FORESTS
+
+
+In the beginning of the year 1920 I happened to be living in the
+Siberian town of Krasnoyarsk, situated on the shores of the River
+Yenisei, that noble stream which is cradled in the sun-bathed mountains
+of Mongolia to pour its warming life into the Arctic Ocean and to whose
+mouth Nansen has twice come to open the shortest road for commerce from
+Europe to the heart of Asia. There in the depths of the still Siberian
+winter I was suddenly caught up in the whirling storm of mad revolution
+raging all over Russia, sowing in this peaceful and rich land vengeance,
+hate, bloodshed and crimes that go unpunished by the law. No one could
+tell the hour of his fate. The people lived from day to day and left
+their homes not knowing whether they should return to them or whether
+they should be dragged from the streets and thrown into the dungeons of
+that travesty of courts, the Revolutionary Committee, more terrible
+and more bloody than those of the Mediaeval Inquisition. We who were
+strangers in this distraught land were not saved from its persecutions
+and I personally lived through them.
+
+One morning, when I had gone out to see a friend, I suddenly received
+the news that twenty Red soldiers had surrounded my house to arrest me
+and that I must escape. I quickly put on one of my friend's old hunting
+suits, took some money and hurried away on foot 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 twenty miles from the town and set me down
+in the midst of a deeply forested region. On the way I bought a rifle,
+three hundred cartridges, an ax, a knife, a sheepskin overcoat, tea,
+salt, dry bread and a kettle. I penetrated into the heart of the wood to
+an abandoned half-burned hut. From this day I became a genuine trapper
+but I never dreamed that I should follow this role as long as I did.
+The next morning I went hunting and had the good fortune to kill two
+heathcock. I found deer tracks in plenty and felt sure that I should not
+want for food. However, my sojourn in this place was not for long. Five
+days later when I returned from hunting I noticed smoke curling up out
+of the chimney of my hut. I stealthily crept along closer to the cabin
+and discovered two saddled horses with soldiers' rifles slung to the
+saddles. Two disarmed men were not dangerous for me with a weapon, so I
+quickly rushed across the open and entered the hut. From the bench
+two soldiers started up in fright. They were Bolsheviki. On their big
+Astrakhan caps I made out the red stars of Bolshevism and on their
+blouses the dirty red bands. We greeted each other and sat down. The
+soldiers had already prepared tea and so we drank this ever welcome
+hot beverage and chatted, suspiciously eyeing one another the while.
+To disarm this suspicion on their part, I told them that I was a hunter
+from a distant place and was living there because I found it good
+country for sables. They announced to me that they were soldiers of
+a detachment sent from a town into the woods to pursue all suspicious
+people.
+
+"Do you understand, 'Comrade,'" said one of them to me, "we are looking
+for counter-revolutionists to shoot them?"
+
+I knew it without his explanations. All my forces were directed to
+assuring them by my conduct that I was a simple peasant hunter and that
+I had nothing in common with the counter-revolutionists. I was thinking
+also all the time of where I should go after the departure of my
+unwelcome guests. It grew dark. In the darkness their faces were even
+less attractive. They took out bottles of vodka and drank and the
+alcohol began to act very noticeably. They talked loudly and constantly
+interrupted each other, boasting how many bourgeoisie they had killed
+in Krasnoyarsk and how many Cossacks they had slid under the ice in the
+river. Afterwards they began to quarrel but soon they were tired and
+prepared to sleep. All of a sudden and without any warning the door of
+the hut swung wide open and the steam of the heated room rolled out in
+a great cloud, out of which seemed to rise like a genie, as the steam
+settled, the figure of a tall, gaunt peasant impressively crowned with
+the high Astrakhan cap and wrapped in the great sheepskin overcoat that
+added to the massiveness of his figure. He stood with his rifle ready
+to fire. Under his girdle lay the sharp ax without which the Siberian
+peasant cannot exist. Eyes, quick and glimmering like those of a wild
+beast, fixed themselves alternately on each of us. In a moment he took
+off his cap, made the sign of the 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. It is still
+hot."
+
+The stranger, running his eyes constantly over all of us and over
+everything about the room, began to take off his skin coat after putting
+his rifle in the corner. He was dressed in an old leather blouse with
+trousers of the same material tucked in high felt boots. His face was
+quite young, fine and tinged with something akin to mockery. His white,
+sharp teeth glimmered as his eyes penetrated everything they rested
+upon. I noticed the locks of grey in his shaggy head. Lines of
+bitterness circled his mouth. They showed his life had been very stormy
+and full of danger. He took 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 under their
+heavy brows and as calmly answered:
+
+"One meets a different folk these days and with an ax it is much safer."
+
+He began to drink tea very greedily, while his eyes looked at me many
+times with sharp inquiry in them and ran often round the whole cabin in
+search of the answer to his doubts. Very slowly and with a guarded drawl
+he answered all the questions of the soldiers between gulps of the
+hot tea, then he turned his glass upside down as evidence of having
+finished, placed on the top of it the small lump of sugar left and
+remarked to the soldiers:
+
+"I am going out to look after my horse and will unsaddle your horses for
+you also."
+
+"All right," exclaimed the half-sleeping young soldier, "bring in our
+rifles as well."
+
+The soldiers were lying on the benches and thus left for us only the
+floor. The stranger soon came back, brought the rifles and set them 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 and my guest soon
+were snoring but I did not sleep for thinking of what next to do.
+Finally as dawn was breaking, I dozed off only to awake in the
+broad daylight and find my stranger gone. I went outside 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,'" he
+whispered, "and afterwards I shall come back."
+
+I did not ask him anything further and told him only that I would wait
+for him. He took off the bags that had been hanging on his saddle, put
+them away out of sight in the burned corner of the cabin, looked over
+the stirrups and bridle and, as he finished saddling, smiled and said:
+
+"I am ready. I'm going to awake my 'comrades.'" Half an hour after the
+morning drink of tea, my three guests took their leave. I remained out
+of doors and was engaged in splitting wood for my stove. Suddenly,
+from a distance, rifle shots rang through the woods, first one, then
+a second. Afterwards all was still. From the place near the shots a
+frightened covey of blackcock broke and came over me. At the top of a
+high pine a jay cried out. I listened for a long time to see if anyone
+was approaching my hut but everything was still.
+
+On the lower Yenisei it grows dark very early. I built a fire in my
+stove and began to cook my soup, constantly listening for every noise
+that came from beyond the cabin walls. Certainly I understood at all
+times very clearly that death was ever beside me and might claim me
+by means of either man, beast, cold, accident or disease. I knew that
+nobody was near me to assist and that all my help was in the hands of
+God, in the power of my hands and feet, in the accuracy of my aim and in
+my presence of mind. However, I listened in vain. I did not notice the
+return of my stranger. Like yesterday he appeared all at once on the
+threshold. Through the steam I made out his laughing eyes and his fine
+face. He stepped into the hut and dropped with a good deal of noise
+three rifles into the corner.
+
+"Two horses, two rifles, two saddles, two boxes of dry bread, half a
+brick of tea, a small bag of salt, fifty cartridges, two overcoats, two
+pairs of boots," laughingly he counted out. "In truth today I had a very
+successful hunt."
+
+In astonishment I looked at him.
+
+"What are you surprised at?" he laughed. "Komu nujny eti tovarischi?
+Who's got any use for these fellows? Let us have tea and go to sleep.
+Tomorrow I will guide you to another safer place and then go on."
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE SECRET OF MY FELLOW TRAVELER
+
+
+At the dawn of day we started forth, leaving my first place of refuge.
+Into the bags we packed our personal estate and fastened them on one of
+the saddles.
+
+"We must go four or five hundred versts," very calmly announced my
+fellow traveler, who called himself "Ivan," a name that meant nothing to
+my mind or heart in this land where every second man bore the same.
+
+"We shall travel then for a very long time," I remarked regretfully.
+
+"Not more than one week, perhaps even less," he answered.
+
+That night we spent in the woods under the wide spreading branches of
+the fir trees. It was my first night in the forest under the open sky.
+How many like this I was destined to spend in the year and a half of my
+wanderings! During the day there was very sharp cold. Under the hoofs of
+the horses the frozen snow crunched and the balls that formed and broke
+from their hoofs rolled away over the crust with a sound like crackling
+glass. The heathcock flew from the trees very idly, hares loped slowly
+down the beds of summer streams. At night the wind began to sigh and
+whistle as it bent the tops of the trees over our heads; while below it
+was still and 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 his ax,
+laid one on the other with the squared faces together and then drove in
+a big wedge at the butt ends which separated them three or four inches.
+Then we placed live coals in this opening and watched the 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 is the
+'naida' of the gold prospectors. We prospectors wandering in the 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 it on
+two uprights toward the naida. Above our roof of boughs and our naida
+spread the branches of protecting fir. More branches were brought and
+spread on the snow under the roof, on these were placed the saddle
+cloths and together they made a seat for Ivan to rest on and to take off
+his outer garments down to his blouse. Soon I noticed his forehead was
+wet with perspiration and that he was wiping 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 soon lay
+down to sleep without any covering at all, while through the branches
+of the fir trees and our roof glimmered the cold bright stars and
+just beyond the naida raged a stinging cold, from which we were cosily
+defended. After this night I was no longer frightened by the cold.
+Frozen during the days on horseback, I was thoroughly warmed through
+by the genial naida at night and rested from my heavy overcoat, sitting
+only in my blouse under the roofs of pine and fir and sipping the ever
+welcome tea.
+
+During our daily treks Ivan related to me the stories of his wanderings
+through the mountains and woods of Transbaikalia in the search for gold.
+These stories were very lively, full of attractive adventure, danger and
+struggle. Ivan was a type of these prospectors who have discovered in
+Russia, and perhaps in other countries, the richest gold mines, while
+they themselves remain beggars. He evaded telling me why he left
+Transbaikalia to come to the Yenisei. I understood from his manner that
+he wished to keep his own counsel and so did not press him. However, the
+blanket of secrecy covering this part of his mysterious life was one day
+quite fortuitously lifted a bit. We were already at the objective point
+of our trip. The whole day we had traveled with difficulty through a
+thick growth of willow, approaching the shore of the big right branch of
+the Yenisei, the Mana. Everywhere we saw runways packed hard by the feet
+of the hares living in this bush. These small white denizens of the wood
+ran to and fro in front of us. Another time we saw the red tail of a fox
+hiding behind a rock, watching us and the unsuspecting hares at the same
+time.
+
+Ivan had been silent for a long while. Then he spoke up and told me that
+not far from there was a small branch of the Mana, at the mouth of which
+was a hut.
+
+"What do you say? Shall we push on there or spend the night by the
+naida?"
+
+I suggested going to the hut, because I wanted to wash and because it
+would be agreeable to spend the night under a genuine roof again. Ivan
+knitted his brows but acceded.
+
+It was growing dark when we approached a hut surrounded by the dense
+wood and wild raspberry bushes. It contained one small room with two
+microscopic windows and a gigantic Russian stove. Against the building
+were the remains of a shed and a cellar. We fired the stove and prepared
+our modest dinner. Ivan drank from the bottle inherited from the
+soldiers and in a short time was very eloquent, with brilliant eyes and
+with hands that coursed frequently and rapidly through his long locks.
+He began relating to me the story of one of his adventures, but suddenly
+stopped and, with fear in his 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 we were
+silent through long hours and consequently I was not astonished. 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 many woods
+and over many mountains we traveled in search of gold and we had an
+agreement to divide all we got into even shares. But Gavronsky suddenly
+went out to the 'Taiga' on the Yenisei and disappeared. After five years
+we heard that he had found a very rich gold mine and had become a rich
+man; then later that he and his wife with him had been murdered. . . ."
+Ivan was still for a moment and then continued:
+
+"This is their old hut. Here he lived with his wife and somewhere on
+this river he took out his gold. But he told nobody where. All the
+peasants around here know that he had a lot of money in the bank
+and that he had been selling gold to the Government. Here they were
+murdered."
+
+Ivan stepped to the stove, took out a flaming stick and, bending over,
+lighted a spot on the floor.
+
+"Do you see these spots on the floor and on the wall? It is their
+blood, the blood of Gavronsky. They died but they did not disclose the
+whereabouts of the gold. It was taken out of a deep hole which they had
+drifted into the bank of the river and was hidden in the cellar under
+the shed. But Gavronsky gave nothing away. . . . AND LORD HOW I TORTURED
+THEM! I burned them with fire; I bent back their fingers; I gouged out
+their eyes; but Gavronsky died in silence."
+
+He thought for a moment, then quickly said to me:
+
+"I have heard all this from the peasants." He threw the log into the
+stove and flopped down on the bench. "It's time to sleep," he snapped
+out, and was still.
+
+I listened for a long time to his breathing and his whispering to
+himself, as he turned from one side to the other and smoked his pipe.
+
+In the morning we left this scene of so much suffering and crime and on
+the seventh day of our journey we came to the dense cedar wood growing
+on the foothills of a long chain of mountains.
+
+"From here," Ivan explained to me, "it is eighty versts to the next
+peasant settlement. The people come to these woods to gather cedar nuts
+but only in the autumn. Before then you will not meet anyone. Also you
+will find many birds and beasts and a plentiful supply of nuts, so that
+it will be possible for you to live here. Do you see this river? When
+you want to find the peasants, follow along this stream and it will
+guide you to them."
+
+Ivan helped me build my mud hut. But it was not the genuine mud hut. It
+was one formed by the tearing out of the roots of a great cedar, that
+had probably fallen in some wild storm, which made for me the deep hole
+as the room for my house and flanked this on one side with a wall of
+mud held fast among the upturned roots. Overhanging ones formed also
+the framework into which we interlaced the poles and branches to make
+a roof, finished off with stones for stability and snow for warmth.
+The front of the hut was ever open but was constantly protected by the
+guardian naida. In that snow-covered den I spent two months like summer
+without seeing any other human being and without touch with the outer
+world where such important events were transpiring. In that grave under
+the roots of the fallen tree I lived before the face of nature with my
+trials and my anxiety about my family as my constant companions, and in
+the 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 saw him again.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE
+
+
+Then I was alone. Around me only the wood of eternally green cedars
+covered with snow, the bare bushes, the frozen river and, as far as I
+could see out through the branches and the trunks of the trees, only
+the great ocean of cedars and snow. Siberian taiga! How long shall I be
+forced to live here? Will the Bolsheviki find me here or not? Will my
+friends know where I am? What is happening to my family? These questions
+were constantly as burning fires in my brain. Soon I understood why Ivan
+guided me so long. We passed many secluded places on the journey, far
+away from all people, where Ivan could have safely left me but he always
+said that 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 wood and
+in the mountains covered with these forests which stretched to every
+horizon. The cedar is a splendid, powerful tree with wide-spreading
+branches, an eternally green tent, attracting to its shelter every
+living being. Among the cedars was always effervescent life. There the
+squirrels were continually kicking up a row, jumping from tree to tree;
+the nut-jobbers cried shrilly; a flock of bullfinches with carmine
+breasts swept through the trees like a flame; or a small army of
+goldfinches broke in and filled the amphitheatre of trees with their
+whistling; a hare scooted from one tree trunk to another and behind him
+stole up the hardly visible shadow of a white ermine, crawling on the
+snow, and I watched for a long time the black spot which I knew to be
+the tip of his tail; carefully treading the hard crusted snow approached
+a noble deer; at last there visited me from the top of the mountain the
+king of the Siberian forest, the brown bear. All this distracted me
+and carried away the black thoughts from my brain, encouraging me to
+persevere. It was good for me also, though difficult, to climb to the
+top of my mountain, which reached up out of the forest and from which I
+could look away to the range of red on the horizon. It was the red cliff
+on the farther bank of the Yenisei. There lay the country, the towns,
+the enemies and the friends; and there was even the point which I
+located as the place of my family. It was the reason why Ivan had guided
+me here. And as the days in this solitude slipped by I began to miss
+sorely this companion who, though the murderer of Gavronsky, had taken
+care of me like a father, always saddling my horse for me, cutting the
+wood and doing everything to make me comfortable. He had spent many
+winters alone with nothing except his thoughts, face to face with
+nature--I should say, before the face of God. He had tried the horrors
+of solitude and had acquired facility in bearing them. I thought
+sometimes, if I had to meet my end in this place, that I would spend my
+last strength to drag myself to the top of the mountain to die there,
+looking away over the infinite sea of mountains and forest toward the
+point where my loved ones were.
+
+However, the same life gave me much matter for reflection and yet more
+occupation for the physical side. It was a continuous struggle for
+existence, hard and severe. The hardest work was the preparation of the
+big logs for the naida. The fallen trunks of the trees were covered
+with snow and frozen to the ground. I was forced to dig them out and
+afterwards, with the help of a long stick as a lever, to move them from
+their place. For facilitating this work I chose the mountain for my
+supplies, where, although difficult to climb, it was easy to roll the
+logs down. Soon I made a splendid discovery. I found near my den a great
+quantity of larch, this beautiful yet sad forest giant, fallen during
+a big storm. The trunks were covered with snow but remained attached to
+their stumps, where they had broken off. When I cut into these stumps
+with the ax, the head buried itself and could with difficulty be drawn
+and, investigating the reason, I found them filled with pitch. Chips of
+this wood needed only a spark to set them aflame and ever afterward I
+always had a stock of them to light up quickly for warming my hands on
+returning from the hunt or for boiling my tea.
+
+The greater part of my days was occupied with the hunt. I came to
+understand that I must distribute my work over every day, for it
+distracted me from my sad and depressing thoughts. Generally, after
+my morning tea, I went into the forest to seek heathcock or blackcock.
+After killing one or two I began to prepare my dinner, which never had
+an extensive menu. It was constantly game soup with a handful of dried
+bread and afterwards endless cups of tea, this essential beverage of the
+woods. Once, during my search for birds, I heard a rustle in the dense
+shrubs and, carefully peering about, I discovered the points of a deer's
+horns. I crawled along toward the spot but the watchful animal heard my
+approach. With a great noise he rushed from the bush and I saw him very
+clearly, after he had run about three hundred steps, stop on the slope
+of the mountain. It was a splendid animal with dark grey coat, with
+almost a black spine and as large as a small cow. I laid my rifle across
+a branch and fired. The animal made a great leap, ran several steps and
+fell. With all my strength I ran to him but he got up again and half
+jumped, half dragged himself up the mountain. The second shot stopped
+him. I had won a warm carpet for my den and a large stock of meat. The
+horns I fastened up among the branches of my wall, where they made a
+fine hat rack.
+
+I cannot forget one very interesting but wild picture, which was staged
+for me several kilometres from my den. There was a small swamp covered
+with grass and cranberries scattered through it, where the blackcock
+and sand partridges usually came to feed on the berries. I approached
+noiselessly behind the bushes and saw a whole flock of blackcock
+scratching in the snow and picking out the berries. While I was
+surveying this scene, suddenly one of the blackcock jumped up and the
+rest of the frightened flock immediately flew away. To my astonishment
+the first bird began going straight up in a spiral flight and afterwards
+dropped directly down dead. When I approached there sprang from the
+body of the slain cock a rapacious ermine that hid under the trunk of a
+fallen tree. The bird's neck was badly torn. I then understood that the
+ermine had charged the cock, fastened itself on his neck and had been
+carried by the bird into the air, as he sucked the blood from its
+throat, and had been the cause of the heavy fall back to the earth.
+Thanks to his aeronautic ability I saved one cartridge.
+
+So I lived fighting for the morrow and more and more poisoned by hard
+and bitter thoughts. The days and weeks passed and soon I felt the
+breath of warmer winds. On the open places the snow began to thaw. In
+spots the little rivulets of water appeared. Another day I saw a fly
+or a spider awakened after the hard winter. The spring was coming. I
+realized that in spring it was impossible to go out from the forest.
+Every river overflowed its banks; the swamps became impassable; all the
+runways of the animals turned into beds for streams of running water.
+I understood that until summer I was condemned to a continuation of my
+solitude. Spring very quickly came into her rights and soon my mountain
+was free from snow and was covered only with stones, the trunks of birch
+and aspen trees and the high cones of ant hills; the river in places
+broke its covering of ice and was coursing full with foam and bubbles.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A FISHERMAN
+
+
+One day during the hunt, I approached the bank of the river and noticed
+many very large fish with red backs, as though filled with blood. They
+were swimming on the surface enjoying the rays of the sun. When the
+river was entirely free from ice, these fish appeared in enormous
+quantities. Soon I realized that they were working up-stream for the
+spawning season in the smaller rivers. I thought to use a plundering
+method of catching, forbidden by the law of all countries; but all the
+lawyers and legislators should be lenient to one who lives in a den
+under the roots of a fallen tree and dares to break their rational laws.
+
+Gathering many thin birch and aspen trees I built in the bed of the
+stream a weir which the fish could not pass and soon I found them
+trying to jump over it. Near the bank I left a hole in my barrier about
+eighteen inches below the surface and fastened on the up-stream side a
+high basket plaited from soft willow twigs, into which the fish came as
+they passed the hole. Then I stood cruelly by and hit them on the head
+with a strong stick. All my catch were over thirty pounds, some more
+than eighty. This variety of fish is called the taimen, is of the trout
+family and is the best in the Yenisei.
+
+After two weeks the fish had passed and my basket gave me no more
+treasure, so I began anew the hunt.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A DANGEROUS NEIGHBOR
+
+
+The hunt became more and more profitable and enjoyable, as spring
+animated everything. In the morning at the break of day the forest was
+full of voices, strange and undiscernible to the inhabitant of the 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 hen scratching in the
+fallen leaves below. It was very easy to approach this full-feathered
+Caruso and with a shot to bring him down from his more poetic to his
+more utilitarian duties. His going out was an euthanasia, for he was in
+love and heard nothing. Out in the clearing the blackcocks with their
+wide-spread spotted tails were fighting, while the hens strutting
+near, craning and chattering, probably some gossip about their fighting
+swains, watched and were delighted with them. From the distance flowed
+in a stern and deep roar, yet full of tenderness and love, the mating
+call of the deer; while from the crags above came down the short and
+broken voice of the mountain buck. Among the bushes frolicked the hares
+and often near them a red fox lay flattened to the ground watching his
+chance. I never heard any wolves and they are usually not found in the
+Siberian regions covered with mountains and forest.
+
+But there was another beast, who was my neighbor, and one of us had
+to go away. One day, coming back from the hunt with a big heathcock, I
+suddenly noticed among the trees a black, moving mass. I stopped and,
+looking very attentively, saw a bear, digging away at an ant-hill.
+Smelling me, he snorted violently, and very quickly shuffled away,
+astonishing me with the speed of his clumsy gait. The following morning,
+while still lying under my overcoat, I was attracted by a noise behind
+my den. I peered out very carefully and discovered the bear. He stood on
+his hind legs and was noisily sniffing, investigating the question as
+to what living creature had adopted the custom of the bears of housing
+during the winter under the trunks of fallen trees. I shouted and struck
+my kettle with the ax. My early visitor made off with all his energy;
+but his visit did not please me. It was very early in the spring that
+this occurred and the bear should not yet have left his hibernating
+place. He was the so-called "ant-eater," an abnormal type of bear
+lacking in all the etiquette of the first families of the bear clan.
+
+I knew that the "ant-eaters" were very irritable and audacious and
+quickly I prepared myself for both the defence and the charge. My
+preparations were short. I rubbed off the ends of five of my cartridges,
+thus making dum-dums out of them, a sufficiently intelligible argument
+for so unwelcome a guest. Putting on my coat I went to the place where
+I had first met the bear and where there were many ant-hills. I made
+a detour of the whole mountain, looked in all the ravines but nowhere
+found my caller. Disappointed and tired, I was approaching my shelter
+quite off my guard when I suddenly discovered the king of the forest
+himself just coming out of my lowly dwelling and sniffing all around the
+entrance to it. I shot. The bullet pierced his side. He roared with pain
+and anger and stood up on his hind legs. As the second bullet broke
+one of these, he squatted down but immediately, dragging the leg and
+endeavoring to stand upright, moved to attack me. Only the third bullet
+in his breast stopped him. He weighed about two hundred to two hundred
+fifty pounds, as near as I could guess, and was very tasty. He appeared
+at his best in cutlets but only a little less wonderful in the Hamburg
+steaks which I rolled and roasted on hot stones, watching them swell out
+into great balls that were as light as the finest souffle omelettes we
+used to have at the "Medved" in Petrograd. On this welcome addition to
+my larder I lived from then until the ground dried out and the stream
+ran down enough so that I could travel down along the river to the
+country whither Ivan had directed me.
+
+Ever traveling with the greatest precautions I made the journey down
+along the river on foot, carrying from my winter quarters all my
+household furniture and goods, wrapped up in the deerskin bag which I
+formed by tying the legs together in an awkward knot; and thus laden
+fording the small streams and wading through the swamps that lay across
+my path. After fifty odd miles of this I came to the country called
+Sifkova, where I found the cabin of a peasant named Tropoff, located
+closest to the forest that came to be my natural environment. With him I
+lived for a time.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Now in these unimaginable surroundings of safety and peace, summing up
+the total of my experience in the Siberian taiga, I make the following
+deductions. In every healthy spiritual individual of our times,
+occasions of necessity resurrect the traits of primitive man, hunter and
+warrior, and help him in the struggle with nature. It is the prerogative
+of the man with the trained mind and spirit over the untrained, who does
+not possess sufficient science and will power to carry him through. But
+the price that the cultured man must pay is that for him there exists
+nothing more awful than absolute solitude and the knowledge of complete
+isolation from human society and the life of moral and aesthetic
+culture. One step, one moment of weakness and dark madness will seize
+a man and carry him to inevitable destruction. I spent awful days of
+struggle with the cold and hunger but I passed more terrible days in
+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, they throw me
+back into a state of fear and apprehension. Moreover, I am compelled
+to observe that the people in highly civilized states give too little
+regard to the training that is useful to man in primitive conditions, in
+conditions incident to the struggle against nature for existence. It is
+the single normal way to develop a new generation of strong, healthy,
+iron men, with at the same time sensitive souls.
+
+Nature destroys the weak but helps the strong, awakening in the soul
+emotions which remain dormant under the urban conditions of modern life.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A RIVER IN TRAVAIL
+
+
+My presence in the Sifkova country was not for long but I used it in
+full measure. First, I sent a man in whom I had confidence and whom I
+considered trustworthy to my friends in the town that I had left and
+received from them linen, boots, money and a small case of first aid
+materials and essential medicines, and, what was most important, a
+passport in another name, since I was dead for the Bolsheviki. Secondly,
+in these more or less favorable conditions I reflected upon the plan for
+my future actions. Soon in Sifkova the people heard that the Bolshevik
+commissar would come for the requisition of cattle for the Red Army. It
+was dangerous to remain longer. I waited only until the Yenisei should
+lose its massive lock of ice, which kept it sealed long after the small
+rivulets had opened and the trees had taken on their spring foliage.
+For one thousand roubles I engaged a fisherman who agreed to take me
+fifty-five miles up the river to an abandoned gold mine as soon as the
+river, which had then only opened in places, should be entirely clear
+of ice. At last one morning I heard a deafening roar like a tremendous
+cannonade and ran out to find the river had lifted its great bulk of ice
+and then given way to break it up. I rushed on down to the bank, where I
+witnessed an awe-inspiring but magnificent scene. The river had brought
+down the great volume of ice that had been dislodged in the south and
+was carrying it northward under the thick layer which still covered
+parts of the stream until finally its weight had broken the winter dam
+to the north and released the whole grand mass in one last rush for the
+Arctic. The Yenisei, "Father Yenisei," "Hero Yenisei," is one of the
+longest rivers in Asia, deep and magnificent, especially through the
+middle range of its course, where it is flanked and held in canyon-like
+by great towering ranges. The huge stream had brought down whole miles
+of ice fields, breaking them up on the rapids and on isolated rocks,
+twisting them with angry swirls, throwing up sections of the black
+winter roads, carrying down the tepees built for the use of passing
+caravans which in the Winter always go from Minnusinsk to Krasnoyarsk on
+the frozen river. From time to time the stream stopped in its flow, the
+roar began and the great fields of ice were squeezed and piled upward,
+sometimes as high as thirty feet, damming up the water behind, so that
+it rapidly rose and ran out over the low places, casting on the shore
+great masses of ice. Then the power of the reinforced waters conquered
+the towering dam of ice and carried it downward with a sound like
+breaking glass. At the bends in the river and round the great rocks
+developed terrifying chaos. Huge blocks of ice jammed and jostled until
+some were thrown clear into the air, crashing against others already
+there, or were hurled against the curving cliffs and banks, tearing
+out boulders, earth and trees high up the sides. All along the low
+embankments this giant of nature flung upward with a suddenness that
+leaves man but a pigmy in force a great wall of ice fifteen to twenty
+feet high, which the peasants call "Zaberega" and through which they
+cannot get to the river without cutting out a road. One incredible feat
+I saw the giant perform, when a block many feet thick and many yards
+square was hurled through the air and dropped to crush saplings and
+little trees more than a half hundred feet from the bank.
+
+Watching this glorious withdrawal of the ice, I was filled with terror
+and revolt at seeing the awful spoils which the Yenisei bore away
+in this annual retreat. These were the bodies of the executed
+counter-revolutionaries--officers, soldiers and Cossacks of the former
+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 and hands cut off, with
+mutilated faces and bodies half burned, with broken skulls, floated and
+mingled with the blocks of ice, looking for their graves; or, turning
+in the furious whirlpools among the jagged blocks, they were ground and
+torn to pieces into shapeless masses, which the river, nauseated with
+its task, vomited out upon the islands and projecting sand bars. I
+passed the whole length of the middle Yenisei and constantly came across
+these putrifying and terrifying reminders of the work of the Bolsheviki.
+In one place at a turn of the river I saw a great heap of horses, which
+had been cast up by the ice and current, in number not less than three
+hundred. A verst below there I was sickened beyond endurance by the
+discovery of a grove of willows along the bank which had raked from the
+polluted stream and held in their finger-like drooping branches human
+bodies in all shapes and attitudes with a semblance of naturalness
+which made an everlasting picture on my distraught mind. Of this pitiful
+gruesome company I counted seventy.
+
+At last the mountain of ice passed by, followed by the muddy freshets
+that carried down the trunks of fallen trees, logs and bodies, bodies,
+bodies. The fisherman and his son put me and my luggage into their
+dugout made from an aspen tree and poled upstream along the bank.
+Poling in a swift current is very hard work. At the sharp curves we were
+compelled to row, struggling against the force of the stream and even in
+places hugging the cliffs and making headway only by clutching the rocks
+with our hands and dragging along slowly. Sometimes it took us a long
+while to do five or six metres through these rapid holes. In two days we
+reached the goal of our journey. I spent several days in this gold mine,
+where the watchman and his family were living. As they were short of
+food, they had nothing to spare for me and consequently my rifle again
+served to nourish me, as well as contributing something to my hosts.
+One day there appeared here a trained agriculturalist. I did not hide
+because during my winter in the woods I had raised a heavy beard, so
+that probably my own mother could not have recognized me. However, our
+guest was very shrewd and at once deciphered me. I did not fear him
+because I saw that he was not a Bolshevik and later had confirmation of
+this. We found common acquaintances and a common viewpoint on current
+events. He lived close to the gold mine in a small village where he
+superintended public works. We determined to escape together from
+Russia. For a long time I had puzzled over this matter and now my plan
+was ready. Knowing the position in Siberia and its geography, I decided
+that the best way to safety was through Urianhai, the northern part of
+Mongolia on the head waters of the Yenisei, then through Mongolia and
+out to the Far East and the Pacific. Before the overthrow of the Kolchak
+Government I had received a commission to investigate Urianhai and
+Western Mongolia and then, with great accuracy, I studied all the
+maps and literature I could get on this question. To accomplish this
+audacious plan I had the great incentive of my own safety.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THROUGH SOVIET SIBERIA
+
+
+After several days we started through the forest on the left bank of the
+Yenisei toward the south, avoiding the villages as much as possible in
+fear of leaving some trail by which we might be followed. Whenever we
+did have to go into them, we had a good reception at the hands of the
+peasants, who did not penetrate our disguise; and we saw that they hated
+the Bolsheviki, who had destroyed many of their villages. In one place
+we were told that a detachment of Red troops had been sent out from
+Minnusinsk to chase the Whites. We were forced to work far back from
+the shore of the Yenisei and to hide in the woods and mountains. Here we
+remained nearly a fortnight, because all this time the Red soldiers were
+traversing the country and capturing in the woods half-dressed unarmed
+officers who were in hiding from the atrocious vengeance of the
+Bolsheviki. Afterwards by accident we passed a meadow where we found the
+bodies of twenty-eight officers hung to the trees, with their faces and
+bodies mutilated. There we determined never to allow ourselves to come
+alive into the hands of the Boisheviki. To prevent this we had our
+weapons and a supply of cyanide of potassium.
+
+Passing across one branch of the Yenisei, once we saw a narrow, miry
+pass, the entrance to which was strewn with the bodies of men and
+horses. A little farther along we found a broken sleigh with rifled
+boxes and papers scattered about. Near them were also torn garments and
+bodies. Who were these pitiful ones? What tragedy was staged in this
+wild wood? We tried to guess this enigma and we began to investigate the
+documents and papers. These were official papers addressed to the Staff
+of General Pepelaieff. Probably one part of the Staff during the retreat
+of Kolchak's army went through this wood, striving to hide from the
+enemy approaching from all sides; but here they were caught by the Reds
+and killed. Not far from here we found the body of a poor unfortunate
+woman, whose condition proved clearly what had happened before relief
+came through the beneficent bullet. The body lay beside a shelter of
+branches, strewn with bottles and conserve tins, telling the tale of the
+bantering feast that had preceded the destruction of this life.
+
+The further we went to the south, the more pronouncedly hospitable the
+people became toward us and the more hostile to the Bolsheviki. At last
+we emerged from the forests and entered the spacious vastness of the
+Minnusinsk steppes, crossed by the high red mountain range called
+the "Kizill-Kaiya" and dotted here and there with salt lakes. It is a
+country of tombs, thousands of large and small dolmens, the tombs of the
+earliest proprietors of this land: pyramids of stone ten metres high,
+the marks set by Jenghiz Khan along his road of conquest and afterwards
+by the cripple Tamerlane-Temur. Thousands of these dolmens and stone
+pyramids stretch in endless rows to the north. In these plains the
+Tartars now live. They were robbed by the Bolsheviki and therefore hated
+them ardently. We openly told them that we were escaping. They gave us
+food for nothing and supplied us with guides, telling us with whom we
+might stop and where to hide in case of danger.
+
+After several days we looked down from the high bank of the Yenisei upon
+the first steamer, the "Oriol," from Krasnoyarsk to Minnusinsk, laden
+with Red soldiers. Soon we came to the mouth of the river Tuba, which
+we were to follow straight east to the Sayan mountains, where Urianhai
+begins. We thought the stage along the Tuba and its branch, the Amyl,
+the most dangerous part of our course, because the valleys of these two
+rivers had a dense population which had contributed large numbers
+of soldiers to the celebrated Communist Partisans, Schetinkin and
+Krafcheno.
+
+A Tartar ferried us and our horses over to the right bank of the Yenisei
+and afterwards sent us some Cossacks at daybreak who guided us to the
+mouth of the Tuba, where we spent the whole day in rest, gratifying
+ourselves with a feast of wild black currants and cherries.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THREE DAYS ON THE EDGE OF A PRECIPICE
+
+
+Armed with our false passports, we moved along up the valley of the
+Tuba. Every ten or fifteen versts we came across large villages of from
+one to six hundred houses, where all administration was in the hands of
+Soviets and where spies scrutinized all passers-by. We could not avoid
+these villages for two reasons. First, our attempts to avoid them
+when we were constantly meeting the peasants in the country would have
+aroused suspicion and would have caused any Soviet to arrest us and
+send us to the "Cheka" in Minnusinsk, where we should have sung our
+last song. Secondly, in his documents my fellow traveler was granted
+permission to use the government post relays for forwarding him on his
+journey. Therefore, we were forced to visit the village Soviets and
+change our horses. Our own mounts we had given to the Tartar and Cossack
+who helped us at the mouth of the Tuba, and the Cossack brought us in
+his wagon to the first village, where we received the post horses. All
+except a small minority of the peasants were against the Bolsheviki and
+voluntarily assisted us. I paid them for their help by treating their
+sick and my fellow traveler gave them practical advice in the management
+of their agriculture. Those who helped us chiefly were the old
+dissenters and the Cossacks.
+
+Sometimes we came across villages entirely Communistic but very soon we
+learned to distinguish them. When we entered a village with our horse
+bells tinkling and found the peasants who happened to be sitting in
+front of their houses ready to get up with a frown and a grumble that
+here were more new devils coming, we knew that this was a village
+opposed to the Communists and that here we could stop in safety. But,
+if the peasants approached and greeted us with pleasure, calling us
+"Comrades," we knew at once that we were among the enemy and took great
+precautions. Such villages were inhabited by people who were not the
+Siberian liberty-loving peasants but by emigrants from the Ukraine,
+idle and drunk, living in poor dirty huts, though their village
+were surrounded with the black and fertile soil of the steppes. Very
+dangerous and pleasant moments we spent in the large village of Karatuz.
+It is rather a town. In the year 1912 two colleges were opened here and
+the population reached 15,000 people. It is the capital of the South
+Yenisei Cossacks. But by now it is very difficult to recognize this
+town. The peasant emigrants and Red army murdered all the Cossack
+population and destroyed and burned most of the houses; and it is at
+present the center of Bolshevism and Communism in the eastern part of
+the Minnusinsk district. In the building of the Soviet, where we came to
+exchange our horses, there was being held a meeting of the "Cheka." We
+were immediately surrounded and questioned about our documents. We were
+not any too calm about the impression which might be made by our papers
+and attempted to avoid this 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 and scientists sweep
+the streets or clean the stables of the Red cavalry. I can talk with
+the Bolsheviki because they do not know the difference between
+'disinfection' and 'diphtheria,' 'anthracite' and 'appendicitis' and can
+talk them round in all things, even up to persuading them not to put a
+bullet into me."
+
+And so we talked the members of the "Cheka" round to everything that we
+wanted. We presented to them a bright scheme for the future development
+of their district, when we would build the roads and bridges which would
+allow them to export the wood from Urianhai, iron and gold from the
+Sayan Mountains, cattle and furs from Mongolia. What a triumph of
+creative work for the Soviet Government! Our ode occupied about an
+hour and afterwards the members of the "Cheka," forgetting about our
+documents, personally changed our horses, placed our luggage on the
+wagon and wished us success. It was the last ordeal within the borders
+of Russia.
+
+When we had crossed the valley of the river Amyl, Happiness smiled on
+us. Near the ferry we met a member of the militia from Karatuz. He had
+on his wagon several rifles and automatic pistols, mostly Mausers,
+for outfitting an expedition through Urianhai in quest of some Cossack
+officers who had been greatly troubling the Bolsheviki. We stood upon
+our guard. We could very easily have met this expedition and we were
+not quite assured that the soldiers would be so appreciative of our
+high-sounding phrases as were the members of the "Cheka." Carefully
+questioning the militiaman, we ferreted out the route their expedition
+was to take. In the next village we stayed in the same house with him. I
+had to open my luggage and suddenly I noticed his admiring glance fixed
+upon my bag.
+
+"What pleases you so much?" I asked.
+
+He whispered: "Trousers . . . Trousers."
+
+I had received from my townsmen quite new trousers of black thick
+cloth for riding. Those trousers attracted the rapt attention of the
+militiaman.
+
+"If you have no other trousers. . . ." I remarked, reflecting upon my
+plan of attack against my new friend.
+
+"No," he explained with sadness, "the Soviet does not furnish trousers.
+They tell me they also go without trousers. And my trousers are
+absolutely worn out. Look at them."
+
+With these words he threw back the corner of his overcoat and I was
+astonished how he could keep himself inside these trousers, for they
+had such large holes that they were more of a net than trousers, 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 going into
+Urianhai. There the Soviet bank-notes have no value and you will not
+be able to buy anything, where there are plenty of sables, fox-skins,
+ermine and gold dust to be purchased, which they very willingly exchange
+for rifles and cartridges. You have each of you a rifle and I will
+give you one more rifle with a hundred cartridges if you give me the
+trousers."
+
+"We do not need weapons. We are protected by our documents," I answered,
+as though I did not understand.
+
+"But no," he interrupted, "you can change that rifle there into furs 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 goes without trousers
+and for your rifle I should receive a sable and what use to me is one
+skin?"
+
+Word by word I attained to my desire. The militia-man got my trousers
+and I received a rifle with one hundred cartridges and two automatic
+pistols with forty cartridges each. We were armed now so that we could
+defend ourselves. Moreover, I persuaded the happy possessor 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 one for
+packing, engaged a guide, purchased dried bread, meat, salt and butter
+and, after resting twenty-four hours, began our trip up the Amyl toward
+the Sayan Mountains on the border of Urianhai. There we hoped not to
+meet Bolsheviki, either sly or silly. In three days from the mouth of
+the Tuba we passed the last Russian village near the Mongolian-Urianhai
+border, three days of constant contact with a lawless population, of
+continuous danger and of the ever present possibility of fortuitous
+death. Only iron will power, presence of mind and dogged tenacity
+brought us through all the dangers and saved us from rolling back down
+our precipice of adventure, at whose foot lay so many others who
+had failed to make this same climb to freedom which we had just
+accomplished. Perhaps they lacked the persistence or the presence of
+mind, perhaps they had not the poetic ability to sing odes about "roads,
+bridges and gold mines" or perhaps they simply had no spare trousers.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+TO THE SAYANS AND SAFETY
+
+
+Dense virgin wood surrounded us. In the high, already yellow grass the
+trail wound hardly noticeable in among bushes and trees just beginning
+to drop their many colored leaves. It is the old, already forgotten Amyl
+pass road. Twenty-five years ago it carried the provisions, machinery
+and workers for the numerous, now abandoned, gold mines of the
+Amyl valley. The road now wound along the wide and rapid Amyl, then
+penetrated into the deep forest, guiding us round the swampy ground
+filled with those dangerous Siberian quagmires, through the dense
+bushes, across mountains and wide meadows. Our guide probably did not
+surmise our real intention and sometimes, apprehensively looking down at
+the ground, would say:
+
+"Three riders on horses with shoes on have passed here. Perhaps they
+were soldiers."
+
+His anxiety was terminated when he discovered that the tracks led off 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 to travel
+in company."
+
+But the peasant only stroked his beard and laughed. Evidently he was not
+taken in by our statement.
+
+We passed on the way a gold mine that had been formerly planned and
+equipped on splendid lines but was now abandoned and the buildings all
+destroyed. The Bolsheviki had taken away the machinery, supplies and
+also some parts of the buildings. Nearby stood a dark and gloomy church
+with windows broken, the crucifix torn off and the tower burned, a
+pitifully typical emblem of the Russia of today. The starving family of
+the watchman lived at the mine in continuing danger and privation. They
+told us that in this forest region were wandering about a band of Reds
+who were robbing anything that remained on the property of the gold
+mine, were working the pay dirt in the richest part of the mine and,
+with a little gold washed, were going to drink and gamble it away in
+some distant villages where the peasants were making the forbidden vodka
+out of berries and potatoes and selling it for its weight in gold. A
+meeting with this band meant death. After three days we crossed the
+northern ridge of the Sayan chain, passed the border river Algiak and,
+after this day, were abroad in the territory of Urianhai.
+
+This wonderful land, rich in most diverse forms of natural wealth, is
+inhabited by a branch of the Mongols, which is now only sixty thousand
+and which is gradually dying off, speaking a language quite different
+from any of the other dialects of this folk and holding as their life
+ideal the tenet of "Eternal Peace." Urianhai long ago became the scene
+of administrative attempts by Russians, Mongols and Chinese, all of whom
+claimed sovereignty over the region whose unfortunate inhabitants, the
+Soyots, had to pay tribute to all three of these overlords. It was due
+to this that the land was not an entirely safe refuge for us. We had
+heard already from our militiaman about the expedition preparing to go
+into Urianhai and from the peasants we learned that the villages along
+the Little Yenisei and farther south had formed Red detachments, who
+were robbing and killing everyone who fell into their hands. Recently
+they had killed sixty-two officers attempting to pass Urianhai into
+Mongolia; robbed and killed a caravan of Chinese merchants; and killed
+some German war prisoners who escaped from the Soviet paradise. On the
+fourth day we reached a swampy valley where, among open forests, stood a
+single Russian house. Here we took leave of our guide, who hastened away
+to get back before the snows should block his road over the Sayans. The
+master of the establishment agreed to guide us to the Seybi River for
+ten thousand roubles in Soviet notes. Our horses were tired and we were
+forced to give them a rest, so we decided to spend twenty-four hours
+here.
+
+We were drinking tea when the daughter of our host cried:
+
+"The Soyots are coming!" Into the room with their rifles and pointed
+hats came suddenly four of them.
+
+"Mende," they grunted to us and then, without ceremony, began examining
+us critically. Not a button or a seam in our entire outfit escaped their
+penetrating gaze. Afterwards one of them, who appeared to be the local
+"Merin" or governor, began to investigate our political views. Listening
+to our criticisms of the Bolsheviki, he was evidently pleased and began
+talking freely.
+
+"You are good people. You do not like Bolsheviki. We will help you."
+
+I thanked him and presented him with the thick silk cord which I was
+wearing as a girdle. Before night they left us saying that they would
+return in the morning. It grew dark. We went to the meadow to look after
+our exhausted horses grazing there and came back to the house. We were
+gaily chatting with the hospitable host when suddenly we heard horses'
+hoofs in the court and raucous voices, followed by the immediate entry
+of five Red soldiers armed with rifles and swords. Something unpleasant
+and cold rolled up into my throat and my heart hammered. We knew the
+Reds as our enemies. These men had the red stars on their Astrakhan caps
+and red triangles on their sleeves. They were members of the detachment
+that was out to look for Cossack officers. Scowling at us they took
+off their overcoats and sat down. We first opened the conversation,
+explaining the purpose of our journey in exploring for bridges, roads
+and gold mines. From them we then learned that their commander would
+arrive in a little while with seven more men and that they would take
+our host at once as a guide to the Seybi River, where they thought the
+Cossack officers must be hidden. Immediately I remarked that our affairs
+were moving fortunately and that we must travel along together. One of
+the soldiers replied that that would depend upon the "Comrade-officer."
+
+During our conversation the Soyot Governor entered. Very attentively he
+studied again the new arrivals and then asked: "Why did 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 the cup
+of tea the hostess was preparing for him. The conversation ceased. 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, we shall
+come and take them." And with these words he turned and went out.
+
+I noticed an expression of apprehension on the faces of the soldiers.
+Shortly one was sent out as a messenger while the others sat silent with
+bowed heads. Late in the night the officer arrived with his other seven
+men. As he received the report about the Soyot, he knitted his brows and
+said:
+
+"It's a bad mess. We must travel through the swamp where a Soyot will be
+behind every mound watching us."
+
+He seemed really very anxious and his trouble fortunately prevented him
+from paying much attention to us. I began to calm him and promised on
+the morrow to arrange this matter with the Soyots. The officer was a
+coarse brute and a silly man, desiring strongly to be promoted for the
+capture of the Cossack officers, and feared that the Soyot could prevent
+him from reaching the Seybi.
+
+At daybreak we started together with the Red detachment. When we had
+made about fifteen kilometers, we discovered behind the bushes two
+riders. They were Soyots. On their backs were their flint rifles.
+
+"Wait for me!" I said to the officer. "I shall go for a parley with
+them."
+
+I went forward with all the speed of my horse. One of the horsemen was
+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 that they
+may think we are parleying."
+
+After a moment I shook the hand of the Soyot and returned to the
+soldiers.
+
+"All right," I exclaimed, "we can continue our journey. No hindrance
+will come from the Soyots."
+
+We moved forward and, when we were crossing a large meadow, we espied at
+a long distance two Soyots riding at full gallop right up the side of a
+mountain. Step by step I accomplished the necessary manoeuvre to bring
+me and my fellow traveler somewhat behind the detachment. Behind
+our backs remained only one soldier, very brutish in appearance and
+apparently very hostile to us. I had time to whisper to my companion
+only one word: "Mauser," and saw that he very carefully unbuttoned the
+saddle bag and drew out a little the handle of his pistol.
+
+Soon I understood why these soldiers, excellent woodsmen as they were,
+would not attempt to go to the Seybi without a guide. All the country
+between the Algiak and the Seybi is formed by high and narrow mountain
+ridges separated by deep swampy valleys. It is a cursed and dangerous
+place. At first our horses mired to the knees, lunging about and
+catching their feet in the roots of bushes in the quagmires, then
+falling and pinning us under their sides, breaking parts of their
+saddles and bridles. Then we would go in up to the riders' knees. My
+horse went down once with his whole breast and head under the red fluid
+mud and we just saved it and no more. Afterwards the officer's horse
+fell with him so that he bruised his head on a stone. My companion
+injured one knee against a tree. Some of the men also fell and were
+injured. The horses breathed heavily. Somewhere dimly and gloomily
+a crow cawed. Later the road became worse still. The trail followed
+through the same miry swamp but everywhere the road was blocked with
+fallen tree trunks. The horses, jumping over the trunks, would land in
+an unexpectedly deep hole and flounder. We and all the soldiers were
+covered with blood and mud and were in great fear of exhausting our
+mounts. For a long distance we had to get down and lead them. At last we
+entered a broad meadow covered with bushes and bordered with rocks. Not
+only horses but riders also began to sink to their middle in a quagmire
+with apparently no bottom. The whole surface of the meadow was but a
+thin layer of turf, covering a lake with black putrefying water. When
+we finally learned to open our column and proceed at big intervals, we
+found we could keep on this surface that undulated like rubber ice and
+swayed the bushes up and down. In places the earth buckled up and broke.
+
+Suddenly, three shots sounded. They were hardly more than the report of
+a Flobert rifle; but they were genuine shots, because the officer and
+two soldiers fell to the ground. The other soldiers grabbed their rifles
+and, with fear, looked about for the enemy. Four more were soon unseated
+and suddenly I noticed our rearguard brute raise his rifle and aim
+right at me. However, my Mauser outstrode 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 of warfare it is
+never safe to leave any of the enemy to renew hostilities later with
+overwhelming forces.
+
+After an hour of very difficult road we began to ascend the mountain 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 who killed the
+Bolsheviki. These Tartars were running their herds of cattle and horses
+down out of Russia through Urianhai to Mongolia. They had as their
+guide and negotiator a Kalmuck Lamaite. The following morning we were
+approaching a small settlement of Russian colonists and noticed some
+horsemen looking out from the woods. One of our young and brave Tartars
+galloped off at full speed toward these men in the wood but soon wheeled
+and returned with a reassuring smile.
+
+"All right," he exclaimed, laughing, "keep right on."
+
+We continued our travel on a good broad road along a high wooden fence
+surrounding a meadow filled with a fine herd of wapiti or izubr, which
+the Russian colonists breed for the horns that are so valuable in the
+velvet for sale to Tibetan and Chinese medicine dealers. These horns,
+when boiled and dried, are called panti and are 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 broke off,
+looking at her husband.
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BATTLE ON THE SEYBI
+
+
+Constant dangers develop one's watchfulness and keenness of perception.
+We did not take off our clothes nor unsaddle our horses, tired as
+we were. I put my Mauser inside my coat and began to look about and
+scrutinize the people. The first thing I discovered was the butt end of
+a rifle under the pile of pillows always found on the peasants' large
+beds. Later I noticed the employees of our host constantly coming into
+the room for orders from him. They did not look like simple peasants,
+although they had long beards and were dressed very dirtily. They
+examined me with very attentive eyes and did not leave me and my friend
+alone with the host. We could not, however, make out anything. But then
+the 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 that now
+for one honest man we have ten thousand murderers and robbers."
+
+With this we began chatting more freely. It appeared that our host knew
+that a band of Bolsheviki would attack him in the search for the band of
+Cossack officers who were living in his house on and off. He had heard
+also about the "total loss" of one detachment. However, it did not
+entirely calm the old man to have our news, for he had heard of the
+large detachment of Reds that was coming from the border of the Usinsky
+District in pursuit of the Tartars who were escaping with their cattle
+south to Mongolia.
+
+"From one minute to another we are awaiting them with fear," said
+our host to me. "My Soyot has come in and announced that the Reds are
+already crossing the Seybi and the Tartars are prepared for the fight."
+
+We immediately went out to look over our saddles and packs and then took
+the horses and hid them in the bushes not far off. We made ready our
+rifles and pistols and took posts in the enclosure to wait for our
+common enemy. An hour of trying impatience passed, when one of the
+workmen came running in from the wood and whispered:
+
+"They are crossing our swamp. . . . The fight is on."
+
+In fact, like an answer to his words, came through the woods the sound
+of a single rifle-shot, followed closely by the increasing rat-tat-tat
+of the mingled guns. Nearer to the house the sounds gradually came. Soon
+we heard the beating of the horses' hoofs and the brutish cries of the
+soldiers. In a moment three of them burst into the house, from off
+the road where they were being raked now by the Tartars from both
+directions, cursing violently. One of them shot at our host. He stumbled
+along and fell on his knee, as his hand reached out toward the rifle
+under his pillows.
+
+"Who are YOU?" brutally blurted out one of the soldiers, turning to us
+and raising his rifle. We answered with Mausers and successfully, for
+only one soldier in the rear by the door escaped, and that merely to
+fall into the hands of a workman in the courtyard who strangled him.
+The fight had begun. The soldiers called on their comrades for help.
+The Reds were strung along in the ditch at the side of the road, three
+hundred paces from the house, returning the fire of the surrounding
+Tartars. Several soldiers ran to the house to help their comrades but
+this time we heard the regular volley of the workmen of our host. They
+fired as though in a manoeuvre calmly and accurately. Five Red soldiers
+lay on the road, while the rest now kept to their ditch. Before long we
+discovered that they began crouching and crawling out toward the end of
+the ditch nearest the wood where they had left their horses. The sounds
+of shots became more and more distant and soon we saw fifty 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 the Bolsheviks. They asked
+permission to go on with us, to which we agreed.
+
+When my friend and I continued our trip we had a guard of eight armed
+officers and three horses with packs. We crossed a beautiful valley
+between the Rivers Seybi and Ut. Everywhere we saw splendid grazing
+lands with numerous herds upon them, but in two or three houses along
+the road we did not find anyone living. All had hidden away in fear
+after hearing the sounds of the fight with the Reds. The following day
+we went up over the high chain of mountains called Daban and, traversing
+a great area of burned timber where our trail lay among the fallen
+trees, we began to descend into a valley hidden from us by the
+intervening foothills. There behind these hills flowed the Little
+Yenisei, the last large river before reaching Mongolia proper. About ten
+kilometers from the river we spied a column of smoke rising up out of
+the wood. Two of the officers slipped away to make an investigation.
+For a long time they did not return and we, fearful lest something had
+happened, moved off carefully in the direction of the smoke, all ready
+for a fight if necessary. We finally came near enough to hear the voices
+of many people and among them the loud laugh of one of our scouts.
+In the middle of a meadow we made out a large tent with two tepees of
+branches and around these a crowd of fifty or sixty men. When we broke
+out of the forest all of them rushed forward with a joyful welcome
+for us. It appeared that it was a large camp of Russian officers and
+soldiers who, after their escape from Siberia, had lived in the houses
+of the Russian colonists and rich 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. "In Urianhai an
+order has been issued from the Military Commissioner to mobilize all
+men over twenty-eight years of age and everywhere toward the town of
+Belotzarsk are moving detachments of these Partisans. They are robbing
+the colonists and peasants and killing everyone that falls into their
+hands. We are hiding here from them."
+
+The whole camp counted only sixteen rifles and three bombs, belonging
+to a Tartar who was traveling with his Kalmuck guide to his herds in
+Western Mongolia. We explained the aim of our journey and our intention
+to pass through Mongolia to the nearest port on the Pacific.
+The officers asked me to bring them out with us. I agreed. Our
+reconnaissance proved to us that there were no Partisans near the house
+of the peasant who was to ferry us over the Little Yenisei. We moved off
+at once in order to pass as quickly as possible this dangerous zone of
+the Yenisei and to sink ourselves into the forest beyond. It snowed but
+immediately thawed. Before evening a cold north wind sprang up, bringing
+with it a small blizzard. Late in the night our party reached the river.
+Our colonist welcomed us and offered at once to ferry us over and swim
+the horses, although there was ice still floating which had come down
+from the head-waters of the stream. During this conversation there was
+present one of the peasant's workmen, red-haired and squint-eyed. He
+kept moving around all the time and suddenly disappeared. Our host
+noticed it and, with fear in his voice, said:
+
+"He has run to the village and will guide the Partisans here. We must
+cross immediately."
+
+Then began the most terrible night of my whole journey. We proposed
+to the colonist that he take only our food and ammunition in the boat,
+while we would swim our horses across, in order to save the time of
+the many trips. The width of the Yenisei in this place is about three
+hundred metres. The stream is very rapid and the shore breaks away
+abruptly to the full depth of the stream. The night was absolutely dark
+with not a star in the sky. The wind in whistling swirls drove the snow
+and sleet sharply against our faces. Before us flowed the stream of
+black, rapid water, carrying down thin, jagged blocks of ice, twisting
+and grinding in the whirls and eddies. For a long time my horse refused
+to take the plunge down the steep bank, snorted and braced himself. With
+all my strength I lashed him with my whip across his neck until, with a
+pitiful groan, he threw himself into the cold stream. We both went all
+the way under and I hardly kept my seat in the saddle. Soon I was some
+metres from the shore with my horse stretching his head and neck far
+forward in his efforts and snorting and blowing incessantly. I felt the
+every motion of his feet churning the water and the quivering of his
+whole body under me in this trial. At last we reached the middle of the
+river, where the current became exceedingly rapid and began to carry us
+down with it. Out of the ominous darkness I heard the shoutings of my
+companions and the dull cries of fear and suffering from the horses. I
+was chest deep in the icy water. Sometimes the floating blocks struck
+me; sometimes the waves broke up over my head and face. I had no time to
+look about or to feel the cold. The animal wish to live took possession
+of me; I became filled with the thought that, if my horse's strength
+failed in his struggle with the stream, I must perish. All my attention
+was turned to his efforts and to his quivering fear. Suddenly he groaned
+loudly and I noticed he was sinking. The water evidently was over his
+nostrils, because the intervals of his frightened snorts through the
+nostrils became longer. A big block of ice struck his head and turned
+him so that he was swimming right downstream. With difficulty I reined
+him around toward the shore but felt now that his force was gone. His
+head several times disappeared under the swirling surface. I had no
+choice. I slipped from the saddle and, holding this by my left hand,
+swam with my right beside my mount, encouraging him with my shouts. For
+a time he floated with lips apart and his teeth set firm. In his widely
+opened eyes was indescribable fear. As soon as I was out of the saddle,
+he had at once risen in the water and swam more calmly and rapidly.
+At last under the hoofs of my exhausted animal I heard the stones.
+One after another my companions came up on the shore. The well-trained
+horses had brought all their burdens over. Much farther down our
+colonist landed with the supplies. Without a moment's loss we packed
+our things on the horses and continued our journey. The wind was growing
+stronger and colder. At the dawn of day the cold was intense. Our soaked
+clothes froze and became hard as leather; our teeth chattered; and in
+our eyes showed the red fires of fever: but we traveled on to put as
+much space as we could between ourselves and the Partisans. Passing
+about fifteen kilometres through the forest we emerged into an open
+valley, from which we could see the opposite bank of the Yenisei. It was
+about eight o'clock. Along the road on the other shore wound the black
+serpent-like line of riders and wagons which we made out to be a column
+of Red soldiers with their transport. We dismounted and hid in the
+bushes in order to avoid attracting their attention.
+
+All the day with the thermometer at zero and below we continued our
+journey, only at night reaching the mountains covered with larch
+forests, where we made big fires, dried our clothes and warmed ourselves
+thoroughly. The hungry horses did not leave the fires but stood right
+behind us with drooped heads and slept. Very early in 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 of tea,
+began to relate very interesting and important news. It appeared that
+the Red Partisans, moving from the mountains Tannu Ola, occupied with
+their outposts all the border of Mongolia to stop 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 the Buret Hei and reach the south shore of Lake
+Kosogol, which is already in the territory of Mongolia proper. It was
+very unpleasant news. To the first Mongol post in Samgaltai was not more
+than sixty miles from our camp, while to Kosogol by the shortest line
+not less than two hundred seventy-five. The horses my friend and I were
+riding, after having traveled more than six hundred miles over hard
+roads and without proper food or rest, could scarcely make such an
+additional distance. But, reflecting upon the situation and studying my
+new fellow travelers, I determined not to attempt to pass the Tannu Ola.
+They were nervous, morally weary men, badly dressed and armed and most
+of them were without weapons. I knew that during a fight there is no
+danger so great as that of disarmed men. They are easily caught
+by panic, lose their heads and infect all the others. Therefore, I
+consulted with my friends and decided to go to Kosogol. Our company
+agreed to follow us. After luncheon, consisting of soup with big
+lumps of meat, dry bread and tea, we moved out. About two o'clock the
+mountains began to rise up before us. They were the northeast outspurs
+of the Tannu Ola, behind which lay the Valley of Buret Hei.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE BARRIER OF RED PARTISANS
+
+
+In a valley between two sharp ridges we discovered a herd of yaks and
+cattle being rapidly driven off to the north by ten mounted Soyots.
+Approaching us warily they finally revealed that Noyon (Prince) of Todji
+had ordered them to drive the herds along the Buret Hei into Mongolia,
+apprehending the pillaging of the Red Partisans. They proceeded but
+were informed by some Soyot hunters that this part of the Tannu Ola was
+occupied by the Partisans from the village of Vladimirovka. Consequently
+they were forced to return. We inquired from them the whereabouts of
+these outposts and how many Partisans were holding the mountain pass
+over into Mongolia. We sent out the Tartar and the Kalmuck for a
+reconnaissance while all of us prepared for the further advance by
+wrapping the feet of our horses in our shirts and by muzzling their
+noses with straps and bits of rope so that they could not neigh. It
+was dark when our investigators returned and reported to us that about
+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 to the camp was a little over
+a mile. Our trail lay between the two outposts. From the top of the
+mountain one could plainly see the two posts and could shoot them all.
+When we had come near to the top of this mountain, I left our party and,
+taking with me my friend, the Tartar, the Kalmuck and two of the young
+officers, advanced. From the mountain I saw about five hundred yards
+ahead two fires. At each of the fires sat a soldier with his rifle and
+the others slept. I did not want to fight with the Partisans but we
+had to do away with these outposts and that without firing or we never
+should get through the pass. I did not believe the Partisans could
+afterwards track us because the whole trail was thickly marked 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 along
+through the bushes behind my friend in order to help him in case of
+need; but I am bound to admit that I was not at all worried about him.
+He was about seven feet tall and so strong that, when a horse used to
+refuse sometimes to take the bit, he would wrap his arm around its neck,
+kick its forefeet out from under it and throw it so that he could easily
+bridle it on the ground. When only a hundred paces remained, I stood
+behind the bushes and watched. I could see very distinctly the fire and
+the dozing sentinel. He sat with his rifle on his knees. His companion,
+asleep beside him, did not move. Their white felt boots were plainly
+visible to me. For a 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 and all was still. Our sentinel slowly raised his head. But just
+at this moment the huge body of my friend rose up and blanketed the fire
+from me and in a twinkling the feet of the sentinel flashed through the
+air, as my companion had seized him by the throat and swung him
+clear into the bushes, where both figures disappeared. In a second he
+re-appeared, flourished the rifle of the Partisan over his head and I
+heard the dull blow which was followed by an absolute calm. He came back
+toward me and, confusedly smiling, said:
+
+"It is done. God and the Devil! When I was a boy, my mother wanted to
+make a priest out of me. When I grew up, I became a trained agronome in
+order . . . to strangle the people and smash their 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 we reached
+the top of the Tannu Ola and descended again into a valley covered
+with dense bushes and twined with a whole network of small rivers and
+streams. It was the headwaters of the Buret Hei. About one o'clock we
+stopped and began to feed our horses, as the grass just there was
+very good. Here we thought ourselves in safety. We saw many calming
+indications. On the mountains were seen the grazing herds of reindeers
+and yaks and approaching Soyots confirmed our supposition. Here behind
+the Tannu Ola the Soyots had not seen the Red soldiers. We presented to
+these Soyots a brick 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, we sat
+by the fire and deliberated upon our further progress. There developed
+a sharp controversy between two sections of our company, one led by a
+Colonel who with four officers were so impressed by the absence of Reds
+south of the Tannu Ola that they determined to work westward to Kobdo
+and then on to the camp on the Emil River where the Chinese authorities
+had interned six thousand of the forces of General Bakitch, which had
+come over into Mongolian territory. My friend and I with sixteen of the
+officers chose to carry through our old plan to strike for the shores
+of Lake Kosogol and thence out to the Far East. As neither side could
+persuade the other to abandon its ideas, our company was divided and the
+next day at noon we took leave of one another. It turned out that our
+own wing of eighteen had many fights and difficulties on the way, which
+cost us the lives of six of our comrades, but that the remainder of us
+came through to the goal of our journey so closely knit by the ties of
+devotion which fighting and struggling for our very lives entailed
+that we have ever preserved for one another the warmest feelings of
+friendship. The other group under Colonel Jukoff perished. He met a big
+detachment of Red cavalry and was defeated by them in two fights. Only
+two officers escaped. They related to me this sad news and the details
+of the fights when we met four months later in Urga.
+
+Our band of eighteen riders with five packhorses moved up the valley
+of the Buret Hei. We floundered in the swamps, passed innumerable miry
+streams, were frozen by the cold winds and were soaked through by the
+snow and sleet; but we persisted indefatigably toward the south end of
+Kosogol. As a guide our Tartar led us confidently over these trails well
+marked by the feet of many cattle being run out of Urianhai to Mongolia.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN THE COUNTRY OF ETERNAL PEACE
+
+
+The inhabitants of Urianhai, the Soyots, are proud of being the genuine
+Buddhists and of retaining the pure doctrine of holy Rama and the deep
+wisdom of Sakkia-Mouni. They are the eternal enemies of war and of the
+shedding of blood. Away back in the thirteenth century they preferred to
+move out from their native land and take refuge in the north rather than
+fight or become a part of the empire of the bloody conqueror Jenghiz
+Khan, who wanted to add to his forces these wonderful horsemen and
+skilled archers. Three times in their history they have thus trekked
+northward to avoid struggle and now no one can say that on the hands
+of the Soyots there has ever been seen human blood. With their love of
+peace they struggled against the evils of war. Even the severe Chinese
+administrators could not apply here in this country of peace the
+full measure of their implacable laws. In the same manner the Soyots
+conducted themselves when the Russian people, mad with blood and crime,
+brought this infection into their land. They avoided persistently
+meetings and encounters with the Red troops and Partisans, trekking off
+with their families and cattle southward into the distant principalities
+of Kemchik and Soldjak. The eastern branch of this stream of emigration
+passed through the valley of the Buret Hei, where we constantly
+outstrode groups of them with their cattle and herds.
+
+We traveled quickly along the winding trail of the Buret Hei and in
+two days began to make the elevations of the mountain pass between the
+valleys of the Buret Hei and Kharga. The trail was not only very
+steep but was also littered with fallen larch trees and frequently
+intercepted, incredible as it may seem, with swampy places where the
+horses mired badly. Then again we picked our dangerous road over cobbles
+and small stones that rolled away under our horses' feet and bumped off
+over the precipice nearby. Our horses fatigued easily in passing this
+moraine that had been strewn by ancient glaciers along the mountain
+sides. Sometimes the trail led right along the edge of the precipices
+where the horses started great slides of stones and sand. I remember
+one whole mountain covered with these moving sands. We had to leave our
+saddles and, taking the bridles in our hands, to trot for a mile or more
+over these sliding beds, sometimes sinking in up to our knees and
+going down the mountain side with them toward the precipices below. One
+imprudent move at times would have sent us over the brink. This destiny
+met one of our horses. Belly down in the moving trap, he could not work
+free to change his direction and so slipped on down with a mass of it
+until he rolled over the precipice and was lost to us forever. We heard
+only the crackling of breaking trees along his road to death. Then with
+great difficulty we worked down to salvage the saddle and bags. Further
+along we had to abandon one of our pack horses which had come all the
+way from the northern border of Urianhai with us. We first unburdened
+it but this did not help; no more did our shouting and threats. He only
+stood with his head down and looked so exhausted that we realized he
+had reached the further bourne of his land of toil. Some Soyots with us
+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 we had to
+leave him.
+
+That evening we came to a beautiful change in scene when we topped a
+rise and found ourselves on a broad plateau covered with larch. On it we
+discovered the yurtas of some Soyot hunters, covered with bark instead
+of the usual felt. Out of these ten men with rifles rushed toward us as
+we approached. They informed us that the Prince of Soldjak did not
+allow anyone to pass this way, as he feared the coming of murderers and
+robbers into his dominions.
+
+"Go back to the place from which you came," they advised us with fear in
+their eyes.
+
+I did not answer but I stopped the beginnings of a quarrel between an
+old Soyot and one of my officers. I pointed to the small stream in the
+valley ahead of us and asked him its name.
+
+"Oyna," replied the Soyot. "It is the border of the principality and the
+passage of it is forbidden."
+
+"All right," I said, "but you will allow us to warm and rest ourselves a
+little."
+
+"Yes, yes!" exclaimed the hospitable Soyots, and led us into their
+tepees.
+
+On our way there I took the opportunity to hand to the old Soyot a
+cigarette and to another a box of matches. We were all walking along
+together save one Soyot who limped slowly in the rear and was holding
+his hand up over his nose.
+
+"Is he ill?" I asked.
+
+"Yes," sadly answered the old Soyot. "That is my son. He has been losing
+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 chest and
+turn your face up as far as you can." I pressed the jugular vein 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 your tepee and
+lie down for some time."
+
+The "mysterious" action of my fingers created on the Soyots a strong
+impression. The old Soyot with fear and reverence whispered:
+
+"Ta Lama, Ta Lama! (Great Doctor)."
+
+In the yurta we were given tea while the old Soyot sat thinking deeply
+about something. Afterwards he took counsel with his companions and
+finally announced:
+
+"The wife of our Prince is sick in her eyes and I think the Prince will
+be very glad if I lead the 'Ta Lama' to him. He will not punish me,
+for he ordered that no 'bad people' should be allowed to pass; but that
+should not stop the 'good people' from coming to us.
+
+"Do as you think best," I replied rather indifferently. "As a matter of
+fact, I know how to treat eye diseases but I would go back if you say
+so."
+
+"No, no!" the old man exclaimed with fear. "I shall guide you myself."
+
+Sitting by the fire, he lighted his pipe with a flint, wiped
+the mouthpiece on his sleeve and offered it to me in true native
+hospitality. I was "comme il faut" and smoked. Afterwards he offered his
+pipe to each one of our company and received from each a cigarette, a
+little tobacco or some matches. It was the seal on our friendship. Soon
+in our yurta many persons piled up around us, men, women, children and
+dogs. It was impossible to move. From among them emerged a Lama with
+shaved face and close cropped hair, dressed in the flowing red garment
+of his caste. His clothes and his expression were very different from
+the common mass of dirty Soyots with their queues and felt caps finished
+off with squirrel tails on the top. The Lama was very kindly disposed
+towards us but looked ever greedily at our gold rings and watches. I
+decided to exploit this avidity of the Servant of Buddha. Supplying
+him with tea and dried bread, I made known to him that I was in need of
+horses.
+
+"I have a horse. Will you buy it from me?" he asked. "But I do not
+accept Russian bank notes. Let us exchange something."
+
+For a long time I bargained with him and at last for my gold wedding
+ring, a raincoat and a leather saddle bag I received a fine Soyot
+horse--to replace one of the pack animals we had lost--and a young goat.
+We spent the night here and were feasted with fat mutton. In the morning
+we moved off under the guidance of the old Soyot along the trail that
+followed the valley of the Oyna, free from both mountains and swamps.
+But we knew that the mounts of my friend and myself, together with three
+others, were too worn down to make Kosogol and determined to try to buy
+others in Soldjak. Soon we began to meet little groups of Soyot yurtas
+with their cattle and horses round about. Finally we approached the
+shifting capital of the Prince. Our guide rode on ahead for the parley
+with him after assuring us that the Prince would be glad to welcome the
+Ta Lama, though at the time I remarked great anxiety and fear in his
+features as he spoke. Before long we emerged on to a large plain well
+covered with small bushes. Down by the shore of the river we made out
+big yurtas with yellow and blue flags floating over 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. As we
+approached the yurta of the Prince, we were met by two officials,
+wearing the peaked Mongol caps with peacock feathers rampants 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 a feeble, wizen-faced little old man with
+shaven face and cropped hair, wearing also a high pointed beaver cap
+with red silk apex topped off with a dark red button with the long
+peacock feathers streaming out behind. On his nose were big Chinese
+spectacles. He was sitting on a low divan, nervously clicking the beads
+of his rosary. This was Ta Lama, Prince of Soldjak and High Priest of
+the Buddhist Temple. He welcomed us very cordially and invited us to
+sit down before the fire burning in the copper brazier. His surprisingly
+beautiful Princess served us with tea and Chinese confections and
+cakes. We smoked our pipes, though the Prince as a Lama did not indulge,
+fulfilling, however, his duty as a host by raising to his lips the pipes
+we offered him and handing us in return the green nephrite bottle of
+snuff. Thus with the etiquette accomplished we awaited the words of the
+Prince. He inquired whether our travels had been felicitous and what
+were our further plans. I talked with him quite frankly and requested
+his hospitality for the rest of our company and for the horses. He
+agreed immediately and ordered four yurtas set up for us.
+
+"I hear that the foreign Noyon," the Prince said, "is a good doctor."
+
+"Yes, I know some diseases and have with me some medicines," I answered,
+"but I am not a doctor. I am a scientist in other branches."
+
+But the Prince did not understand this. In his simple directness a man
+who knows how to treat disease is a doctor.
+
+"My wife has had constant trouble for two months with her eyes," he
+announced. "Help her."
+
+I asked the Princess to show me her eyes and I found the typical
+conjunctivitis from the continual smoke of the yurta and the general
+uncleanliness. The Tartar brought me my medicine case. I washed her eyes
+with boric acid and dropped a little cocaine and a feeble solution of
+sulphurate of zinc into them.
+
+"I beg you to cure me," pleaded the Princess. "Do not go away until
+you have cured me. We shall give you sheep, milk and flour for all
+your company. I weep now very often because I had very nice eyes and my
+husband used to tell me they shone like the stars and now they are red.
+I cannot bear it, I cannot!"
+
+She very capriciously stamped her foot and, coquettishly smiling at me,
+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 vivacious boulevards
+of gay Paris and in the silk-draped yurta of the Soyot Princess 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 friendship of the
+whole family of the Prince. The eyes of the Princess, which eight years
+ago had seduced the already old Prince Lama, were now recovered. She was
+beside herself with joy and seldom left her looking-glass.
+
+The Prince gave me five fairly good horses, ten sheep and a bag of
+flour, which was immediately transformed into dry bread. My friend
+presented him with a Romanoff five-hundred-rouble note with a picture
+of Peter the Great upon it, while I gave to him a small nugget of gold
+which I had picked up in the bed of a stream. The Prince ordered one of
+the Soyots to guide us to the Kosogol. The whole family of the Prince
+conducted us to the monastery ten kilometres from the "capital." We did
+not visit the monastery but we stopped at the "Dugun," a Chinese trading
+establishment. The Chinese merchants looked at us in a very hostile
+manner though they simultaneously offered us all sorts of goods,
+thinking especially to catch us with their round bottles (lanhon) of
+maygolo or sweet brandy made from aniseed. As we had neither lump silver
+nor Chinese dollars, we could only look with longing at these attractive
+bottles, till the Prince came to the rescue and ordered the Chinese to
+put five of them in our saddle bags.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+MYSTERIES, MIRACLES AND A NEW FIGHT
+
+
+In the evening of the same day we arrived at the Sacred Lake of Teri
+Noor, a sheet of water eight kilometres across, muddy and yellow, with
+low unattractive shores studded with large holes. In the middle of the
+lake lay what was left of a disappearing island. On this were a few
+trees and some old ruins. Our guide explained to us that two centuries
+ago the lake did not exist and that a very strong Chinese fortress
+stood here on the plain. A Chinese chief in command of the fortress gave
+offence to an old Lama who cursed the place and prophesied that it would
+all be destroyed. The very next day the water began rushing up from the
+ground, destroyed the fortress and engulfed all the Chinese soldiers.
+Even to this day when storms rage over the lake the waters cast up on
+the shores the bones of men and horses who perished in it. This Teri
+Noor increases its size every year, approaching nearer and nearer to the
+mountains. Skirting the eastern shore of the lake, we began to climb a
+snow-capped ridge. The road was easy at first but the guide warned us
+that the most difficult bit was there ahead. We reached this point two
+days later and found there a steep mountain side thickly set with forest
+and covered with snow. Beyond it lay the lines of eternal snow--ridges
+studded with dark rocks set in great banks of the white mantle that
+gleamed bright under the clear sunshine. These were the eastern and
+highest branches of the Tannu Ola system. We spent the night beneath
+this wood and began the passage of it in the morning. At noon the guide
+began leading us by zigzags in and out but everywhere our trail was
+blocked by deep ravines, great jams of fallen trees and walls of rock
+caught in their mad tobogganings from the mountain top. We struggled for
+several hours, wore out our horses and, all of a sudden, turned up at
+the place where we had made our last halt. It was very evident our 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," he
+whispered with trembling lips. "It is a very ominous sign. We must
+return to Kharga to the Noyon."
+
+But I threatened him and he took the lead again evidently without hope
+or effort to find the way. Fortunately, one of our party, an Urianhai
+hunter, noticed the blazes on the trees, the signs of the road which our
+guide had lost. Following these, we made our way through the wood, came
+into and crossed a belt of burned larch timber and beyond this dipped
+again into a small live forest bordering the bottom of the mountains
+crowned with the eternal snows. It grew dark so that we had to camp for
+the night. The wind rose high and carried in its grasp a great white
+sheet of snow that shut us off from the horizon on every side and buried
+our camp deep in its folds. Our horses stood round like white ghosts,
+refusing to eat or to leave the circle round our fire. The wind combed
+their manes and tails. Through the niches in the mountains it roared and
+whistled. From somewhere in the distance came the low rumble of a pack
+of wolves, punctuated at intervals by the sharp individual barking that
+a favorable gust of wind threw up into 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 a very
+steep slope was laid up a large pile of stones and tree trunks, making
+a cone of some three metres in height. These obo are the Lamaite sacred
+signs set up at dangerous places, the altars to the bad demons, rulers
+of these places. Passing Soyots and Mongols pay tribute to the spirits
+by hanging on the branches of the trees in the obo hatyk, long streamers
+of blue silk, shreds torn from the lining of their coats or simply tufts
+of hair cut from their horses' manes; or by placing on the stones lumps
+of meat or cups of tea and salt.
+
+"Look at it," said the Soyot. "The hatyks are torn off. The demons are
+angry, they will not allow us to pass, Noyon. . . ."
+
+He caught my hand and with supplicating voice whispered: "Let us go
+back, Noyon; let us! The demons do not wish us to pass their mountains.
+For twenty years no one has dared to pass these mountains and all bold
+men who have tried have perished here. The demons fell upon them with
+snowstorm and cold. Look! It is beginning already. . . . Go back to our
+Noyon, wait for the warmer days 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 our guide might
+run away, I ordered a sentry to be stationed for the night to watch him.
+Later in the night I was awakened by the sentry, who said to me: "Maybe
+I am mistaken, but I think I heard a rifle."
+
+What could I say to it? Maybe some stragglers like ourselves were giving
+a sign of their whereabouts to their lost companions, or perhaps the
+sentry had mistaken for a rifle shot the sound of some falling rock
+or frozen ice and snow. Soon I fell asleep again and suddenly saw in a
+dream a very clear vision. Out on the plain, blanketed deep with snow,
+was moving a line of riders. They were our pack horses, our Kalmuck and
+the funny pied horse with the Roman nose. I saw us descending from this
+snowy plateau into a fold in the mountains. Here some larch trees
+were growing, close to which gurgled a small, open brook. Afterwards I
+noticed a fire burning among the trees and then woke up.
+
+It grew light. I shook up the others and asked them to prepare quickly
+so as not to lose time in getting under way. The storm was raging. The
+snow blinded us and blotted out all traces of the road. The cold also
+became more intense. At last we were in the saddles. The Soyot went
+ahead trying to make out the trail. As we worked higher the guide less
+seldom lost the way. Frequently we fell into deep holes covered with
+snow; we scrambled up over slippery rocks. At last the Soyot swung his
+horse round and, coming up to me, announced very positively: "I do not
+want to die with you and I will not go further."
+
+My first motion was the swing of my whip back over my head. I was so
+close to the "Promised Land" of Mongolia that this Soyot, standing in
+the way of fulfilment of my wishes, seemed to me my worst enemy. But I
+lowered my flourishing hand. Into my head flashed a quite wild thought.
+
+"Listen," I said. "If you move your horses, you will receive a bullet in
+the back and you will perish not at the top of the mountain but at the
+bottom. And now I will tell you what will happen to us. When we shall
+have reached these rocks above, the wind will have ceased and the
+snowstorm will have subsided. The sun will shine as we cross the snowy
+plain above and afterwards we shall descend into a small valley where
+there are larches growing and a stream of open running water. There we
+shall light our fires and spend the night."
+
+The Soyot began to tremble with fright.
+
+"Noyon has already passed these mountains of Darkhat Ola?" he asked in
+amazement.
+
+"No," I answered, "but last night I had a vision and I know that we
+shall 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 eternal snows.
+
+As we were passing along the narrow edge of a precipice, the Soyot
+stopped and attentively examined the trail.
+
+"Today many shod horses have passed here!" he cried through the roar
+of the storm. "Yonder on the snow the lash of a whip has been dragged.
+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 right shoulder; one
+pack horse fell dead with a bullet behind his ear. We quickly tumbled
+out of our saddles, lay down behind the rocks and began to study the
+situation. We were separated from a parallel spur of the mountain by a
+small valley about one thousand paces across. There we made out about
+thirty riders already dismounted and firing at us. I had never allowed
+any fighting to be done until the initiative had been taken by the
+other side. Our enemy fell upon us unawares and I ordered my company to
+answer.
+
+"Aim at the horses!" cried Colonel Ostrovsky. Then he ordered the Tartar
+and Soyot to throw our own animals. We killed six of theirs and probably
+wounded others, as they got out of control. Also our rifles took toll
+of any bold man who showed his head from behind his rock. We heard the
+angry shouting and maledictions of Red soldiers who shot up our position
+more and more animatedly.
+
+Suddenly I saw our Soyot kick up three of the horses and spring into the
+saddle of one with the others in leash behind. Behind him sprang up the
+Tartar and the Kalmuck. I had already drawn my rifle on the Soyot but,
+as soon as I saw the Tartar and Kalmuck on their lovely 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 their escape behind the rocks and
+disappeared. The firing continued more and more lively and I did not
+know what to do. From our side we shot rarely, saving our cartridges.
+Watching carefully the enemy, I noticed two black points on the snow
+high above the Reds. They slowly approached our antagonists and finally
+were hidden from view behind some sharp hillocks. When they emerged from
+these, they were right on the edge of some overhanging rocks at the foot
+of which the Reds lay concealed from us. By this time I had no doubt
+that these were the heads of two men. Suddenly these men rose up and
+I watched them flourish and throw something that was followed by two
+deafening roars which re-echoed across the mountain valley. Immediately
+a third explosion was followed by wild shouts and disorderly firing
+among the Reds. Some of the horses rolled down the slope into the snow
+below and the soldiers, chased by our shots, made off as fast as they
+could down into the valley out of which we had come.
+
+Afterward the Tartar told me the Soyot had proposed to guide them around
+behind the Reds to fall upon their rear with the bombs. When I had bound
+up the wounded shoulder of the officer and we had taken the pack off the
+killed animal, we continued our journey. Our position was complicated.
+We had no doubt that the Red detachment came up from Mongolia.
+Therefore, were there Red troops in Mongolia? What was their strength?
+Where might we meet them? Consequently, Mongolia was no more the
+Promised Land? Very sad thoughts 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 one place the wind
+blew it clean and in another piled it high with drifts which caught our
+horses and held them so that they could hardly extricate themselves at
+times. We had to dismount and wade through the white piles up to our
+waists and often a man or horse was down and had to be helped to his
+feet. At last the descent began and at sunset we stopped in the small
+larch grove, spent the night at the fire among the trees and drank the
+tea boiled in the water carried from the open mountain brook. In various
+places we came across the tracks of our recent antagonists.
+
+Everything, even Nature herself and the angry demons of Darkhat Ola, had
+helped us: but we were not gay, because again before us lay the dread
+uncertainty that threatened us with new and possibly destructive
+dangers.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE RIVER OF THE DEVIL
+
+
+Ulan Taiga with Darkhat Ola lay behind us. We went forward very rapidly
+because the Mongol plains began here, free from the impediments of
+mountains. Everywhere splendid grazing lands stretched away. In places
+there were groves of larch. We crossed some very rapid streams but they
+were not deep and they had hard beds. After two days of travel over
+the Darkhat plain we began meeting Soyots driving their cattle rapidly
+toward the northwest into Orgarkha Ola. They communicated to us very
+unpleasant news.
+
+The Bolsheviki from the Irkutsk district had crossed the Mongolian
+border, captured the Russian colony at Khathyl on the southern shore
+of Lake Kosogol and turned, off south toward Muren Kure, a Russian
+settlement beside a big Lamaite monastery sixty miles south of Kosogol.
+The Mongols told us there were no Russian troops between Khathyl and
+Muren Kure, so we decided to pass between these two points to reach Van
+Kure farther to the east. We took leave of our Soyot guide and, after
+having sent three scouts in advance, moved forward. From the mountains
+around the Kosogol we admired the splendid view of this broad Alpine
+lake. It was set like a sapphire in the old gold of the surrounding
+hills, chased with lovely bits of rich dark forestry. At night we
+approached Khathyl with great precaution and stopped on the shore of the
+river that flows from Kosogol, the Yaga or Egingol. We found a Mongol
+who agreed to transport us to the other bank of the frozen stream and to
+lead us by a safe road between Khathyl and Muren Kure. Everywhere along
+the shore of the river were found large obo and small 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 the
+Mongol. "Two days ago a train of carts went through the ice and three of
+them with five soldiers were lost."
+
+We started to cross. The surface of the river resembled a thick piece
+of looking-glass, being clear and without snow. Our horses walked very
+carefully but some fell and floundered before they could regain their
+feet. We were leading them by the bridle. With bowed heads and trembling
+all over they kept their frightened eyes ever on the ice at their feet.
+I looked down and understood their fear. Through the cover of one foot
+of transparent ice one could clearly see the bottom of the river. Under
+the lighting of the moon all the stones, the holes and even some of the
+grasses were distinctly visible, even though the depth was ten metres
+and more. The Yaga rushed under the ice with a furious speed, swirling
+and marking its course with long bands of foam and bubbles. Suddenly I
+jumped and stopped as though fastened to the spot. Along the surface of
+the river ran the boom of a cannon, followed by a second and a third.
+
+"Quicker, quicker!" cried our Mongol, waving us forward with his hand.
+
+Another cannon boom and a crack ran right close to us. The horses
+swung back on their haunches in protest, reared and fell, many of them
+striking their heads severely on the ice. In a second it opened up two
+feet wide, so that I could follow its jagged course along the surface.
+Immediately up out of the opening the water spread over the ice with a
+rush.
+
+"Hurry, hurry!" shouted the guide.
+
+With great difficulty we forced our horses to jump over this cleavage
+and to continue on further. They trembled and disobeyed and only the
+strong lash forced them to forget this panic of fear and go on.
+
+When we were safe on the farther bank and well into the woods, our
+Mongol guide recounted to us how the river at times opens in this
+mysterious way and leaves great areas of clear water. All the men and
+animals on the river at such times must perish. The furious current of
+cold water will always carry them down under the ice. At other times a
+crack has been known to pass right under a horse and, where he fell in
+with his front feet in the attempt to get back to the other side, the
+crack has closed up and ground his legs or feet right off.
+
+The valley of Kosogol is the crater of an extinct volcano. Its outlines
+may be followed from the high west shore of the lake. However, the
+Plutonic force still acts and, asserting the glory of the Devil, forces
+the Mongols to build obo and offer sacrifices at his shrines. We spent
+all the night and all the next day hurrying away eastward to avoid a
+meeting with the Reds and seeking good pasturage for our horses. At
+about nine o'clock in the evening a fire shone out of the distance. My
+friend and I made toward it with the feeling that it was surely a Mongol
+yurta beside which we could camp in safety. We traveled over a mile
+before making out distinctly the lines of a group of yurtas. But nobody
+came out to meet us and, what astonished us more, we were not surrounded
+by the angry black Mongolian dogs with fiery eyes. Still, from the
+distance we had seen the fire and so there must be someone there. We
+dismounted from our horses and approached on foot. From out of the yurta
+rushed two Russian soldiers, one of whom shot at me with his pistol but
+missed me and wounded my horse in the back through the saddle. I brought
+him to earth with my Mauser and the other was killed by the butt end of
+my friend's rifle. We examined the bodies and found in their pockets
+the papers of soldiers of the Second Squadron of the Communist Interior
+Defence. Here we spent the night. The owners of the yurtas had evidently
+run away, for the Red soldiers had collected and packed in sacks the
+property of the Mongols. Probably they were just planning to leave, as
+they were fully dressed. We acquired two horses, which we found in the
+bushes, two rifles and two automatic pistols with cartridges. In the
+saddle bags we also found tea, tobacco, matches and cartridges--all of
+these valuable supplies to help us keep further hold on our lives.
+
+Two days later we were approaching the shore of the River Uri when
+we met two Russian riders, who were the Cossacks of a certain Ataman
+Sutunin, acting against the Bolsheviki in the valley of the River
+Selenga. They were riding to carry a message from Sutunin to
+Kaigorodoff, chief of the Anti-Bolsheviki in the Altai region. They
+informed us that along the whole Russian-Mongolian border the Bolshevik
+troops were scattered; also that Communist agitators had penetrated to
+Kiakhta, Ulankom and Kobdo and had persuaded the Chinese authorities
+to surrender to the Soviet authorities all the refugees from Russia.
+We knew that in the neighborhood of Urga and Van Kure engagements were
+taking place between the Chinese troops and the detachments of the
+Anti-Bolshevik Russian General Baron Ungern Sternberg and Colonel
+Kazagrandi, who were fighting for the independence of Outer Mongolia.
+Baron Ungern had now been twice defeated, so that the Chinese were
+carrying on high-handed in Urga, suspecting all foreigners of having
+relations with the Russian General.
+
+We realized that the whole situation was sharply reversed. The route to
+the Pacific was closed. Reflecting very carefully over the problem,
+I decided that we had but one possible exit left. We must avoid all
+Mongolian cities with Chinese administration, cross Mongolia from north
+to south, traverse the desert in the southern part of the Principality
+of Jassaktu Khan, enter the Gobi in the western part of Inner Mongolia,
+strike as rapidly as possible through sixty miles of Chinese territory
+in the Province of Kansu and penetrate into Tibet. Here I hoped to
+search out one of the English Consuls and with his help to reach some
+English port in India. I understood thoroughly all the difficulties
+incident to such an enterprise but I had no other choice. It only
+remained to make this last foolish attempt or to perish without doubt
+at the hands of the Boisheviki or languish in a Chinese prison. When I
+announced my plan to my companions, without in any way hiding from them
+all its dangers and quixotism, all of them answered very quickly and
+shortly: "Lead us! We will follow."
+
+One circumstance was distinctly in our favor. We did not fear hunger,
+for we had some supplies of tea, tobacco and matches and a surplus of
+horses, saddles, rifles, overcoats and boots, which were an excellent
+currency for exchange. So then we began to initiate the plan of the new
+expedition. We should start to the south, leaving the town of Uliassutai
+on our right and taking the direction of Zaganluk, then pass through the
+waste lands of the district of Balir of Jassaktu Khan, cross the Naron
+Khuhu Gobi and strike for the mountains of Boro. Here we should be able
+to take a long rest to recuperate the strength of our horses and of
+ourselves. The second section of our journey would be the passage
+through the western part of Inner Mongolia, through the Little Gobi,
+through the lands of the Torguts, over the Khara Mountains, across
+Kansu, where our road must be chosen to the west of the Chinese town of
+Suchow. From there we should have to enter the Dominion of Kuku Nor and
+then work on southward to the head waters of the Yangtze River. Beyond
+this I had but a hazy notion, which however I was able to verify from a
+map of Asia in the possession of one of the officers, to the effect that
+the mountain chains to the west of the sources of the Yangtze separated
+that river system from the basin of the Brahmaputra in Tibet Proper,
+where I expected to be able to find English assistance.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE MARCH OF GHOSTS
+
+
+In no other way can I describe the journey from the River Ero to the
+border of Tibet. About eleven hundred miles through the snowy steppes,
+over mountains and across deserts we traveled in forty-eight days.
+We hid from the people as we journeyed, made short stops in the most
+desolate places, fed for whole weeks on nothing but raw, frozen meat in
+order to avoid attracting attention by the smoke of fires. Whenever we
+needed to purchase a sheep or a steer for our supply department, we sent
+out only two unarmed men who represented to the natives that they were
+the workmen of some Russian colonists. We even feared to shoot, although
+we met a great herd of antelopes numbering as many as five thousand
+head. Behind Balir in the lands of the Lama Jassaktu Khan, who had
+inherited his throne as a result of the poisoning of his brother at Urga
+by order of the Living Buddha, we met wandering Russian Tartars who had
+driven their herds all the way from Altai and Abakan. 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 for horses to make the trip across the
+Gobi, where there was no grass at all. We must buy camels by exchanging
+for them our horses and some other of our bartering supplies. One of the
+Tartars the next day brought to their camp a rich Mongol with whom he
+drove the bargain for this trade. He gave us nineteen camels and took
+all our horses, one rifle, one pistol and the best Cossack saddle. He
+advised us by all means to visit the sacred Monastery of Narabanchi, the
+last Lamaite monastery on the road from Mongolia to Tibet. He told us
+that the Holy Hutuktu, "the Incarnate Buddha," would be greatly offended
+if we did not visit the monastery and his famous "Shrine of Blessings,"
+where all travelers going to Tibet always offered prayers. Our Kalmuck
+Lamaite supported the Mongol in this. I decided to go there with the
+Kalmuck. The Tartars gave me some big silk hatyk as presents and loaned
+us four splendid horses. Although the monastery was fifty-five miles
+distant, by nine o'clock in the evening I entered the yurta of this holy
+Hutuktu.
+
+He was a middle-aged, clean shaven, spare little man, laboring under the
+name of Jelyb Djamsrap Hutuktu. He received us very cordially and was
+greatly pleased with the presentation of the hatyk and with my
+knowledge of the Mongol etiquette in which my Tartar had been long and
+persistently instructing me. He listened to me most attentively and gave
+valuable advice about the road, presenting me then with a ring which has
+since opened for me the doors of all Lamaite monasteries. The name of
+this Hutuktu is highly esteemed not only in all Mongolia but in Tibet
+and in the Lamaite world of China. We spent the night in his splendid
+yurta and on the following morning visited the shrines where they were
+conducting very solemn services with the music of gongs, tom-toms and
+whistling. The Lamas with their deep voices were intoning the prayers
+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 yellow hatyk
+and accompanied us to the monastery gate. When we were in our saddles he
+said:
+
+"Remember that you are always welcome guests here. Life is very
+complicated and anything may happen. Perhaps you will be forced in
+future to re-visit distant Mongolia and then do not miss Narabanchi
+Kure."
+
+That night we returned to the Tartars and the next day continued our
+journey. As I was very tired, the slow, easy motion of the camel was
+welcome and restful to me. All the day I dozed off at intervals 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 one of my naps I fell off
+and hit my head on a stone, lost consciousness and woke up to find
+my overcoat covered with blood. My friends surrounded me with their
+frightened faces. They bandaged my head and we started off again. I only
+learned long afterwards from a doctor who examined me that I had cracked
+my skull 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 system throws out into
+the regions of the Gobi; and then traversed from the north to the south
+the entire width of the Khuhu Gobi. Intense cold ruled all this time and
+fortunately the frozen sands gave us better speed. Before passing the
+Khara range, we exchanged our rocking-chair steeds for horses, a deal in
+which the Torguts skinned us badly like the true "old clothes men" they
+are.
+
+Skirting around these mountains we entered Kansu. It was a dangerous
+move, for the Chinese were arresting all refugees and I feared for my
+Russian fellow-travelers. During the days we hid in the ravines, the
+forests and bushes, making forced marches at night. Four days we thus
+used in this passage of Kansu. The few Chinese peasants we did encounter
+were peaceful appearing and most hospitable. 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 eye troubles, rheumatism and skin diseases.
+
+As we were approaching Nan Shan, the northeast branch of the Altyn Tag
+(which is in turn the east branch of the Pamir and Karakhorum system),
+we overhauled a large caravan of Chinese merchants going to Tibet
+and joined them. For three days we were winding through the endless
+ravine-like valleys of these mountains and ascending the high passes.
+But we noticed that the Chinese knew how to pick the easiest routes
+for caravans over all these difficult places. In a state of
+semi-consciousness I made this whole journey toward the large group of
+swampy lakes, feeding the Koko Nor and a whole network of large rivers.
+From fatigue and constant nervous strain, probably helped by the blow
+on my head, I began suffering from sharp attacks of chills and fever,
+burning up at times and then chattering so with my teeth that I
+frightened my horse who several times threw me from the saddle. I raved,
+cried out at times and even wept. I called my family and instructed them
+how they must come to me. I remember as though through a dream how I was
+taken from the horse by my companions, laid on the ground, supplied with
+Chinese brandy and, when I recovered a little, how they said to me:
+
+"The Chinese merchants are heading for the west and we must travel
+south."
+
+"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 the Little
+Yenisei and Algyak is to the north!"
+
+"We are in Tibet," remonstrated my companions. "We must reach the
+Brahmaputra."
+
+Brahmaputra. . . . Brahmaputra. . . . This word revolved in my fiery
+brain, made a terrible noise and commotion. Suddenly I remembered
+everything and opened my eyes. I hardly moved my lips and soon I
+again lost consciousness. My companions brought me to the monastery of
+Sharkhe, where the Lama doctor quickly brought me round with a solution
+of fatil or Chinese ginseng. In discussing our plans he expressed grave
+doubt as to whether we would get through Tibet but he did not wish to
+explain to me the reason for his doubts.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+IN MYSTERIOUS TIBET
+
+
+A fairly broad road led out from Sharkhe through the mountains and on
+the fifth day of our two weeks' march to the south from the monastery
+we emerged into the great bowl of the mountains in whose center lay the
+large lake of Koko Nor. If Finland deserves the ordinary title of the
+"Land of Ten Thousand Lakes," the dominion of Koko Nor may certainly
+with justice be called the "Country of a Million Lakes." We skirted
+this lake on the west between it and Doulan Kitt, zigzagging between the
+numerous swamps, lakes and small rivers, deep and miry. The water was
+not here covered with ice and only on the tops of the mountains did we
+feel the cold winds sharply. We rarely met the natives of the country
+and only with greatest difficulty did our Kalmuck learn the course of
+the road from the occasional shepherds we passed. From the eastern shore
+of the Lake of Tassoun we worked round to a monastery on the further
+side, where we stopped for a short rest. Besides ourselves there was
+also another group of guests in the holy place. These were Tibetans.
+Their behavior was very impertinent and they refused to speak with us.
+They were all armed, chiefly with the Russian military rifles and were
+draped with crossed bandoliers of cartridges with two or three pistols
+stowed beneath belts with more cartridges sticking out. They examined
+us very sharply and we readily realized that they were estimating our
+martial strength. After they had left on that same day I ordered our
+Kalmuck to inquire from the High Priest of the temple exactly who they
+were. For a long time the monk gave evasive answers but when I showed
+him the ring of Hutuktu Narabanchi and presented him with a large yellow
+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 his refusal
+by citing the Law of Buddhist lands against pronouncing the name of
+one's father, teacher or chief. Afterwards I found out that in North
+Tibet there exists the same custom as in North China. Here and there
+bands of hunghutze wander about. They appear at the headquarters of the
+leading trading firms and at the monasteries, claim tribute and after
+their collections become the protectors of the district. Probably this
+Tibetan monastery had in this band just such protectors.
+
+When we continued our trip, we frequently noticed single horsemen far
+away or on the horizon, apparently studying our movements with care. All
+our attempts to approach them and enter into conversation with them were
+entirely unsuccessful. On their speedy little horses they disappeared
+like shadows. As we reached the steep and difficult Pass on the Hamshan
+and were preparing to spend the night there, suddenly far up on a ridge
+above us appeared about forty horsemen with entirely white mounts and
+without formal introduction or warning spattered us with a hail of
+bullets. Two of our officers fell with a cry. One had been instantly
+killed while the other lived some few minutes. I did not allow my men
+to shoot but instead I raised a white flag and started forward with
+the Kalmuck for a parley. At first they fired two shots at us but then
+ceased firing and sent down a group of riders from the ridge toward
+us. We began the parley. The Tibetans explained that Hamshan is a holy
+mountain and that here one must not spend the night, advising us to
+proceed farther where we could consider ourselves in safety. They
+inquired from us whence we came and whither we were going, stated in
+answer to our information about the purpose of our journey that they
+knew the Bolsheviki and considered them the liberators of the people of
+Asia from the yoke of the white race. I certainly did not want to begin
+a political quarrel with them and so turned back to our companions.
+Riding down the slope toward our camp, I waited momentarily for a shot
+in the back but the Tibetan hunghutze did not shoot.
+
+We moved forward, leaving among the stones the bodies of two of our
+companions as sad tribute to the difficulties and dangers of our
+journey. We rode all night, with our exhausted horses constantly
+stopping and some lying down under us, but we forced them ever onward.
+At last, when the sun was at its zenith, we finally halted. Without
+unsaddling our horses, we gave them an opportunity to lie down for a
+little rest. Before us lay a broad, swampy plain, where was evidently
+the sources of the river Ma-chu. Not far beyond lay the Lake of Aroung
+Nor. We made our fire of cattle dung and began boiling water for our
+tea. Again without any warning the bullets came raining in from all
+sides. Immediately we took cover behind convenient rocks and waited
+developments. The firing became faster and closer, the raiders appeared
+on the whole circle round us and the bullets came ever in increasing
+numbers. We had fallen into a trap and had no hope but to perish. We
+realized this clearly. I tried anew to begin the parley; but when I
+stood up with my white flag, the answer was only a thicker rain of
+bullets and unfortunately one of these, ricocheting off a rock, struck
+me in the left leg and lodged there. At the same moment another one of
+our company was killed. We had no other choice and were forced to begin
+fighting. The struggle continued for about two hours. Besides myself
+three others received slight wounds. We resisted as long as we could.
+The hunghutze approached and our situation became desperate.
+
+"There's no choice," said one of my associates, a very expert Colonel.
+"We must mount and ride for it . . . anywhere."
+
+"Anywhere. . . ." It was a terrible word! We consulted for but an
+instant. It was apparent that with this band of cut-throats behind us
+the farther we went into Tibet, the less chance we had of saving our
+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 our horses
+as fast as we could toward the north. One after another three of my
+companions fell. There lay my Tartar with a bullet through his neck.
+After him two young and fine stalwart officers were carried from their
+saddles with cries of death, while their scared horses broke out across
+the plain in wild fear, perfect pictures of our distraught selves. This
+emboldened the Tibetans, who became more and more audacious. A bullet
+struck the buckle on the ankle strap of my right foot and carried it,
+with a piece of leather and cloth, into my leg just above the ankle.
+My old and much tried friend, the agronome, cried out as he grasped his
+shoulder and then I saw him wiping and bandaging as best as he could his
+bleeding forehead. A second afterward our Kalmuck was hit twice right
+through the palm of the same hand, so that it was entirely shattered.
+Just at this moment fifteen of the hunghutze rushed 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 gang were
+unhorsed and ran scampering as fast as they could after their retreating
+fellows. Several minutes later the fire of our antagonists ceased and
+they raised a white flag. Two riders came forward toward us. In the
+parley it developed that their chief had been wounded through the chest
+and they came to ask us to "render first aid." At once I saw a ray
+of hope. I took my box of medicines and my groaning, cursing, wounded
+Kalmuck to interpret for 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 saddle cloths
+among the rocks, represented to us to be a Tibetan but I at once
+recognized him from his cast of countenance to be a Sart or Turcoman,
+probably from the southern part of Turkestan. He looked at me with
+a begging and frightened gaze. Examining him, I found the bullet had
+passed through his chest from left to right, that he had lost much blood
+and was very weak. Conscientiously I did all that I could for him. In
+the first place I tried on my own tongue all the medicines to be used on
+him, even the iodoform, in order to demonstrate that there was no
+poison among them. I cauterized the wound with iodine, sprinkled it with
+iodoform and applied the bandages. I ordered that the wounded man be not
+touched nor moved and that he be left right where he lay. Then I taught
+a Tibetan how the dressing must be changed and left with him medicated
+cotton, bandages and a little iodoform. To the patient, in whom the
+fever was already developing, I gave a big dose of aspirin and left
+several tablets of quinine with them. Afterwards, addressing myself to
+the bystanders through my Kalmuck, I said very solemnly:
+
+"The wound is very dangerous but I gave to your Chief very strong
+medicine and hope that he will recover. One condition, however,
+is necessary: the bad demons which have rushed to his side for his
+unwarranted attack upon us innocent travelers will instantly kill him,
+if another shot is let off against us. You must not even keep a single
+cartridge in your rifles."
+
+With these words I ordered the Kalmuck to empty his rifle and I, at
+the same time, took all the cartridges out of my Mauser. The Tibetans
+instantly and very servilely followed my example.
+
+"Remember that I told you: 'Eleven days and eleven nights do not move
+from this place and do not charge your rifles.' Otherwise the demon of
+death will snatch off your Chief and will pursue you!"--and with these
+words I solemnly drew forth and raised above their heads the ring of
+Hutuktu Narabanchi.
+
+I returned to my companions and calmed them. I told them we were safe
+against further attack from the robbers and that we must only guess the
+way to reach Mongolia. Our horses were so exhausted and thin that on
+their bones we could have hung our overcoats. We spent two days here,
+during which time I frequently visited my patient. It also gave us
+opportunity to bandage our own fortunately light wounds and to secure
+a little rest; though unfortunately I had nothing but a jackknife
+with which to dig the bullet out of my left calf and the shoemaker's
+accessories from my right ankle. Inquiring from the brigands about the
+caravan roads, we soon made our way out to one of the main routes and
+had the good fortune to meet there the caravan of the young Mongol
+Prince Pounzig, who was on a holy mission carrying a message from
+the Living Buddha in Urga to the Dalai Lama in Lhasa. He helped us to
+purchase horses, camels and food.
+
+With all our arms and supplies spent in barter during the journey for
+the purchase of transport and food, we returned stripped and broken to
+the Narabanchi Monastery, where we were welcomed by the Hutuktu.
+
+"I knew you would come back," said he. "The divinations revealed it all
+to me."
+
+With six of our little band left behind us in Tibet to pay the eternal
+toll of our dash for the south we returned but twelve to the Monastery
+and waited there two weeks to re-adjust ourselves and learn how events
+would again set us afloat on this turbulent sea to steer for any port
+that Destiny might indicate. The officers enlisted in the detachment
+which was then being formed in Mongolia to fight against the destroyers
+of their native land, the Bolsheviki. My original companion and I
+prepared to continue our journey over Mongolian plains with whatever
+further adventures and dangers 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 ruggedly tried
+friend, the agronome, to my Russian fellow-travelers, and especially, to
+the sacred memory of those of our companions whose bodies lie cradled
+in the sleep among the mountains of Tibet--Colonel Ostrovsky, Captains
+Zuboff and Turoff, Lieutenant Pisarjevsky, Cossack Vernigora and
+Tartar Mahomed Spirin. Also here I express my deep thanks for help and
+friendship to the Prince of Soldjak, Hereditary Noyon Ta Lama and to
+the Kampo Gelong of Narabanchi Monastery, the honorable Jelyb Djamsrap
+Hutuktu.
+
+
+
+
+Part II
+
+THE LAND OF DEMONS
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+MYSTERIOUS MONGOLIA
+
+
+In the heart of Asia lies the enormous, mysterious and rich country of
+Mongolia. From somewhere on the snowy slopes of the Tian Shan and from
+the hot sands of Western Zungaria to the timbered ridges of the Sayan
+and to the Great Wall of China it stretches over a huge portion of
+Central Asia. The cradle of peoples, histories and legends; the native
+land of bloody conquerors, who have left here their capitals covered
+by the sand of the Gobi, their mysterious rings and their ancient nomad
+laws; the states of monks and evil devils, the country of wandering
+tribes administered by the descendants of Jenghiz Khan and Kublai
+Khan--Khans and Princes of the Junior lines: that is Mongolia.
+
+Mysterious country of the cults of Rama, Sakkia-Mouni, Djonkapa and
+Paspa, 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 the sign of the swastika; the
+land which has not forgotten the thoughts of the long deceased great
+potentates of Asia and of half of Europe: that is Mongolia.
+
+The land of nude mountains, of plains burned by the sun and killed by
+the cold, of ill cattle and ill people; the nest of pests, anthrax
+and smallpox; the land of boiling hot springs and of mountain passes
+inhabited by demons; of sacred lakes swarming with fish; of wolves, rare
+species of deer and mountain goats, marmots in millions, wild horses,
+wild donkeys and wild camels that have never known the bridle, ferocious
+dogs and rapacious birds of prey which 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 of
+their 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 iron lances of
+the Polish knights, defending then all the Christian world against the
+invasion of wild and wandering Asia: that is Mongolia.
+
+The land swelling with natural riches, producing nothing, in need of
+everything, destitute and suffering from the world's cataclysm: that is
+Mongolia.
+
+In this land, by order of Fate, after my unsuccessful attempt to reach
+the Indian Ocean through Tibet, I spent half a year in the struggle to
+live and to escape. My old and faithful friend and I were compelled,
+willy-nilly, to participate in the exceedingly important and dangerous
+events transpiring in Mongolia in the year of grace 1921. Thanks to
+this, I came to know the calm, good and honest Mongolian people; I
+read their souls, saw their sufferings and hopes; I witnessed the whole
+horror of their oppression and fear before the face of Mystery, there
+where Mystery pervades all life. I watched the rivers during the severe
+cold break with a rumbling roar their chains of ice; saw lakes cast up
+on their shores the bones of human beings; heard unknown wild voices
+in the mountain ravines; made out the fires over miry swamps of the
+will-o'-the-wisps; witnessed burning lakes; gazed upward to mountains
+whose peaks could not be scaled; came across great balls of writhing
+snakes in the ditches in winter; met with streams which are eternally
+frozen, rocks like petrified caravans of camels, horsemen and carts; and
+over all saw the barren mountains whose folds looked like the mantle of
+Satan, which the glow of the evening sun drenched with blood.
+
+"Look up there!" cried an old shepherd, pointing to the slope of the
+cursed Zagastai. "That is no mountain. It is HE who lies in his red
+mantle and awaits the day when he will rise again to begin the fight
+with the good spirits."
+
+And as he spoke I recalled the mystic picture of the noted painter
+Vroubel. The same nude mountains with the violet and purple robes of
+Satan, whose face is half covered by an approaching grey cloud. Mongolia
+is a terrible land of mystery and demons. Therefore it is no wonder that
+here every violation of the ancient order of life of the wandering nomad
+tribes is transformed into streams of red blood and horror, ministering
+to the demonic pleasure of Satan couched on the bare mountains and robed
+in the grey cloak of dejection and sadness, or in the purple mantle of
+war and vengeance.
+
+After returning from the district of Koko Nor to Mongolia and resting a
+few days at the Narabanchi Monastery, we went to live in Uliassutai, the
+capital of Western Outer Mongolia. It is the last purely Mongolian town
+to the west. In Mongolia there are but three purely Mongolian towns,
+Urga, Uliassutai and Ulankom. The fourth town, Kobdo, has an essentially
+Chinese character, being the center of Chinese administration in this
+district inhabited by the wandering tribes only nominally recognizing
+the influence of either Peking or Urga. In Uliassutai and Ulankom,
+besides the unlawful Chinese commissioners and troops, there were
+stationed Mongolian governors or "Saits," appointed by the decree of the
+Living Buddha.
+
+When we arrived in that town, we were at once in the sea of political
+passions. The Mongols were protesting in great agitation against the
+Chinese policy in their country; the Chinese raged and demanded from the
+Mongolians the payment of taxes for the full period since the autonomy
+of Mongolia had been forcibly extracted from Peking; Russian colonists
+who had years before settled near the town and in the vicinity of the
+great monasteries or among the wandering tribes had separated into
+factions and were fighting against one another; from Urga came the
+news of the struggle for the maintenance of the independence of Outer
+Mongolia, led by the Russian General, Baron Ungern von Sternberg;
+Russian officers and refugees congregated in detachments, against which
+the Chinese authorities protested but which the Mongols welcomed; the
+Bolsheviki, worried by the formation of White detachments in Mongolia,
+sent their troops to the borders of Mongolia; from Irkutsk and Chita
+to Uliassutai and Urga envoys were running from the Bolsheviki to the
+Chinese commissioners with various proposals of all kinds; the Chinese
+authorities in Mongolia were gradually entering into secret relations
+with the Bolsheviki and in Kiakhta and Ulankom delivered to them the
+Russian refugees, thus violating recognized international law; in
+Urga the Bolsheviki set up a Russian communistic municipality; Russian
+Consuls were inactive; Red troops in the region of Kosogol and the
+valley of the Selenga had encounters with Anti-Bolshevik officers; the
+Chinese authorities established garrisons in the Mongolian towns
+and sent punitive expeditions into the country; and, to complete the
+confusion, 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 dangerous trip
+along the Yenisei, through Urianhai, Mongolia, the lands of the Turguts,
+Kansu and Koko Nor!
+
+"Do you know," said my old friend to me, "I prefer strangling Partisans
+and fighting with the hunghutze to listening to news and more anxious
+news!"
+
+He was right; for the worst of it was that in this bustle and whirl of
+facts, rumours and gossip the Reds could approach troubled Uliassutai
+and take everyone with their bare hands. We should very willingly have
+left this town of uncertainties but we had no place to go. In the north
+were the hostile Partisans and Red troops; to the south we had already
+lost our companions and not a little of our own blood; to the west raged
+the Chinese administrators and detachments; and to the east a war had
+broken out, the news of which, in spite of the attempts of the Chinese
+authorities at secrecy, had filtered through and had testified to
+the seriousness of the situation in this part of Outer Mongolia.
+Consequently we had no choice but to remain in Uliassutai. Here also
+were living several Polish soldiers who had escaped from the prison
+camps in Russia, two Polish families and two American firms, all in
+the same plight as ourselves. We joined together and made our own
+intelligence department, very carefully watching the evolution of
+events. We succeeded in forming good connections with the Chinese
+commissioner and with the Mongolian Sait, which greatly helped us in our
+orientation.
+
+What was behind all these events in Mongolia? The very clever Mongol
+Sait of Uliassutai gave me the following explanation.
+
+"According to the agreements between Mongolia, China and Russia of
+October 21, 1912, of October 23, 1913, and of June 7, 1915, Outer
+Mongolia was accorded independence and the Moral Head of our 'Yellow
+Faith,' His Holiness the Living Buddha, became the Suzerain of the
+Mongolian people of Khalkha or Outer Mongolia with the title of 'Bogdo
+Djebtsung Damba Hutuktu Khan.' While Russia was still strong and
+carefully watched her policy in Asia, the Government of Peking kept the
+treaty; but, when, at the beginning of the war with Germany, 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 1913 were supplemented by the convention
+of 1915. However, in 1916, when all the forces of Russia were
+pre-occupied in the unsuccessful war and afterwards when the first
+Russian revolution broke out in February, 1917, overthrowing the
+Romanoff Dynasty, the Chinese Government openly retook Mongolia. They
+changed all the Mongolian ministers and Saits, replacing them with
+individuals friendly to China; arrested many Mongolian autonomists and
+sent them to prison in Peking; set up their administration in Urga and
+other Mongol towns; actually removed His Holiness Bogdo Khan from the
+affairs of administration; made him only a machine for signing Chinese
+decrees; and at last introduced into Mongolia their troops. From that
+moment there developed an energetic flow of Chinese merchants and
+coolies into Mongolia. The Chinese began to demand the payment of taxes
+and dues from 1912. The Mongolian population were rapidly stripped of
+their wealth and now in the vicinities of our towns and monasteries you
+can see whole settlements of beggar Mongols living in dugouts. All our
+Mongol arsenals and treasuries were requisitioned. All monasteries
+were forced to pay taxes; all Mongols working for the liberty of their
+country were persecuted; through bribery with Chinese silver, orders and
+titles the Chinese secured a following among the poorer Mongol Princes.
+It is easy to understand 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 China in
+their hands and under their reign had given her the first place in
+Asia, were definitely hostile to the Chinese administrators acting thus.
+Insurrection was, however, impossible. We had no arms. All our leaders
+were under surveillance and every movement by them toward an armed
+resistance would have ended in the same prison at Peking where eighty
+of our Nobles, Princes and Lamas died from hunger and torture after a
+previous struggle for the liberty of Mongolia. Some abnormally strong
+shock was necessary to drive the people into action. This was given by
+the Chinese administrators, General Cheng Yi and General Chu Chi-hsiang.
+They announced that His Holiness Bogdo Khan was under arrest in his
+own palace, and they recalled to his attention the former decree of
+the Peking Government--held by the Mongols to be unwarranted and
+illegal--that His Holiness was the last Living Buddha. This was enough.
+Immediately secret relations were made between the people and their
+Living God, and plans were at once elaborated for the liberation of His
+Holiness and for the struggle for liberty and freedom of our people. We
+were helped by the great Prince of the Buriats, Djam Bolon, who began
+parleys with General Ungern, then engaged in fighting the Bolsheviki
+in Transbaikalia, and invited him 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 for the liberty
+of Mongolia, directed that the mobilization of the Mongolians in the
+northern districts be forwarded at once and promised to enter Mongolia
+with his own small detachment, moving along the River Kerulen.
+Afterwards he took up relations with the other Russian detachment of
+Colonel Kazagrandi and, together with the mobilized Mongolian riders,
+began the attack on Urga. Twice he was defeated but on the third of
+February, 1921, he succeeded in capturing the town and replaced the
+Living Buddha on the throne of the Khans.
+
+At the end of March, however, these events were still unknown in
+Uliassutai. We knew neither of the fall of Urga nor of the destruction
+of the Chinese army of nearly 15,000 in the battles of Maimachen on the
+shore of the Tola and on the roads between Urga and Ude. The Chinese
+carefully concealed the truth by preventing anybody from passing
+westward from Urga. However, rumours existed and troubled all. The
+atmosphere became more and more tense, while the relations between the
+Chinese on the one side and the Mongolians 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 inexperienced men. The Chinese authorities had dismissed the
+Uliassutai Sait, the prominent Mongolian patriot, Prince Chultun
+Beyle, and had appointed a Lama Prince friendly to China, the former
+Vice-Minister of War in Urga. Oppression increased. The searching of
+Russian officers' and colonists' houses and quarters commenced, open
+relations with the Bolsheviki followed and arrest and beatings became
+common. The Russian officers formed a secret detachment of sixty men
+so that they could defend themselves. However, in this detachment
+disagreements soon sprang up between Lieutenant-Colonel M. M. Michailoff
+and some of his officers. It was evident that in the decisive moment the
+detachment must separate into factions.
+
+We foreigners in council decided to make a thorough reconnaissance in
+order to know whether there was danger of Red troops arriving. My old
+companion and I agreed to do this scouting. Prince Chultun Beyle gave
+us a very good guide--an old Mongol named Tzeren, who spoke and read
+Russian perfectly. He was a very interesting personage, holding the
+position of interpreter with the Mongolian authorities and sometimes
+with the Chinese Commissioner. Shortly before he had been sent as
+a special envoy to Peking with very important despatches and this
+incomparable horseman had made the journey between Uliassutai and
+Peking, that is 1,800 miles, in nine days, incredible as it may seem. He
+prepared himself for the journey by binding all his abdomen and chest,
+legs, arms and neck with strong cotton bandages to protect himself from
+the wracks and strains of such a period in the saddle. In his cap he
+bore three eagle feathers as a token that he had received orders to fly
+like a bird. Armed with a special document called a tzara, which gave
+him the right to receive at all post stations the best horses, one
+to ride and one fully saddled to lead as a change, together with two
+oulatchen or guards to accompany him and bring back the horses from the
+next station or ourton, he made the distance of from fifteen to thirty
+miles between stations at full gallop, stopping only long enough to have
+the horses and guards changed before he was off again. Ahead of him rode
+one oulatchen with the best horses to enable him to announce and prepare
+in advance the complement of steeds at the next station. Each oulatchen
+had three horses in all, so that he could swing from one that had given
+out and release him to graze until his return to pick him up and lead or
+ride him back home. At every third ourton, without leaving his saddle,
+he received a cup of hot green tea with salt and continued his race
+southward. After seventeen or eighteen hours of such riding he stopped
+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 day and five times a day had
+tea; and so he traveled for nine days!
+
+With this servant we moved out one cold winter morning in the direction
+of Kobdo, just over three hundred miles, because from there we had
+received the disquieting rumours that the Red troops had entered
+Ulankom and that the Chinese authorities had handed over to them all the
+Europeans in the town. We crossed the River Dzaphin on the ice. It is a
+terrible stream. Its bed is full of quicksands, which in summer suck
+in numbers of camels, horses and men. We entered a long, winding valley
+among the mountains covered with deep snow and here and there with
+groves of the black wood of the larch. About halfway to Kobdo we came
+across the yurta of a shepherd on the shore of the small Lake of Baga
+Nor, where evening and a strong wind whirling gusts of snow in our faces
+easily persuaded us to stop. By the yurta stood a splendid bay horse
+with a saddle richly ornamerited with silver and coral. As we turned
+in from the road, two Mongols left the yurta very hastily; one of them
+jumped into the saddle and quickly disappeared in the plain behind the
+snowy hillocks. We clearly made out the flashing folds of his yellow
+robe under the great outer coat and saw his large knife sheathed in a
+green leather scabbard and handled with horn and ivory. The other man
+was the host of the yurta, the shepherd of a local prince, Novontziran.
+He gave signs of great pleasure at seeing 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, it means
+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 the shepherd
+or some high Lama. Consequently we did not further insist and began
+making our sleeping arrangements. Our host set three legs of mutton to
+boil for us, skillfully cutting out the bones with his heavy knife. We
+chatted and learned that no one had seen Red troops around this region
+but in Kobdo and in Ulankom the Chinese soldiers were oppressing the
+population, and were beating to death with the bamboo Mongol men who
+were defending their women against the ravages of these Chinese troops.
+Some of the Mongols had retreated to the mountains to join detachments
+under the command of Kaigordoff, an Altai Tartar officer who was
+supplying them with weapons.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS LAMA AVENGER
+
+
+We rested soundly in the yurta after the two days of travel which had
+brought us one hundred seventy miles through the snow and sharp cold.
+Round the evening meal of juicy mutton we were talking freely 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 medium height,
+very heavy set Mongol in deerskin overcoat and cap with side flaps and
+the long, wide tying strings of the same material. Under his girdle
+lay the same large knife in the green sheath which we had seen on the
+departing horseman.
+
+"Amoursayn," we answered.
+
+He quickly untied his girdle and laid aside his overcoat. He stood
+before us in a wonderful gown of silk, yellow as beaten gold and girt
+with a brilliant blue sash. His cleanly shaven face, short hair, red
+coral rosary on the left hand and his yellow garment proved clearly that
+before us stood some high Lama Priest,--with a big Colt under his blue
+sash!
+
+I turned to my host and Tzeren and read in their faces fear and
+veneration. 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 the
+Government of the Living Buddha in Urga.
+
+"There they liberate Mongolia, capture Urga, defeat the Chinese army and
+here in the west they give us no news of it. We are without action here
+while the Chinese kill our people and steal from them. I think that
+Bogdo Khan might send us envoys. How is it the Chinese can send their
+envoys from Urga and Kiakhta to Kobdo, asking for assistance, and the
+Mongol Government cannot do it? 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 the ground."
+
+He laughed again and glanced around peculiarly with his blazing eyes.
+Only then did I notice that his cheekbones and eyes had lines strange to
+the Mongols of Central Asia. He looked more like a Tartar or a Kirghiz.
+We were silent and smoked our pipes.
+
+"How soon will the detachment of Chahars leave Uliassutai?" he asked.
+
+We answered that we had not heard about them. Our guest explained
+that from Inner Mongolia the Chinese authorities had sent out a strong
+detachment, mobilized from among the most warlike tribe of Chahars,
+which wander about the region just outside the Great Wall. Its chief was
+a notorious hunghutze leader promoted by the Chinese Government to the
+rank of captain on promising that he would bring under subjugation to
+the Chinese authorities all the tribes of the districts of Kobdo and
+Urianhai. When he learned whither we were going and for what purpose,
+he said he could give us the most accurate news and relieve us from the
+necessity of going farther.
+
+"Besides that, it is very dangerous," he said, "because Kobdo will be
+massacred and burned. I know this positively."
+
+When he heard of our unsuccessful attempt to pass through Tibet, he
+became 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 the Narabanchi
+Hutuktu. With my laissez-passer you could have gone anywhere in Tibet. I
+am Tushegoun Lama."
+
+Tushegoun Lama! How many extraordinary tales I had heard about him.
+He is a Russian Kalmuck, who because of his propaganda work for the
+independence of the Kalmuck people made the acquaintance of many Russian
+prisons under the Czar and, for the same cause, added to his list under
+the Bolsheviki. He escaped to Mongolia and at once attained to great
+influence among the Mongols. It was no wonder, for he was a close friend
+and pupil of the Dalai Lama in Potala (Lhasa), was the most learned
+among the Lamites, a famous thaumaturgist and doctor. He occupied an
+almost independent position in his relationship with the Living Buddha
+and achieved to the leadership of all the old wandering tribes of
+Western Mongolia and Zungaria, even extending his political domination
+over the Mongolian tribes of Turkestan. His influence was irresistible,
+based as it was on his great control of mysterious science, as he
+expressed it; but I was also told that it has its foundation largely
+in the panicky fear which he could produce in the Mongols. Everyone who
+disobeyed his orders perished. Such an one never knew the day or the
+hour when, in his yurta or beside his galloping horse on the plains, the
+strange and powerful friend of the Dalai Lama would appear. The stroke
+of a knife, a bullet or strong fingers strangling the neck like a vise
+accomplished the justice of the plans of this miracle worker.
+
+Without the walls of the yurta the wind whistled and roared and drove
+the frozen snow sharply against the stretched felt. Through the roar of
+the wind came the sound of many voices in mingled shouting, wailing
+and laughter. I felt that in such surroundings it were not difficult to
+dumbfound a wandering nomad with miracles, because Nature herself had
+prepared the setting for it. This thought had scarcely time to flash
+through my mind before Tushegoun Lama suddenly raised his head, looked
+sharply at me and said:
+
+"There is very much unknown in Nature and the skill of using the unknown
+produces the miracle; but the power is given to few. I want to prove it
+to you and you may tell me afterwards whether you have seen it before or
+not."
+
+He stood up, pushed back the sleeves of his yellow garment, seized his
+knife and strode across to the shepherd.
+
+"Michik, stand up!" he ordered.
+
+When the shepherd had risen, the Lama quickly unbuttoned his coat
+and bared the man's chest. I could not yet understand what was his
+intention, when suddenly the Tushegoun with all his force struck his
+knife into the chest of the shepherd. The Mongol fell all covered with
+blood, a splash of which I noticed on the yellow silk of the Lama's
+coat.
+
+"What have you done?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Sh! Be still," he whispered turning to me his now quite blanched face.
+
+With a few strokes of the knife he opened the chest of the Mongol and
+I saw the man's lungs softly breathing and the distinct palpitations of
+the heart. The Lama touched these organs with his fingers but no more
+blood appeared to flow and the face of the shepherd was quite calm.
+He was lying with his eyes closed and appeared to be in deep and quiet
+sleep. As the Lama began to open his abdomen, I shut my eyes in fear and
+horror; and, when I opened them a little while later, I was still more
+dumbfounded at seeing the shepherd with his coat still open and his
+breast normal, quietly sleeping on his side and Tushegoun Lama sitting
+peacefully by the brazier, smoking his pipe and looking into the fire in
+deep thought.
+
+"It is wonderful!" I confessed. "I have never seen anything like it!"
+
+"About what are you speaking?" asked the Kalmuck.
+
+"About your demonstration or 'miracle,' as you call it," I answered.
+
+"I never said anything like that," refuted the Kalmuck, with coldness 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 of
+Tushegoun Lama; but I preferred this to seeing an innocent Mongolian
+die, for I had not believed that Tushegoun Lama, after slashing open the
+bodies of his victims, could repair them again so readily.
+
+The following day we took leave of our hosts. We decided to return,
+inasmuch as our mission was accomplished; and Tushegoun Lama explained
+to us that he would "move through space." He wandered over all Mongolia,
+lived both in the single, simple yurta of the shepherd and hunter and in
+the splendid tents of the princes and tribal chiefs, surrounded by deep
+veneration and panic-fear, enticing and cementing to him rich and poor
+alike with his miracles and prophecies. When bidding us adieu, the
+Kalmuck sorcerer slyly smiled and said:
+
+"Do not give any information about me to the Chinese authorities."
+
+Afterwards he added: "What happened to you yesterday evening was
+a futile demonstration. You Europeans will not recognize that we
+dark-minded nomads possess the powers of mysterious science. If you
+could only see the miracles and power of the Most Holy Tashi Lama, when
+at his command the lamps and candles before the ancient statue of Buddha
+light themselves and when the ikons of the gods begin to speak and
+prophesy! But there exists a more powerful and more 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 one man
+knows his holy name; only one man now living was ever in Agharti. That
+is I. This is the reason why the Most Holy Dalai Lama 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 the highest priest in Lhasa nor reach that
+which has come down from Jenghiz Khan to the Head of our yellow Faith. I
+am no monk. I am a warrior and avenger."
+
+He jumped smartly into the saddle, whipped his horse and whirled away,
+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 legends surrounding
+Tushegoun Lama. One tale especially remained in my mind. It was in 1911
+or 1912 when the Mongols by armed force tried to attain their liberty in
+a struggle with the Chinese. The general Chinese headquarters in Western
+Mongolia was Kobdo, where they had about ten thousand soldiers under the
+command of their best officers. The command to capture Kobdo was sent
+to Hun Baldon, a simple shepherd who had distinguished himself in fights
+with the Chinese and received from the Living Buddha the title of Prince
+of Hun. Ferocious, absolutely without fear and possessing gigantic
+strength, Baldon had several times led to the attack his poorly armed
+Mongols but each time had been forced to retreat after losing many of
+his men under the machine-gun fire. Unexpectedly Tushegoun Lama arrived.
+He collected all the soldiers and then said to them:
+
+"You must not fear death and must not retreat. You are fighting and
+dying for Mongolia, for which the gods have appointed a great destiny.
+See what the fate of Mongolia will be!"
+
+He made a great sweeping gesture with his hand and all the soldiers saw
+the country round about set with rich yurtas and pastures covered
+with great herds of horses and cattle. On the plains appeared numerous
+horsemen on richly saddled steeds. The women were gowned in the finest
+of silk with massive silver rings in their ears and precious ornaments
+in their elaborate head dresses. Chinese merchants led an endless
+caravan of merchandise up to distinguished looking Mongol Saits,
+surrounded by the gaily dressed tzirik or soldiers and proudly
+negotiating with the merchants for their wares.
+
+Shortly the vision disappeared and Tushegoun began to speak.
+
+"Do not fear death! It is a release from our labor on earth and the path
+to the state of constant blessings. Look to the East! Do you see your
+brothers and friends who have fallen in battle?"
+
+"We see, we see!" the Mongol warriors exclaimed in astonishment, as they
+all looked upon a great group of dwellings which might have been yurtas
+or the arches of temples flushed with a warm and kindly light. Red and
+yellow silk were interwoven in bright bands that covered the walls and
+floor, everywhere the gilding on pillars and walls gleamed brightly;
+on the great red altar burned the thin sacrificial candles in gold
+candelabra, beside the massive silver vessels filled with milk and nuts;
+on soft pillows about the floor sat the Mongols who had fallen in the
+previous attack on Kobdo. Before them stood low, lacquered tables laden
+with many dishes of steaming, succulent flesh of the lamb and the kid,
+with high jugs of wine and tea, with plates of borsuk, a kind of sweet,
+rich cakes, with aromatic zatouran covered with sheep's fat, with bricks
+of dried cheese, with dates, raisins and nuts. These fallen soldiers
+smoked golden pipes and chatted gaily.
+
+This vision in turn also disappeared and before the gazing Mongols stood
+only the mysterious Kalmuck with his hand upraised.
+
+"To battle and return not without victory! I am with you in the fight."
+
+The attack began. The Mongols fought furiously, perished by the hundreds
+but not before they had rushed into the heart of Kobdo. Then was
+re-enacted the long forgotten picture of Tartar hordes destroying
+European towns. Hun Baldon ordered carried over him a triangle of lances
+with brilliant red streamers, a sign that he gave up the town to the
+soldiers for three days. Murder and pillage began. All the Chinese met
+their death there. The town was burned and the walls of the fortress
+destroyed. Afterwards Hun Baldon came to Uliassutai and also destroyed
+the Chinese fortress there. The ruins of it still stand with the broken
+embattlements and towers, the useless gates and the remnants of the
+burned official quarters and soldiers' barracks.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+WILD CHAHARS
+
+
+After our return to Uliassutai we heard that disquieting news had been
+received by the Mongol Sait from Muren Kure. The letter stated that Red
+Troops were pressing Colonel Kazagrandi very hard in the region of Lake
+Kosogol. The Sait feared the advance of the Red troops southward to
+Uliassutai. Both the American firms liquidated their affairs and all
+our friends were prepared for a quick exit, though they hesitated at
+the thought of leaving the town, as they were afraid of meeting the
+detachment of Chahars sent from the east. We decided to await the
+arrival of this detachment, as their coming could change the whole
+course of events. In a few days they came, two hundred warlike Chahar
+brigands under the command of a former Chinese hunghutze. He was a tall,
+skinny man with hands that reached almost to his knees, a face blackened
+by wind and sun and mutilated with two long scars down over his forehead
+and cheek, the making of one of which had also closed one of his
+hawklike eyes, topped off with a shaggy coonskin cap--such was the
+commander of the detachment of Chahars. A personage very dark and stern,
+with whom a night meeting on a lonely street could not be considered a
+pleasure by any bent of the imagination.
+
+The detachment made camp within the destroyed fortress, near to the
+single Chinese building that had not been razed and which was now
+serving as headquarters for the Chinese Commissioner. On the very day of
+their arrival the Chahars pillaged a Chinese dugun or trading house not
+half a mile from the fortress and also offended the 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 arrival in Uliassutai followed the Chinese custom
+of demanding a Mongolian wife. The servile new Sait had given orders
+that a beautiful and suitable Mongolian girl be found for him. One was
+so run down and placed in his yamen, together with her big wrestling
+Mongol brother who was to be a guard for the Commissioner but who
+developed into the nurse for the little white Pekingese pug which the
+official presented to his new wife.
+
+Burglaries, squabbles and drunken orgies of the Chahars followed, so
+that Wang Tsoa-tsun exerted all his efforts to hurry the detachment
+westward to Kobdo and farther into Urianhai.
+
+One cold morning the inhabitants of Uliassutai rose to witness a very
+stern picture. Along the main street of the town the detachment was
+passing. They were riding on small, shaggy ponies, three abreast; were
+dressed in warm blue coats with sheepskin overcoats 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 the Russian colonists. At their head rode the one-eyed
+hunghutze chief with three horsemen behind him in white overcoats,
+who carried waving banners and blew what may have been meant for music
+through great conch shells. One of the Chahars could not resist and so
+jumped out of his saddle and made for a Chinese shop along the street.
+Immediately the anxious cries of the Chinese merchants came from the
+shop. The hunghutze swung round, noticed the horse at the door of the
+shop and realized what was happening. Immediately he reined his horse
+and made for the spot. With his raucous voice he called the Chahar out.
+As he came, he struck him full in the face with his whip and with all
+his strength. Blood flowed from the slashed cheek. But the Chahar was in
+the saddle in a second without a murmur and galloped to his place in
+the file. During this exit of the Chahars all the people were hidden
+in their houses, anxiously peeping through cracks and corners of the
+windows. But the Chahars passed peacefully out and only when they met a
+caravan carrying Chinese wine about six miles from town did their
+native tendency display itself again in pillaging and emptying several
+containers. Somewhere in the vicinity of Hargana they were ambushed by
+Tushegoun Lama and so treated that never again will the plains of Chahar
+welcome the return of these warrior sons who were sent out to conquer
+the Soyot descendants of the ancient Tuba.
+
+The day the column left Uliassutai a heavy snow fell, so that the road
+became impassable. The horses first were up to their knees, tired out
+and stopped. Some Mongol horsemen reached Uliassutai the following day
+after great hardship and exertion, having made only twenty-five miles in
+forty-eight hours. Caravans were compelled to stop along the routes. The
+Mongols would not consent even to attempt journeys with oxen and yaks
+which made but ten or twelve miles a day. Only camels could be used but
+there were too few and their drivers did not feel that they could make
+the first railway station of Kuku-Hoto, which was about fourteen hundred
+miles away. We were forced again to wait: for which? Death or salvation?
+Only our own energy and force could save us. Consequently my friend
+and I started out, supplied with a tent, stove and food, for a new
+reconnaissance along the shore of Lake Kosogol, whence the Mongol Sait
+expected the new invasion of Red troops.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE DEMON OF JAGISSTAI
+
+
+Our small group consisting of four mounted and one pack camel moved
+northward along the valley of the River Boyagol in the direction of the
+Tarbagatai Mountains. The road was rocky and covered deep with snow. Our
+camels walked very carefully, sniffing out the way as our guide shouted
+the "Ok! Ok!" of the camel drivers to urge them on. We left behind us
+the fortress and Chinese dugun, swung round the shoulder of a ridge
+and, after fording several times an open stream, began the ascent of the
+mountain. The scramble was hard and dangerous. Our camels picked their
+way most cautiously, moving their ears constantly, as is their habit in
+such stress. The trail zigzagged into mountain ravines, passed over the
+tops of ridges, slipped back down again into shallower valleys but ever
+made higher and higher altitudes. At one place under the grey clouds
+that tipped the ridges we saw away up on the wide expanse of snow some
+black spots.
+
+"Those are the obo, the sacred signs and altars for the bad demons
+watching this pass," explained the guide. "This pass is called
+Jagisstai. 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 around him,
+began his tale.
+
+"It was long ago, very long ago. . . . The grandson of the great Jenghiz
+Khan sat on the throne of China and ruled all Asia. The Chinese killed
+their Khan and wanted to exterminate all his family but a holy old Lama
+slipped the wife and little son out of the palace and carried them off
+on swift camels beyond the Great Wall, where they sank into our native
+plains. The Chinese made a long search for the trails of our refugees
+and at last found where they had gone. They despatched a strong
+detachment on fleet horses to capture them. Sometimes the Chinese nearly
+came up with the fleeing heir of our Khan but the Lama called down from
+Heaven a deep snow, through which the camels could pass while the horses
+were inextricably held. This Lama was from a distant monastery. We shall
+pass this hospice of Jahantsi Kure. In order to reach it one must cross
+over the Jagisstai. And it was just here the old Lama suddenly became
+ill, rocked in his saddle and fell dead. Ta Sin Lo, the widow of the
+Great Khan, burst into tears; but, seeing the Chinese riders galloping
+there below across the valley, pressed on toward the pass. The camels
+were tired, stopping every moment, nor did the woman know how to
+stimulate and drive them on. The Chinese riders came nearer and nearer.
+Already she heard their shouts of joy, as they felt within their grasp
+the prize of the mandarins for the murder of the heir of the Great
+Khan. The heads of the mother and the son would be brought to Peking and
+exposed on the Ch'ien Men for the mockery and insults of the people. The
+frightened mother lifted her little son toward heaven and exclaimed:
+
+"'Earth and Gods of Mongolia, behold the offspring of the man who has
+glorified the name of the Mongols from one end of the world to the
+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. The pursuers 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 check three
+hundred men. The mouse jumped back to the ground and again spoke:
+
+"'I am the demon of Tarbagatai, Jagasstai. I am mighty and beloved of
+the Gods but, because you doubted the powers of the miracle-speaking
+mouse, from this day the Jagasstai will be dangerous for the good and
+bad alike.'
+
+"The Khan's widow and son were saved but Jagasstai has ever remained
+merciless. During the journey over this pass one must always be on one's
+guard. The demon of the mountain is ever ready to lead the traveler to
+destruction."
+
+All the tops of the ridges of the Tarbagatai are thickly dotted with the
+obo of rocks and branches. In one place there was even erected a tower
+of stones as an altar to propitiate the Gods for the doubts of Ta Sin
+Lo. Evidently the demon expected us. When we began our ascent of the
+main ridge, he blew into our faces with a sharp, cold wind, whistled and
+roared and afterwards began casting over us whole blocks of snow torn
+off the drifts above. We could not distinguish anything around us,
+scarcely seeing the camel immediately in front. Suddenly I felt a
+shock and looked about me. Nothing unusual was visible. I was seated
+comfortably between two leather saddle bags filled with meat and bread
+but . . . I could not see the head of my camel. He had disappeared. It
+seemed that he had slipped and fallen to the bottom of a shallow ravine,
+while the bags which were slung across his back without straps had
+caught on a rock and stopped with myself there in the snow. This time
+the demon of Jagasstai only played a joke but one that did not satisfy
+him. He began to show more and more anger. With furious gusts of wind he
+almost dragged us and our bags from the camels and nearly knocked over
+our humped steeds, blinded us with frozen snow and prevented us from
+breathing. Through long hours we dragged slowly on in the deep snow,
+often falling over the edge of the rocks. At last we entered a small
+valley where the wind whistled and roared with a thousand voices. It
+had grown dark. The Mongol wandered around 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 very bad
+because we shall have no wood for our stove and the cold will grow
+worse."
+
+With great difficulties and with frozen hands we managed to set up our
+tent in the wind, placing in it the now useless stove. We covered the
+tent with snow, dug deep, long ditches in the drifts and 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 night with
+a stove hard by.
+
+"I am going out to look for firewood," said he very decisively; and at
+that took up the ax and started. He returned after an hour with a big
+section of a telegraph pole.
+
+"You, Jenghiz Khans," said he, rubbing his frozen hands, "take your
+axes and go up there to the left on the mountain and you will find the
+telegraph poles that have been cut down. I made acquaintance with the
+old Jagasstai and he showed me the poles."
+
+Just a little way from us the line of the Russian telegraphs passed,
+that which had connected Irkutsk with Uliassutai before the days of the
+Bolsheviki and which the Chinese had commanded the Mongols to cut
+down and take the wire. These poles are now the salvation of travelers
+crossing the pass. Thus we spent the night in a warm tent, supped
+well from hot meat soup with vermicelli, all in the very center of the
+dominion of the angered Jagasstai. Early the next morning we found
+the road not more than two or three hundred paces from our tent and
+continued our hard trip over the ridge of Tarbagatai. At the head of
+the Adair River valley we noticed a flock of the Mongolian crows with
+carmine beaks circling among the rocks. We approached the place and
+discovered the recently fallen bodies of a horse and rider. What had
+happened to them was difficult to guess. They lay close together; the
+bridle was wound around the right wrist of the man; no trace of knife or
+bullet was found. It was impossible to make out the features of the man.
+His overcoat was Mongolian but his trousers and under jacket were not of
+the Mongolian pattern. We asked ourselves what had happened to him.
+
+Our Mongol bowed his head in anxiety and said in hushed but assured
+tones: "It is the vengeance of Jagasstai. The rider did not make
+sacrifice at the southern obo and the demon has strangled him and his
+horse."
+
+At last Tarbagatai was behind us. Before us lay the valley of the Adair.
+It was a narrow zigzagging plain following along the river bed between
+close mountain ranges and covered with a rich grass. It was cut into two
+parts by the road along which the prostrate telegraph poles now lay, as
+the stumps of varying heights and long stretches of wire completed
+the debris. This destruction of the telegraph line between Irkutsk and
+Uliassutai was necessary and incident to the aggressive Chinese policy
+in Mongolia.
+
+Soon we began to meet large herds of sheep, which were digging through
+the snow to the dry but very nutritious grass. In some places yaks and
+oxen were seen on the high slopes of the mountains. Only once, however,
+did we see a shepherd, for all of them, spying us first, had made off
+to the mountains or hidden in the ravines. We did not even discover any
+yurtas along the way. The Mongols had also concealed all their movable
+homes in the folds of the mountains out of sight and away from the reach
+of the strong winds. Nomads are very skilful in choosing the places
+for their winter dwellings. I had often in winter visited the Mongolian
+yurtas set in such sheltered places that, as I came off the windy
+plains, I felt as though I were in a conservatory. Once we came up to
+a big herd of sheep. But as we approached most of the herd gradually
+withdrew, leaving one part that remained unmoved as the other worked
+off across the plains. From this section soon about thirty of forty head
+emerged and went scrambling and leaping right up the mountain side. I
+took up my glasses and began to observe them. The part of the herd that
+remained behind were common sheep; the large section that had drawn off
+over the plain were Mongolian antelopes (gazella gutturosa); while
+the few that had taken to the mountain were the big horned sheep (ovis
+argali). All this company had been grazing together with the domestic
+sheep on the plains of the Adair, which attracted them with its good
+grass and clear water. In many places the river was not frozen and in
+some places I saw great clouds of steam over the surface of the open
+water. In the meantime some of the antelopes and the mountain sheep
+began looking at us.
+
+"Now they will soon begin to cross our trail," laughed the Mongol; "very
+funny beasts. Sometimes the antelopes course for miles in their 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 to make
+use of it for the purpose of the hunt. We organized our chase in the
+following manner. We let one Mongol with the pack camel proceed as
+we had been traveling and the other three of us spread out like a fan
+headed toward the herd on the right of our true course. The herd stopped
+and looked about puzzled, for their etiquette required that they should
+cross the path of all four of these riders at once. Confusion began.
+They counted about three thousand heads. All this army began to run
+from one side to another but without forming any distinct groups. Whole
+squadrons of them ran before us and then, noticing another rider, came
+coursing back and made anew the same manoeuvre. One group of about fifty
+head rushed in two rows toward my point. When they were about a hundred
+and fifty paces away I shouted and fired. They stopped at once and began
+to whirl round in one spot, running into one another and even jumping
+over one another. Their panic cost them dear, for I had time to shoot
+four times to bring down two beautiful heads. My friend was even more
+fortunate than I, for he shot only once into the herd as it rushed past
+him in parallel lines and dropped two with the same bullet.
+
+Meanwhile the argali had gone farther up the mountainside and taken
+stand there in a row like so many soldiers, turning to gaze at us. Even
+at this distance I could clearly distinguish their muscular bodies
+with their majestic heads and stalwart horns. Picking up our prey, we
+overtook the Mongol who had gone on ahead and continued our way. In many
+places we came across the carcasses of sheep with necks torn and the
+flesh of the sides eaten off.
+
+"It is the work of wolves," said the Mongol. "They are always hereabout
+in large numbers."
+
+We came across several more herds of antelope, which ran along quietly
+enough until they had made a comfortable distance ahead of us and then
+with tremendous leaps and bounds crossed our bows like the proverbial
+chicken on the road. Then, after a couple of hundred paces at this
+speed, they stopped and began to graze quite calmly. Once I turned my
+camel back and the whole herd immediately took up the challenge again,
+coursed along parallel with me until they had made sufficient distance
+for their ideas of safety and then once more rushed across the road
+ahead of me as though it were paved with red hot stones, only to assume
+their previous calmness and graze back on the same side of the trail
+from which our column had first started them. On another occasion I did
+this three times with a particular herd and laughed long and heartily at
+their stupid customs.
+
+We passed a very unpleasant night in this valley. We stopped on the
+shore of the frozen stream in a spot where we found shelter from the
+wind under the lee of a high shore. In our stove we did have a fire and
+in our kettle boiling water. Also our tent was warm and cozy. We were
+quietly resting with pleasant thoughts of supper to soothe us, when
+suddenly a howling and laughter as though from some inferno burst upon
+us from just outside the tent, while from the other side of the valley
+came the long and doleful howls in answer.
+
+"Wolves," calmly explained the Mongol, who took my revolver and went out
+of the tent. He did not return for some time but at last we heard a shot
+and shortly after he entered.
+
+"I scared them a little," said he. "They had congregated on the shore 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 bother us."
+
+After our supper we turned in but I lay awake for a long time listening
+to the crackle of the wood in the fire, the deep sighing breaths of the
+camels and the distant howling of the packs of wolves; but finally, even
+with all these noises, fell asleep. How long I had been asleep I did not
+know when suddenly I was awakened by a strong blow in the side. I was
+lying at the very edge of the tent and someone from outside had, without
+the least ceremony, pushed strongly against me. I thought it was one of
+the camels chewing the felt of the tent. I took my Mauser and struck the
+wall. A sharp scream was followed by the sound of quick running over the
+pebbles. In the morning we discovered the tracks of wolves approaching
+our tent from the side opposite to the fire and followed them to where
+they had begun to dig under the tent wall; but evidently one of the
+would-be robbers was forced to retreat with a bruise on his head from
+the handle of the Mauser.
+
+Wolves and eagles are the servants of Jagasstai, the Mongol very
+seriously instructed us. However, this does not prevent the Mongols from
+hunting them. Once in the camp of Prince Baysei I witnessed such a hunt.
+The Mongol horsemen on the best of his steeds overtook the wolves on the
+open plain and killed them with heavy bamboo sticks or tashur. A Russian
+veterinary surgeon taught the Mongols to poison wolves with strychnine
+but the Mongols soon abandoned this method because of its danger to
+the dogs, the faithful friends and allies of the nomad. They do not,
+however, touch the eagles and hawks but even feed them. When the Mongols
+are slaughtering animals they often cast bits of meat up into the air
+for the hawks and eagles to catch in flight, just as we throw a bit of
+meat to a dog. Eagles and hawks fight and drive away the magpies and
+crows, which are very dangerous for cattle and horses, because they
+scratch and peck at the smallest wound or abrasion on the backs of the
+animals until they make them into uncurable areas which they continue to
+harass.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE NEST OF DEATH
+
+
+Our camels were trudging to a slow but steady measure on toward the
+north. We were making twenty-five to thirty miles a day as we approached
+a small monastery that lay to the left of our route. It was in the
+form of a square of large buildings surrounded by a high fence of
+thick poles. Each side had an opening in the middle leading to the four
+entrances of the temple in the center of the square. The temple was
+built with the red lacquered columns and the Chinese style roofs and
+dominated the surrounding low dwellings of the Lamas. On the opposite
+side of the road lay what appeared to be a Chinese fortress but which
+was in reality a trading compound or dugun, which the Chinese always
+build in the form of a fortress with double walls a few feet apart,
+within which they place their houses and shops and usually have twenty
+or thirty traders fully armed for any emergency. In case of need these
+duguns can be used as blockhouses and are capable of withstanding long
+sieges. Between the dugun and the monastery and nearer to the road I
+made out the camp of some nomads. Their horses and cattle were nowhere
+to be seen. Evidently the Mongols had stopped here for some time and
+had left their cattle in the mountains. Over several yurtas waved
+multi-colored triangular flags, a sign of the presence of disease. Near
+some yurtas high poles were stuck into the ground with Mongol caps at
+their tops, which indicated that the host of the yurta had died. The
+packs of dogs wandering over the plain showed that the dead bodies lay
+somewhere near, either in the ravines or along the banks of the river.
+
+As we approached the camp, we heard from a distance the frantic beating
+of drums, the mournful sounds of the flute and shrill, mad shouting.
+Our Mongol went forward to investigate for us and reported that several
+Mongolian families had come here to the monastery to seek aid from the
+Hutuktu Jahansti who was famed for his miracles of healing. The people
+were stricken with leprosy and black smallpox and had come from long
+distances only to find that the Hutuktu was not at the monastery but had
+gone to the Living Buddha in Urga. Consequently they had been forced to
+invite the witch doctors. The people were dying one after another. Just
+the day before they had cast on the plain the twenty-seventh man.
+
+Meanwhile, as we talked, the witch doctor came out of one of the yurtas.
+He was an old man with a cataract on one eye and with a face deeply
+scarred by smallpox. He was dressed in tatters with various colored bits
+of cloth hanging down from his waist. He carried a drum and a flute. We
+could see froth on his blue lips and madness in his eyes. Suddenly he
+began to whirl round and dance with a thousand prancings of his long
+legs and writhings of his arms and shoulders, still beating the drum and
+playing the flute or crying and raging at intervals, ever accelerating
+his movements until at last with pallid face and bloodshot eyes he fell
+on the snow, where he continued to writhe and give out his incoherent
+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 I learned was the water from the
+bath of the very person of the Living Buddha who had washed in it his
+"divine" body born from the sacred flower of the lotus.
+
+"Om! Om!" both witches continuously screamed.
+
+While the doctors fought with the devils, the ill people were left to
+themselves. They lay in high fever under the heaps of sheepskins and
+overcoats, were delirious, raved and threw themselves about. By the
+braziers squatted adults and children who were still well, indifferently
+chatting, drinking tea and smoking. In all the yurtas I saw the
+diseased and the dead and such misery and physical horrors as cannot be
+described.
+
+And I thought: "Oh, Great Jenghiz Khan! Why did you with your keen
+understanding of the whole situation of Asia and Europe, you who 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 old morality, honesty and
+peaceful customs, the enlightenment that would have saved them from such
+death? Your bones in the mausoleum at Karakorum being destroyed by
+the centuries that pass over them must cry out against the rapid
+disappearance of your formerly great people, who were feared by half the
+civilized world!"
+
+Such thoughts filled my brain when I saw this camp of the dead tomorrow
+and when I heard the groans, shoutings and raving of dying men,
+women and children. Somewhere in the distance the dogs were howling
+mournfully, and monotonously the drum of the tired witch rolled.
+
+"Forward!" I could not witness longer this dark horror, which I had
+no means or force to eradicate. We quickly passed on from the ominous
+place. Nor could we shake the thought that some horrible invisible
+spirit was following us from this scene of terror. "The devils of
+disease?" "The pictures of horror and misery?" "The souls of men
+who have been sacrificed on the altar of darkness of Mongolia?" An
+inexplicable fear penetrated into our consciousness from whose grasp
+we could not release ourselves. Only when we had turned from the road,
+passed over a timbered ridge into a bowl in the mountains from which we
+could see neither Jahantsi Kure, the dugun nor the squirming grave of
+dying Mongols could we breathe freely again.
+
+Presently we discovered a large lake. It was Tisingol. Near the shore
+stood a large Russian house, the telegraph station between Kosogol and
+Uliassutai.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+AMONG THE MURDERERS
+
+
+As we approached the telegraph station, we were met by a blonde young
+man who was in charge of the office, Kanine by name. With some little
+confusion he offered us a place in his house for the night. When we
+entered the room, a tall, lanky man rose from the table and indecisively
+walked toward us, looking very attentively at 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 out of our
+great Mongolian coats, the tall man was animatedly whispering something
+to our host. As we approached the table to sit down and rest, I
+overheard him say: "We are forced to postpone it," and saw Kanine simply
+nod in answer.
+
+Several other people were seated at the table, among them the assistant
+of Kanine, a tall blonde man with a white face, who talked like a
+Gatling gun about everything imaginable. He was half crazy and his
+semi-madness expressed itself when any loud talking, shouting or sudden
+sharp report led him to repeat the words of the one to whom he was
+talking at the time or to relate in a mechanical, hurried manner stories
+of what was happening around him just at this particular juncture. The
+wife of Kanine, a pale, young, exhausted-looking woman with frightened
+eyes and a face distorted by fear, was also there and near her a young
+girl of fifteen with cropped hair and dressed like a man, as well as
+the two small sons of Kanine. We made acquaintance with all of them.
+The tall stranger called himself Gorokoff, a Russian colonist from
+Samgaltai, and presented the short-haired girl as his sister. Kanine's
+wife looked at us with plainly discernible fear and said nothing,
+evidently displeased over our being there. However, we had no choice and
+consequently began drinking tea and eating our bread and cold meat.
+
+Kanine told us that ever since the telegraph line had been destroyed all
+his family and relatives had felt very keenly the poverty and hardship
+that naturally followed. The Bolsheviki did not send him any salary from
+Irkutsk, so that he was compelled to shift for himself as best he
+could. They cut and cured hay for sale to the Russian colonists,
+handled private messages and merchandise from Khathyl to Uliassutai and
+Samgaltai, bought and sold cattle, hunted and in this manner managed to
+exist. Gorokoff announced that his commercial affairs compelled him
+to go to Khathyl and that he and his sister would be glad to join
+our caravan. He had a most unprepossessing, angry-looking face with
+colorless eyes that always avoided those of the person with whom he was
+speaking. During the conversation we asked Kanine if there were Russian
+colonists near by, to which he answered with knitted brow and a look of
+disgust on his face:
+
+"There is one rich old man, Bobroff, who lives a verst away from our
+station; but I would not advise you to visit him. He is a miserly,
+inhospitable old fellow who does not like guests."
+
+During these words of her husband Madame Kanine dropped her eyes and
+contracted her shoulders in something resembling a shudder. Gorokoff and
+his sister smoked along indifferently. I very clearly remarked all this
+as well as the hostile tone of Kanine, the confusion of his wife and
+the artificial indifference of Gorokoff; and I determined to see the
+old colonist given such a bad name by Kanine. In Uliassutai I knew
+two Bobroffs. I said to Kanine that I had been asked to hand a letter
+personally to Bobroff and, after finishing 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 houses could be seen. A
+light shone through the window. I knocked at the gate. A furious barking
+of dogs answered me and through the cracks of the fence I made out four
+huge black Mongol dogs, showing their teeth and growling as they rushed
+toward the gate. Inside the court someone opened the door and called
+out: "Who is there?"
+
+I answered that I was traveling through from Uliassutai. The dogs were
+first caught and chained and I was then admitted by a man who looked me
+over very carefully and inquiringly from head to foot. A revolver handle
+stuck out of his pocket. Satisfied with his observations and learning
+that I knew his relatives, he warmly welcomed me to the house and
+presented me to his wife, a dignified old woman, and to his beautiful
+little adopted daughter, a girl of five years. She had been found on
+the plain beside the dead body of her mother exhausted in her attempt to
+escape from the Bolsheviki in Siberia.
+
+Bobroff told me that the Russian detachment of Kazagrandi had succeeded
+in driving the Red troops away from the Kosogol and that we 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. It
+seemed that Kanine was a Bolshevik, the agent of the Irkutsk Soviet, and
+stationed here for purposes of observation. However, now he was rendered
+harmless, because the road between him and Irkutsk was interrupted.
+Still from Biisk in the Altai country had just come a very important
+commissar.
+
+"Gorokoff?" I asked.
+
+"That's what he calls himself," replied the old fellow; "but I am also
+from Biisk and I know everyone there. His real name is Pouzikoff and the
+short-haired girl with him is his mistress. He is the commissar of the
+'Cheka' and she is the agent of this establishment. Last August the two
+of them shot with their revolvers 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
+and refused them place."
+
+"And you do not fear him?" I asked, remembering the different words and
+glances of these people as they sat at the table in the station.
+
+"No," answered the old man. "I know how to defend myself and my family
+and I have a protector too--my son, such a shot, a rider and a fighter
+as does not exist in all Mongolia. I am very sorry that you will not
+make the acquaintance of my boy. He has gone off to the herds and will
+return only tomorrow evening."
+
+We took most cordial leave of each other and I promised to stop with him
+on my return.
+
+"Well, what yarns did Bobroff tell you about us?" was the question with
+which Kanine and Gorokoff met me when I came back to the station.
+
+"Nothing about you," I answered, "because he did not even want to speak
+with me when he found out that I was staying in your house. What is the
+trouble between you?" I asked of them, expressing complete astonishment
+on my face.
+
+"It is an old score," growled Gorokoff.
+
+"A malicious old churl," Kanine added in agreement, the while the
+frightened, suffering-laden eyes of his wife again gave expression
+to terrifying horror, as if she momentarily expected a deadly blow.
+Gorokoff began to pack his luggage in preparation for the journey with
+us the following morning. We prepared our simple beds in an adjoining
+room and went to sleep. I whispered to my friend to keep his revolver
+handy for anything that might happen but he only smiled as he dragged
+his revolver and his ax from his coat to place them under his pillow.
+
+"This people at the outset seemed to me very suspicious," he whispered.
+"They are cooking up something crooked. Tomorrow I shall ride behind
+this Gorokoff and shall prepare for him a very faithful one of my
+bullets, a little dum-dum."
+
+The Mongols spent the night under their tent in the open court beside
+their camels, because they wanted to be near to feed them. About seven
+o'clock we started. My friend took up his post as rear guard to our
+caravan, keeping all the time behind Gorokoff, who with his sister, both
+armed from tip to toe, rode splendid mounts.
+
+"How have you kept your horses in such fine condition coming all the way
+from Samgaltai?" I inquired as I looked over their fine beasts.
+
+When he answered that these belonged to his host, I realized that Kanine
+was not so poor as he made out; for any rich Mongol would have given him
+in exchange for one of these lovely animals enough sheep to have kept
+his household in mutton for a whole year.
+
+Soon we came to a large swamp surrounded by dense brush, where I was
+much astonished by seeing literally hundreds of white kuropatka or
+partridges. Out of the water rose a flock of duck with a mad rush as
+we hove in sight. Winter, cold driving wind, snow and wild ducks! The
+Mongol explained it to me thus:
+
+"This swamp always remains warm and never freezes. The wild ducks live
+here the year round and the kuropatka too, finding fresh food in the
+soft warm earth."
+
+As I was speaking with the Mongol I noticed over the swamp a tongue of
+reddish-yellow flame. It flashed and disappeared at once but later, on
+the farther edge, two further tongues ran upward. I realized that here
+was the real will-o'-the-wisp surrounded by so many thousands of legends
+and explained so simply by chemistry as merely a flash of methane or
+swamp gas generated by the putrefying of vegetable matter in the warm
+damp earth.
+
+"Here dwell the demons of Adair, who are in perpetual war with those of
+Muren," explained the Mongol.
+
+"Indeed," I thought, "if in prosaic Europe in our days the inhabitants
+of our villages believe these flames to be some wild sorcery, then
+surely in the land of mystery they must be at least the evidences of war
+between the demons of two neighboring rivers!"
+
+After passing this swamp we made out far ahead of us a large monastery.
+Though this was some half mile off the road, the Gorokoffs said they
+would ride over to it to make some purchases in the Chinese shops there.
+They quickly rode away, promising to overtake us shortly, but we did not
+see them again for a while. They slipped away without leaving any trail
+but we met them later in very unexpected circumstances of fatal portent
+for them. On our part we were highly satisfied that we were rid of
+them so soon and, after they were gone, I imparted to my friend the
+information gleaned from Bobroff the evening before.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+ON A VOLCANO
+
+
+The following evening we arrived at Khathyl, a small Russian settlement
+of ten scattered houses in the valley of the Egingol or Yaga, which here
+takes its waters from the Kosogol half a mile above the village. The
+Kosogol is a huge Alpine lake, deep and cold, 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 a terrible and sacred lake. It is very
+easy to understand this prejudice because the lake lies in a region of
+present volcanic activity, where in the summer on perfectly calm sunny
+days it sometimes lashes itself into great waves that are dangerous not
+only to the native fishing boats but also to the large Russian passenger
+steamers that ply on the lake. In winter also it sometimes entirely
+breaks up its covering of ice and gives off great clouds of steam.
+Evidently the bottom of the lake is sporadically pierced by discharging
+hot springs or, perhaps, by streams of lava. Evidence of some great
+underground convulsion like this is afforded by the mass of killed fish
+which at times dams the outlet river in its shallow places. The lake is
+exceedingly rich in fish, chiefly varieties of trout and salmon, and
+is famous for its wonderful "white fish," which was previously sent all
+over Siberia and even down into Manchuria so far as Moukden. It is fat
+and remarkably tender and produces fine caviar. Another variety in
+the lake is the white khayrus or trout, which in the migration season,
+contrary to the customs of most fish, goes down stream into the Yaga,
+where it sometimes fills the river from bank to bank with swarms of
+backs breaking the surface of the water. However, this fish is not
+caught, because it is infested with worms and is unfit for food. Even
+cats and dogs will not touch it. This is a very interesting phemonenon
+and was being investigated and studied by Professor Dorogostaisky of the
+University at Irkutsk when the coming of the Bolsheviki interrupted his
+work.
+
+In Khathyl we found a panic. The Russian detachment of Colonel
+Kazagrandi, after having twice defeated the Bolsheviki and well on its
+march against Irkutsk, was suddenly rendered impotent and scattered
+through internal strife among the officers. The Bolsheviki took
+advantage of this situation, increased their forces to one thousand men
+and began a forward movement to recover what they had lost, while the
+remnants of Colonel Kazagrandi's detachment were retreating on Khathyl,
+where he determined to make his last stand against the Reds. The
+inhabitants were loading their movable property with their families into
+carts and scurrying away from the town, leaving all their cattle and
+horses to whomsoever should have the power to seize and hold them.
+One party intended to hide in the dense larch forest and the mountain
+ravines not far away, while another party made southward for Muren Kure
+and Uliassutai. The morning following our arrival the Mongol official
+received word that the Red troops had outflanked Colonel Kazagrandi's
+men and were approaching Khathyl. The Mongol loaded his documents and
+his servants on eleven camels and left his yamen. Our Mongol guides,
+without ever saying a word to us, secretly slipped off with him and left
+us without camels. Our situation thus became desperate. We hastened to
+the colonists who had not yet got away to bargain with them for camels,
+but they had previously, in anticipation of trouble, sent their herds
+to distant Mongols and so could do nothing to help us. Then we betook
+ourselves to Dr. V. G. Gay, a veterinarian living in the town, famous
+throughout Mongolia for his battle against rinderpest. He lived here
+with his family and after being forced to give up his government work
+became a cattle dealer. He was a most interesting person, clever and
+energetic, and the one who had been appointed under the Czarist regime
+to purchase all the meat supplies from Mongolia for the Russian Army on
+the German Front. He organized a huge enterprise in Mongolia but when
+the Bolsheviki seized power in 1917 he transferred his allegiance and
+began to work with them. Then in May, 1918, when the Kolchak forces
+drove the Bolsheviki out of Siberia, he was arrested and taken for
+trial. However, he was released because he was looked upon as the single
+individual to organize this big Mongolian enterprise and he handed
+to Admiral Kolchak all the supplies of meat and the silver formerly
+received from the Soviet commissars. At this time Gay had been serving
+as the chief organizer and supplier of the forces of Kazagrandi.
+
+When we went to him, he at once suggested that we take the only thing
+left, some poor, broken-down horses which would be able to carry us the
+sixty miles to Muren Kure, where we could secure camels to return to
+Uliassutai. However, even these were being kept some distance from the
+town so that we should have to spend the night there, the night in which
+the Red troops were expected to arrive. Also we were much astonished to
+see that Gay was remaining there with his family right up to the time of
+the expected arrival of the Reds. The only others in the town were a few
+Cossacks, who had been ordered to stay behind to watch the movements of
+the Red troops. The night came. My friend and I were prepared either
+to fight or, in the last event, to commit suicide. We stayed in a small
+house near the Yaga, where some workmen were living who could not, and
+did not feel it necessary to, leave. They went up on a hill from which
+they could scan the whole country up to the range from behind which the
+Red detachment must appear. From this vantage point in the forest one of
+the workmen came running in and cried out:
+
+"Woe, woe to us! The Reds have arrived. A horseman is galloping fast
+through the forest road. I called to him but he did not answer me. It
+was dark but I knew the horse was a strange one."
+
+"Do not babble so," said another of the workmen. "Some Mongol rode by
+and you jumped to the conclusion that he was a Red."
+
+"No, it was not a Mongol," he replied. "The horse was shod. I heard the
+sound of iron shoes on the road. Woe to us!"
+
+"Well," said my friend, "it seems that this is our finish. It is a silly
+way for it all to end."
+
+He was right. Just then there was a knock at our door but it was that
+of the Mongol bringing us three horses for our escape. Immediately we
+saddled them, packed the third beast with our tent and food and rode off
+at once to take leave of Gay.
+
+In his house we found the whole war council. Two or three colonists and
+several Cossacks had galloped from the mountains and announced that the
+Red detachment was approaching Khathyl but would remain for the night
+in the forest, where they were building campfires. In fact, through
+the house windows we could see the glare of the fires. It seemed very
+strange that the enemy should await the morning there in the forest when
+they were right on the village they wished to capture.
+
+An armed Cossack entered the room and announced that two armed men from
+the detachment were approaching. All the men in the room pricked up
+their ears. Outside were heard the horses' hoofs followed by men's
+voices and a knock at the door.
+
+"Come in," said Gay.
+
+Two young men entered, their moustaches and beards white and their
+cheeks blazing red from the cold. They were dressed in the common
+Siberian overcoat with the big Astrakhan caps, but they had no weapons.
+Questions began. It developed that it was a detachment of White peasants
+from the Irkutsk and Yakutsk districts who had been fighting with the
+Bolsheviki. They had been defeated somewhere in the vicinity of Irkutsk
+and were now trying to make a junction with Kazagrandi. The leader of
+this band was a socialist, Captain Vassilieff, who had suffered much
+under the Czar because of his tenets.
+
+Our troubles had vanished but we decided to start immediately to Muren
+Kure, as we had gathered our information and were in a hurry to make
+our report. We started. On the road we overtook three Cossacks who were
+going out to bring back the colonists who were fleeing to the south. We
+joined them and, dismounting, we all led our horses over the ice. The
+Yaga was mad. The subterranean forces produced underneath the ice great
+heaving waves which with a swirling roar threw up and tore loose great
+sections of ice, breaking them into small blocks and sucking them under
+the unbroken downstream field. Cracks ran like snakes over the surface
+in different directions. One of the Cossacks fell into one of these
+but we had just time to save him. He was forced by his ducking in such
+extreme cold to turn back to Khathyl. Our horses slipped about and fell
+several times. Men and animals felt the presence of death which hovered
+over them and momentarily threatened them with destruction. At last we
+made the farther bank and continued southward down the valley, glad to
+have left the geological and figurative volcanoes behind us. Ten miles
+farther on we came up with the first party of refugees. They had spread
+a big tent and made a fire inside, filling it with warmth and smoke.
+Their camp was made beside the establishment of a large Chinese trading
+house, where the owners refused to let the colonists come into their
+amply spacious buildings, even though there were children, women and
+invalids among the refugees. We spent but half an hour here. The road
+as we continued was easy, save in places where the snow lay deep. We
+crossed the fairly high divide between the Egingol and Muren. Near the
+pass one very unexpected event occurred to us. We crossed the mouth of
+a fairly wide valley whose upper end was covered with a dense wood. Near
+this wood we noticed two horsemen, evidently watching us. Their manner
+of sitting in their saddles and the character of their horses told us
+that they were not Mongols. We began shouting and waving to them; but
+they did not answer. Out of the wood emerged a third and stopped to
+look at us. We decided to interview them and, whipping up our horses,
+galloped toward them. When we were about one thousand yards from them,
+they slipped from their saddles and opened on us with a running fire.
+Fortunately we rode a little apart and thus made a poor target for them.
+We jumped off our horses, dropped prone on the ground and prepared to
+fight. However, we did not fire because we thought it might be a mistake
+on their part, thinking that we were Reds. They shortly made off. Their
+shots from the European rifles had given us further proof that they were
+not Mongols. We waited until they had disappeared into the woods and
+then went forward to investigate their tracks, which we found were those
+of shod horses, clearly corroborating the earlier evidence that they
+were not Mongols. Who could they have been? We never found out; yet what
+a different relationship they might have borne to our lives, had their
+shots been 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 house and
+promised to secure camels for us from the Lamas. The cold was intense
+and heightened by a piercing wind. During the day we froze to the bone
+but at night thawed and warmed up nicely by our tent stove. After two
+days we entered the valley of Muren and from afar made out the square
+of the Kure with its Chinese roofs and large red temples. Nearby was
+a second square, the Chinese and Russian settlement. Two hours more
+brought us to the house of our hospitable companion and his attractive
+young wife who feasted us with a wonderful luncheon of tasty dishes. We
+spent five days at Muren waiting for the camels to be engaged. During
+this time many refugees arrived from Khathyl because Colonel Kazagrandi
+was gradually falling back upon the town. Among others there were two
+Colonels, Plavako and Maklakoff, who had caused the disruption of the
+Kazagrandi force. No sooner had the refugees appeared in Muren Kure
+than the Mongolian officials announced that the Chinese authorities had
+ordered them to drive out all Russian refugees.
+
+"Where can we go now in winter with women and children and no homes of
+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 you away. We
+cannot help you at all."
+
+The refugees had to leave Muren Kure and so erected their tents in the
+open not far away. Plavako and Maklakoff bought horses and started out
+for Van Kure. Long afterwards I learned that both had been killed by the
+Chinese along the road.
+
+We secured three camels and started out with a large group of Chinese
+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 camels the very high
+price of 33 lan of the silver bullion which had been supplied us by an
+American firm in Uliassutai, the equivalent roughly of 2.7 pounds of the
+white metal.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+A BLOODY CHASTISEMENT
+
+
+Before long we struck the road which we had travelled coming north and
+saw again the kindly rows of chopped down telegraph poles which had once
+so warmly protected us. Over the timbered hillocks north of the valley
+of Tisingol we wended just as it was growing dark. We decided to stay
+in Bobroff's house and our companions thought to seek the hospitality of
+Kanine in the telegraph station. At the station gate we found a soldier
+with a rifle, who questioned us as to who we were and whence we had come
+and, being apparently satisfied, whistled out a young officer from the
+house.
+
+"Lieutenant Ivanoff," he introduced himself. "I am staying here with my
+detachment of White Partisans."
+
+He had come from near Irkutsk with his following of ten men and had
+formed a connection with Lieutenant-Colonel Michailoff at Uliassutai,
+who commanded him to take possession of this blockhouse.
+
+"Enter, please," he said hospitably.
+
+I explained to him that I wanted to stay with Bobroff, whereat he made a
+despairing gesture with his hand and said:
+
+"Don't trouble yourself. The Bobroffs are killed and their house
+burned."
+
+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 dead
+bodies in it. Do you want to see it?"
+
+My friend and I went with the Lieutenant and looked over the ominous
+site. Blackened uprights stood among charred beams and planks while
+crockery and iron pots and pans were scattered all around. A little
+to one side under some felt lay the remains of the four unfortunate
+individuals. The Lieutenant first spoke:
+
+"I reported the case to Uliassutai and received word back that the
+relatives of the deceased would come with two officers, who would
+investigate 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 night with
+my ten soldiers. Fearing that there might be Reds here, we sneaked up
+to the station and looked into the windows. We saw Pouzikoff, Kanine
+and the short-haired girl, looking over and dividing clothes and
+other things and weighing lumps of silver. I did not at once grasp the
+significance of all this; but, feeling the need for continued caution,
+ordered one of my soldiers to climb the fence and open the gate. We
+rushed into the court. The first to run from the house was Kanine's
+wife, who threw up her hands and shrieked 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 shed in the yard and there tried to get over the
+fence. I had not noticed him but one of my soldiers caught him. We were
+met at the door by Kanine, who was white and trembling. I realized
+that something important had taken place, placed them all under arrest,
+ordered the men tied and placed a close guard. All my questions were
+met with silence save by Madame Kanine who cried: 'Pity, pity for the
+children! They are innocent!' as she dropped on her knees and stretched
+out her hands in supplication to us. The short-haired girl laughed out
+of impudent eyes and blew a puff of smoke into my face. I was forced to
+threaten them and said:
+
+"'I know that you have committed some crime, but you do not want to
+confess. If you do not, I shall shoot the men and take the women to
+Uliassutai to try them there.'
+
+"I spoke with definiteness of voice and intention, for they roused my
+deepest anger. Quite to my surprise the short-haired girl first began to
+speak.
+
+"'I want to tell you about everything,' she said.
+
+"I ordered ink, paper and pen brought me. My soldiers were the
+witnesses. Then I prepared the protocol of the confession of Pouzikoff's
+wife. This was her dark and bloody tale.
+
+"'My husband and I are Bolshevik commissars and we have been sent to
+find out how many White officers are hidden in Mongolia. But the old
+fellow Bobroff knew us. We wanted to go away but Kanine kept us, telling
+us that Bobroff was rich and that he had for a long time wanted to kill
+him and pillage his place. We agreed to join him. We decoyed the young
+Bobroff to come and play cards with us. When he was going home my
+husband stole along behind and shot him. Afterwards we all went to
+Bobroff's place. I climbed upon the fence and threw some poisoned meat
+to the dogs, who were dead in a few minutes. Then we all climbed over.
+The first person to emerge from the house was Bobroff's wife. Pouzikoff,
+who was hidden behind the door, killed her with his ax. The old fellow
+we killed with a blow of the ax as he slept. The little girl ran out
+into the room as she heard the noise and Kanine shot her in the head
+with buckshot. Afterwards we looted the house and burned it, even
+destroying the horses and cattle. Later all would have been completely
+burned, so that no traces remained, but you suddenly arrived and these
+stupid fellows at once betrayed us.'
+
+"It was a dastardly affair," continued the Lieutenant, as we returned
+to the station. "The hair raised on my head as I listened to the calm
+description of this young woman, hardly more than a girl. Only then did
+I fully realize what depravity Bolshevism had brought into the world,
+crushing out faith, fear of God and conscience. Only then did I
+understand that all honest people must fight without compromise against
+this most dangerous enemy of mankind, so long as life and strength
+endure."
+
+As we walked I noticed at the side of the road a black spot. It
+attracted and fixed my attention.
+
+"What is that?" I asked, pointing to the spot.
+
+"It is the murderer Pouzikoff whom I shot," answered the Lieutenant. "I
+would have shot both Kanine and the wife of Pouzikoff but I was sorry
+for Kanine's wife and children and I haven't learned the lesson
+of shooting women. Now I shall send them along with you under the
+surveillance of my soldiers to Uliassutai. The same result will come,
+for the Mongols who try them 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 cleavage of over two
+hundred miles that the last earthquake left in the surface of the land.
+Maybe it was out of this cleavage that Pouzikoff, Kanine and the others
+who have sought to infect the whole world with horror and crime made
+their appearance from the land of the inferno. One of Lieutenant
+Ivanoff's soldiers, who was always praying and pale, called them all
+"the servants of Satan."
+
+Our trip from Tisingol to Uliassutai in the company of these criminals
+was very unpleasant. My friend and I entirely lost our usual strength
+of spirit and healthy frame of mind. Kanine persistently 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 at first the fortress and then the low adobe
+houses huddled on the plain, which we knew to be Uliassutai.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+HARASSING DAYS
+
+
+Once more we found ourselves in the whirl of events. During our
+fortnight away a great deal had happened here. The Chinese Commissioner
+Wang Tsao-tsun had sent eleven envoys to Urga but none had returned. The
+situation in Mongolia remained far from clear. The Russian detachment
+had been increased by the arrival of new colonists and secretly
+continued its illegal existence, although the Chinese knew about it
+through their omnipresent system of spies. In the town no Russian or
+foreign citizens left their houses and all remained armed and ready to
+act. At night armed sentinels stood guard in all their court-yards.
+It was the Chinese who induced such precautions. By order of their
+Commissioner all the Chinese merchants with stocks of rifles armed their
+staffs and handed over any surplus guns to the officials, who with
+these formed and equipped a force of two hundred coolies into a special
+garrison of gamins. Then they took possession of the Mongolian arsenal
+and distributed these additional guns among the Chinese vegetable
+farmers in the nagan hushun, where there was always a floating
+population of the lowest grade of transient Chinese laborers. This
+trash of China now felt themselves strong, gathered together in
+excited discussions and evidently were preparing for some outburst of
+aggression. At night the coolies transported many boxes of cartridges
+from the Chinese shops to the nagan hushun and the behaviour of the
+Chinese mob became unbearably audacious. These coolies and gamins
+impertinently stopped and searched people right on the streets and
+sought to provoke fights that would allow them to take anything they
+wanted. Through secret news we received from certain Chinese quarters
+we learned that the Chinese were preparing a pogrom for all the Russians
+and Mongols in Uliassutai. We fully realized that it was only necessary
+to fire one single house at the right part of the town and the entire
+settlement of wooden buildings would go up in flames. The whole
+population prepared to defend themselves, increased the sentinels in the
+compounds, appointed leaders for certain sections of the town, organized
+a special fire brigade and prepared horses, carts and food for a hasty
+flight. The situation became worse when news arrived from Kobdo that
+the Chinese there had made a pogrom, killing some of the inhabitants and
+burning the whole town after a wild looting orgy. Most of the people
+got away to the forests on the mountains but it was at night and
+consequently without warm clothes and without food. During the following
+days these mountains around Kobdo heard many cries of misfortune, woe
+and death. The severe cold and hunger killed off the women and children
+out under the open sky of the Mongolian winter. This news was soon known
+to the Chinese. They laughed in mockery and soon organized a big meeting
+at the nagan hushun to discuss letting the mob 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 an investigation. A Russian
+officer and my friend joined me with this young Chinese as a guide for
+a trip to the outskirts of the town. We feigned simply a stroll but were
+stopped by the Chinese sentinel on the side of the city toward the nagan
+hushun with an impertinent command that no one was allowed to leave
+the town. As we spoke with him, I noticed that between the town and the
+nagan hushun Chinese guards were stationed all along the way and that
+streams of Chinese were moving in that direction. We saw at once it was
+impossible to reach the meeting from this approach, so we chose another
+route. We left the city from the eastern side and passed along by the
+camp of the Mongolians who had been reduced to beggary by the Chinese
+impositions. There also they were evidently anxiously awaiting the turn
+of events, for, in spite of the lateness of the hour, none had gone to
+sleep. We slipped out on the ice and worked around by the river to the
+nagan hushun. As we passed free of the city we began to sneak cautiously
+along, taking advantage of every bit of cover. We were armed with
+revolvers and hand grenades and knew that a small detachment had been
+prepared in the town to come to our aid, if we should be in danger.
+First the young Chinese stole forward with my friend following him like
+a shadow, constantly reminding him that he would strangle him like a
+mouse if he made one move to betray us. I fear the young guide did not
+greatly enjoy the trip with my gigantic friend puffing all too loudly
+with the unusual exertions. At last the fences of nagan hushun were in
+sight and nothing between us and them save the open plain, where our
+group would have been easily spotted; so that we decided to crawl up one
+by one, save that the Chinese was retained in the society of my trusted
+friend. Fortunately there were many heaps of frozen manure on the plain,
+which we made use of as cover to lead us right up to our objective
+point, the fence of the enclosures. In the shadow of this we slunk along
+to the courtyard where the voices of the excited crowd beckoned us. As
+we took good vantage points in the darkness for listening and making
+observations, we remarked two extraordinary things in our immediate
+neighborhood.
+
+Another invisible guest was present with us at the Chinese gathering.
+He lay on the ground with his head in a hole dug by the dogs under the
+fence. He was perfectly still and evidently had not heard our advance.
+Nearby in a ditch lay a white horse with his nose muzzled and a little
+further away stood another saddled horse tied to a fence.
+
+In the courtyard there was a great hubbub. About two thousand men
+were shouting, arguing and flourishing their arms about in wild
+gesticulations. 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 must
+do here what the Chinese have done in Kobdo and must secure from the
+Commissioner the assurance of an order to his guard not to prevent the
+carrying out of their plans. Also that the Chinese Commissioner
+must demand from the Russians all their weapons. 'Then we shall take
+vengeance on the Russians for their Blagoveschensk crime when they
+drowned three thousand Chinese in 1900. You remain here while I go to
+the Commissioner and talk with him.'"
+
+He jumped down from the well and quickly made his way to the gate toward
+the town. At once I saw the man who was lying with his head under the
+fence draw back out of his hole, take his white horse from the ditch and
+then run over to untie the other horse and lead them both back to our
+side, which was away from the city. He left the second horse there and
+hid himself around the corner of the hushun. The spokesman went out of
+the gate and, seeing his horse over on the other side of the enclosure,
+slung his rifle across his back and started for his mount. He had gone
+about half way when the stranger behind the corner of the fence suddenly
+galloped out and in a flash literally swung the man clear from the
+ground up across the pommel of his saddle, where we saw him tie the
+mouth of the semi-strangled Chinese with a cloth and dash off with him
+toward the west away from the town.
+
+"Who do you suppose he is?" I asked of my friend, who answered up at
+once: "It must be Tushegoun Lama. . . ."
+
+His whole appearance did strongly remind me of this mysterious Lama
+avenger and his manner of addressing himself to his enemy was a strict
+replica of that of Tushegoun. Late in the night we learned that some
+time after their orator had gone to seek the Commissioner's cooperation
+in their venture, his head had been flung over the fence into the midst
+of the waiting audience and that eight gamins had disappeared on their
+way from the hushun to the town without leaving trace or trail. This
+event terrorized the Chinese mob and calmed their heated spirits.
+
+The next day we received very unexpected aid. A young Mongol galloped in
+from Urga, his overcoat torn, his hair all dishevelled and fallen to
+his shoulders and a revolver prominent beneath his girdle. Proceeding
+directly to the market where the Mongols are always 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 and pillage
+their shops! Our patience is exhausted!"
+
+Through the crowd rose the roar of excitement. The rider was surrounded
+with a mob of insistent questioners. The old Mongol Sait, Chultun Beyli,
+who had been dismissed by the Chinese, was at once informed of this news
+and asked to have the messenger brought to him. After questioning the
+man he arrested him for inciting the people to riot, but he refused to
+turn him over to the Chinese authorities. I was personally with the
+Sait at the time and heard his decision in the matter. When the Chinese
+Commissioner, Wang Tsao-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 I apprehend
+that you and I shall soon have to reverse our relationship."
+
+I felt that Wang Tsao-tsun also accepted the correctness of the Mongol's
+story, because he did not insist further. From this moment the Chinese
+disappeared from the streets of Uliassutai as though they never had
+been, and synchronously the patrols of the Russian officers and of
+our foreign colony took their places. The panic among the Chinese was
+heightened by the receipt of a letter containing the news that the
+Mongols and Altai Tartars under the leadership of the Tartar officer
+Kaigorodoff pursued the Chinese who were making off with their booty
+from the sack of Kobdo and overtook and annihilated them on the borders
+of Sinkiang. Another part of the letter told how General Bakitch and
+the six thousand men who had been interned with him by the Chinese
+authorities on the River Amyl had received arms and started to join with
+Ataman Annenkoff, who had been interned in Kuldja, with the ultimate
+intention of linking up with Baron Ungern. This rumour proved to be
+wrong because neither Bakitch nor Annenkoff entertained this intention,
+because Annenkoff had been transported by the Chinese into the Depths of
+Turkestan. However, the news produced veritable stupefaction among the
+Chinese.
+
+Just at this time there arrived at the house of the Bolshevist Russian
+colonist Bourdukoff three Bolshevik agents from Irkutsk named Saltikoff,
+Freimann and Novak, who started an agitation among the Chinese
+authorities to get them to disarm the Russian officers and hand them
+over to the Reds. They persuaded the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to
+petition the Irkutsk Soviet to send a detachment of Reds to Uliassutai
+for the protection of the Chinese against the White detachments.
+Freimann brought with him communistic pamphlets in Mongolian and
+instructions to begin the reconstruction of the telegraph line to
+Irkutsk. Bourdukoff also received some messages from the Bolsheviki.
+This quartette developed their policy very successfully and soon
+saw Wang Tsao-tsun fall in with their schemes. Once more the days of
+expecting a pogrom in Uliassutai returned to us. The Russian officers
+anticipated attempts to arrest them. The representative of one of the
+American firms went with me to the Commissioner for a parley. We pointed
+out to him the illegality of his acts, inasmuch as he was not authorized
+by his Government to treat with the Bolsheviki when the Soviet
+Government had not been recognized by Peking. Wang Tsao-tsun and his
+advisor Fu Hsiang were palpably confused at finding we knew of his
+secret meetings with the Bolshevik agents. He assured us that his guard
+was sufficient to prevent any such pogrom. It was quite true that his
+guard was very capable, as it consisted of well trained and disciplined
+soldiers under the command of a serious-minded and well educated
+officer; but, what could eighty soldiers do against a mob of three
+thousand coolies, one thousand armed merchants and two hundred gamins?
+We strongly registered our apprehensions and urged him to avoid any
+bloodshed, pointing out that the foreign and Russian population were
+determined to defend themselves to the last moment. Wang at once ordered
+the establishment of strong guards on the streets and thus made a very
+interesting picture with all the Russian, foreign and Chinese patrols
+moving up and down throughout the whole town. Then we did not know there
+were three hundred more sentinels on duty, the men of Tushegoun Lama
+hidden nearby in the mountains.
+
+Once more the picture changed very sharply and suddenly. The Mongolian
+Sait received news through the Lamas of the nearest monastery that
+Colonel Kazagrandi, after fighting with the Chinese irregulars, had
+captured Van Kure and had formed there Russian-Mongolian brigades of
+cavalry, mobilizing the Mongols by the order of the Living Buddha and
+the Russians by order of Baron Ungern. A few hours later it became known
+that in the large monastery of Dzain the Chinese soldiers had killed the
+Russian Captain Barsky and as a result some of the troops of Kazagrandi
+attacked and swept the Chinese out of the place. At the taking of Van
+Kure the Russians arrested a Korean Communist who was on his way from
+Moscow with gold and propaganda to work in Korea and America. Colonel
+Kazagrandi sent this Korean with his freight of gold to Baron Ungern.
+After receiving this news the chief of the Russian detachment in
+Uliassutai arrested all the Bolsheviki agents and passed judgment upon
+them and upon the murderers of the Bobroffs. Kanine, Madame Pouzikoff
+and Freimann were shot. Regarding Saltikoff and Novak some doubt sprang
+up and, moreover, Saltikoff escaped and hid, while Novak, under advice
+from Lieutenant Colonel Michailoff, left for the west. The chief of the
+Russian detachment gave out orders for the mobilization of the Russian
+colonists and openly took Uliassutai under his protection with the tacit
+agreement of the Mongolian authorities. The Mongol Sait, Chultun Beyli,
+convened a council of the neighboring Mongolian Princes, the soul of
+which was the noted Mongolian patriot, Hun Jap Lama. The Princes quickly
+formulated their demands upon the Chinese for the complete evacuation of
+the territory subject to the Sait Chultun Beyli. Out of it grew parleys,
+threats and friction between the various Chinese and Mongolian elements.
+Wang Tsao-tsun proposed his scheme of settlement, which some of the
+Mongolian Princes accepted; but Jap Lama at the decisive moment threw
+the Chinese document to the ground, drew his knife and swore that
+he would die by his own hand rather than set it as a seal upon this
+treacherous agreement. As a result the Chinese proposals were rejected
+and the antagonists began to prepare themselves for the struggle. All
+the armed Mongols were summoned from Jassaktu Khan, Sain-Noion Khan and
+the dominion of Jahantsi Lama. The Chinese authorities placed their
+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 the unconcerned foreigners
+and handed to me the joint requests of Wang Tsao-tsun and Chultun Beyli
+to try to pacify the two elements and to work out a fair agreement
+between them. Similar requests were handed to the representative of an
+American firm. The following evening we held the first meeting of
+the arbitrators and the Chinese and Mongolian representatives. It
+was passionate and stormy, so that we foreigners lost all hope of the
+success of our mission. However, at midnight when the speakers were
+tired, we secured agreement on two points: the Mongols announced that
+they did not want to make war and that they desired to settle this
+matter in such a way as to retain the friendship of the great Chinese
+people; while the Chinese Commissioner acknowledged that China had
+violated the treaties by which full independence had been legally
+granted to Mongolia.
+
+These two points formed for us the groundwork of the next meeting and
+gave us the starting points for urging reconciliation. The deliberations
+continued for three days and finally turned so that we foreigners could
+propose our suggestions for an agreement. Its chief provisions were that
+the Chinese authorities should surrender administrative powers, return
+the arms to the Mongolians, disarm the two hundred gamins and leave
+the country; and that the Mongols on their side should give free and
+honorable passage of their country to the Commissioner with his armed
+guard of eighty men. This Chinese-Mongolian Treaty of Uliassutai was
+signed and sealed by the Chinese Commissioners, Wang Tsao-tsun and Fu
+Hsiang, by both Mongolian Saits, by Hun Jap Lama and other Princes,
+as well as by the Russian and Chinese Presidents of the Chambers of
+Commerce and by us foreign arbitrators. The Chinese officials and convoy
+began at once to pack up their belongings and prepare for departure. The
+Chinese merchants remained in Uliassutai because Sait Chultun Beyli,
+now having full authority and power, guaranteed their safety. The day of
+departure for the expedition of Wang Tsao-tsun arrived. The camels with
+their packs already filled the yamen court-yard and the men only awaited
+the arrival of their horses from the plains. Suddenly the news spread
+everywhere that the herd of horses had been stolen during the night
+and run off toward the south. Of two soldiers that had been sent out to
+follow the tracks of the herd only one came back with the news that the
+other had been killed. Astonishment spread over the whole town while
+among the Chinese it turned to open panic. It perceptibly increased when
+some Mongols from a distant ourton to the east came in and announced
+that in various places along the post road to Urga they had discovered
+the bodies of sixteen of the soldiers whom Wang Tsao-tsun had sent
+out with letters for Urga. The mystery of these events will soon be
+explained.
+
+The chief of the Russian detachment received a letter from a Cossack
+Colonel, V. N. Domojiroff, containing the order to disarm immediately
+the Chinese garrison, to arrest all Chinese officials for transport
+to Baron Ungern at Urga, to take control of Uliassutai, by force if
+necessary, and to join forces with his detachment. At the very same time
+a messenger from the Narabanchi Hutuktu galloped in with a letter to the
+effect that a Russian detachment under the leadership of Hun Boldon and
+Colonel Domojiroff from Urga had pillaged some Chinese firms and killed
+the merchants, had come to the Monastery and demanded horses, food and
+shelter. The Hutuktu asked for help because the ferocious conqueror of
+Kobdo, Hun Boldon, could very easily pillage the unprotected isolated
+monastery. We strongly urged Colonel Michailoff not to violate the
+sealed treaty and discountenance all the foreigners and Russians who had
+taken part in making it, for this would but be to imitate the Bolshevik
+principle of making deceit the leading rule in all acts of state.
+This touched Michailoff and he answered Domojiroff that Uliassutai was
+already in his hands without a fight; that over the building of the
+former Russian Consulate the tri-color flag of Russia was flying; the
+gamins had been disarmed but that the other orders could not be carried
+out, because their execution would violate the Chinese-Mongolian treaty
+just signed in Uliassutai.
+
+Daily several envoys traveled from Narabanchi Hutuktu to Uliassutai.
+The news became more and more disquieting. The Hutuktu reported that Hun
+Boldon was mobilizing the Mongolian beggars and horse stealers, arming
+and training them; that the soldiers were taking the sheep of the
+monastery; that the "Noyon" Domojiroff was always drunk; and that the
+protests of the Hutuktu were answered with jeers and scolding. The
+messengers gave very indefinite information regarding the strength of
+the detachment, some placing it at about thirty while others stated that
+Domojiroff said he had eight hundred in all. We could not understand
+it at all and soon the messengers ceased coming. All the letters of the
+Sait remained unanswered and the envoys did not return. There seemed to
+be no doubt that the men had been killed or captured.
+
+Prince Chultun Beyli determined to go himself. He took with him the
+Russian and Chinese Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce and two
+Mongolian officers. Three days elapsed without receiving any news
+from him whatever. The Mongols began to get worried. Then the Chinese
+Commissioner and Hun Jap Lama addressed a request to the foreigner
+group to send some one to Narabanchi, in order to try to resolve the
+controversy there and to persuade Domojiroff to recognize the treaty and
+not permit the "great insult of violation" of a covenant between the two
+great peoples. Our group asked me once more to accomplish this mission
+pro bono publico. I had assigned me as interpreter a fine young Russian
+colonist, the nephew of the murdered Bobroff, a splendid rider as well
+as a cool, brave man. Lt.-Colonel Michailoff gave me one of his officers
+to accompany me. Supplied with an express tzara for the post horses and
+guides, we traveled rapidly over the way which was now familiar to me
+to find my old friend, Jelib Djamsrap Huktuktu of Narabanchi. Although
+there was deep snow in some places, we made from one hundred to one
+hundred and fifteen miles per day.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE BAND OF WHITE HUNGHUTZES
+
+
+We arrived at Narabanchi late at night on the third day out. As we were
+approaching, we noticed several riders who, as soon as they had seen us,
+galloped quickly back to the monastery. For some time we looked for the
+camp of the Russian detachment without finding it. The Mongols led us
+into the monastery, where the Hutuktu immediately received me. In his
+yurta sat Chultun Beyli. There he presented me with hatyks and said to
+me: "The very God has sent you here to us in this difficult moment."
+
+It seems Domojiroff had arrested both the Presidents of the Chambers of
+Commerce and had threatened to shoot Prince Chultun. Both Domojiroff and
+Hun Boldon had no documents legalizing their activities. Chultun Beyli
+was preparing to fight with them.
+
+I asked them to take me to Domojiroff. Through the dark I saw four big
+yurtas and two Mongol sentinels with Russian rifles. We entered the
+Russian "Noyon's" tent. A very strange picture was presented to our
+eyes. In the middle of the yurta the brazier was burning. In the usual
+place for the altar stood a throne, on which the tall, thin, grey-haired
+Colonel Domojiroff was seated. He was only in his undergarments and
+stockings, was evidently a little drunk and was telling stories. Around
+the brazier lay twelve young men in various picturesque poses. My
+officer companion reported to Domojiroff about the events in Uliassutai
+and during the conversation I asked Domojiroff where his detachment was
+encamped. He laughed and answered, with a sweep of his hand: "This is my
+detachment." I pointed out to him that the form of his orders to us in
+Uliassutai had led us to believe that he must have a large company with
+him. Then I informed him that Lt.-Colonel Michailoff was preparing to
+cross swords with the Bolshevik force approaching Uliassutai.
+
+"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 in perfect
+safety!"
+
+"Uh-huh!" answered my officer and finished the response with one eye
+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 to get into touch
+with General Bakitch, but instead they began pillaging Chinese firms
+along the route and he had made up his mind to become a great conqueror.
+On the way he had run across some of the officers who deserted Colonel
+Kazagrandi and formed his present band. I succeeded in persuading
+Domojiroff to arrange matters peacefully with Chultun Beyli and not to
+violate the treaty. He immediately went ahead to the monastery. As I
+returned, I met a tall Mongol with a ferocious face, dressed in a blue
+silk outercoat--it was Hun Boldon. He introduced himself and spoke
+with me in Russian. I had only time to take off my coat in the tent of
+Domojiroff when a Mongol came running to invite me to the yurta of
+Hun Boldon. The Prince lived just beside me in a splendid blue yurta.
+Knowing the Mongolian custom, I jumped into the saddle and rode the ten
+paces to his door. Hun Boldon received me with coldness and pride.
+
+"Who is he?" he inquired of the interpreter, pointing to me with his
+finger.
+
+I understood his desire to offend me and I answered in the same manner,
+thrusting out my finger toward him and turning to the interpreter with
+the same question in a slightly more unpleasant tone:
+
+"Who is he? High Prince and warrior or shepherd and brute?"
+
+Boldon at once became confused and, with trembling voice and agitation
+in his whole manner, blurted out to me that he would not allow me to
+interfere in his affairs and would shoot every man who dared to run
+counter to his orders. He pounded on the low table with his fist and
+then rose up and drew his revolver. But I was much 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 the interpreter:
+
+"Tell him that he has the honor to speak with neither Mongol nor Russian
+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 me and we can talk
+together."
+
+I turned and went out. Ten minutes later Hun Boldon entered my yurta and
+offered his apologies. I persuaded him to parley with Chultun Beyli
+and not to offend the free Mongol people with his activities. That very
+night all was arranged. Hun Boldon dismissed his Mongols and left for
+Kobdo, while Domojiroff with his band started for Jassaktu Khan to
+arrange for the mobilization of the Mongols there. With the consent of
+Chultun Beyli he wrote to Wang Tsao-tsun a demand to disarm his guard,
+as all of the Chinese troops in Urga had been so treated; but this
+letter arrived after Wang had bought camels to replace the stolen horses
+and was on his way to the border. Later Lt.-Colonel Michailoff sent
+a detachment of fifty men under the command of Lieutenant Strigine to
+overhaul Wang and receive their arms.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+MYSTERY IN A SMALL TEMPLE
+
+
+Prince Chultun Beyli and I were ready to leave the Narabanchi Kure.
+While the Hutuktu was holding service for the Sait in the Temple of
+Blessing, I wandered around through the narrow alleyways between the
+walls of the houses of the various grades of Lama Gelongs, Getuls,
+Chaidje and Rabdjampa; of schools where the learned doctors of theology
+or Maramba taught together with the doctors of medicine or Ta Lama;
+of the residences for students called Bandi; of stores, archives and
+libraries. When I returned to the yurta of the Hutuktu, he was inside.
+He presented me with a large hatyk and proposed a walk around the
+monastery. His face wore a preoccupied expression from which I gathered
+that he had something he wished to discuss with me. As we went out of
+the yurta, the liberated President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce
+and a Russian officer joined us. The Hutuktu led us to a small building
+just back of a bright yellow stone wall.
+
+"In that building once stopped the Dalai Lama and Bogdo Khan and we
+always paint the buildings yellow where these holy persons have lived.
+Enter!"
+
+The interior of the building was arranged with splendor. On the ground
+floor was the dining-room, furnished with richly carved, heavy blackwood
+Chinese tables and cabinets filled with porcelains and bronze. Above
+were two rooms, the first a bed-room hung with heavy yellow silk
+curtains; a large Chinese lantern richly set with colored stones hung
+by a thin bronze chain from the carved wooden ceiling beam. Here stood
+a large square bed covered with silken pillows, mattresses and blankets.
+The frame work of the bed was also of the Chinese blackwood and carried,
+especially on the posts that held the roof-like canopy, finely executed
+carvings with the chief motive the conventional dragon devouring the
+sun. By the side stood a chest of drawers completely covered with
+carvings setting forth religious pictures. Four comfortable easy chairs
+completed the furniture, save for the low oriental throne which stood on
+a dais at the end of the room.
+
+"Do you see this throne?" said the Hutuktu to me. "One night in winter
+several horsemen rode into the monastery and demanded that all the
+Gelongs and Getuls with the Hutuktu and Kanpo at their head should
+congregate in this room. Then one of the strangers mounted the throne,
+where he took off his bashlyk or cap-like head covering. All of the
+Lamas fell to their knees as they recognized the man who had been long
+ago described in the sacred bulls of Dalai Lama, Tashi Lama and Bogdo
+Khan. He was the man to whom the whole world belongs and who has
+penetrated into all the mysteries of Nature. He pronounced a short
+Tibetan prayer, blessed all his hearers and afterwards made predictions
+for the coming half century. This was thirty years ago and in the
+interim all his prophecies are being fulfilled. During his prayers
+before that small shrine in the next room this door opened of its own
+accord, the candles and lights before the altar lighted themselves and
+the sacred braziers without coals gave forth great streams of incense
+that filled the room. And then, without warning, the King of the World
+and his companions disappeared from among us. Behind him remained no
+trace save the folds in the silken throne coverings which smoothed
+themselves out and left the throne as though no one had sat upon it."
+
+The Hutuktu entered the shrine, kneeled down, covering his eyes with his
+hands, and began to pray. I looked at the calm, indifferent face of the
+golden Buddha, over which the flickering lamps threw changing shadows,
+and then turned my eyes to the side of the throne. It was wonderful and
+difficult to believe but I really saw there the strong, muscular figure
+of a man with a swarthy face of stern and fixed expression about the
+mouth and jaws, thrown into high relief by the brightness of the eyes.
+Through his transparent body draped in white raiment I saw the Tibetan
+inscriptions on the back of the throne. I closed my eyes and opened
+them again. No one was there but the silk throne covering seemed to be
+moving.
+
+"Nervousness," I thought. "Abnormal and over-emphasized
+impressionability growing out of the unusual surroundings and strains."
+
+The Hutuktu turned to me and said: "Give me your hatyk. I have the
+feeling that you are troubled about those whom you love, and I want
+to pray for them. And you must pray also, importune God and direct the
+sight of your soul to the King of the World who was here and sanctified
+this place."
+
+The Hutuktu placed the hatyk on the shoulder of the Buddha and,
+prostrating himself on the carpet before the altar, whispered the words
+of prayer. Then he raised his head and beckoned me to him with a slight
+movement of his hand.
+
+"Look at the dark space behind the statue of Buddha and he will show
+your beloved to you."
+
+Readily obeying his deep-voiced command, I began to look into the dark
+niche behind the figure of the Buddha. Soon out of the darkness began to
+appear streams of smoke or transparent threads. They floated in the air,
+becoming more and more dense and increasing in number, until gradually
+they formed the bodies of several persons and the outlines of various
+objects. I saw a room that was strange to me with my family there,
+surrounded by some whom I knew and others whom I did not. I recognized
+even the dress my wife wore. Every line of her dear face was clearly
+visible. Gradually the vision became too dark, dissipated itself into
+the streams of smoke and transparent threads and disappeared. Behind the
+golden Buddha was nothing but the darkness. The Hutuktu arose, took my
+hatyk from the shoulder of the Buddha and handed it to me with these
+words:
+
+"Fortune is always with you and with your family. God's goodness will
+not forsake you."
+
+We left the building of this unknown King of the World, where he had
+prayed for all mankind and had predicted the fate of peoples and states.
+I was greatly astonished to find that my companions had also seen my
+vision and to hear them describe to me in minute detail the appearance
+and the clothes of the persons whom I had seen in the dark niche behind
+the head of Buddha.*
+
+     * In order that I might have the evidence of others on this
+     extraordinarily impressive vision, I asked them to make
+     protocols or affidavits concerning what they saw.  This they
+     did and I now have these statements in my possession.
+
+The Mongol officer also told me that Chultun Beyli had the day before
+asked the Hutuktu to reveal to him his fate in this important juncture
+of his life and in this crisis of his country but the Hutuktu only waved
+his hand in an expression of fear and refused. When I asked the Hutuktu
+for the reason of his refusal, suggesting to him that it might calm and
+help Chultun Beyli as the vision of my beloved had strengthened me, the
+Hutuktu knitted his brow and answered:
+
+"No! The vision would not please the Prince. His fate is black.
+Yesterday I thrice sought his fortune on the burned shoulder blades and
+with the entrails of sheep and each time came to the same dire result,
+the same dire result! . . ."
+
+He did not really finish speaking but covered his face with his hands
+in fear. He was convinced that the lot of Chultun Beyli was black as the
+night.
+
+In an hour we were behind the low hills that hid the Narabanchi Kure
+from our sight.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+THE BREATH OF DEATH
+
+
+We arrived at Uliassutai on the day of the return of the detachment
+which had gone out to disarm the convoy of Wang Tsao-tsun. This
+detachment had met Colonel Domojiroff, who ordered them not only to
+disarm but to pillage the convoy and, unfortunately, Lieutenant Strigine
+executed this illegal and unwarranted command. It was compromising and
+ignominious to see Russian officers and soldiers wearing the Chinese
+overcoats, boots and wrist watches which had been taken from the Chinese
+officials and the convoy. Everyone had Chinese silver and gold also from
+the loot. The Mongol wife of Wang Tsao-tsun and her brother returned
+with the detachment and entered a complaint of having been robbed by
+the Russians. The Chinese officials and their convoy, deprived of their
+supplies, reached the Chinese border only after great distress
+from hunger and cold. We foreigners were astounded that Lt.-Colonel
+Michailoff received Strigine with military honors but we caught the
+explanation of it later when we learned that Michailoff had been given
+some of the Chinese silver and his wife the handsomely decorated saddle
+of Fu Hsiang. Chultun Beyli demanded that all the weapons taken from the
+Chinese and all the stolen property be turned over to him, as it must
+later be returned to the Chinese authorities; but Michailoff refused.
+Afterwards we foreigners cut off all contact with the Russian
+detachment. The relations between the Russians and Mongols became very
+strained. Several of the Russian officers protested against the acts of
+Michailoff and Strigine and controversies became more and more serious.
+
+At this time, one morning in April, an extraordinary group of armed
+horsemen arrived at Uliassutai. They stayed at the house of the
+Bolshevik Bourdukoff, who gave them, so we were told, a great quantity
+of silver. This group explained that they were former officers in the
+Imperial Guard. They were Colonels Poletika, N. N. Philipoff and three
+of the latter's brothers. They announced that they wanted to collect all
+the White officers and soldiers then in Mongolia and China and lead them
+to Urianhai to fight the Bolsheviki; but that first they wanted to wipe
+out Ungern and return Mongolia to China. They called themselves the
+representatives of the Central Organization of the Whites in Russia.
+
+The society of Russian officers in Uliassutai invited them to a meeting,
+examined their documents and interrogated them. Investigation proved
+that all the statements of these officers about their former connections
+were entirely wrong, that Poletika occupied an important position in the
+war commissariat of the Bolsheviki, that one of the Philipoff brothers
+was the assistant of Kameneff in his first attempt to reach England,
+that the Central White Organization in Russia did not exist, that the
+proposed fighting in Urianhai was but a trap for the White officers and
+that this group was in close relations with the Bolshevik Bourdukoff.
+
+A discussion at once sprang up among the officers as to what they
+should do with this group, which split the detachment into two distinct
+parties. Lt.-Colonel Michailoff with several officers joined themselves
+to Poletika's group just as Colonel Domojiroff arrived with his
+detachment. He began to get in touch with both factions and to feel out
+the politics of the situation, finally appointing Poletika to the post
+of Commandant of Uliassutai and sending to Baron Ungern a full report
+of the events in the town. In this document he devoted much space to me,
+accusing me of standing in the way of the execution of his orders. His
+officers watched me continuously. From different quarters I received
+warnings to take great care. This band and its leader openly demanded
+to know what right this foreigner had to interfere in the affairs of
+Mongolia, one of Domojiroff's officers directly giving me the challenge
+in a meeting in the attempt to provoke a controversy. I quietly answered
+him:
+
+"And on what basis do the Russian refugees interfere, they who have
+rights neither at home nor abroad?"
+
+The officer made no verbal reply but in his eyes burned a definite
+answer. My huge friend who sat beside me noticed this, strode over
+toward him and, towering over him, stretched his arms and hands as
+though just waking from sleep and remarked: "I'm looking for a little
+boxing exercise."
+
+On one occasion Domojiroff's men would have succeeded in taking me if I
+had not been saved by the watchfulness of our foreign group. I had gone
+to the fortress to negotiate with the Mongol Sait for the departure of
+the foreigners from Uliassutai. Chultun Beyli detained me for a long
+time, so that I was forced to return about nine in the evening. My horse
+was walking. Half a mile from the town three men sprang up out of the
+ditch and ran at me. I whipped up my horse but noticed several more men
+coming out of the other ditch as though to head me off. They, however,
+made for the other group and captured them and I heard the voice of a
+foreigner calling me back. There I found three of Domojiroff's officers
+surrounded by the Polish soldiers and other foreigners under the
+leadership of my old trusted agronome, who was occupied with tying the
+hands of the officers behind their backs so strongly that the bones
+cracked. Ending his work and still smoking his perpetual pipe, he
+announced in a serious and important manner: "I think it best 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 their eyes
+and were silent. It was an eloquent silence and we perfectly understood
+what they had proposed to do. They had revolvers hidden in their
+pockets.
+
+"Fine!" I said. "All is perfectly clear. I shall release you but you
+must report to your sender that he will not welcome you back the next
+time. Your weapons I shall hand to the Commandant of Uliassutai."
+
+My friend, using his former terrifying care, began to untie them,
+repeating over and over: "And I would have fed you to the fishes in the
+river!" Then we all returned to the town, leaving them to go their way.
+
+Domojiroff continued to send envoys to Baron Ungern at Urga with
+requests for plenary powers and money and with reports about Michailoff,
+Chultun Beyli, Poletika, Philipoff and myself. With Asiatic cunning
+he was then maintaining good relations with all those for whom he was
+preparing death at the hands of the severe warrior, Baron Ungern,
+who was receiving only one-sided reports about all the happenings in
+Uliassutai. Our whole colony was greatly agitated. The officers split
+into different parties; the soldiers collected in groups and discussed
+the events of the day, criticising their chiefs, and under the influence
+of some of Domojiroff's men began making such statements as:
+
+"We have now seven Colonels, who all want to be in command and are all
+quarreling among themselves. They all ought to be pegged down and given
+good sound thrashings. The one who could take the greatest number of
+blows ought to be chosen as our chief."
+
+It was an ominous joke that proved the demoralization of the Russian
+detachment.
+
+"It seems," my friend frequently observed, "that we shall soon have the
+pleasure of seeing a Council of Soldiers here in Uliassutai. God and
+the Devil! One thing here is very unfortunate--there are no forests
+near into which good Christian men may dive and get away from all these
+cursed Soviets. It's bare, frightfully bare, this wretched Mongolia,
+with no place for us to hide."
+
+Really this possibility of the Soviet was approaching. On one occasion
+the soldiers captured the arsenal containing the weapons surrendered
+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, finally decided to leave
+Uliassutai, that caldron of passions, controversies and denunciations.
+We heard that the group of Poletika was also preparing to get out a few
+days later. We foreigners separated into two parties, one traveling by
+the old caravan route across the Gobi considerably to the south of Urga
+to Kuku-Hoto or Kweihuacheng and Kalgan, and mine, consisting of my
+friend, two Polish soldiers and myself, heading for Urga via Zain Shabi,
+where Colonel Kazagrandi had asked me in a recent letter to meet him.
+Thus we left the Uliassutai where we had lived through so many exciting
+events.
+
+On the sixth day after our departure there arrived in the town the
+Mongol-Buriat detachment under the command of the Buriat Vandaloff and
+the Russian Captain Bezrodnoff. Afterwards I met them in Zain Shabi. It
+was a detachment sent out from Urga by Baron Ungern to restore order
+in Uliassutai and to march on to Kobdo. On the way from Zain Shabi
+Bezrodnoff came across the group of Poletika and Michailoff. He
+instituted a search which disclosed suspicious documents in their
+baggage and in that of Michailoff and his wife the silver and other
+possessions taken from the Chinese. From this group of sixteen he sent
+N. N. Philipoff to Baron Ungern, released three others and shot the
+remaining twelve. Thus ended in Zain Shabi the life of one party of
+Uliassutai refugees and the activities of the group of Poletika. In
+Uliassutai Bezrodnoff shot Chultun Beyli for the violation of the treaty
+with the Chinese, and also some Bolshevist Russian colonists; arrested
+Domojiroff and sent him to Urga; and . . . restored order. The
+predictions about Chultun 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, as Poletika
+had started to do when he was accidentally captured by Bezrodnoff. I was
+accustomed now to looking into the eyes of danger and I set out to meet
+the terrible "bloody Baron." No one can decide his own fate. I did not
+think myself in the wrong and the feeling of fear had long since ceased
+to occupy a place in my menage. On the way a Mongol rider who overhauled
+us brought the news of the death of our acquaintances at Zain Shabi. He
+spent the night with me in the yurta at the ourton and related to me the
+following legend of death.
+
+"It was a long time ago when the Mongolians ruled over China. The
+Prince of Uliassutai, Beltis Van, was mad. He executed any one he wished
+without trial and no one dared to pass through his town. All the other
+Princes and rich Mongols surrounded Uliassutai, where Beltis raged,
+cut off communication on every road and allowed none to pass in or out.
+Famine developed in the town. They consumed all the oxen, sheep and
+horses and finally Beltis Van determined to make a dash with his
+soldiers through to the west to the land of one of his tribes, the
+Olets. He and his men all perished in the fight. The Princes, following
+the advice of the Hutuktu Buyantu, buried the dead on the slopes of the
+mountains surrounding Uliassutai. They buried them with incantations and
+exorcisings in order that Death by Violence might be kept from a further
+visitation to their land. The tombs were covered with heavy stones and
+the Hutuktu predicted that the bad demon of Death by Violence would
+only leave the earth when the blood of a man should be spilled upon the
+covering stone. Such a legend lived among us. Now it is fulfilled. The
+Russians shot there three Bolsheviki and the Chinese two Mongols. The
+evil spirit of Beltis Van broke loose from beneath the heavy stone and
+now mows down the people with his scythe. The noble Chultun Beyli has
+perished; the Russian Noyon Michailoff also has fallen; and death has
+flowed out from Uliassutai all over our boundless plains. Who shall be
+able to stem it now? Who shall tie the ferocious hands? An evil time has
+fallen upon the Gods and the Good Spirits. The Evil Demons have made war
+upon the Good Spirits. What can man now do? Only perish, only
+perish. . . ."
+
+
+
+
+Part III
+
+THE STRAINING HEART OF ASIA
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+ON THE ROAD OF GREAT CONQUERORS
+
+
+The great conqueror, Jenghiz Khan, the son of sad, stern, severe
+Mongolia, according to an old Mongolian legend "mounted to the top of
+Karasu Togol and with his eyes of an eagle looked to the west and the
+east. In the west he saw whole seas of human blood over which floated
+a bloody fog that blanketed all the horizon. There he could not discern
+his fate. But the gods ordered him to proceed to the west, leading with
+him all his warriors and Mongolian tribes. To the east he saw wealthy
+towns, shining temples, crowds of happy people, gardens and fields of
+rich earth, all of which pleased the great Mongol. He said to his sons:
+'There in the west I shall be fire and sword, destroyer, avenging
+Fate; in the east I shall come as the merciful, great builder, bringing
+happiness to the people and to the land.'"
+
+Thus runs the legend. I found much of truth in it. I had passed over
+much of his road to the west and always identified it by the old tombs
+and the impertinent monuments of stone to the merciless conqueror. I saw
+also a part of the eastern road of the hero, over which he traveled to
+China. Once when we were making a trip out of Uliassutai we stopped the
+night in Djirgalantu. The old host of the ourton, knowing me from my
+previous trip to Narabanchi, welcomed us very kindly and regaled us with
+stories during our evening meal. Among other things he led us out of the
+yurta and pointed out a mountain peak brightly lighted by the full moon
+and recounted to us the story of one of the sons of Jenghiz, afterwards
+Emperor of China, Indo-China and Mongolia, who had been attracted by the
+beautiful scenery and grazing lands of Djirgalantu and had founded here
+a town. This was soon left without inhabitants, for the Mongol is a
+nomad who cannot live in artificial cities. The plain is his house and
+the world his town. For a time this town witnessed battles between the
+Chinese and the troops of Jenghiz Khan but afterwards it was forgotten.
+At present there remains only a half-ruined tower, from which in the
+early days the heavy rocks were hurled down upon the heads of the
+enemy, and the dilapidated gate of Kublai, the grandson of Jenghiz Khan.
+Against the greenish sky drenched with the rays of the moon stood out
+the jagged line of the mountains and the black silhouette of the tower
+with its loopholes, through which the alternate scudding clouds and
+light flashed.
+
+When our party left Uliassutai, we traveled on leisurely, making
+thirty-five to fifty miles a day until we were within sixty miles of
+Zain Shabi, where I took leave of the others to go south to this place
+in order to keep my engagement with Colonel Kazagrandi. The sun had just
+risen as my single Mongol guide and I without any pack animals began to
+ascend the low, timbered ridges, from the top of which I caught the last
+glimpses of my companions disappearing down the valley. I had no idea
+then of the many and almost fatal dangers which I should have to pass
+through during this trip by myself, which was destined to prove much
+longer than I had anticipated. As we were crossing a small river with
+sandy shores, my Mongol guide told me how the Mongolians came there
+during the summer to wash gold, in spite of the prohibitions of the
+Lamas. The manner of working the placer was very primitive but the
+results testified clearly to the richness of these sands. The Mongol
+lies flat on the ground, brushes the sand aside with a feather and keeps
+blowing into the little excavation so formed. From time to time he wets
+his finger and picks up on it a small bit of grain gold or a diminutive
+nugget and drops these into a little bag hanging under his chin. In such
+manner this primitive dredge wins about a quarter of an ounce or five
+dollars' worth of the yellow metal per day.
+
+I determined to make the whole distance to Zain Shabi in a single day.
+At the ourtons I hurried them through the catching and saddling of the
+horses as fast as I could. At one of these stations about twenty-five
+miles from the monastery the Mongols gave me a wild horse, a big, strong
+white stallion. Just as I was about 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 in the Ma-chu fight. The leg soon began to swell and
+ache. At sunset I made out the first Russian and Chinese buildings
+and later the monastery at Zain. We dropped into the valley of a small
+stream which flowed along a mountain on whose peak were set white rocks
+forming the words of a Tibetan prayer. At the bottom of this mountain
+was a cemetery for the Lamas, that is, piles of bones and a pack
+of dogs. At last the monastery lay right below us, a common square
+surrounded with wooden fences. In the middle rose a large temple quite
+different from all those of western Mongolia, not in the Chinese but in
+the Tibetan style of architecture, a white building with perpendicular
+walls and regular rows of windows in black frames, with a roof of black
+tiles and with a most unusual damp course laid between the stone walls
+and the roof timbers and made of bundles of twigs from a Tibetan tree
+which never rots. Another small quadrangle lay a little to the east and
+contained Russian buildings connected with the monastery by telephone.
+
+"That is the house of the Living God of Zain," the Mongol explained,
+pointing to this smaller quadrangle. "He likes Russian customs and
+manners."
+
+To the north on a conical-shaped hill rose a tower that recalled the
+Babylonian zikkurat. It was the temple where the ancient books and
+manuscripts were kept and the broken ornaments and objects used in
+the religious ceremonies together with the robes of deceased Hutuktus
+preserved. A sheer cliff rose behind this museum, which it was
+impossible for one to climb. On the face of this were carved images of
+the Lamaite gods, scattered about without any special order. They were
+from one to two and a half metres high. At night the monks lighted
+lamps before them, so that one could see these images of the gods and
+goddesses from far away.
+
+We entered the trading settlement. The streets were deserted and from
+the windows only women and children looked out. I stopped with a Russian
+firm whose other branches I had known throughout the country. Much to my
+astonishment they welcomed me as an acquaintance. It appeared that
+the Hutuktu of Narabanchi had sent word to all the monasteries that,
+whenever I should come, they must all render me aid, inasmuch as I
+had saved the Narabanchi Monastery and, by the clear signs of the
+divinations, I was an incarnate Buddha beloved of the Gods. This letter
+of this kindly disposed Hutuktu helped me very much--perhaps I should
+even say more, that it saved me from death. The hospitality of my hosts
+proved of great and much needed assistance to me because my injured leg
+had swelled and was aching severely. When I took off my boot, I found
+my foot all covered with blood and my old wound re-opened by the blow. A
+felcher was called to assist me with treatment and bandaging, so that I
+was able to walk again three days later.
+
+I did not find Colonel Kazagrandi at Zain Shabi. After destroying the
+Chinese gamins who had killed the local Commandant, he had returned via
+Van Kure. The new Commandment handed me the letter of Kazagrandi, who
+very cordially asked me to visit him after I had rested in Zain. A
+Mongolian document was enclosed in the letter giving me the right to
+receive horses and carts from herd to herd by means of the "urga," which
+I shall later describe and which opened for me an entirely new vista of
+Mongolian life and country that I should otherwise never have seen. The
+making of this journey of over two hundred miles was a very disagreeable
+task for me; but evidently Kazagrandi, whom I had never met, had serious
+reasons 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 and extraordinary
+appearance of a god I could not imagine. He was a short, thin young man
+of twenty or twenty-two years with quick, nervous movements and with an
+expressive face lighted and dominated, like the countenances of all the
+Mongol gods, by large, frightened eyes. He was dressed in a blue silk
+Russian uniform with yellow epaulets with the sacred sign of Pandita
+Hutuktu, in blue silk trousers and high boots, all surmounted by a white
+Astrakhan cap with a yellow pointed top. At his girdle a revolver and
+sword were slung. I did not know quite what to think of this disguised
+god. He took a cup of tea from the host and began to talk with a mixture
+of Mongolian and Russian.
+
+"Not far from my Kure is located the ancient monastery of Erdeni Dzu,
+erected on the site of the ruins of Karakorum, the ancient capital
+of Jenghiz Khan and afterwards frequently visited by Kublai Kahn for
+sanctuary and rest after his labors as Emperor of China, India, Persia,
+Afghanistan, Mongolia and half of Europe. Now only ruins and tombs
+remain to mark this former 'Garden of Beatific Days.' The pious monks of
+Baroun Kure found in the underground chambers of the ruins manuscripts
+that were much older than Erdeni Dzu itself. In these my Maramba
+Meetchik-Atak found the prediction that 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 the lands of Jenghiz Khan and have on his chest
+the natural sign of the swastika--such Hutuktu would be honored by the
+people in the days of a great war and trouble, would begin the fight
+with the servants of Red evil and would conquer them and bring order
+into the universe, celebrating this happy day in the city with white
+temples and with the songs of ten thousand bells. It is I, Pandita
+Hutuktu! The signs and symbols have met in me. I shall destroy the
+Bolsheviki, the bad 'servants of the Red evil,' and in Moscow I shall
+rest from my glorious and great work. Therefore I have asked Colonel
+Kazagrandi to enlist me in the troops of Baron Ungern and give me the
+chance to fight. The Lamas seek to prevent me from going but who is the
+god here?"
+
+He very sternly stamped his foot, while the Lamas and guard who
+accompanied him reverently bowed their heads.
+
+As he left he presented me with a hatyk and, rummaging through my saddle
+bags, I found a single article that might be considered worthy as a
+gift for a Hutuktu, a small bottle of osmiridium, this rare, natural
+concomitant of platinum.
+
+"This is the most stable and hardest of metals," I said. "Let it be the
+sign of your glory and strength, Hutuktu!"
+
+The Pandita thanked me and invited me to visit him. When I had recovered
+a little, I went to his house, which was arranged in European style:
+electric lights, push bells and telephone. He feasted me with wine and
+sweets and introduced me to two very interesting personages, one an old
+Tibetan surgeon with a face deeply pitted by smallpox, a heavy thick
+nose and crossed eyes. He was a peculiar surgeon, consecrated in Tibet.
+His duties consisted in treating and curing Hutuktus when they were
+ill and . . . in poisoning them when they became too independent or
+extravagant or when their policies were not in accord with the wishes
+of the Council of Lamas of the Living Buddha or the Dalai Lama. By
+now Pandita Hutuktu probably rests in eternal peace on the top of some
+sacred mountain, sent thither by the solicitude of his extraordinary
+court physician. The martial spirit of Pandita Hutuktu was very
+unwelcome to the Council of Lamas, who protested against the
+adventuresomeness of this "Living God."
+
+Pandita liked wine and cards. One day when he was in the company of
+Russians and dressed in a European suit, some Lamas came running to
+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 gone out from his
+abode and was playing cards! Without any confusion Pandita drew his red
+mantle of the Hutuktu over his European coat and 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 of thirteen
+years, whose youthfulness, red robe and cropped hair led me to suppose
+he was a Bandi or student servant in the home of the Hutuktu; but it
+turned out otherwise. This boy was the first Hubilgan, also an incarnate
+Buddha, an artful teller of fortunes and the successor of Pandita
+Hutuktu. He was drunk all the time and a great card player, always
+making side-splitting jokes that greatly offended the Lamas.
+
+That same evening I made the acquaintance of the second Hubilgan
+who called on me, the real administrator of Zain Shabi, which is
+an independent dominion subject directly to the Living Buddha. This
+Hubilgan was a serious and ascetic man of thirty-two, well educated and
+deeply learned in Mongol lore. He knew Russian and read much in that
+language, being interested chiefly in the life and stories of other
+peoples. He had a high respect for the creative genius of the American
+people and said to me:
+
+"When you go to America, ask the Americans to come to us and lead us out
+from the darkness that surrounds us. The Chinese and Russians will lead
+us to destruction and only the Americans can save us."
+
+It is a deep satisfaction for me to carry out the request of this
+influential Mongol, Hubilgan, and to urge his appeal to the American
+people. Will you not save this honest, uncorrupted but dark, deceived
+and oppressed people? They should not be allowed to perish, for within
+their souls they carry a great store of strong moral forces. Make of
+them a cultured people, believing in the verity of humankind; teach them
+to use the wealth of their land; and the ancient people of Jenghiz Khan
+will ever be your faithful friends.
+
+When I had sufficiently recovered, the Hutuktu invited me to travel with
+him to Erdeni Dzu, to which I willingly agreed. On the following morning
+a light and comfortable carriage was brought for me. Our trip lasted
+five days, during which we visited Erdeni Dzu, Karakorum, Hoto-Zaidam
+and Hara-Balgasun. All these are the ruins of monasteries and cities
+erected by Jenghiz Khan and his successors, Ugadai Khan and Kublai
+in the thirteenth century. Now only the remnants of walls and towers
+remain, some large tombs and whole books of legends and stories.
+
+"Look at these tombs!" said the Hutuktu to me. "Here the son of Khan
+Uyuk was buried. This young prince was bribed by the Chinese to kill his
+father but was frustrated in his attempt by his own sister, who killed
+him in her watchful care of her old father, the Emperor and Khan. There
+is the tomb of Tsinilla, the beloved spouse of Khan Mangu. She left the
+capital of China to go to Khara Bolgasun, where she fell in love with
+the brave shepherd Damcharen, who overtook the wind on his steed and
+who captured wild yaks and horses with his bare hands. The enraged Khan
+ordered his unfaithful wife strangled but afterwards buried her with
+imperial honors 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 real archive
+of legends, answered:
+
+"With the aid of ferocious Chahar brigands he fought with China for a
+long time. It is, however, unknown how he died."
+
+Among the ruins the monks pray at certain fixed times and they also
+search for sacred books and objects concealed or buried in the debris.
+Recently they found here two Chinese rifles and two gold rings and big
+bundles of old manuscripts tied with leather thongs.
+
+"Why did this region attract the powerful emperors and Khans who ruled
+from the Pacific to the Adriatic?" I asked myself. Certainly not these
+mountains and valleys covered with larch and birch, not these vast
+sands, receding lakes and barren rocks. It seems that I found the
+answer.
+
+The great emperors, remembering the vision of Jenghiz Khan, sought here
+new revelations and predictions of his miraculous, majestic destiny,
+surrounded by the divine honors, obeisance and hate. Where could they
+come into touch with the gods, the good and bad spirits? Only there
+where they abode. All the district of Zain with these ancient ruins is
+just such a place.
+
+"On this mountain only such men can ascend as are born of the direct
+line of Jenghiz Khan," the Pandita explained to me. "Half way up the
+ordinary man suffocates and dies, if he ventures to go further. Recently
+Mongolian hunters chased a pack of wolves up this mountain and, when
+they came to this part of the mountainside, they all perished. There on
+the slopes of the mountain lie the bones of eagles, big horned sheep and
+the kabarga antelope, light and swift as the wind. There dwells the bad
+demon who possesses the book of human destinies."
+
+"This is the answer," I thought.
+
+In the Western Caucasus I once saw a mountain between Soukhoum Kale and
+Tuopsei where wolves, eagles and wild goats also perish, and where men
+would likewise perish if they did not go on horseback through this zone.
+There the earth breathes out carbonic acid gas through holes in the
+mountainside, killing all animal life. The gas clings to the earth in a
+layer about half a metre thick. Men on horseback pass above this and the
+horses always hold their heads way up and snuff and whinny in fear until
+they cross the dangerous zone. Here on the top of this mountain
+where the bad demon peruses the book of human destinies is the same
+phenomenon, and I realized the sacred fear of the Mongols as well as the
+stern attraction of this place for the tall, almost gigantic descendants
+of Jenghiz Khan. Their heads tower above the layers of poisonous gas,
+so that they 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 coal deposits which are
+the source of carbonic acid and swamp gases.
+
+Not far from the ruins in the lands of Hun Doptchin Djamtso there is
+a small lake which sometimes burns with a red flame, terrifying the
+Mongols and herds of horses. Naturally this lake is rich with legends.
+Here a meteor formerly fell and sank far into the earth. In the hole
+this lake appeared. Now, it seems, the inhabitants of the subterranean
+passages, semi-man and semi-demon, are laboring to extract this "stone
+of the sky" from its deep bed and it is setting the water on fire as it
+rises and falls back in spite of their every effort. I did not see the
+lake myself but a Russian colonist told me that it may be petroleum on
+the lake that is fired either from the campfires of the shepherds or by
+the blazing rays of the sun.
+
+At any rate all this makes it very easy to understand the attractions
+for the great Mongol potentates. The strongest impression was produced
+upon me by Karakorum, the place where the cruel and wise Jenghiz Khan
+lived and laid his gigantic plans for overrunning all the west with
+blood and for covering the east with a glory never before seen. Two
+Karakorums were erected by Jenghiz Khan, one here near Tatsa Gol on the
+Caravan Road and the other in Pamir, where the sad warriors buried the
+greatest of human conquerors in the mausoleum built by five hundred
+captives who were sacrificed to the spirit of the deceased when their
+work was done.
+
+The warlike Pandita Hutuktu prayed on the ruins where the shades of
+these potentates who had ruled half the world wandered, and his soul
+longed for the chimerical exploits and for the glory of Jenghiz and
+Tamerlane.
+
+On the return journey we were invited not far from Zain to visit a very
+rich Mongol by the way. He had already prepared the yurtas suitable for
+Princes, ornamented with rich carpets and silk draperies. The Hutuktu
+accepted. We arranged ourselves on the soft pillows in the yurtas as the
+Hutuktu blessed the Mongol, touching his head with his holy hand, and
+received the hatyks. The host then had a whole sheep brought in to us,
+boiled in a huge vessel. The Hutuktu carved off one hind leg and offered
+it to me, while he reserved the other for himself. After this he gave a
+large piece of meat to the smallest son of the host, which was the sign
+that Pandita Hutuktu invited all to begin the feast. In a trice the
+sheep was entirely carved or torn up and in the hands of the banqueters.
+When the Hutuktu had thrown down by the brazier the white bones without
+a trace of meat left on them, the host on his knees withdrew from the
+fire a piece of sheepskin and ceremoniously offered it on both his hands
+to the Hutuktu. Pandita began to clean off the wool and ashes with his
+knife and, cutting it into thin strips, fell to eating this really tasty
+course. It is the covering from just above the breast bone and is called
+in Mongolian tarach or "arrow." When a sheep is skinned, this small
+section is cut out and placed on the hot coals, where it is broiled very
+slowly. Thus prepared it is considered the most dainty bit of the
+whole animal and is always presented to the guest of honor. It is
+not permissible to divide it, such is the strength of the custom and
+ceremony.
+
+After dinner our host proposed a hunt for bighorns, a large herd of
+which was known to graze in the mountains within less than a mile from
+the yurtas. Horses with rich saddles and bridles were led up. All the
+elaborate harness of the Hutuktu's mount was ornamented with red and
+yellow bits of cloth as a mark of his rank. About fifty Mongol riders
+galloped behind us. When we left our horses, we were placed behind
+the rocks roughly three hundred paces apart and the Mongols began the
+encircling movement around the mountain. After about half an hour I
+noticed way up among the rocks something flash and soon made out a fine
+bighorn jumping with tremendous springs from rock to rock, and behind
+him a herd of some twenty odd head leaping like lightning over the
+ground. I was vexed beyond words when it appeared that the Mongols had
+made a mess of it and pushed the herd out to the side before having
+completed their circle. But happily I was mistaken. Behind a rock right
+ahead of the herd a Mongol sprang up and waved his hands. Only the big
+leader was not frightened and kept right on past the unarmed Mongol
+while all the rest of the herd swung suddenly round and rushed right
+down upon me. I opened fire and dropped two of them. The Hutuktu also
+brought down one as well as a musk antelope that came unexpectedly from
+behind a rock hard by. The largest pair of horns weighed about thirty
+pounds, but they were from a young sheep.
+
+The day following our return to Zain Shabi, as I was feeling quite
+recovered, I decided to go on to Van Kure. At my leave-taking from
+the Hutuktu I received a large hatyk from him together with warmest
+expressions of thanks for the present I had given him on the first day
+of our acquaintance.
+
+"It is a fine medicine!" he exclaimed. "After our trip I felt quite
+exhausted but I took your medicine and am now quite rejuvenated. Many,
+many thanks!"
+
+The poor chap had swallowed my osmiridium. To be sure it could not
+harm him; but to have helped him was wonderful. Perhaps doctors in the
+Occident may wish to try this new, harmless and very cheap remedy--only
+eight pounds of it in the whole world--and I merely ask 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 big but
+light and comfortable cart hitched and drawn in a marvelous way. A
+straight pole four metres long was fastened athwart the front of the
+shafts. On either side two riders took this pole across their saddle
+pommels and galloped away with me across the plains. Behind us galloped
+four other riders with four extra horses.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+ARRESTED!
+
+
+About twelve miles from Zain we saw from a ridge a snakelike line of
+riders crossing the valley, which detachment we met half an hour later
+on the shore of a deep, swampy stream. The group consisted of Mongols,
+Buriats and Tibetans armed with Russian rifles. At the head of the
+column were two men, one of whom in a huge black Astrakhan and black
+felt cape with red Caucasian cowl on his shoulders blocked my road and,
+in a coarse, harsh voice, demanded of 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 a detachment
+of troops from Baron Ungern under the command of Captain Vandaloff. "I
+am Captain Bezrodnoff, military judge."
+
+Suddenly he laughed loudly. His insolent, stupid face did not please me
+and, bowing to the officers, I ordered my riders to move.
+
+"Oh no!" he remonstrated, as he blocked the road again. "I cannot allow
+you to go farther. I want to have a long and serious conversation with
+you and you will have to come back to Zain for it."
+
+I protested and called attention to the letter of Colonel Kazagrandi,
+only to hear Bezrodnoff answer with coldness:
+
+"This letter is a matter of Colonel Kazagrandi's and to bring you back
+to Zain and talk with you is my affair. Now give me your weapon."
+
+But I could not yield to this demand, even though death were threatened.
+
+"Listen," I said. "Tell me frankly. Is yours really a detachment
+fighting 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 for three years."
+
+"Then I cannot hand you my weapon," I calmly replied. "I brought it from
+Soviet Siberia, have had many fights with this faithful weapon and now
+I am to be disarmed by White officers! It is an offence 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 of three
+hundred men passed immediately before me and only the last two riders
+stopped, ordered my Mongols to turn my cart round and then fell in
+behind my little group. So I was arrested! One of the horsemen behind me
+was a Russian and he told me that Bezrodnoff carried with him many death
+decrees. I was sure that mine was among them.
+
+Stupid, very stupid! What was the use of fighting one's way through Red
+detachments, of being frozen and hungry, of almost perishing in Tibet
+only to die from a bullet of one of Bezrodnoff's Mongols? For such a
+pleasure it was not worth while to travel so long and so far! In every
+Siberian "Cheka" I could have had this end so joyfully accorded me.
+
+When we arrived at Zain Shabi, my luggage was examined and Bezrodnoff
+began to question me in minutest detail about the events in Uliassutai.
+We talked about three hours, during which I tried to defend all the
+officers of Uliassutai, maintaining that one must not trust only the
+reports of Domojiroff. When our conversation was finished, the Captain
+stood up and offered his apologies for detaining me in my journey.
+Afterwards he presented me a fine Mauser with silver mountings on the
+handle and said:
+
+"Your pride greatly pleased me. I beg you to receive this weapon as a
+memento of me."
+
+The following morning I set out anew from Zain Shabi, having in my
+pocket the laissez-passer of Bezrodnoff for his outposts.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+TRAVELING BY "URGA"
+
+
+Once more we traveled along the now known places, the mountain from
+which I espied the detachment of Bezrodnoff, the stream into which I had
+thrown my weapon, and soon all this lay behind us. At the first ourton
+we were disappointed because we did not find horses there. In the yurtas
+were only the host with two of his sons. I showed 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 five metres in length,
+and fitted at the end with a loop of rope, and galloped away. My cart
+moved behind them. We left the road, crossed the plain for an hour and
+came upon a big herd of horses grazing there. The Mongol began to catch
+a quota of them for us with his pole and noose or urga, when out of the
+mountains nearby came galloping the owners of the herds. When the
+old Mongol showed my papers to them, they submissively acquiesced and
+substituted four of their men for those who had come with me thus far.
+In this manner the Mongols travel, not along the ourton or station road
+but directly from one herd to another, where the fresh horses are caught
+and saddled and the new owners substituted for those of the last herd.
+All the Mongols so effected by the right of urga try to finish their
+task as rapidly as possible and gallop like mad for the nearest herd
+in your general direction of travel to turn over their task to their
+neighbor. Any traveler having this right of urga can catch horses
+himself and, if there are no owners, can force the former ones to carry
+on and leave the animals in the next herd he requisitions. But this
+happens very rarely because the Mongol never likes to seek out his
+animals in another's herd, as it always gives so many chances for
+controversy.
+
+It was from this custom, according to one explanation, that the town
+of Urga took its name among outsiders. By the Mongols themselves it is
+always referred to as Ta Kure, "The Great Monastery." The reason the
+Buriats and Russians, who were the first to trade into this region,
+called it Urga was because it was the principal destination of all the
+trading expeditions which crossed the plains by this old method or right
+of travel. A second explanation is that the town lies in a "loop" whose
+sides are formed by three mountain ridges, along one of which the River
+Tola runs like the pole or stick of the familiar urga of the plains.
+
+Thanks to this unique ticket of urga I crossed quite untraveled
+sections of Mongolia for about two hundred miles. It gave me the welcome
+opportunity to observe the fauna of this part of the country. I saw many
+huge herds of Mongolian antelopes running from five to six thousand,
+many groups of bighorns, wapiti and kabarga antelopes. Sometimes small
+herds of wild horses and wild asses flashed as a vision on the horizon.
+
+In one place I observed a big colony of marmots. All over an area of
+several square miles their mounds were scattered with the holes leading
+down to their runways below, the dwellings of the marmot. In and out
+among these mounds the greyish-yellow or brown animals ran in all sizes
+up to half that of an average dog. They ran heavily and the skin on
+their fat bodies moved as though it were too big for them. The marmots
+are splendid prospectors, always digging deep ditches, throwing out on
+the surface all the stones. In many places I saw mounds the marmots had
+made from copper ore and farther north some from minerals containing
+wolfram and vanadium. Whenever the marmot is at the entrance of his
+hole, he sits up straight on his hind legs and looks like a bit of wood,
+a small stump or a stone. As soon as he spies a rider in the distance,
+he watches him with great curiosity and begins whistling sharply. This
+curiosity of the marmots is taken advantage of by the hunters, who sneak
+up to their holes flourishing streamers of cloth on the tips of long
+poles. The whole attention of the small animals is concentrated on this
+small flag and only the bullet that takes his life explains to him the
+reason for this previously unknown object.
+
+I saw a very exciting picture as I passed through a marmot colony near
+the Orkhon River. There were thousands of holes here so that my Mongols
+had to use all their skill to keep the horses from breaking their legs
+in them. I noticed an eagle circling high overhead. All of a sudden he
+dropped like a stone to the top of a mound, where he sat motionless as
+a rock. The marmot in a few minutes ran out of his hole to a neighbor's
+doorway. The eagle calmly jumped down from the top and with one wing
+closed the entrance to the hole. The rodent heard the noise, turned back
+and rushed to the attack, trying to break through to his hole where he
+had evidently left his family. The struggle began. The eagle fought with
+one free wing, one leg and his beak but did not withdraw the bar to the
+entrance. The marmot jumped at the rapacious bird with great boldness
+but soon fell from a blow on the head. Only then the eagle withdrew his
+wing, approached the marmot, finished him off and with difficulty
+lifted him in his talons to carry him away to the mountains for a tasty
+luncheon.
+
+In the more barren places with only occasional spears of grass in the
+plain another species of rodent lives, called imouran, about the size of
+a squirrel. They have a coat the same color as the prairie and, running
+about it like snakes, they collect the seeds that are blown across by
+the wind and carry them down into their diminutive homes. The imouran
+has a truly faithful friend, the yellow lark of the prairie with a brown
+back and head. When he sees the imouran running across the plain, he
+settles on his back, flaps his wings in balance and rides well this
+swiftly galloping mount, who gaily flourishes his long shaggy tail. The
+lark during his ride skilfully and quickly catches the parasites living
+on the body of his friend, giving evidence of his enjoyment of his work
+with a short agreeable song. The Mongols call the imouran "the steed of
+the gay lark." The lark warns the imouran of the approach of eagles and
+hawks with three sharp whistles the moment he sees the aerial brigand
+and takes refuge himself behind a stone or in a small ditch. After this
+signal no imouran will stick his head out of his hole until the danger
+is past. Thus the gay lark and his steed live in kindly neighborliness.
+
+In other parts of Mongolia where there was very rich grass I saw another
+type of rodent, which I had previously come across in Urianhai. It is
+a gigantic black prairie rat with a short tail and lives in colonies
+of from one to two hundred. He is interesting and unique as the most
+skilful farmer among the animals in his preparation of his winter supply
+of fodder. During the weeks when the grass is most succulent he actually
+mows it down with swift jerky swings of his head, cutting about twenty
+or thirty stalks with his sharp long front teeth. Then he allows his
+grass to cure and later puts up his prepared hay in a most scientific
+manner. First he makes a mound about a foot high. Through this he pushes
+down into the ground four slanting stakes, converging toward the middle
+of the pile, and binds them close over the surface of the hay with the
+longest strands of grass, leaving the ends protruding enough for him
+to add another foot to the height of the pile, when he again binds the
+surface with more long strands--all this to keep his winter supply of
+food from blowing away over the prairie. This stock he always locates
+right at the door of his den to avoid long winter hauls. The horses and
+camels are very fond of this small farmer's hay, because it is always
+made from the most nutritious grass. The haycocks are so strongly made
+that one can hardly kick them to pieces.
+
+Almost everywhere in Mongolia I met either single pairs or whole flocks
+of the greyish-yellow prairie partridges, salga or "partridge swallow,"
+so called because they have long sharp tails resembling those of
+swallows and because their flight also is a close copy of that of the
+swallow. These birds are very tame or fearless, allowing men to come
+within ten or fifteen paces of them; but, when they do break, they go
+high and fly long distances without lighting, whistling all the time
+quite like swallows. Their general markings are light grey and yellow,
+though the males have pretty chocolate spots on the backs and wings,
+while their legs and feet are heavily feathered.
+
+My opportunity to make these observations came from traveling
+through unfrequented regions by the urga, which, however, had its
+counterbalancing disadvantages. The Mongols carried me directly and
+swiftly toward my destination, receiving with great satisfaction the
+presents of Chinese dollars which I gave them. But after having made
+about five thousand miles on my Cossack saddle that now lay behind me
+on the cart all covered with dust like common merchandise, I rebelled
+against being wracked and torn by the rough riding of the cart as it was
+swung heedlessly over stones, hillocks and ditches by the wild horses
+with their equally wild riders, bounding and cracking and holding
+together only through its tenacity of purpose in demonstrating the
+cosiness and attractiveness of a good Mongol equipage! All my bones
+began to ache. Finally I groaned at every lunge and at last I suffered
+a very sharp attack of ischias or sciatica in my wounded leg. At night
+I could neither sleep, lie down nor sit with comfort and spent the whole
+night pacing up and down the plain, listening to the loud snoring of
+the inhabitants of the yurta. At times I had to fight the two huge black
+dogs which attacked me. The following day I could endure the wracking
+only until noon and was then forced to give up and lie down. The pain
+was unbearable. I could not move my leg nor my back and finally fell
+into a high fever. We were forced to stop and rest. I swallowed all
+my stock of aspirin and quinine but without relief. Before me was a
+sleepless night about which I could not think without weakening fear. We
+had stopped in the yurta for guests by the side of a small monastery. My
+Mongols invited the Lama doctor to visit me, who gave me two very bitter
+powders and assured me I should be able to continue in the morning. I
+soon felt a stimulated palpitation of the heart, after which the pain
+became even sharper. Again I spent the night without any sleep but when
+the sun arose the pain ceased instantly and, after an hour, I ordered
+them to saddle me a horse, as I was afraid to continue further in the
+cart.
+
+While the Mongols were catching the horses, there came to my tent
+Colonel N. N. Philipoff, who told me that he denied all the accusations
+that he and his brother and Poletika were Bolsheviki and that Bezrodnoff
+allowed him to go to Van Kure to meet Baron Ungern, who was expected
+there. Only Philipoff did not know that his Mongol guide was armed with
+a bomb and that another Mongol had been sent on ahead with a letter to
+Baron Ungern. He did not know that Poletika and his brothers were shot
+at the same time in Zain Shabi. Philipoff was in a hurry and wanted to
+reach Van Kure that day. I left an hour after him.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+AN OLD FORTUNE TELLER
+
+
+From this point we began traveling along the ourton road. In this region
+the Mongols had very poor and exhausted horses, because they were forced
+continuously to supply mounts to the numerous envoys of Daichin Van and
+of Colonel Kazagrandi. We were compelled to spend the night at the last
+ourton before Van Kure, where a stout old Mongol and his son kept the
+station. After our supper he took the shoulder-blade of the sheep, which
+had been carefully scraped clean of all the flesh, and, looking at me,
+placed this bone in the coals with 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 ashes and
+began to scrutinize the surface very closely and to look through it into
+the fire. He continued his examination for a long time and then, with
+fear in his face, placed the bone back in the coals.
+
+"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 the time
+whispering prayers and making strange movements. In a very solemn quiet
+voice he began his predictions.
+
+"Death in the form of a tall white man with red hair will stand behind
+you and will watch you long and close. You will feel it and wait but
+Death will withdraw. . . . Another white man will become your friend.
+. . . Before the fourth day you will lose your acquaintances. They will
+die by a long knife. I already see them being eaten by the dogs. Beware
+of the man with a head like a saddle. He will strive for your death."
+
+For a long time after the fortune had been told we sat smoking and
+drinking tea but still the old fellow looked at me only with fear.
+Through my brain flashed the thought that thus must his companions in
+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 Van Kure. I found
+Colonel Kazagrandi at his headquarters. He was a man of good family,
+an experienced engineer and a splendid officer, who had distinguished
+himself in the war at the defence of the island of Moon in the Baltic
+and afterwards in the fight with the Bolsheviki on the Volga. Colonel
+Kazagrandi offered me a bath in a real tub, which had its habitat in
+the house of the president of the local Chamber of Commerce. As I was in
+this house, a tall young captain entered. He had long curly red hair and
+an unusually white face, though heavy and stolid, with large, steel-cold
+eyes and with beautiful, tender, almost girlish lips. But in his eyes
+there was such cold cruelty that it was quite unpleasant to look at his
+otherwise fine face. When he left the room, our host told me that 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 began
+discussing events in western Mongolia, where the situation had become
+very tense.
+
+"Do you know Dr. Gay?" Kazagrandi asked me. "You know he helped me
+to form my detachment but Urga accuses him of being the agent of the
+Soviets."
+
+I made all the defences I could for Gay. He had helped me and had been
+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 of Gay's to
+the Bolsheviki which were seized in transit. By order of Baron Ungern,
+Gay and his family have today been sent to the headquarters of Rezukhin
+and I fear that they will not reach this destination."
+
+"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 a despondent
+gesture. "Try to speak with Rezukhin."
+
+I decided to proceed at once to Rezukhin but just then Colonel Philipoff
+entered and began talking about the errors being made in the training of
+the soldiers. When I had donned my coat, another man came in. He was a
+small sized officer with an old green Cossack cap with a visor, a torn
+grey Mongol overcoat and with his right hand in a black sling tied
+around his neck. It was General Rezukhin, to whom I was at once
+introduced. During the conversation the General very politely and very
+skilfully inquired about the lives of Philipoff and myself during the
+last three years, joking and laughing with discretion and modesty. When
+he soon took his leave, I availed myself of the chance and went out with
+him.
+
+He listened very attentively and politely to me and afterwards, in his
+quiet voice, said:
+
+"Dr. Gay is the agent of the Soviets, disguised as a White in order
+the better to see, hear and know everything. We are surrounded by our
+enemies. The Russian people are demoralized and will undertake any
+treachery for money. Such is Gay. Anyway, what is the use of discussing
+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 eyes I read such hate
+and tenacity that I understood at once the trembling respect of all the
+officers whom I had seen in his presence. Afterwards in Urga I learned
+more of this General Rezukhin distinguished by his absolute bravery and
+boundless cruelty. He was the watchdog of Baron Ungern, ready to throw
+himself into the fire and to spring at the throat of anyone his master
+might indicate.
+
+Only four days then had elapsed before "my acquaintances" died "by a
+long knife," so that one part of the prediction had been thus fulfilled.
+And now I have to await Death's threat to me. The delay was not long.
+Only two days later the Chief of the Asiatic Division of Cavalry
+arrived--Baron Ungern von Sternberg.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+"DEATH FROM THE WHITE MAN WILL STAND BEHIND YOU"
+
+
+"The terrible general, the Baron," arrived quite unexpectedly, unnoticed
+by the outposts of Colonel Kazagrandi. After a talk with Kazagrandi the
+Baron invited Colonel N. N. Philipoff and me into his presence. Colonel
+Kazagrandi brought the word to me. I wanted to 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 quite enigmatical.
+I took my Mauser and also hid in the cuff of my coat my cyanide of
+potassium. The Baron was quartered in the yurta of the military doctor.
+When I entered the court, Captain Veseloffsky came up to me. He had a
+Cossack sword and a revolver without its holster beneath his girdle. He
+went into the yurta to report my arrival.
+
+"Come in," he said, as he emerged from the tent.
+
+At the entrance my eyes were struck with the sight of a pool of blood
+that had not yet had time to drain down into the ground--an ominous
+greeting that seemed to carry the very voice of one just gone before me.
+I knocked.
+
+"Come in!" was the answer in a high tenor. As I passed the threshold,
+a figure in a red silk Mongolian coat rushed at me with the spring of a
+tiger, grabbed and shook my hand as though in flight across my path and
+then fell prone on the bed at the side of the tent.
+
+"Tell me who you are! Hereabouts are many spies and agitators," he cried
+out in an hysterical voice, as he fixed his eyes upon me. In one
+moment I perceived his appearance and psychology. A small head on wide
+shoulders; blonde hair in disorder; a reddish bristling moustache; a
+skinny, exhausted face, like those on the old Byzantine ikons. Then
+everything else faded from view save a big, protruding forehead
+overhanging steely sharp eyes. These eyes were fixed upon me like those
+of an animal from a cave. My observations lasted for but a flash but I
+understood that before me was a very dangerous 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 a chair
+and impatiently pulled at his moustache. I felt my anger rising through
+my whole body and I said to him without taking the chair:
+
+"You have allowed yourself to offend me, Baron. My name is well enough
+known so that you cannot thus indulge yourself in such epithets. You can
+do with me as you wish, because force is on your side, but you cannot
+compel me to speak with one who gives me offence."
+
+At these words of mine he swung his feet down off the bed and with
+evident astonishment began to survey me, holding his breath and pulling
+still at his moustache. Retaining my exterior calmness, I began to
+glance indifferently around the yurta, and only then I noticed General
+Rezukhin. I bowed to him and received his silent acknowledgment. After
+that I swung my glance back to the Baron, who sat with bowed head and
+closed eyes, from time to time rubbing his 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, cold face. I
+had not heard him enter. He did a formal "about face" and passed out of
+the door.
+
+"'Death from the white man' has stood behind me," I thought; "but has it
+quite left me?"
+
+The Baron stood thinking for some time and then began to speak in
+jumbled, unfinished phrases.
+
+"I ask your pardon. . . . You must understand there are so many
+traitors! Honest men have disappeared. I cannot trust anybody. All
+names are false and assumed; documents are counterfeited. Eyes and
+words deceive. . . . All is demoralized, insulted by Bolshevism. I
+just ordered Colonel Philipoff cut down, he who called himself the
+representative of the Russian White Organization. In the lining of his
+garments were found two secret Bolshevik codes. . . . When my officer
+flourished his sword over him, he exclaimed: 'Why do you kill me,
+Tavarische?' I cannot trust anybody. . . ."
+
+He was silent and I also held my peace.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" he began anew. "I offended you; but I am not simply
+a man, I am a leader of great forces and have in my head so much care,
+sorrow and woe!"
+
+In his voice I felt there was mingled despair and sincerity. He frankly
+put out his hand to me. Again silence. At last I answered:
+
+"What do you order me to do now, for I have neither counterfeit nor real
+documents? But many of your officers know me and in Urga I can find many
+who will testify that I could be neither agitator nor. . ."
+
+"No need, no need!" interrupted the Baron. "All is clear, all is
+understood! I was in your soul and I know all. It is the truth which
+Hutuktu Narabanchi has written about you. What can I do for you?"
+
+I explained how my friend and I had escaped from Soviet Russia in the
+effort to reach our native land and how a group of Polish soldiers had
+joined us in the hope of getting back to Poland; and I asked that help
+be given us to reach the nearest port.
+
+"With pleasure, with pleasure. . . . I will help you all," he answered
+excitedly. "I shall drive you to Urga in my motor car. Tomorrow we shall
+start and there in Urga we shall talk about further arrangements."
+
+Taking my leave, I went out of the yurta. On arriving at my quarters, I
+found Colonel Kazagrandi in great anxiety walking up and 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 the
+Colonel could have taken much more active measures for the salvation of
+his guest, if he had been so minded. The agitation of this day had
+tired me and made me feel years older. When I looked in 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 of Captain Veseloffsky, the
+sound of Baron Ungern's voice with its tones 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 could not take me in his motor car, because
+he was obliged to take Daichin Van with him. But he informed me that he
+had left instructions to give me his own white camel and two Cossacks as
+servants. I had no time to thank him before he rushed out of my room.
+
+Sleep then entirely deserted me, so I dressed and began smoking pipe
+after pipe of tobacco, as I thought: "How much easier to fight the
+Bolsheviki on the swamps of Seybi and to cross the snowy peaks of Ulan
+Taiga, where the bad demons kill all the travelers they can! There
+everything was simple and comprehensible, but here it is all a mad
+nightmare, a dark and foreboding storm!" I felt some tragedy, some
+horror in every movement of Baron Ungern, behind whom paced this silent,
+white-faced Veseloffsky and Death.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE HORROR OF WAR!
+
+
+At dawn of the following morning they led up the splendid white camel
+for me and we moved away. My company consisted of the two Cossacks, two
+Mongol soldiers and one Lama with two pack camels carrying the tent and
+food. I still apprehended that the Baron had it in mind not to dispose
+of me before my friends there in Van Kure but to prepare this journey
+for me under the guise of which it would be so easy to do away with
+me by the road. A bullet in the back and all would be finished.
+Consequently I was momentarily ready to draw my revolver and defend
+myself. I took care all the time to have the Cossacks either ahead of me
+or at the side. About noon we heard the distant honk of a motor car and
+soon saw Baron Ungern whizzing by us at full speed. With him were two
+adjutants and Prince Daichin Van. The Baron greeted me very kindly and
+shouted:
+
+"Shall see you again in Urga!"
+
+"Ah!" I thought, "evidently I shall reach Urga. So I can be at ease
+during my trip, and in Urga I have many friends beside the presence
+there of the bold Polish soldiers whom I had worked with in Uliassutai
+and who had outdistanced me in this journey."
+
+After the meeting with the Baron my Cossacks became very attentive to
+me and sought to distract me with stories. They told me about their
+very severe struggles with the Bolsheviki in Transbaikalia and Mongolia,
+about the battle with the Chinese near Urga, about finding communistic
+passports on several Chinese soldiers from Moscow, about the bravery of
+Baron Ungern and how he would sit at the campfire smoking and drinking
+tea right on the battle line without ever being touched by a bullet.
+At one fight seventy-four bullets entered his overcoat, saddle and
+the boxes by his side and again left him untouched. This is one of
+the reasons for his great influence over the Mongols. They related how
+before the battle he had made a reconnaissance in Urga with only
+one Cossack and on his way back had killed a Chinese officer and two
+soldiers with his bamboo stick or tashur; how he had no outfit save one
+change of linen and one extra pair of boots; how he was always calm and
+jovial 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 chatting thus
+the day slipped by very quickly. Our camels trotted all the time, so
+that instead of the ordinary eighteen to twenty miles per day 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 been presented to Baron Ungern
+by some Prince of Inner Mongolia with two black sables tied on the
+bridle. He was a calm, strong, bold giant of the desert, on whose back
+I felt myself as though perched on the tower of a building. Beyond the
+Orkhon River we came across the first dead body of a Chinese soldier,
+which lay face up and arms outstretched right in the middle of the road.
+When we had crossed the Burgut Mountains, we entered the Tola River
+valley, farther up which Urga is located. The road was strewn with the
+overcoats, shirts, boots, caps and kettles which the Chinese had thrown
+away in their flight; and marked by many of their dead. Further on the
+road crossed a morass, where on either side lay great mounds of the dead
+bodies of men, horses and camels with broken carts and military debris
+of every sort. Here the Tibetans of Baron Ungern had cut up the escaping
+Chinese baggage transport; and it was a strange and gloomy contrast to
+see the piles of dead besides the effervescing awakening life of spring.
+In every pool wild ducks of different kinds floated about; in the high
+grass the cranes performed their weird dance of courtship; on the lakes
+great flocks of swans and geese were swimming; through the swampy places
+like spots of light moved the brilliantly colored pairs of the Mongolian
+sacred bird, the turpan or "Lama goose"; on the higher dry places flocks
+of wild turkey gamboled and fought as they fed; flocks of the salga
+partridge whistled by; while on the mountain side not far away the
+wolves lay basking and turning in the lazy warmth of the sun, whining
+and occasionally barking like playful dogs.
+
+Nature knows only life. Death is for her but an episode whose traces
+she rubs out with sand and snow or ornaments with luxuriant greenery
+and brightly colored bushes and flowers. What matters it to Nature if a
+mother at Chefoo or on the banks of the Yangtse offers her bowl of rice
+with burning incense at some shrine and prays for the return of her son
+that has fallen unknown for all time on the plains along the Tola, where
+his bones will dry beneath the rays of Nature's dissipating fire and be
+scattered by her winds over the sands of the prairie? It is splendid,
+this indifference of Nature to death, and her greediness for life!
+
+On the fourth day we made the shores of the Tola well after nightfall.
+We could not find the regular ford and I forced my camel to enter
+the stream in the attempt to make a crossing without guidance. Very
+fortunately I found a shallow, though somewhat miry, place and we got
+over all right. This is something to be thankful for in fording a river
+with a camel; because, when your mount finds the water too deep, coming
+up around his neck, he does not strike out and swim like a horse will do
+but just rolls over on his 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 third great
+battle for the independence of Mongolia had been fought. Here the troops
+of Baron Ungern clashed with six thousand Chinese moving down from
+Kiakhta to the aid of Urga. The Chinese were completely defeated and
+four thousand prisoners taken. However, these surrendered Chinese tried
+to escape during the night. Baron Ungern sent the Transbaikal Cossacks
+and Tibetans in pursuit of them and it was their work which we saw on
+this field of death. There were still about fifteen hundred unburied and
+as many more interred, according to the statements of our Cossacks,
+who had participated in this battle. The killed showed terrible sword
+wounds; everywhere equipment and other debris were scattered about.
+The Mongols with their herds moved away from the neighborhood and their
+place was taken by the wolves which hid behind every stone and in every
+ditch as we passed. Packs of dogs that had become wild 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 Mongols slipped from their
+camels, took off their caps and began drinking. It was a sacred stream
+which passed beside the abode of the Living Buddha. From this winding
+valley we suddenly turned into another where a great mountain ridge
+covered with dark, dense forest loomed up before us.
+
+"Holy Bogdo-Ol!" exclaimed the Lama. "The abode of the Gods which guard
+our Living Buddha!"
+
+Bogdo-Ol is the huge knot which ties together here three mountain
+chains: Gegyl from the southwest, Gangyn from the south, and Huntu from
+the north. This mountain covered with virgin forest is the property of
+the Living Buddha. The forests are full of nearly all the varieties
+of animals found in Mongolia, but hunting is not allowed. Any Mongol
+violating this law is condemned to death, while foreigners are deported.
+Crossing the Bogdo-Ol is forbidden under penalty of death. This command
+was transgressed by only one man, Baron Ungern, who crossed the mountain
+with fifty Cossacks, penetrated to the palace of the Living Buddha,
+where the Pontiff of Urga was being held under arrest by the Chinese,
+and stole him.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+IN THE CITY OF LIVING GODS, OF 30,000 BUDDHAS AND 60,000 MONKS
+
+
+At last before our eyes the abode of the Living Buddha! At the foot of
+Bogdo-Ol behind white walls rose a white Tibetan building covered with
+greenish-blue tiles that glittered under the sunshine. It was richly set
+among groves of trees dotted here and there with the fantastic roofs
+of shrines and small palaces, while further from the mountain it was
+connected by a long wooden bridge across the Tola with the city of
+monks, sacred and revered throughout all the East as Ta Kure or Urga.
+Here besides the Living Buddha live whole throngs of secondary miracle
+workers, prophets, sorcerers and wonderful doctors. All these people
+have divine origin and are honored as living gods. At the left on the
+high plateau stands an old monastery with a huge, dark red tower, which
+is known as the "Temple Lamas City," containing a gigantic bronze gilded
+statue of Buddha sitting on the golden flower of the lotus; tens of
+smaller temples, shrines, obo, open altars, towers for astrology and the
+grey city of the Lamas consisting of single-storied houses and yurtas,
+where about 60,000 monks of all ages and ranks dwell; schools, sacred
+archives and libraries, the houses of Bandi and the inns for the honored
+guests from China, Tibet, and the lands of the Buriat and Kalmuck.
+
+Down below the monastery is the foreign settlement where the Russian,
+foreign and richest Chinese merchants live and where the multi-colored
+and crowded oriental bazaar carries forward its bustling life. A
+kilometre away the greyish enclosure of Maimachen surrounds the
+remaining Chinese trading establishments, while farther on one sees a
+long row of Russian private houses, a hospital, church, prison and, last
+of all, the awkward four-storied red brick building that was formerly
+the Russian Consulate.
+
+We were already within a short distance of the monastery, when I noticed
+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 they straightened
+up with a sharp salute. Out of the ravine came a small, stocky Mongolian
+pony with a short man in the saddle. As he passed us, I noticed the
+epaulets of a colonel and the green cap with a visor. He examined me
+with cold, colorless eyes from under dense brows. As he went on ahead,
+he took off his cap and wiped the perspiration from his bald head. My
+eyes were struck by the strange undulating line of his skull. It was the
+man "with the head like a saddle," against whom I had been warned by the
+old fortune 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, the Cossacks
+whispered: "Colonel Sepailoff, Commandant of Urga City."
+
+Colonel Sepailoff, the darkest person on the canvas of Mongolian events!
+Formerly a mechanician, afterwards a gendarme, he had gained quick
+promotion under the Czar's regime. He was always nervously jerking and
+wriggling his body and talking ceaselessly, making most unattractive
+sounds in his throat and sputtering with saliva all over his lips, his
+whole face often contracted with spasms. He was mad and Baron Ungern
+twice appointed a commission of surgeons to examine him and ordered him
+to rest in the hope he could rid the man of his evil genius. Undoubtedly
+Sepailoff was a sadist. I heard afterwards that he himself executed
+the condemned people, joking and singing as he did his work. Dark,
+terrifying tales were current about him in Urga. He was a bloodhound,
+fastening his victims with the jaws of death. All the glory of the
+cruelty of Baron Ungern belonged to Sepailoff. Afterwards Baron Ungern
+once told me in Urga that this Sepailoff annoyed him and that Sepailoff
+could kill him just as well as others. Baron Ungern feared Sepailoff,
+not as a man, but dominated by his own superstition, because Sepailoff
+had found in Transbaikalia a witch doctor who predicted the death of the
+Baron if he dismissed Sepailoff. Sepailoff knew no pardon for Bolshevik
+nor for any one connected with the Bolsheviki in any way. The reason for
+his vengeful spirit was that the Bolsheviki had tortured him in prison
+and, after his escape, had killed all his family. He was now taking his
+revenge.
+
+I put up with a Russian firm and was at once visited by my associates
+from Uliassutai, who greeted me with great joy because they had been
+much exercised about the events in Van Kure and Zain Shabi. When I had
+bathed and spruced up, I went out with them on the street. We entered
+the bazaar. The whole market was crowded. To the lively colored groups
+of men buying, selling and shouting their wares, the bright streamers of
+Chinese cloth, the strings of pearls, the earrings and bracelets gave an
+air of endless festivity; while on another side buyers were feeling of
+live sheep to see whether they were fat or not, the butcher was cutting
+great pieces of mutton from the hanging carcasses and everywhere these
+sons of the plain were joking and jesting. The Mongolian women in their
+huge coiffures and heavy silver caps like saucers on their heads were
+admiring the variegated silk ribbons and long chains of coral beads; an
+imposing big Mongol attentively examined a small herd of splendid
+horses and bargained with the Mongol zahachine or owner of the horses; a
+skinny, quick, black Tibetan, who had come to Urga to pray to the Living
+Buddha or, maybe, with a secret message from the other "God" in Lhasa,
+squatted and bargained for an image of the Lotus Buddha carved in agate;
+in another corner a big crowd of Mongols and Buriats had collected and
+surrounded a Chinese merchant selling finely painted snuff-bottles of
+glass, crystal, porcelain, amethyst, jade, agate and nephrite, for one
+of which made of a greenish milky nephrite with regular brown veins
+running through it and carved with a dragon winding itself around a bevy
+of young damsels the merchant was demanding of his Mongol inquirers ten
+young oxen; and everywhere Buriats in their long red coats and small
+red caps embroidered with gold helped the Tartars in black overcoats
+and black velvet caps on the back of their heads to weave the pattern of
+this Oriental human tapestry. Lamas formed the common background for it
+all, as they wandered about in their yellow and red robes, with capes
+picturesquely thrown over their shoulders 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 their rosaries, telling fortunes for those who would hear but
+chiefly searching out the rich Mongols whom they could cure or exploit
+by fortune telling, predictions or other mysteries of a city of 60,000
+Lamas. Simultaneously religious and political espionage was being
+carried out. Just at this time many Mongols were arriving from Inner
+Mongolia and they were continuously surrounded by an invisible but
+numerous network of watching Lamas. Over the buildings around floated
+the Russian, Chinese and Mongolian national flags with a single one of
+the Stars and Stripes above a small shop in the market; while over the
+nearby tents and yurtas streamed the ribbons, the squares, the circles
+and triangles of the princes and private persons afflicted or dying
+from smallpox and leprosy. All were mingled and mixed in one bright mass
+strongly lighted by the sun. Occasionally one saw the soldiers of Baron
+Ungern rushing about in long blue coats; Mongols and Tibetans in red
+coats with yellow epaulets bearing the swastika of Jenghiz Khan and
+the initials of the Living Buddha; and Chinese soldiers from their
+detachment in the Mongolian army. After the defeat of the Chinese army
+two thousand of these braves petitioned the Living Buddha to enlist them
+in his legions, swearing fealty and faith to him. They were accepted
+and formed into two regiments bearing the old Chinese silver dragons on
+their caps and shoulders.
+
+As we crossed this market, from around a corner came a big motor car
+with the roar of a siren. There was Baron Ungern in the yellow silk
+Mongolian coat with a blue girdle. He was going very fast but recognized
+me at once, stopping and getting out to invite me to go with him to his
+yurta. The Baron lived in a small, simply arranged yurta, set up in the
+courtyard of a Chinese hong. He had his headquarters in two other yurtas
+nearby, while his servants occupied one of the Chinese fang-tzu. When
+I reminded him of his promise to help me to reach the open ports, the
+General looked at me with his bright eyes and spoke in French:
+
+"My work here is coming to an end. In nine days I shall begin the war
+with the Bolsheviki and shall go into the Transbaikal. I beg that you
+will spend this time here. For many years I have lived without civilized
+society. I am alone with my thoughts and I would like to have you know
+them, speaking with me not as the 'bloody mad Baron,' as my enemies call
+me, nor as the 'severe grandfather,' which my officers and soldiers call
+me, but as an ordinary man who has 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 shall arrange
+everything for you, but I ask you to remain here these nine days."
+
+What was I to do? I agreed. The Baron shook my hand warmly and ordered
+tea.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+A SON OF CRUSADERS AND PRIVATEERS
+
+
+"Tell me about yourself and your trip," he urged. In response I related
+all that I thought would interest him and he appeared quite excited over
+my tale.
+
+"Now I shall tell you about myself, who and what I am! My name is
+surrounded with such hate and fear that no one can judge what is the
+truth and what is false, what is history and what myth. Some time you
+will write about it, remembering your trip through Mongolia and your
+sojourn at the yurta of the 'bloody General.'"
+
+He shut his eyes, smoking as he spoke, and tumbling out his sentences
+without finishing them as though some one would prevent him from
+phrasing them.
+
+"The family of Ungern von Sternberg is an old family, a mixture of
+Germans with Hungarians--Huns from the time of Attila. My warlike
+ancestors took part in all the European struggles. They participated
+in the Crusades and one Ungern was killed under the walls of Jerusalem,
+fighting under Richard Coeur de Lion. Even the tragic Crusade of the
+Children was marked by the death of Ralph Ungern, eleven years old.
+When the boldest warriors of the country were despatched to the eastern
+border of the German Empire against the Slavs in the twelfth century, my
+ancestor Arthur was among them, Baron Halsa Ungern Sternberg. Here these
+border knights formed the order of Monk Knights or Teutons, which
+with fire and sword spread Christianity among the pagan Lithuanians,
+Esthonians, Latvians and Slavs. Since then the Teuton Order of Knights
+has always had among its members representatives of our family. When the
+Teuton Order perished in the Grunwald under the swords of the Polish and
+Lithuanian troops, two Barons Ungern von Sternberg were killed there.
+Our family was warlike and given to mysticism and asceticism.
+
+"During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries several Barons von
+Ungern had their castles in the lands of Latvia and Esthonia. Many
+legends 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 the hearts of his
+opponents with fear. He fell at Cadiz 'neath the sword of a knight who
+cleft both his helmet and his skull. Baron Ralph Ungern was a brigand
+knight between Riga and Reval. Baron Peter Ungern had his castle on
+the island of Dago in the Baltic Sea, 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 of Satan'
+because he was an alchemist. My grandfather was a privateer in the
+Indian Ocean, taking his tribute from the English traders whose warships
+could not catch him for several years. At last he was captured and
+handed to the Russian Consul, who transported him to Russia where he was
+sentenced to deportation to the Transbaikal. I am also a naval officer
+but the Russo-Japanese War forced me to leave my regular profession to
+join and fight with the Zabaikal Cossacks. I have spent all my life in
+war or in the study and learning of Buddhism. My grandfather brought
+Buddhism to us from India and my father and I accepted and professed it.
+In Transbaikalia I tried to form the order of Military Buddhists for an
+uncompromising fight against the depravity of revolution."
+
+He fell into silence and began drinking cup after cup of tea as strong
+and black as coffee.
+
+"Depravity of revolution! . . . Has anyone ever thought of it besides
+the French philosopher, Bergson, and the most learned Tashi Lama in
+Tibet?"
+
+The grandson of the privateer, quoting scientific theories, works, the
+names of scientists and writers, the Holy Bible and Buddhist books,
+mixing together French, German, Russian and English, continued:
+
+"In the Buddhistic and ancient Christian books we read stern predictions
+about the time when the war between the good and evil spirits must
+begin. Then there must come the unknown 'Curse' which will conquer the
+world, blot out culture, kill morality and destroy all the people. Its
+weapon is revolution. During every revolution the previously experienced
+intellect-creator will be replaced by the new rough force of the
+destroyer. He will place and hold in the first rank the lower instincts
+and desires. Man will be farther removed from the divine and the
+spiritual. The Great War proved that humanity must progress upward
+toward higher ideals; but then appeared that Curse which was seen and
+felt by Christ, the Apostle John, Buddha, the first Christian martyrs,
+Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Goethe and Dostoyevsky. It appeared, turned
+back the wheel of progress and blocked our road to the Divinity.
+Revolution is an infectious disease and Europe making the treaty with
+Moscow deceived itself and the other parts of the world. The Great
+Spirit put at the threshold of our lives Karma, who knows neither anger
+nor pardon. He will reckon the account, whose total will be famine,
+destruction, the death of culture, of glory, of honor and of spirit,
+the death of states and the death of peoples. I see already this horror,
+this dark, mad destruction of humanity."
+
+The door of the yurta suddenly swung open and an adjutant snapped into 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 Bolshevik
+reconnaissance party and brought them here."
+
+The Baron arose. His eyes sparkled and his face contracted with spasms.
+
+"Bring them in front of my yurta!" he ordered.
+
+All was forgotten--the inspired speech, the penetrating voice--all were
+sunk in the austere order of the severe commander. The Baron put on his
+cap, caught up the bamboo tashur which he always carried with him and
+rushed from the yurta. I followed him out. There in front of the yurta
+stood six Red soldiers surrounded by the Cossacks.
+
+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 of the Chinese house and for a
+long time was buried in thought. Then he rose, walked over to them and,
+with an evident show of decisiveness in his movements, touched all the
+prisoners on the shoulder with his tashur and said: "You to the left and
+you to the right!" as he divided the squad into two sections, four on
+the right and two on the left.
+
+"Search those two! They must be commissars!" commanded the Baron and,
+turning to the other four, asked: "Are you peasants mobilized by the
+Bolsheviki?"
+
+"Just so, Your Excellency!" cried the frightened soldiers.
+
+"Go to the Commandant and tell him that I have ordered you to be
+enlisted in my troops!"
+
+On the two to the left they found passports of Commissars of the
+Communist Political Department. The General knitted his brows and slowly
+pronounced the following:
+
+"Beat them to death with sticks!"
+
+He turned and entered the yurta. After this our conversation did not
+flow readily and so I left the Baron to himself.
+
+After dinner in the Russian firm where I was staying some of Ungern's
+officers came in. We were chatting animatedly when suddenly we heard the
+horn of an automobile, which instantly threw the officers into silence.
+
+"The General is passing somewhere near," one of them remarked in a
+strangely 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 had not yet
+been lighted and it was getting dark inside, but the Baron instantly
+recognized us all, approached and kissed the hand of the hostess,
+greeted everyone very cordially and, accepting the cup of tea 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? I shall show you the
+city and the environs."
+
+Donning my coat, I followed my established custom and slipped my
+revolver into it, at which the Baron laughed.
+
+"Leave that trash behind! Here you are in safety. Besides you must
+remember the prediction of Narabanchi Hutuktu that Fortune will ever be
+with you."
+
+"All right," I answered, also with a laugh. "I remember very well this
+prediction. Only I do not know what the Hutuktu thinks 'Fortune' means
+for me. Maybe it is death like the rest after my hard, long trip, and I
+must confess that I prefer to travel farther and am not ready to die."
+
+We went out to the gate where the big Fiat stood with its intruding
+great lights. The chauffeur officer sat at the wheel like a statue and
+remained at salute all the time we were entering and seating ourselves.
+
+"To the wireless station!" commanded the Baron.
+
+We veritably leapt forward. The city swarmed, as earlier, with the
+Oriental throng, but its appearance now was even more strange and
+miraculous. In among the noisy crowd Mongol, Buriat and Tibetan riders
+threaded swiftly; caravans of camels solemnly raised their heads as we
+passed; the wooden wheels of the Mongol carts screamed in pain; and all
+was illumined by splendid great arc lights from the electric station
+which Baron Ungern had ordered erected immediately after the capture
+of Urga, together with a telephone system and wireless station. He also
+ordered his men to clean and disinfect the city which had probably not
+felt the broom since the days of Jenghiz Khan. He arranged an auto-bus
+traffic between different parts of the city; built bridges over the Tola
+and Orkhon; published a newspaper; arranged a veterinary laboratory
+and hospitals; re-opened the schools; protected commerce, mercilessly
+hanging Russian and Mongolian soldiers for pillaging Chinese firms.
+
+In one of these cases his Commandant arrested two Cossacks and a Mongol
+soldier who had stolen brandy from one of the Chinese shops and brought
+them before him. He immediately bundled them all into his car, drove off
+to the shop, delivered the brandy back to the proprietor and as promptly
+ordered the Mongol to hang one of the Russians to the big gate of the
+compound. With this one swung he commanded: "Now hang the other!" and
+this had only just been accomplished when he turned to the Commandant
+and ordered him to hang the Mongol beside the other two. That seemed
+expeditious and just enough until the Chinese proprietor came in dire
+distress to the Baron and plead with him:
+
+"General Baron! General Baron! Please take those men down from my
+gateway, for no one will enter my shop!"
+
+After the commercial quarter was flashed past our eyes, we entered the
+Russian settlement across a small river. Several Russian soldiers and
+four very spruce-looking Mongolian women stood on the bridge as we
+passed. The soldiers snapped to salute like immobile statues and fixed
+their eyes on the severe face of their Commander. The women first began
+to run and shift about and then, infected by the discipline and order
+of events, swung their hands up to salute and stood as immobile as their
+northern swains. The Baron looked at 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 and caps. 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 and
+interrupting 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 this
+happens to be the most interesting. I was telling you that I wanted
+to found an order of military Buddhists in Russia. For what? For
+the protection of the processes of evolution of humanity and for the
+struggle against revolution, because I am certain that evolution leads
+to the Divinity and revolution to bestiality. But I worked in Russia!
+In Russia, where the peasants are rough, untutored, wild and constantly
+angry, hating everybody and everything without understanding why. They
+are suspicious and materialistic, having no sacred ideals. Russian
+intelligents live among imaginary ideals without realities. They have a
+strong capacity for criticising everything but they lack creative power.
+Also they have no will power, only the capacity for talking and talking.
+With the peasants, they cannot like anything or anybody. Their love and
+feelings are imaginary. Their thoughts and sentiments 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 of woman, of the comforts of life, of superfluities,
+according to the teachings of the Yellow Faith; and, in order that the
+Russian might be able to live down his physical nature, I introduced the
+limitless use of alcohol, hasheesh and opium. Now for alcohol I hang
+my officers and soldiers; then we drank to the 'white fever,' delirium
+tremens. I could not organize the Order but I gathered round me
+and developed three hundred men wholly bold and entirely ferocious.
+Afterward they were heroes in the war with Germany and later in the
+fight against the Bolsheviki, but now only a few remain."
+
+"The wireless, Excellency!" reported the chauffeur.
+
+"Turn in there!" ordered the General.
+
+On the top of a flat hill stood the big, powerful radio station which
+had been partially destroyed by the retreating Chinese but reconstructed
+by the engineers of Baron Ungern. The General perused the telegrams and
+handed them to me. They were from Moscow, Chita, Vladivostok and Peking.
+On a separate yellow sheet were the code messages, which the Baron
+slipped into his pocket as he said to me:
+
+"They are from my agents, who are stationed in Chita, Irkutsk, Harbin
+and Vladivostok. They are all Jews, very skilled and very bold men,
+friends of mine all. I have also one Jewish officer, Vulfovitch, who
+commands my right flank. He is as ferocious as Satan but clever and
+brave. . . . Now we shall fly into space."
+
+Once more we rushed away, sinking into the darkness of night. It was a
+wild ride. The car bounded over small stones and ditches, even taking
+narrow streamlets, as the skilled chauffeur only seemed to guide it
+round the larger rocks. On the plain, as we sped by, I noticed several
+times small bright flashes of fire which lasted but for a second and
+then were extinguished.
+
+"The eyes of wolves," smiled my companion. "We have fed them to satiety
+from the flesh of ourselves and our enemies!" he quietly interpolated,
+as he turned to continue his confession of faith.
+
+"During the War we saw the gradual corruption of the Russian army and
+foresaw the treachery of Russia to the Allies as well as the approaching
+danger of revolution. To counteract this latter a plan was formed to
+join together all the Mongolian peoples which had not forgotten their
+ancient faiths and customs into one Asiatic State, consisting of
+autonomous tribal units, under the moral and legislative leadership of
+China, the country of loftiest and most ancient 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
+revolution and carefully preserve its own spirit, philosophy and
+individual policy. If humanity, mad and corrupted, continues to threaten
+the Divine Spirit in mankind, to spread blood and to obstruct moral
+development, the Asiatic State must terminate this movement decisively
+and establish a permanent, firm peace. This propaganda even during the
+War made splendid progress among the Turkomans, Kirghiz, Buriats and
+Mongols. . . . 'Stop!' suddenly shouted the Baron."
+
+The car pulled up with a jerk. The General jumped out and called me to
+follow. We started walking over the prairie and the Baron kept bending
+down all the time as though he were looking for something 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 outfitter for the
+Russian merchant, Noskoff. Noskoff was a ferocious man as shown by the
+name the Mongols gave him--'Satan.' He used to have his Mongol debtors
+beaten or imprisoned through the instrumentality of the Chinese
+authorities. He ruined this Mongol, who lost everything and escaped to
+a place thirty miles away; but Noskoff found him there, took all that he
+had left of cattle and horses and left the Mongol and his family to die
+of hunger. When I captured Urga, this Mongol appeared and brought with
+him thirty other Mongol families similarly ruined by Noskoff. They
+demanded his death. . . . So I hung 'Satan' . . ."
+
+Anew the motor car was rushing along, sweeping a great circle on the
+prairie, and anew Baron Ungern with his sharp, nervous voice carried his
+thoughts round the whole circumference of Asian life.
+
+"Russia turned traitor to France, England and America, signed the
+Brest-Litovsk Treaty and ushered in a reign of chaos. We then decided
+to mobilize Asia against Germany. Our envoys penetrated Mongolia, Tibet,
+Turkestan and China. At this time the Bolsheviki began to kill all the
+Russian officers and we were forced to open civil war against them,
+giving up our Pan-Asiatic plans; but we hope later to awake all Asia
+and with their help to bring peace and God back to earth. I want to feel
+that I have helped this idea by the liberation of Mongolia."
+
+He became silent and thought for a moment.
+
+"But some of my associates in the movement do not like me because of
+my atrocities and severity," he remarked in a sad voice. "They cannot
+understand as yet that we are not fighting a political party but a sect
+of murderers of all contemporary spiritual culture. Why do the Italians
+execute the 'Black Hand' gang? Why are the Americans electrocuting
+anarchistic bomb throwers? and I am not allowed to rid the world of
+those who would kill the soul of the people? I, a Teuton, descendant of
+crusaders and privateers, I recognize only death for murderers! . . .
+Return!" he commanded the chauffeur.
+
+An hour and a half later we saw the electric lights of Urga.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+THE CAMP OF MARTYRS
+
+
+Near the entrance to the town, a motor car stood before a small house.
+
+"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 and he
+entered after them, leaning on his tashur. As the door remained open, I
+could see and hear everything.
+
+"Woe to them!" whispered the chauffeur. "Our officers knew that the
+Baron had gone out of the town with me, which means always a long
+journey, and must have decided to have a good time. He will order them
+beaten to death with sticks."
+
+I could see the end of the table covered with bottles and tinned things.
+At the side two young women were seated, who sprang up at the
+appearance of the General. I could hear the hoarse voice of Baron Ungern
+pronouncing sharp, short, stern phrases.
+
+"Your native land is perishing. . . . The shame of it is upon all you
+Russians . . . and you cannot understand it . . . nor feel it. . . . 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 your husbands at
+the front who may even now be killed? You are not women. . . . I honor
+woman, who feels more deeply and strongly than 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 and
+breathed heavily, lighting cigarette after cigarette and throwing them
+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 but
+splendidly educated man. The servants spread a Chinese hot course for
+us followed by cold meat and fruit compote from California with
+the inevitable tea. We ate with chopsticks. The Baron was greatly
+distraught.
+
+Very cautiously I began speaking of the offending officers and tried to
+justify their actions by the extremely trying circumstances under which
+they were living.
+
+"They are rotten through and through, demoralized, sunk into the
+depths," murmured the General.
+
+The Chief of Staff helped me out and at last the Baron directed him to
+telephone the Commandant to release these gentlemen.
+
+The following day I spent with my friends, walking a great deal about
+the streets and watching their busy life. The great energy of the Baron
+demanded constant nervous activity from himself and every one round him.
+He was everywhere, seeing everything but never, 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 story of my
+trip and we were all chatting along animatedly when suddenly Colonel
+Sepailoff entered, singing to himself. All the others at once became
+silent and one by one under various pretexts they slipped out. He handed
+our host some papers and, turning to us, said:
+
+"I shall send you for supper a splendid fish pie and some hot tomato
+soup."
+
+As he left, my host clasped his head in desperation and said:
+
+"With such scum of the earth are we now forced after this revolution to
+work!"
+
+A few minutes later a soldier from Sepailoff brought us a tureen full
+of soup and the fish pie. As the soldier bent over the table to set the
+dishes down, the Chief motioned me with his eyes and slipped to me the
+words: "Notice his face."
+
+When the man went out, my host sat attentively listening until the
+sounds of the man's steps ceased.
+
+"He is Sepailoff's executioner who hangs and strangles the unfortunate
+condemned ones."
+
+Then, to my amazement, he began to pour out the soup on the ground
+beside the brazier and, going out of the yurta, threw the pie over the
+fence.
+
+"It is Sepailoff's feast and, though it may be very tasty, it may
+also be poison. In Sepailoff's house it is dangerous to eat or drink
+anything."
+
+Distinctly oppressed by these doings, I returned to my house. My host
+was not yet asleep and met me with a frightened look. My friends were
+also there.
+
+"God be thanked!" they all exclaimed. "Has nothing happened to you?"
+
+"What is the matter?" I asked.
+
+"You see," began the host, "after your departure a soldier came from
+Sepailoff and took your luggage, saying that you had sent him for
+it; but we knew what it meant--that they would first search it and
+afterwards. . . ."
+
+I at once understood the danger. Sepailoff could place anything he
+wanted in my luggage and afterwards accuse me. My old friend, the
+agronome, and I started at once for Sepailoff's, where I left him at the
+door while I went in and was met by the same soldier who had brought the
+supper to us. Sepailoff received me immediately. In answer to my protest
+he said that it was a mistake and, asking me to wait for a moment, went
+out. I waited five, ten, fifteen minutes but nobody came. I knocked on
+the door but no one answered me. 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 that also locked. I had been trapped! I wanted at once to
+whistle to my friend but just then noticed a telephone on the wall
+and called up Baron Ungern. In a few minutes he appeared together with
+Sepailoff.
+
+"What is this?" he asked Sepailoff in a severe, threatening voice; and,
+without waiting for an answer, struck him a blow with his tashur that
+sent him to the floor.
+
+We went out and the General ordered my luggage produced. Then he brought
+me to his own yurta.
+
+"Live here, now," he said. "I am very glad of this accident," he
+remarked 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 wrote
+therein: "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 mortal enemy
+in Colonel Sepailoff and that I should get out of Urga at the earliest
+possible moment. It was two o'clock at night. Suddenly Baron Ungern
+stood up.
+
+"Let us go to the great, good Buddha," he said with a countenance held
+in deep thought and with eyes aflame, his whole face contracted by a
+mournful, bitter smile. He ordered the car brought.
+
+Thus lived this camp of martyrs, refugees pursued by events to their
+tryst with Death, driven on by the hate and contempt of this offspring
+of Teutons and privateers! And he, martyring them, knew neither day nor
+night of peace. Fired by impelling, poisonous thoughts, he tormented
+himself with the pains of a Titan, knowing that every day in this
+shortening chain of one hundred thirty links brought him nearer to the
+precipice called "Death."
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+BEFORE THE FACE OF BUDDHA
+
+
+As we came to the monastery we left the automobile and dipped into the
+labyrinth of narrow alleyways until at last we were before the greatest
+temple of Urga with the Tibetan walls and windows and its pretentious
+Chinese roof. A single lantern burned at the entrance. The heavy gate
+with the bronze and iron trimmings was shut. When the General struck the
+big brass gong hanging by the gate, frightened monks began running up
+from all directions and, seeing the "General Baron," fell to the earth
+in fear of raising their heads.
+
+"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 of holy saints;
+the big bands of silk cloth hanging from the ceiling; the images of the
+gods and goddesses. On both sides of the approach to the altar were the
+low red benches for the Lamas and choir. On the altar small lamps threw
+their rays on the gold and silver vessels and candlesticks. Behind it
+hung a heavy yellow silk curtain with Tibetan inscriptions. The Lamas
+drew the curtain aside. Out of the dim light from the flickering lamps
+gradually appeared the great gilded statue of Buddha seated in the
+Golden Lotus. The face of the god was indifferent and calm with only a
+soft gleam of light animating it. On either side he was guarded by many
+thousands of lesser Buddhas brought by the faithful as offerings in
+prayer. The Baron struck the gong to attract Great Buddha's attention to
+his prayer and threw a handful of coins into the large bronze bowl. And
+then this scion of crusaders who had read all the philosophers of the
+West, closed his eyes, placed his hands together before his face and
+prayed. I noticed a black rosary on his left wrist. He prayed about ten
+minutes. Afterwards he led me to the other end of the monastery and,
+during our passage, said to me:
+
+"I do not like this temple. It is new, erected by the Lamas when the
+Living Buddha became blind. I do not find on the face of the golden
+Buddha either tears, hopes, distress or thanks of the people. They have
+not yet had time to leave these traces on the face of the god. We shall
+go now to the old Shrine of Prophecies."
+
+This was a small building, blackened with age and resembling a tower
+with a plain round roof. The doors stood open. At both sides of the door
+were prayer wheels ready to be spun; over it a slab of copper with the
+signs of the zodiac. Inside two monks, who were intoning the sacred
+sutras, did not lift their eyes as we entered. 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 rolled them
+out on their low table. The Baron looked and reckoned with them the sum
+before he spoke:
+
+"One hundred thirty! Again one hundred thirty!"
+
+Approaching the altar carrying an ancient stone statue of Buddha brought
+all the way from India, he again prayed. As day dawned, we wandered out
+through the monastery, visited all the temples and shrines, the museum
+of the medical school, the astrological tower and then the court where
+the Bandi and young Lamas have their daily morning wrestling exercises.
+In other places the Lamas were practising with the bow and arrow. Some
+of the higher Lamas feasted us with hot mutton, tea and wild onions.
+After we returned to the yurta I tried to sleep but in vain. Too many
+different questions were troubling me. "Where am I? In what epoch am
+I living?" I knew not but I dimly felt the unseen touch of some great
+idea, some enormous plan, some indescribable human woe.
+
+After our noon meal the General said he wanted to introduce me to the
+Living Buddha. It is so difficult to secure audience with the Living
+Buddha that I was very glad to have this opportunity offered me.
+Our auto soon drew up at the gate of the red and white striped wall
+surrounding the palace of the god. Two hundred Lamas in yellow and red
+robes rushed to greet the arriving "Chiang Chun," General, with the
+low-toned, respectful whisper "Khan! God of War!" As a regiment of
+formal ushers they led us to a spacious great hall softened by its
+semi-darkness. Heavy carved doors opened to the interior parts of the
+palace. In the depths of the hall stood a dais with the throne covered
+with yellow silk cushions. The back of the throne was red inside a
+gold framing; at either side stood yellow silk screens set in highly
+ornamented frames of black Chinese wood; while against the walls at
+either side of the throne stood glass cases filled with varied objects
+from China, Japan, India and Russia. I noticed also among them a pair of
+exquisite Marquis and Marquises in the fine porcelain of Sevres. Before
+the throne stood a long, low table at which eight noble Mongols were
+seated, their chairman, a highly esteemed old man with a clever,
+energetic face and with large penetrating eyes. His appearance reminded
+me of the authentic wooden images of the Buddhist holymen with eyes
+of precious stones which I saw at the Tokyo Imperial Museum in the
+department devoted to Buddhism, where the 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 Mongolian Council of
+Ministers, and honored and revered far beyond the bournes of Mongolia.
+The others were the Ministers--Khans and the Highest Princes of Khalkha.
+Jahantsi Hutuktu invited Baron Ungern to the place at his side, while
+they brought in a European chair for me. Baron Ungern announced to the
+Council of Ministers through an interpreter that he would leave Mongolia
+in a few days and urged them to protect the freedom won for the lands
+inhabited by the successors of Jenghiz Khan, whose soul still lives
+and calls upon the Mongols to become anew a powerful people and reunite
+again into one great Mid-Asiatic State all the Asian kingdoms he had
+ruled.
+
+The General rose and all the others followed him. He took leave of each
+one separately and sternly. Only before Jahantsi Lama he bent low while
+the Hutuktu placed his hands on the Baron's head and blessed him. From
+the Council Chamber we passed at once to the Russian style house which
+is the personal dwelling of the Living Buddha. The house was wholly
+surrounded by a crowd of red and yellow Lamas; servants, councilors of
+Bogdo, officials, fortune tellers, doctors and favorites. From the front
+entrance stretched a long red rope whose outer end was thrown over the
+wall beside the gate. Crowds of pilgrims crawling up on their knees
+touch this end of the rope outside the gate and hand the monk a silken
+hatyk or a bit of silver. This touching of the rope whose inner end is
+in the hand of the Bogdo establishes direct communication with the holy,
+incarnated Living God. A current of blessing is supposed to flow through
+this cable of camel's wool and horse hair. Any Mongol who has touched
+the mystic rope receives and wears about his neck a red band as the sign
+of his accomplished pilgrimage.
+
+I had heard very much about the Bogdo Khan before this opportunity
+to see him. I had heard of his love of alcohol, which had brought on
+blindness, about his leaning toward exterior western culture and about
+his wife drinking deep with him and receiving in his name numerous
+delegations and envoys.
+
+In the room which the Bogdo used as his private study, where two Lama
+secretaries watched day and night over the chest that contained his
+great seals, there was the severest simplicity. On a low, plain, Chinese
+lacquered table lay his writing implements, a case of seals given by
+the Chinese Government and by the Dalai Lama and wrapped in a cloth of
+yellow silk. Nearby was a low easy chair, a bronze brazier with an
+iron stovepipe leading up from it; on the walls were the signs of the
+swastika, Tibetan and Mongolian inscriptions; behind the easy chair a
+small altar with a golden statue of Buddha before which two tallow lamps
+were burning; the floor was covered with a thick yellow carpet.
+
+When we entered, only the two Lama secretaries were there, for the
+Living Buddha was in the small private shrine in an adjoining chamber,
+where no one is allowed to enter save the Bogdo Khan himself and one
+Lama, Kanpo-Gelong, who cares for the temple arrangements and assists
+the Living Buddha during his prayers of solitude. The secretary told
+us that the Bogdo had been greatly excited this morning. At noon he had
+entered his shrine. For a long time the voice of the head of the Yellow
+Faith was heard in earnest prayer and after his another unknown voice
+came clearly forth. In the shrine had taken place a conversation between
+the Buddha on earth and the Buddha of heaven--thus the Lamas phrased it
+to us.
+
+"Let us wait a little," the Baron proposed. "Perhaps he will soon come
+out."
+
+As we waited the General began telling me about Jahantsi Lama, saying
+that, when Jahantsi is calm, he is an ordinary man but, when he is
+disturbed and thinks very deeply, a nimbus appears about his head.
+
+After half an hour the Lama secretaries suddenly showed signs of deep
+fear and began listening closely by the entrance to the shrine. Shortly
+they fell on their faces on the ground. The door slowly opened and there
+entered the Emperor of Mongolia, the Living Buddha, His Holiness Bogdo
+Djebtsung Damba Hutuktu, Khan of Outer Mongolia. He was a stout old man
+with a heavy shaven face resembling those of the Cardinals of Rome. He
+was dressed in the yellow silken Mongolian coat with a black binding.
+The eyes of the blind man stood widely open. Fear and amazement were
+pictured in them. He lowered himself heavily into the easy chair and
+whispered: "Write!"
+
+A secretary immediately took paper and a Chinese pen as the Bogdo began
+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 wise Buddha,
+surrounded by the good and evil spirits. Wise Lamas, Hutuktus, Kanpos,
+Marambas and Holy Gheghens, give the answer to my vision!"
+
+As he finished, he wiped the perspiration from his head and asked who
+were present.
+
+"Khan Chiang Chin Baron Ungern and a stranger," one of the secretaries
+answered on his knees.
+
+The General presented me to the Bogdo, who bowed his head as a sign of
+greeting. They began speaking together in low tones. Through the open
+door I saw a part of the shrine. I made out a big table with a heap of
+books on it, some open and others lying on the floor below; a brazier
+with the red charcoal in it; a basket containing the shoulder blades and
+entrails of sheep for telling fortunes. Soon the Baron rose and bowed
+before the Bogdo. The Tibetan placed his hands on the Baron's head and
+whispered a prayer. Then he took from his own neck a heavy ikon and hung
+it around that of the Baron.
+
+"You will not die but you will be incarnated in the highest form of
+being. Remember that, Incarnated God of War, Khan of grateful Mongolia!"
+I understood that the Living Buddha blessed the "Bloody General" before
+death.
+
+
+During the next two days I had the opportunity to visit the Living
+Buddha three times together with a friend of the Bogdo, the Buriat
+Prince Djam Bolon. I shall describe these visits in Part IV.
+
+Baron Ungern organized the trip for me and my party to the shore of the
+Pacific. We were to go on camels to northern Manchuria, because there
+it was easy to avoid cavilling with the Chinese authorities so badly
+oriented in the international relationship with Poland. Having sent a
+letter from Uliassutai to the French Legation at Peking and bearing with
+me a letter from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, expressing thanks
+for the saving of Uliassutai from a pogrom, I intended to make for the
+nearest station on the Chinese Eastern Railway and from there proceed to
+Peking. The Danish merchant E. V. Olufsen was to have traveled out with
+me and also a learned Lama Turgut, who was headed for China.
+
+Never shall I forget the night of May 19th to 20th of 1921! After dinner
+Baron Ungern proposed that we go to the yurta of Djam Bolon, whose
+acquaintance I had made on the first day after my arrival in Urga.
+His yurta was placed on a raised wooden platform in a compound located
+behind the Russian settlement. Two Buriat officers met us and took us
+in. Djam Bolon was a man of middle age, tall and thin with an unusually
+long face. Before the Great War he had been a simple shepherd but had
+fought together with Baron Ungern on the German front and afterwards
+against the Bolsheviki. He was a Grand Duke of the Buriats, the
+successor of former Buriat kings who had been dethroned by the Russian
+Government after their attempt to establish the Independence of the
+Buriat 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. "You promised
+me . . ."
+
+"I remember," answered the Buriat, "all is ready."
+
+For a long time I listened to their reminiscences about former battles
+and friends who had been lost. The clock pointed to midnight when Djam
+Bolon got up and went out of the yurta.
+
+"I want to have my fortune told once more," said Baron Ungern, as though
+he were justifying himself. "For the good of our cause it is too early
+for me to die. . . ."
+
+Djam Bolon came back with a little woman of middle years, who squatted
+down eastern style before the brazier, bowed low and began to stare at
+Baron Ungern. Her face was whiter, narrower and thinner than that of a
+Mongol woman. Her eyes were black and sharp. Her dress resembled that of
+a gypsy woman. Afterwards I learned that she was a famous fortune teller
+and prophet among the Buriats, the daughter of a gypsy woman and a
+Buriat. She drew a small bag very slowly from her girdle, took from it
+some small bird bones and a handful of dry grass. She began whispering
+at intervals unintelligible words, as she threw occasional handfuls of
+the grass into the fire, which gradually filled the tent with a soft
+fragrance. I felt a distinct palpitation of my heart and a swimming in
+my head. After the fortune teller had burned all her grass, she placed
+the bird bones on the charcoal and turned them over again and again with
+a small pair of bronze pincers. As the bones blackened, she began to
+examine them and then suddenly her face took on an expression of fear
+and pain. She nervously tore off the kerchief which bound her head and,
+contracted with convulsions, 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. . . . Beyond darkness.
+. . . Nothing . . . I see nothing. . . . The God of War has
+disappeared. . . ."
+
+Baron Ungern dropped his head. The woman fell over on her back with her
+arms stretched out. She had fainted, but it seemed to me that I noticed
+once a bright pupil of one of her eyes showing from under the closed
+lashes. Two Buriats carried out the lifeless form, after which a long
+silence reigned in the yurta of the Buriat Prince. Baron Ungern finally
+got up and began to walk around the brazier, whispering to himself.
+Afterwards he stopped and began speaking rapidly:
+
+"I shall die! I shall die! . . . but no matter, no matter. . . . The
+cause has been launched and will not die. . . . I know the roads this
+cause will travel. The tribes of Jenghiz Khan's successors are awakened.
+Nobody shall extinguish the fire in the heart of the Mongols! In Asia
+there will be a great State from the Pacific and Indian Oceans to the
+shore of the Volga. The wise religion of Buddha shall run to the north
+and the west. It will be the victory of the spirit. A conqueror and
+leader will appear stronger and more stalwart than Jenghiz Khan and
+Ugadai. He will be more clever and more merciful than Sultan Baber
+and he will keep power in his hands until the happy day when, from his
+subterranean capital, shall emerge the King of the World. Why, why shall
+I not be in the first ranks of the warriors of Buddhism? Why has Karma
+decided so? But so it must be! And Russia must first wash herself from
+the insult of revolution, purifying herself with blood and death; and
+all people accepting Communism must perish with their families in order
+that all their offspring may be rooted out!"
+
+The Baron raised his hand above his head and shook it, as though he were
+giving his orders and bequests to some invisible person.
+
+Day was dawning.
+
+"My time has come!" said the General. "In a little while I shall leave
+Urga."
+
+He quickly and firmly shook hands with us and said:
+
+"Good-bye for all time! I shall die a horrible death but the world has
+never seen such a terror and such a sea of blood as it shall now
+see. . . ."
+
+The door of the yurta slammed shut and he was gone. I never saw him
+again.
+
+"I must go also, for I am likewise leaving Urga today."
+
+"I know it," answered the Prince, "the Baron has left you with me for
+some purpose. I will give you a fourth companion, the Mongol Minister of
+War. You will accompany him to your yurta. It is necessary for you. . .
+."
+
+Djam Bolon pronounced this last with an accent on every word. I did
+not question him about it, as I was accustomed to the mystery of this
+country of the mysteries of good and evil spirits.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+"THE MAN WITH A HEAD LIKE A SADDLE"
+
+
+After drinking tea at Djam Bolon's yurta I rode back to my quarters and
+packed my few belongings. The Lama Turgut was already there.
+
+"The Minister of War will travel with us," he whispered. "It is
+necessary."
+
+"All right," I answered, and rode off to Olufsen to summon him. But
+Olufsen unexpectedly announced that he was forced to spend some few
+days more in Urga--a fatal decision for him, for a month later he was
+reported killed by Sepailoff who remained as Commandant of the city
+after Baron Ungern's departure. The War Minister, a stout, young Mongol,
+joined our caravan. When we had gone about six 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. I felt the now familiar atmosphere of
+danger and so opened my holster and threw over the safety catch of
+my revolver. Soon the motor stopped alongside our caravan. In it sat
+Sepailoff with a smiling face 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 cross that
+pass ahead? I don't know the way and must overtake an envoy who went
+there."
+
+The Minister of War answered that we would be in Khazahuduk that evening
+and gave Sepailoff directions as to the road. The motor rushed away and,
+when it had topped the pass, he ordered one of the Mongols to gallop
+forward to see whether it had not stopped somewhere near the other side.
+The Mongol whipped his steed and sped away. We followed slowly.
+
+"What is the matter?" I asked. "Please explain!"
+
+The Minister told me that Djam Bolon yesterday received information
+that 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 this column for my
+safety. The returning Mongol reported that the motor car had gone on out
+of sight.
+
+"Now," said the Minister, "we shall take quite another route so that the
+Colonel will wait in vain for us at Khazahuduk."
+
+We turned north at Undur Dobo and at night were in the camp of a local
+prince. Here we took leave of our Minister, received splendid fresh
+horses and quickly continued our trip to the east, leaving behind us
+"the man with the head like a saddle" against whom I had been warned by
+the old fortune teller in the vicinity of Van Kure.
+
+After twelve days without further adventures we reached the first
+railway station on the Chinese Eastern Railway, from where I traveled in
+unbelievable luxury to Peking.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Surrounded by the comforts and conveniences of the splendid hotel
+at Peking, while shedding all the attributes of traveler, hunter and
+warrior, I could not, however, throw off the spell of those nine days
+spent in Urga, where I had daily met Baron Ungern, "Incarnated God of
+War." The newspapers carrying accounts of the bloody march of the Baron
+through Transbaikalia brought the pictures ever fresh to my mind. Even
+now, although more than seven months have elapsed, I cannot forget those
+nights of madness, inspiration and hate.
+
+The predictions are fulfilled. Approximately one hundred thirty days
+afterwards Baron Ungern was captured by the Bolsheviki through the
+treachery of his officers and, it is reported, was executed at the end
+of September.
+
+Baron R. F. Ungern von Sternberg. . . . Like a bloody storm of avenging
+Karma he spread over Central Asia. What did he leave behind him? The
+severe order to his soldiers closing with the words of the Revelations
+of St. John:
+
+"Let no one check the revenge against the corrupter and slayer of the
+soul of the Russian people. Revolution must be eradicated from the
+World. Against it the Revelations of St. John have warned us thus: 'And
+the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and
+precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of
+abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication, and upon her
+forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
+THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 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, of world
+tragedy.
+
+But there remained another and more important trace. In the Mongol
+yurtas and at the fires of Buriat, Mongol, Djungar, Kirkhiz, Kalmuck and
+Tibetan shepherds still speak the legend born of this son of crusaders
+and privateers:
+
+"From the north a white warrior came and called on the Mongols to break
+their chains of slavery, which fell upon our freed soil. This white
+warrior was the Incarnated Jenghiz Khan and he predicted the coming of
+the greatest of all Mongols who will spread the fair faith of Buddha and
+the glory and power of the offspring of Jenghiz, 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 as disciples of
+the wise creators, Ugadai and Sultan Baber, rather than under the spell
+of the "bad demons" of the destructive Tamerlane.
+
+
+
+
+Part IV
+
+THE LIVING BUDDHA
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+IN THE BLISSFUL GARDEN OF A THOUSAND JOYS
+
+
+In Mongolia, the country of miracles and mysteries, lives the custodian
+of all the mysterious and unknown, the Living Buddha, His Holiness
+Djebtsung Damba Hutuktu Khan or Bogdo Gheghen, Pontiff of Ta Kure. He
+is the incarnation of the never-dying Buddha, the representative of the
+unbroken, mysteriously continued line of spiritual emperors ruling
+since 1670, concealing in themselves the ever refining spirit of Buddha
+Amitabha joined with Chan-ra-zi or the "Compassionate Spirit of the
+Mountains." In him is everything, even the Sun Myth and the fascination
+of the mysterious peaks of the Himalayas, tales of the Indian pagoda,
+the stern majesty of the Mongolian Conquerors--Emperors of All Asia--and
+the ancient, hazy legends of the Chinese sages; immersion in the
+thoughts of the Brahmans; the severities of life of the monks of the
+"Virtuous Order"; the vengeance of the eternally wandering warriors, the
+Olets, with their Khans, Batur Hun Taigi and Gushi; the proud bequests
+of Jenghiz and Kublai Khan; the clerical reactionary psychology of the
+Lamas; the mystery of Tibetan kings beginning from Srong-Tsang Gampo;
+and the mercilessness of the Yellow Sect of Paspa. All the hazy history
+of Asia, of Mongolia, Pamir, Himalayas, Mesopotamia, Persia and China,
+surrounds the Living God of Urga. It is little wonder that his name
+is honored along the Volga, in Siberia, Arabia, between the Tigris and
+Euphrates, in Indo-China and on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
+
+During my stay in Urga I visited the abode of the Living Buddha several
+times, spoke with him and observed his life. His favorite learned
+Marambas gave me long accounts of him. I saw him reading horoscopes, I
+heard his predictions, I looked over his archives of ancient books and
+the manuscripts containing the lives and predictions of all the Bogdo
+Khans. The Lamas were very frank and open with me, because the letter of
+the Hutuktu of Narabanchi won for me their confidence.
+
+The personality of the Living Buddha is double, just as everything in
+Lamaism is double. Clever, penetrating, energetic, he at the same time
+indulges in the drunkenness which has brought on blindness. When he
+became blind, the Lamas were thrown into a state of desperation. Some of
+them maintained that Bogdo Khan must be poisoned and another Incarnate
+Buddha set in his place; while the others pointed out the great merits
+of the Pontiff in the eyes of Mongolians and the followers of the Yellow
+Faith. They finally decided to propitiate the gods by building a great
+temple with a gigantic statue of Buddha. However, this did not help
+the Bogdo's sight but the whole incident gave him the opportunity of
+hurrying on to their higher life those among the Lamas who had shown too
+much radicalism in their proposed method of solving his problem.
+
+He never ceases to ponder upon the cause of the church and of Mongolia
+and at the same time likes to indulge himself with useless trifles. He
+amuses himself with artillery. A retired Russian officer presented him
+with two old guns, for which the donor received the title of Tumbaiir
+Hun, that is, "Prince Dear-to-my-Heart." On holidays these cannon were
+fired to the great amusement of the blind man. Motorcars, gramophones,
+telephones, crystals, porcelains, pictures, perfumes, musical
+instruments, rare animals and birds; elephants, Himalayan bears,
+monkeys, Indian snakes and parrots--all these were in the palace of "the
+god" but all were soon cast aside and forgotten.
+
+To Urga come pilgrims and presents from all the Lamaite and Buddhist
+world. Once the treasurer of the palace, the Honorable Balma Dorji,
+took me into the great hall where the presents were kept. It was a most
+unique museum of precious articles. Here were gathered 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 sables from
+Kemchick; these the miraculous deer horns; this a box sent by the
+Orochons and filled with precious ginseng roots and fragrant musk; this
+a bit of amber from the coast of the 'frozen sea' and it weighs 124 lans
+(about ten pounds); these are precious stones from India, fragrant zebet
+and carved ivory from China."
+
+He showed the exhibits and talked of them for a long time and evidently
+enjoyed the telling. And really it was wonderful! Before my eyes lay the
+bundles of rare furs; white beaver, black sables, white, blue and black
+fox and black panthers; small beautifully carved tortoise shell boxes
+containing hatyks ten or fifteen yards long, woven from Indian silk as
+fine as the webs of the spider; small bags made of golden thread
+filled with pearls, the presents of Indian Rajahs; precious rings with
+sapphires and rubies 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 tusks carved in
+bas-relief by the primitive artists on the shores of the Behring Sea;
+and much more that one cannot recall or recount. In a separate room
+stood the cases with the statues of Buddha, made of gold, silver,
+bronze, ivory, coral, mother of pearl and from a rare colored and
+fragrant species of wood.
+
+"You know when conquerors come into a country where the gods are
+honored, they break the images and throw them down. So it was more than
+three hundred years ago when the Kalmucks went into Tibet and the same
+was repeated in Peking when the European troops looted the place in
+1900. But do you know why this is done? Take one of the statues and
+examine it."
+
+I picked up one nearest the edge, a wooden Buddha, and began examining
+it. Inside something was loose and rattled.
+
+"Do you hear it?" the Lama asked. "These are precious stones and bits of
+gold, the entrails of the god. This is the reason why the conquerors at
+once break up the statues of the gods. Many famous precious stones have
+appeared from the interior of the statues of the gods in India, Babylon
+and China."
+
+Some rooms were devoted to the library, where manuscripts and volumes
+of different epochs in different languages and with many diverse themes
+fill the shelves. Some of them are mouldering or pulverizing away and
+the Lamas cover these now with a solution which partially solidifies
+like a jelly to protect what remains from the ravages of the air. There
+also we saw tablets of clay with the cuneiform inscriptions, evidently
+from Babylonia; Chinese, Indian and Tibetan books shelved beside those
+of Mongolia; tomes of the ancient pure Buddhism; books of the "Red Caps"
+or corrupt Buddhism; books of the "Yellow" or Lamaite Buddhism; books
+of traditions, legends and parables. Groups of Lamas were perusing,
+studying and copying these books, preserving and spreading the ancient
+wisdom for their successors.
+
+One department is devoted to the mysterious books on magic, the
+historical 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 Nor in Inner
+Mongolia and of the Hundred Chinese Wise Men. Only the Bogdo Hutuktu and
+Maramba Ta-Rimpo-Cha can enter this room of mysterious lore. The keys to
+it rest with the seals of the Living Buddha and the ruby ring of Jenghiz
+Khan ornamented with the sign of 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 the five highest Princes.
+
+Of all the Lamas there are three classes of peculiar interest, about
+which the Living Buddha himself told me when I visited him with Djam
+Bolon.
+
+"The God" sorrowfully mourned over the demoralized and sumptuous life
+led by the Lamas which decreased rapidly the number of fortune tellers
+and clairvoyants among their ranks, saying of it:
+
+"If the Jahantsi and Narabanchi monasteries had not preserved their
+strict regime and rules, Ta Kure would have been left without prophets
+and fortune tellers. Barun Abaga Nar, Dorchiul-Jurdok and the other holy
+Lamas who had the power of seeing that which is hidden from the sight of
+the common people have gone with the blessing of the gods."
+
+This class of Lamas is a very important one, because every important
+personage visiting the monasteries at Urga is shown to the Lama Tzuren
+or fortune teller without the knowledge of the visitor for the study of
+his destiny and fate, which are then communicated to the Bogdo Hutuktu,
+so that with these facts in his possession the Bogdo knows in what way
+to treat his guest and what policy to follow toward him. The Tzurens are
+mostly old men, skinny, exhausted and severe ascetics. But I have met
+some who were young, almost boys. They were the Hubilgan, "incarnate
+gods," the future Hutuktus and Gheghens of the various Mongolian
+monasteries.
+
+The second class is the doctors or "Ta Lama." They observe the actions
+of plants and certain products from animals upon people, preserve
+Tibetan medicines and cures, and study anatomy very carefully but
+without making use of vivisection and the scalpel. They are skilful
+bone setters, masseurs and great connoisseurs of hypnotism and animal
+magnetism.
+
+The third class is the highest rank of doctors, consisting chiefly of
+Tibetans and Kalmucks--poisoners. They may be said to be "doctors of
+political medicine." They live by themselves, apart from any associates,
+and are the great silent weapon in the hands of the Living Buddha. I
+was informed that a large portion of them are dumb. I saw one such
+doctor,--the very person who poisoned the Chinese physician sent by the
+Chinese Emperor from Peking to "liquidate" the Living Buddha,--a small
+white old fellow with a deeply wrinkled face, a curl of white hairs on
+his chin and with vivacious eyes that were ever shifting inquiringly
+about him. Whenever he comes to a monastery, the local "god" ceases to
+eat and drink in fear of the activities of this Mongolian Locusta. But
+even this cannot save the condemned, for a poisoned cap or shirt or
+boots, or a rosary, a bridle, books or religious articles soaked in a
+poisonous solution will surely accomplish the object of the Bogdo-Khan.
+
+The deepest esteem and religious faithfulness surround the blind
+Pontiff. Before him all fall on their faces. Khans and Hutuktus approach
+him on their knees. Everything about him is dark, full of Oriental
+antiquity. The drunken blind man, listening to the banal arias of the
+gramophone or shaking his servants with an electric current from his
+dynamo, the ferocious old fellow poisoning his political enemies,
+the Lama keeping his people in darkness and deceiving 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 Bolon translated
+to him my story of the Great War. The old fellow was listening very
+carefully but suddenly opened his eyes widely and began to give
+attention to some sounds coming in from outside the room. His face
+became reverent, supplicant and frightened.
+
+"The Gods call me," he whispered and slowly moved into his private
+shrine, where he prayed loudly about two hours, kneeling immobile as a
+statue. His prayer consists of conversation with the invisible gods, to
+whose questions he himself gave the answers. He came out of the shrine
+pale and exhausted but pleased and happy. It was his personal prayer.
+During the regular temple service he did not participate in the prayers,
+for then he is "God." Sitting on his throne, he is carried and placed
+on the altar and there prayed to by the Lamas and the people. He only
+receives the prayers, hopes, tears, woe and desperation of the people,
+immobilely gazing into space with his sharp and bright but blind
+eyes. At various times in the service the Lamas robe him in different
+vestments, combinations of yellow and red, and change his caps. The
+service always finishes at the solemn moment when the Living Buddha
+with the tiara on his head pronounces the pontifical blessing upon
+the congregation, turning his face to all four cardinal points of the
+compass and finally stretching out his hands toward the northwest, that
+is, to Europe, whither in the belief of the Yellow Faith must travel the
+teachings of the wise Buddha.
+
+After earnest prayers or long temple services the Pontiff seems very
+deeply shaken and often calls his secretaries and dictates his visions
+and prophecies, always very complicated and unaccompanied by his
+deductions.
+
+Sometimes with the words "Their souls are communicating," he puts on his
+white robes and goes to pray in his shrine. Then all the gates of the
+palace are shut and all the Lamas are sunk in solemn, mystic fear; all
+are praying, telling their rosaries and whispering the orison: "Om!
+Mani padme Hung!" or turning the prayer wheels with their prayers or
+exorcisings; the fortune tellers read their horoscopes; the clairvoyants
+write out their visions; while Marambas search the ancient books for
+explanations of the words of the Living Buddha.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+THE DUST OF CENTURIES
+
+
+Have you ever seen the dusty cobwebs and the mould in the cellars of
+some ancient castle in Italy, France or England? This is the dust of
+centuries. Perhaps it touched the faces, helmets and swords of a Roman
+Augustus, St. Louis, the Inquisitor, Galileo or King Richard. Your heart
+is involuntarily contracted and you feel a respect for these witnesses
+of elapsed ages. This same impression came to me in Ta Kure, perhaps
+more deep, more realistic. Here life flows on almost as it flowed eight
+centuries ago; here man lives only in the past; and the contemporary
+only complicates and prevents the normal life.
+
+"Today is a great day," the Living Buddha once said to me, "the day of
+the victory of Buddhism over all other religions. It was a long time
+ago--on this day Kublai Khan called to him the Lamas of all religions
+and ordered them to state to him how and what they believed. They
+praised their Gods and their Hutuktus. Discussions and quarrels began.
+Only one Lama remained silent. At last he mockingly smiled and said:
+
+"'Great Emperor! Order each to prove the power of his Gods by the
+performance of a miracle and afterwards judge and choose.'
+
+"Kublai Khan so ordered all the Lamas to show him a miracle but all were
+silent, confused and powerless before him.
+
+"'Now,' said the Emperor, addressing the Lama who had tendered this
+suggestion, 'now you must prove the power of your Gods!'
+
+"The Lama looked long and silently at the Emperor, turned and gazed at
+the whole assembly and then quietly stretched out his hand toward them.
+At this instant the golden goblet of the Emperor raised itself from
+the table and tipped before the lips of the Khan without a visible hand
+supporting it. The Emperor felt the delight of a fragrant wine. All were
+struck with astonishment and the Emperor spoke:
+
+"'I elect to pray to your Gods and to them all people subject to me must
+pray. What is your faith? Who are you and from where do you come?'
+
+"'My faith is the teaching of the wise Buddha. I am Pandita Lama, Turjo
+Gamba, from the distant and glorious monastery of Sakkia in Tibet, where
+dwells incarnate in a human body the Spirit of Buddha, his Wisdom and
+his Power. Remember, Emperor, that the peoples who hold our faith shall
+possess all the Western Universe and during eight hundred and eleven
+years shall spread their faith throughout the whole world.'
+
+"Thus it happened on this same day many centuries ago! Lama Turjo Gamba
+did not return to Tibet but lived here in Ta Kure, where there was then
+only a small temple. From here he traveled to the Emperor at Karakorum
+and afterwards with him to the capital of China to fortify him in
+the Faith, to predict the fate of state affairs and to enlighten him
+according to the will of God."
+
+The Living Buddha was silent for a time, whispered a prayer and then
+continued:
+
+"Urga, the ancient nest of Buddhism. . . . With Jenghiz Khan on his
+European conquest went out the Olets or Kalmucks. They remained there
+almost four hundred years, living on the plains of Russia. Then they
+returned to Mongolia because the Yellow Lamas called them to light
+against the Kings of Tibet, Lamas of the 'red caps,' who were oppressing
+the people. The Kalmucks helped the Yellow Faith but they realized that
+Lhasa was too distant from the whole world and could not spread our
+Faith throughout the earth. Consequently the Kalmuck Gushi Khan brought
+up from Tibet a holy Lama, Undur Gheghen, who had visited the 'King of
+the World.' From that day the Bogdo Gheghen has continuously lived in
+Urga, a protector of the freedom of Mongolia and of the Chinese Emperors
+of Mongolian origin. Undur Gheghen was the first Living Buddha in the
+land of the Mongols. He left to us, his successors, the ring of Jenghiz
+Khan, which was sent by Kublai Khan to Dalai Lama in return for the
+miracle shown by the Lama Turjo Gamba; also the top of the skull of
+a black, mysterious miracle worker from India, using which as a bowl,
+Strongtsan, King of Tibet, drank during the temple ceremonies one
+thousand six hundred years ago; as well as an ancient stone statue of
+Buddha brought from Delhi by the founder of the Yellow Faith, Paspa."
+
+The Bogdo clapped his hands and one of the secretaries took from a red
+kerchief a big silver key with which he unlocked the chest with the
+seals. The Living Buddha slipped his hand into the chest and drew forth
+a small box of carved ivory, from which he took out and showed to me a
+large gold ring set with a magnificent ruby carved with the sign of the
+swastika.
+
+"This ring was always worn on the right hand of the Khans Jenghiz and
+Kublai," said the Bogdo.
+
+When the secretary had closed the chest, the Bogdo ordered him to
+summon his favorite Maramba, whom he directed to read some pages from an
+ancient book lying on the table. The Lama began to read monotonously.
+
+"When Gushi Khan, the Chief of all the Olets or Kalmucks, finished the
+war with the 'Red Caps' in Tibet, he carried out with him the miraculous
+'black stone' sent to the Dalai Lama by the 'King of the World.' Gushi
+Khan wanted to create in Western Mongolia the capital of the Yellow
+Faith; but the Olets at that time were at war with the Manchu Emperors
+for the throne of China and suffered one defeat after another. The last
+Khan of the Olets, Amursana, ran away into Russia but before his escape
+sent to Urga the sacred 'black stone.' While it remained in Urga so that
+the Living Buddha could bless the people with it, disease and misfortune
+never touched the Mongolians and their cattle. About one hundred years
+ago, however, some one stole the sacred stone and since then Buddhists
+have vainly sought it throughout the whole world. With its disappearance
+the Mongol people began gradually to die."
+
+"Enough!" ordered Bogdo Gheghen. "Our neighbors hold us in contempt.
+They forget that we were their sovereigns but we preserve our holy
+traditions and we know that the day of triumph of the Mongolian tribes
+and the Yellow Faith will come. We have the Protectors of the Faith, the
+Buriats. They are the truest guardians of the bequests of Jenghiz Khan."
+
+So spoke the Living Buddha and so have spoken the ancient books!
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+THE BOOKS OF MIRACLES
+
+
+Prince Djam Bolon asked a Maramba to show us the library of the Living
+Buddha. It is a big room occupied by scores of writers who prepare the
+works dealing with the miracles of all the Living Buddhas, beginning
+with Undur Gheghen and ending with those of the Gheghens and Hutuktus of
+the different Mongol monasteries. These books 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 a valley in which many
+thousands of thousands of warriors fought one against another. . . ."
+
+"The wise and favored-of-the-gods Living Buddha burned incense in a
+brazier and prayed to the Gods to reveal the lot of the Princes. In the
+blue smoke all saw a dark prison and the pallid, tortured bodies of the
+dead Princes. . . ."
+
+A special book, already done into thousands of copies, dwelt upon the
+miracles of the present Living Buddha. Prince Djam Bolon described to me
+some of the contents of this volume.
+
+"There exists an ancient wooden Buddha with open eyes. He was brought
+here from India and Bogdo Gheghen placed him on the altar and began to
+pray. When he returned from the shrine, he ordered the 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 Mongolia will be
+free.'
+
+"The prophecy is fulfilled. At another time, on a day when the Living
+Buddha was very much excited, he ordered a basin of water brought and
+set before the altar. He called the Lamas and began to pray. Suddenly
+the altar candles and lamps lighted themselves and the water in the
+basin became iridescent."
+
+Afterwards the Prince described to me how the Bogdo Khan tells fortunes
+with fresh blood, upon whose surface appear words and pictures; with the
+entrails of sheep and goats, according to whose distribution the Bogdo
+reads the fate of the Princes and knows their thoughts; with stones and
+bones from which the Living Buddha with great accuracy reads the lot of
+all men; and by the stars, in accordance with whose positions the Bogdo
+prepares amulets against bullets and disease.
+
+"The former Bogdo Khans told fortunes only by the use of the 'black
+stone,'" said the Maramba. "On the surface of the stone appeared Tibetan
+inscriptions which the Bogdo read and thus learned the lot of whole
+nations."
+
+When the Maramba spoke of the black stone with the Tibetan legends
+appearing on it, I at once recalled that it was possible. In
+southeastern Urianhai, in Ulan Taiga, I came across a place where black
+slate was decomposing. All the pieces of this slate were covered with a
+special white lichen, which formed very complicated designs, reminding
+me of a Venetian lace pattern or whole pages of mysterious runes. When
+the slate was wet, these designs disappeared; and then, as they were
+dried, the patterns came out again.
+
+Nobody has the right or dares to ask the Living Buddha to tell his
+fortune. He predicts only when he feels the inspiration or when a
+special delegate comes to him bearing a request for it from the Dalai
+Lama or the Tashi Lama. When the Russian Czar, Alexander I, fell under
+the influence of Baroness Kzudener and of her extreme mysticism,
+he despatched a special envoy to the Living Buddha to ask about his
+destiny. The then Bogdo Khan, quite a young man, told his fortune
+according to the "black stone" and predicted that the White Czar would
+finish his life in very painful wanderings unknown to all and everywhere
+pursued. In Russia today there exists a popular belief that Alexander
+I spent the last days of his life as a wanderer throughout Russia and
+Siberia under the pseudonym of Feodor Kusmitch, helping and consoling
+prisoners, beggars and other suffering people, often pursued and
+imprisoned by the police and finally dying at Tomsk in Siberia, where
+even until now they have preserved the house where he spent his
+last days and have kept his grave sacred, a place of pilgrimages and
+miracles. The former dynasty of Romanoff was deeply interested in the
+biography of Feodor Kusmitch and this interest fixed the opinion that
+Kusmitch was really the Czar Alexander I, who had voluntarily taken upon
+himself this severe penance.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+
+THE BIRTH OF THE LIVING BUDDHA
+
+
+The Living Buddha does not die. His soul sometimes passes into that of
+a child born on the day of his death and sometimes transfers itself to
+another being during the life of the Buddha. This new mortal dwelling
+of the sacred spirit of the Buddha almost always appears in the yurta
+of some poor Tibetan or Mongol family. There is a reason of policy for
+this. If the Buddha appears in the family of a rich prince, it could
+result in the elevation of a family that would not yield obedience to
+the clergy (and such has happened in the past), while on the other
+hand any poor, unknown family that becomes the heritor of the throne
+of Jenghiz Khan acquires riches and is readily submissive to the Lamas.
+Only three or four Living Buddhas were of purely Mongolian origin; the
+remainder 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 kept constantly
+informed through letters from Urga about the health of the Living
+Buddha. When his human body becomes old and the Spirit of Buddha strives
+to extricate itself, special solemn services begin in the Tibetan
+temples together with the telling of fortunes by astrology. These rites
+indicate the specially pious Lamas who must 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 the white wolf appears near the yurta
+of a poor shepherd or a lamb with two heads is born or a meteor falls
+from the sky. Some Lamas take fish from the sacred lake Tangri Nor and
+read on the scales thereof the name of the new Bogdo Khan; others pick
+out stones whose cracks indicate to them where they must search and
+whom they must find; while others secrete themselves in narrow mountain
+ravines to listen to the voices of the spirits of the mountains,
+pronouncing the name of the new choice of the Gods. When he is found,
+all the possible information about his family is secretly collected and
+presented to the Most Learned Tashi Lama, having the name of Erdeni,
+"The Great Gem of Learning," who, according to the runes of Rama,
+verifies the selection. If he is in agreement with it, he sends a secret
+letter to the Dalai Lama, who holds a special sacrifice in the Temple of
+the 'Spirit of the Mountains' and confirms the election by putting his
+great seal on this letter of the Tashi Lama.
+
+"If the old Living Buddha be still alive, the name of his successor is
+kept a deep secret; if the Spirit of Buddha has already gone out from
+the body of Bogdo Khan, a special legation appears from Tibet with the
+new Living Buddha. The same process accompanies the election of the
+Gheghen and Hutuktus in all the Lamaite monasteries in Mongolia; but
+confirmation of the election resides with the Living Buddha and is only
+announced to Lhasa after the event."
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV
+
+A PAGE IN THE HISTORY OF THE PRESENT LIVING BUDDHA
+
+
+The present Bogdo Khan of Outer Mongolia is a Tibetan. He sprang from a
+poor family living in the neighborhood of Sakkia Kure in western Tibet.
+From earliest youth he had a stormy, quite unaesthetic nature. He was
+fired with the idea of the independence and glorification of Mongolia
+and the successors of Jenghiz Khan. This gave him at once a great
+influence among the Lamas, Princes and Khans of Mongolia and also with
+the Russian Government which always tried to attract him to their side.
+He did not fear to arraign himself against the Manchu dynasty in China
+and always had the help of Russia, Tibet, the Buriats and Kirghiz,
+furnishing him with money, weapons, warriors and diplomatic aid. The
+Chinese Emperors avoided open war with the Living God, because it might
+arouse the protests of the Chinese Buddhists. At one time they sent to
+the Bogdo Khan a skilful doctor-poisoner. The Living Buddha, however, at
+once understood the meaning of this medical attention and, knowing the
+power of Asiatic poisons, decided to make a journey through the Mongol
+monasteries and through Tibet. As his substitute he left a Hubilgan who
+made friends with the Chinese doctor and inquired from him the purposes
+and details of his arrival. Very soon the Chinese died from some unknown
+cause and the Living Buddha returned to his comfortable capital.
+
+On another occasion danger threatened the Living God. It was when Lhasa
+decided that the Bogdo Khan was carrying out a policy too independent of
+Tibet. The Dalai Lama began negotiations with several Khans and Princes
+with the Sain Noion Khan and Jassaktu Khan leading the movement and
+persuaded them to accelerate the immigration of the Spirit of Buddha
+into another human form. They came to Urga where the Bogdo Khan met
+them with honors and rejoicings. A great feast was made for them and the
+conspirators already felt themselves the accomplishers of the orders
+of the Dalai Lama. However, at the end of the feast, they had different
+feelings and died with them during the night. The Living Buddha ordered
+their bodies sent with full honors to their families.
+
+The Bogdo Khan knows every thought, every movement of the Princes and
+Khans, the slightest conspiracy against himself, and the offender is
+usually kindly invited to Urga, from where he does not return alive.
+
+The Chinese Government decided to terminate the line of the Living
+Buddhas. Ceasing to fight with the Pontiff of Urga, the Government
+contrived the following scheme for accomplishing its ends.
+
+Peking invited the Pandita Gheghen from Dolo Nor and the head of the
+Chinese Lamaites, the Hutuktu of Utai, both of whom do not recognize the
+supremacy of the Living Buddha, to come to the capital. 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 Bogdo Khans can abide only thirty-one times
+in the human body. Bogdo Khan is the thirty-first Incarnated Buddha from
+the time of Undur Gheghen and with him, therefore, the dynasty of
+the Urga Pontiffs must cease. However, on hearing this the Bogdo Khan
+himself did some research work and found in the old Tibetan manuscripts
+that one of the Tibetan Pontiffs was married and his son was a natural
+Incarnated Buddha. So the Bogdo Khan married and now has a son, a
+very capable and energetic young man, and thus the religious throne of
+Jenghiz Khan will not be left empty. The dynasty of the Chinese emperors
+disappeared from the stage of political events but the Living Buddha
+continues to be a center for the Pan-Asiatic idea.
+
+The new Chinese Government in 1920 held the Living Buddha under arrest
+in his palace but at the beginning of 1921 Baron Ungern crossed the
+sacred Bogdo-Ol and approached the palace from the rear. Tibetan riders
+shot the Chinese sentries with bow and arrow and afterwards the Mongols
+penetrated into the palace and stole their "God," who immediately
+stirred up all Mongolia and awakened the hopes of the Asiatic peoples
+and tribes.
+
+In the great palace of the Bogdo a Lama showed me a special casket
+covered with a precious carpet, wherein they keep the bulls of the Dalai
+and Tashi Lamas, the decrees of the Russian and Chinese Emperors and the
+Treaties between Mongolia, Russia, China and Tibet. In this same casket
+is the copper plate bearing the mysterious sign of the "King of the
+World" and the chronicle of the last vision of the Living Buddha.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV
+
+THE VISION OF THE LIVING BUDDHA OF MAY 17, 1921
+
+
+"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 hardly moved. From
+the north a rider appeared in white robes and mounted on a white horse.
+He approached the Lama and said to him:
+
+"'Give me your basket. I shall help you to carry them to the Kure.'
+
+"The Lama handed his heavy burden up to him but the rider could not
+raise it to his saddle so that the old Lama had to place it back on his
+shoulder and continue on his way, bent under its heavy weight. Then from
+the north came another rider in black robes and on a black horse, who
+also approached the Lama and said:
+
+"'Stupid! Why do you carry these stones when they are everywhere about
+the ground?'
+
+"With these words he pushed the Lama over with the breast of his horse
+and scattered the stones about the ground. When the stones touched the
+earth, they became diamonds. All three rushed to raise them 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 the diamonds
+into the basket without trouble, cleaned the dust from them, raised the
+burden to his shoulder and started out, speaking with the Lama:
+
+"'Rest a while, I have just carried my burden to the goal and I am glad
+to help you with yours.'
+
+"They went on and were soon out of sight, while the riders began to
+fight. They fought one whole day and then the whole night and, when the
+sun rose over the plain, neither was there, either alive or dead, and no
+trace of either remained. This I saw, Bogdo Hutuktu Khan, speaking with
+the Great and Wise Buddha, surrounded by the good and bad demons! Wise
+Lamas, Hutuktus, Kampos, Marambas and Holy Gheghens, give the answer to
+my vision!"
+
+This was written in my presence on May 17th, 1921, from the words of the
+Living Buddha just as he came out of his private shrine to his study.
+I do not know what the Hutuktu and Gheghens, the fortune tellers,
+sorcerers and clairvoyants replied to him; but does not the answer seem
+clear, if one realizes the present situation in Asia?
+
+Awakened Asia is full of enigmas but it is also full of answers to
+the questions set by the destiny of humankind. This great continent of
+mysterious Pontiffs, Living Gods, Mahatmas and readers of the terrible
+book of Karma is awakening and the ocean of hundreds of millions of
+human lives is lashed with monstrous waves.
+
+
+
+
+Part V
+
+MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES--THE KING OF THE WORLD
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI
+
+THE SUBTERRANEAN KINGDOM
+
+
+"Stop!" whispered my old Mongol guide, as we were one day crossing the
+plain near Tzagan Luk. "Stop!"
+
+He slipped from his camel which lay down without his bidding. The Mongol
+raised his hands in prayer before his face and began to repeat the
+sacred phrase: "Om! Mani padme Hung!" The other Mongols immediately
+stopped their camels and began to pray.
+
+"What has happened?" I thought, as I gazed round over the tender green
+grass, up to the cloudless sky and out toward the dreamy soft rays 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 ears in
+fear? How the herd of horses on the plain stood fixed in attention and
+how the herds of sheep and cattle lay crouched close to the ground? Did
+you notice that the birds did not fly, the marmots did not run and the
+dogs did not bark? The air trembled softly and bore from afar the music
+of a song which penetrated to the hearts of men, animals and birds
+alike. Earth and sky ceased breathing. The wind did not blow and the sun
+did not move. At such a moment the wolf that is stealing up on the sheep
+arrests his stealthy crawl; the frightened herd of antelopes suddenly
+checks its wild course; the knife of the shepherd cutting the sheep's
+throat falls from his hand; the rapacious ermine ceases to stalk the
+unsuspecting salga. All living beings in fear are involuntarily thrown
+into prayer and waiting for their fate. So it was just now. Thus it has
+always been whenever the King of the World in his subterranean palace
+prays and searches out the destiny of 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 limitless plains,
+covered with the widely strewn bones of the forefathers, gave birth
+to Mystery. Her people, frightened by the stormy passions of Nature or
+lulled by her deathlike peace, feel her mystery. Her "Red" and "Yellow
+Lamas" preserve and poetize her mystery. The Pontiffs of Lhasa and Urga
+know and possess her mystery.
+
+On my journey into Central Asia I came to know for the first time about
+"the Mystery of Mysteries," which I can call by no other name. At the
+outset I did not pay much attention to it and did not attach to it such
+importance as I afterwards realized belonged to it, when I had analyzed
+and connoted many sporadic, hazy and often controversial bits of
+evidence.
+
+The old people on the shore of the River Amyl related to me an ancient
+legend to the effect that a certain Mongolian tribe in their escape from
+the demands of Jenghiz Khan hid themselves in a subterranean country.
+Afterwards a Soyot from near the Lake of Nogan Kul showed me the smoking
+gate that serves as the entrance to the "Kingdom of Agharti." Through
+this gate a hunter formerly entered into the Kingdom and, after his
+return, began to relate what he had seen there. The Lamas cut out
+his tongue in order to prevent him from telling about the Mystery of
+Mysteries. When he arrived at old age, he came back to the entrance of
+this cave and disappeared into the subterranean kingdom, the memory of
+which had ornamented and lightened his nomad heart.
+
+I received more realistic information about this from Hutuktu Jelyb
+Djamsrap in Narabanchi Kure. He told me the story of the semi-realistic
+arrival of the powerful King of the World from the subterranean kingdom,
+of his appearance, of his miracles and of his prophecies; and only then
+did I begin to understand that in that legend, hypnosis or mass vision,
+whichever it may be, is hidden not only mystery but a realistic and
+powerful force capable of influencing the course of the political life
+of Asia. From that moment I began making some investigations.
+
+The favorite Gelong Lama of Prince Chultun Beyli and the Prince himself
+gave me an account of the subterranean kingdom.
+
+"Everything in the world," said the Gelong, "is constantly in a state of
+change and transition--peoples science, religions, laws and customs. How
+many great empires and brilliant cultures have perished! And that alone
+which remains unchanged is Evil, the tool of Bad Spirits. More than
+sixty thousand years ago a Holyman disappeared with a whole tribe of
+people under the ground and never appeared 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
+are protected against Evil and crimes do not exist within its bournes.
+Science has there developed calmly and nothing is threatened with
+destruction. The subterranean people have reached the highest knowledge.
+Now it is a large kingdom, millions of men with the King of the World
+as their ruler. He knows all the forces of the world and reads all the
+souls of humankind and the great book of their destiny. Invisibly he
+rules eight hundred million men on the surface of the earth and they
+will accomplish his every order."
+
+Prince Chultun Beyli added: "This kingdom is Agharti. It extends
+throughout all the subterranean passages of the whole world. I heard a
+learned Lama of China relating to Bogdo Khan that all the subterranean
+caves of America are inhabited by the ancient people who have
+disappeared underground. Traces of them are still found on the surface
+of the land. These subterranean peoples and spaces are 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 two greatest oceans of the
+east and the west there were formerly two continents. They disappeared
+under the water but their people went into the subterranean kingdom. In
+underground caves there exists a peculiar light which affords growth to
+the grains and vegetables and long life without disease to the people.
+There are many different peoples and many different tribes. An old
+Buddhist Brahman in Nepal was carrying out the will of the Gods in
+making a visit to the ancient kingdom of Jenghiz,--Siam,--where he met a
+fisherman who ordered him to take a place in his boat and sail with him
+upon the sea. On the third day they reached an island where he met a
+people having two tongues which could speak separately in different
+languages. They showed to him peculiar, unfamiliar animals, tortoises
+with sixteen feet and one eye, huge snakes with a very tasty flesh and
+birds with teeth which caught fish for their masters in the sea. These
+people told him that they had come up out of the subterranean kingdom
+and described to him certain parts of the underground country."
+
+The Lama Turgut traveling with me from Urga to Peking gave me further
+details.
+
+"The capital of Agharti is surrounded with towns of high priests and
+scientists. It reminds one of Lhasa where the palace of the Dalai
+Lama, the Potala, is the top of a mountain covered with monasteries and
+temples. The throne of the King of the World is surrounded by millions
+of incarnated Gods. They are the Holy Panditas. The palace itself is
+encircled by the palaces of the Goro, who possess all the visible and
+invisible forces of the earth, of inferno and of the sky and who can do
+everything for the life and death of man. If our mad humankind should
+begin a war against them, they would be able to explode the whole
+surface of our planet and transform it into deserts. They can dry up
+the seas, transform lands into oceans and scatter the mountains into the
+sands of the deserts. By his order trees, grasses and bushes can be made
+to grow; old and feeble men can become young and stalwart; and the dead
+can be resurrected. In cars strange and unknown to us they rush through
+the narrow cleavages inside our planet. Some Indian Brahmans and Tibetan
+Dalai Lamas during their laborious struggles to the peaks of mountains
+which no other human feet had trod have found there inscriptions carved
+on the rocks, footprints in the snow and the tracks of wheels. The
+blissful Sakkia Mouni found on one mountain top tablets of stone
+carrying words which he only understood in his old age and afterwards
+penetrated into the Kingdom of Agharti, from which he brought back
+crumbs of the sacred learning preserved in his memory. There in palaces
+of wonderful crystal live the invisible rulers of all pious people, the
+King of the World or Brahytma, who can speak with God as I speak with
+you, and his two assistants, Mahytma, knowing the purposes of future
+events, and Mahynga, ruling the causes of these events."
+
+"The Holy Panditas study the world and all its forces. Sometimes the
+most learned among them collect together and send envoys to that place
+where the human eyes have never penetrated. This is described by
+the Tashi Lama living eight hundred and fifty years ago. The highest
+Panditas place their hands on their eyes and at the base of the brain of
+younger ones and force them into a deep sleep, wash their bodies with an
+infusion of grass and make them immune to pain and harder than stones,
+wrap them in magic cloths, bind them and then pray to the Great God. The
+petrified youths lie with eyes and ears open and alert, seeing, hearing
+and remembering everything. Afterwards a Goro approaches and fastens a
+long, steady gaze upon them. Very slowly the bodies lift themselves from
+the earth and disappear. The Goro sits and stares with fixed eyes to the
+place whither he has sent them. Invisible threads join them to his will.
+Some of them course among the stars, observe their events, their unknown
+peoples, their life and their laws. They listen to their talk, read
+their books, understand their fortunes and woes, their holiness and
+sins, their piety and evil. Some are mingled with flame and see the
+creature of fire, quick and ferocious, eternally fighting, melting and
+hammering metals in the depths of planets, boiling the water for geysers
+and springs, melting the rocks and pushing out molten streams over the
+surface of the earth through the holes in the mountains. Others rush
+together with the ever elusive, infinitesimally small, transparent
+creatures of the air and penetrate into the mysteries of their existence
+and into the purposes of their life. Others slip into the depths of the
+seas and observe the kingdom of the wise creatures of the water, who
+transport and spread genial warmth all over the earth, ruling the winds,
+waves and storms. . . . In Erdeni Dzu formerly lived Pandita Hutuktu,
+who had come from Agharti. As he was dying, he told about the time when
+he lived according 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 in the
+depths of the earth."
+
+These are the tales which I heard in the Mongolian yurtas of Princes and
+in the Lamaite monasteries. These stories were all related in a solemn
+tone which forbade challenge and doubt.
+
+Mystery. . . .
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII
+
+THE KING OF THE WORLD BEFORE THE FACE OF GOD
+
+
+During my stay in Urga I tried to find an explanation of this legend
+about the King of the World. Of course, the Living Buddha could tell
+me most of all and so I endeavored to get the story from him. In a
+conversation with him I mentioned the name of the King of the World.
+The old Pontiff sharply turned his head toward me and fixed upon me his
+immobile, blind eyes. Unwillingly I became silent. Our silence was a
+long one and after it the Pontiff continued the conversation in such
+a way that I understood he did not wish to accept the suggestion of my
+reference. On the faces of the others present I noticed expressions of
+astonishment and fear produced by my words, and especially was this
+true of the custodian of the library of the Bogdo Khan. One can readily
+understand that all this only made me the more anxious to press the
+pursuit.
+
+As I was leaving the study of the Bogdo Hutuktu, I met the librarian
+who had stepped out ahead of me and asked him if he would show 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 at the
+hour when the King of the World spoke with God and I felt the impressive
+majesty of this moment."
+
+To my astonishment the old Lama very quietly answered me: "It is not
+right that the Buddhist and our Yellow Faith should conceal it. The
+acknowledgment of the existence of the most holy and most powerful man,
+of the blissful kingdom, of the great temple of sacred science is such
+a consolation to our sinful hearts and our corrupt lives that to
+conceal it from humankind is a sin. . . . Well, listen," he continued,
+"throughout the whole year the King of the World guides the work of the
+Panditas and Goros of Agharti. Only at times he goes to the temple cave
+where the embalmed body of his predecessor lies in a black stone coffin.
+This cave is always dark, but when the King of the World enters it
+the walls are striped with fire and from the lid of the coffin appear
+tongues of flame. The eldest Goro stands before him with covered head
+and face and with hands folded across his chest. This Goro never removes
+the covering from his face, for his head is a nude skull with living
+eyes and a tongue that speaks. He is in communion with the souls of all
+who have gone before.
+
+"The King of the World prays for a long time and afterwards approaches
+the coffin and stretches out his hand. The flames thereon burn brighter;
+the stripes of fire on the walls disappear and revive, interlace and
+form mysterious signs from the alphabet vatannan. From the coffin
+transparent bands of scarcely noticeable light begin to flow forth.
+These are the thoughts of his predecessor. Soon the King of the World
+stands surrounded by an auriole of this light and fiery letters write
+and write upon the walls the wishes and orders of God. At this moment
+the King of the World is in contact with the thoughts of all the men who
+influence the lot and life of all humankind: with Kings, Czars, Khans,
+warlike leaders, High Priests, scientists and other strong men. He
+realizes all their thoughts and plans. If these be pleasing before God,
+the King of the World will invisibly help them; if they are unpleasant
+in the sight of God, the King will bring them to destruction. This power
+is given to Agharti by the mysterious science of 'Om,' with which we
+begin all our prayers. 'Om' is the name of an ancient Holyman, the first
+Goro, who lived three hundred thirty thousand years ago. He was the
+first man to know God and who taught humankind to believe, hope and
+struggle with Evil. Then God gave him power over all forces ruling the
+visible world.
+
+"After his conversation with his predecessor the King of the World
+assembles the 'Great Council of God,' judges the actions and thoughts
+of great men, helps them or destroys them. Mahytma and Mahynga find the
+place for these actions and thoughts in the causes ruling the world.
+Afterwards the King of the World enters the great temple and prays in
+solitude. Fire appears on the altar, gradually spreading to all the
+altars near, and through the burning flame gradually appears the face of
+God. The King of the World reverently announces to God the decisions and
+awards of the 'Council of God' and receives in turn the Divine orders of
+the Almighty. As he comes forth from the temple, the King of the World
+radiates with Divine Light."
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII
+
+REALITY OR RELIGIOUS FANTASY?
+
+
+"Has anybody seen the King of the World?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, yes!" answered the Lama. "During the solemn holidays of the ancient
+Buddhism in Siam and India the King of the World appeared five times.
+He rode in a splendid car drawn by white elephants and ornamented with
+gold, precious stones and finest fabrics; he was robed in a white mantle
+and red tiara with strings of diamonds masking his face. He blessed the
+people with a golden apple with the figure of a Lamb above it. The
+blind received their sight, the dumb spoke, the deaf heard, the crippled
+freely moved and the dead arose, wherever the eyes of the King of the
+World rested. He also appeared five hundred and forty years ago in
+Erdeni Dzu, he was in the ancient Sakkai Monastery and in the Narabanchi
+Kure.
+
+"One of our Living Buddhas and one of the Tashi Lamas received a message
+from him, written with unknown signs on golden tablets. No one could
+read these signs. The Tashi Lama entered the temple, placed the golden
+tablet on his head and began to pray. With this the thoughts of the
+King of the World penetrated his brain and, without having read the
+enigmatical signs, he understood and accomplished 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 kept secret
+that which they saw there. When the Olets destroyed Lhasa, one of their
+detachments in the southwestern mountains penetrated to the outskirts
+of Agharti. Here they learned some of the lesser mysterious sciences
+and brought them to the surface of our earth. This is why the Olets
+and Kalmucks are artful sorcerers and prophets. Also from the eastern
+country some tribes of black people penetrated to Agharti and lived
+there many centuries. Afterwards they were thrust out from the kingdom
+and returned to the earth, bringing with them the mystery of predictions
+according to cards, grasses and the lines of the palm. They are the
+Gypsies. . . . Somewhere in the north of Asia a tribe exists which is
+now dying and which came from the cave of Agharti, skilled in calling
+back the spirits of the dead as they float through the air."
+
+The Lama was silent and afterwards, as though answering my thoughts,
+continued.
+
+"In Agharti the learned Panditas write on tablets of stone all the
+science of our planet and of the other worlds. The Chinese learned
+Buddhists know this. Their science is the highest and purest. Every
+century one hundred sages of China collect in a secret place on
+the shores of the sea, where from its depths come out one hundred
+eternally-living tortoises. On their shells the Chinese write all the
+developments of the divine science of the century."
+
+As I write I am involuntarily reminded of a tale of an old Chinese bonze
+in the Temple of Heaven at Peking. He told me that tortoises live more
+than three thousand years without food and air and that this is the
+reason why all the columns of the blue Temple of Heaven were set on live
+tortoises to preserve the wood from decay.
+
+"Several times the Pontiffs of Lhasa and Urga have sent envoys to the
+King of the World," said the Lama librarian, "but they could not find
+him. Only a certain Tibetan leader after a battle with the Olets found
+the cave with the inscription: 'This is the gate to Agharti.' From the
+cave a fine appearing man came forth, presented him with a gold tablet
+bearing the mysterious signs and said:
+
+"'The King of the World will appear before all people when the time
+shall have arrived for him to lead all the good people of the world
+against all the bad; but this time has not yet come. The most evil among
+mankind have not yet been born.
+
+"Chiang Chun Baron Ungern sent the young Prince Pounzig to seek out the
+King of the World but he returned with a letter from the Dalai Lama from
+Lhasa. When the Baron sent him a second time, he did not come back."
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX
+
+THE PROPHECY OF THE KING OF THE WORLD IN 1890
+
+
+The Hutuktu of Narabanchi related the following to me, when I visited
+him in his monastery in the beginning of 1921:
+
+"When the King of the World appeared before the Lamas, favored of God,
+in this monastery thirty years ago he made a prophecy for the coming
+half century. It was as follows:
+
+"'More and more the people will forget their souls and care about their
+bodies. The greatest sin and corruption will reign on the earth. People
+will become as ferocious animals, thirsting for the blood and death
+of their brothers. The 'Crescent' will grow dim and its followers will
+descend into beggary and ceaseless war. Its conquerors will be stricken
+by the sun but will not progress upward and twice they will be visited
+with the heaviest misfortune, which will end in insult before the eye of
+the other peoples. The crowns of kings, great and small, will fall . . .
+one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. . . . There will be
+a terrible battle among all the peoples. The seas will become red . . .
+the earth and the bottom of the seas will be strewn with bones . . .
+kingdoms will 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. The forgotten and pursued shall
+rise and hold the attention of the whole world. There will be fogs
+and storms. Bare mountains shall suddenly be covered with forests.
+Earthquakes will come. . . . Millions will change the fetters of slavery
+and humiliation for hunger, disease and death. The ancient roads will
+be covered with crowds wandering from one place to another. The greatest
+and most beautiful cities shall perish in fire . . . one, two, three.
+. . . Father shall rise against son, brother against brother and mother
+against daughter. . . . Vice, crime and the destruction of body and soul
+shall follow. . . . Families shall be scattered. . . . Truth and love
+shall disappear. . . . From ten thousand men one shall remain; he shall
+be nude and mad and without force and the knowledge to build him a house
+and find his food. . . . He will howl as the raging wolf, devour dead
+bodies, bite his own flesh and challenge God to fight. . . . All the
+earth will be emptied. God will turn away from it and over it there will
+be only night and death. Then I shall send a people, now unknown, which
+shall tear out the weeds of madness and vice with a strong hand and will
+lead those who still remain faithful to the spirit of man in the fight
+against Evil. They will found a new life on the earth purified by the
+death of nations. In the fiftieth year only three great kingdoms 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 subterranean caverns to the surface of
+the earth.'"
+
+* * * * *
+
+Afterwards, as I traveled farther through Eastern Mongolia and to
+Peking, 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 turn to
+this limitless Heart of Asia over which the trails of my wanderings
+twine. Through whirling snow and driving clouds of sand of the Gobi they
+travel back to the face of the Narabanchi Hutuktu as, with quiet voice
+and a slender hand pointing to the horizon, he opened 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 blue yurtas
+of the leaders. Above them I see the old banners of Jenghiz Khan, of
+the Kings of Tibet, Siam, Afghanistan and of Indian Princes; the sacred
+signs of all the Lamaite Pontiffs; the coats of arms of the Khans of the
+Olets; and the simple signs of the north Mongolian tribes. I do not hear
+the noise of the animated crowd. The singers do not sing the mournful
+songs of mountain, plain and desert. The young riders are not delighting
+themselves with the races on their fleet steeds. . . . There are
+innumerable crowds of old men, women and children and beyond in the
+north and west, as far as the eye can reach, the sky is red as a flame,
+there is the roar and crackling of fire and the ferocious sound of
+battle. Who is leading these warriors who there beneath the reddened sky
+are shedding their own and others' blood? Who is leading these crowds
+of unarmed old men and women? I see severe order, deep religious
+understanding of purposes, patience and tenacity . . . a new great
+migration 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.
+
+
+GLOSSARY
+
+
+Agronome.--Russian for trained agriculturalist.
+
+Amour sayn.--Good-bye.
+
+Ataman.--Headman or chief of the Cossacks.
+
+Bandi.--Pupil or student of theological school in the Buddhist faith.
+
+Buriat.--The most civilized Mongol tribe, living in the valley of the
+Selenga in Transbaikalia.
+
+Chahars.--A warlike Mongolian tribe living along the Great Wall of China
+in Inner Mongolia.
+
+Chaidje.--A high Lamaite priest, but not an incarnate god.
+
+Cheka.--The Bolshevik Counter-Revolutionary Committee, the most
+relentless establishment of the Bolsheviki, organized for the
+persecution of the enemies of the Communistic government in Russia.
+
+Chiang Chun.--Chinese for "General"--Chief of all Chinese troops in
+Mongolia.
+
+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 and Tibetan
+medicines.
+
+Felcher.--Assistant of a doctor (surgeon).
+
+Gelong.--Lamaite priest having the right to offer sacrifices to God.
+
+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, presented to
+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 any incarnated
+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 under Jenghiz
+Khan (where they were known as the Olets or Eleuths), and now live in
+the Urals and on the shores of the Volga in Russia.
+
+Kanpo.--The abbot of a Lamaite monastery, a monk; also the first rank of
+"white" clergy (not monks).
+
+Kanpo-Gelong.--The highest rank of Gelongs (q.v.); an honorary title.
+
+Karma.--The Buddhist materialization of the idea of Fate, a parallel
+with the Greek and Roman Nemesis (Justice).
+
+Khan.--A king.
+
+Khayrus.--A kind of trout.
+
+Khirghiz.--The great Mongol nation living between the river Irtish in
+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-eleventh of 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 Soyot country
+in Urianhai.
+
+"Om! Mani padme Hung!".--"Om" has two meanings. It is the name of the
+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 places in
+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 Amur River
+in Siberia.
+
+Oulatchen.--The guard for the post horses; official guide.
+
+Ourton.--A post station, where the travelers change horses and
+oulatchens.
+
+Pandita.--The high rank of Buddhist monks.
+
+Panti.--Deer horns in the velvet, highly prized as a Tibetan and Chinese
+medicine.
+
+Pogrom.--A wholesale slaughter of unarmed people; a massacre.
+
+Paspa.--The founder of the Yellow Sect, predominating now in the Lamaite
+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 "a doctor 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 and oulatchens 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 Mongolian
+lasso.
+
+Vatannen.--The language of the Subterranean State of the King of the
+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 in
+spring.
+
+Zikkurat.--A high tower of Babylonish style.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Beasts, Men and Gods, by Ferdinand Ossendowski
+
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