As we approached the telegraph station, we were met by a blondeyoung man who was in charge of the office, Kanine by name. Withsome little confusion he offered us a place in his house for thenight. When we entered the room, a tall, lanky man rose from thetable and indecisively walked toward us, looking very attentivelyat us the while.
Guests . . . explained Kanine. "They are going to Khathyl.
Private persons, strangers, foreigners . . .""A-h," drawled the stranger in a quiet, comprehending tone.
While we were untying our girdles and with difficulty getting outof our great Mongolian coats, the tall man was animatedlywhispering something to our host. As we approached the table tosit down and rest, I overheard him say: "We are forced to postponeit," and saw Kanine simply nod in answer.
Several other people were seated at the table, among them theassistant of Kanine, a tall blonde man with a white face, whotalked like a Gatling gun about everything imaginable. He was halfcrazy and his semi-madness expressed itself when any loud talking,shouting or sudden sharp report led him to repeat the words of theone to whom he was talking at the time or to relate in amechanical, hurried manner stories of what was happening around himjust at this particular juncture. The wife of Kanine, a pale,young, exhausted-looking woman with frightened eyes and a facedistorted by fear, was also there and near her a young girl offifteen with cropped hair and dressed like a man, as well as thetwo small sons of Kanine. We made acquaintance with all of them.
The tall stranger called himself Gorokoff, a Russian colonist fromSamgaltai, and presented the short-haired girl as his sister.
Kanine's wife looked at us with plainly discernible fear and saidnothing, evidently displeased over our being there. However, wehad no choice and consequently began drinking tea and eating ourbread and cold meat.
Kanine told us that ever since the telegraph line had beendestroyed all his family and relatives had felt very keenly thepoverty and hardship that naturally followed. The Bolsheviki didnot send him any salary from Irkutsk, so that he was compelled toshift for himself as best he could. They cut and cured hay forsale to the Russian colonists, handled private messages andmerchandise from Khathyl to Uliassutai and Samgaltai, bought andsold cattle, hunted and in this manner managed to exist. Gorokoffannounced that his commercial affairs compelled him to go toKhathyl and that he and his sister would be glad to join ourcaravan. He had a most unprepossessing, angry-looking face withcolorless eyes that always avoided those of the person with whom hewas speaking. During the conversation we asked Kanine if therewere Russian colonists near by, to which he answered with knittedbrow and a look of disgust on his face:
There is one rich old man, Bobroff, who lives a verst away fromour station; but I would not advise you to visit him. He is amiserly, inhospitable old fellow who does not like guests.During these words of her husband Madame Kanine dropped her eyesand contracted her shoulders in something resembling a shudder.
Gorokoff and his sister smoked along indifferently. I very clearlyremarked all this as well as the hostile tone of Kanine, theconfusion of his wife and the artificial indifference of Gorokoff;and I determined to see the old colonist given such a bad name byKanine. In Uliassutai I knew two Bobroffs. I said to Kanine thatI had been asked to hand a letter personally to Bobroff and, afterfinishing my tea, put on my overcoat and went out.
The house of Bobroff stood in a deep sink in the mountains,surrounded by a high fence over which the low roofs of the housescould be seen. A light shone through the window. I knocked at thegate. A furious barking of dogs answered me and through the cracksof the fence I made out four huge black Mongol dogs, showing theirteeth and growling as they rushed toward the gate. Inside thecourt someone opened the door and called out: "Who is there?"I answered that I was traveling through from Uliassutai. The dogswere first caught and chained and I was then admitted by a man wholooked me over very carefully and inquiringly from head to foot. Arevolver handle stuck out of his pocket. Satisfied with hisobservations and learning that I knew his relatives, he warmlywelcomed me to the house and presented me to his wife, a dignifiedold woman, and to his beautiful little adopted daughter, a girl offive years. She had been found on the plain beside the dead bodyof her mother exhausted in her attempt to escape from theBolsheviki in Siberia.
Bobroff told me that the Russian detachment of Kazagrandi hadsucceeded in driving the Red troops away from the Kosogol and thatwe could consequently continue our trip to Khathyl without danger.
Why did you not stop with me instead of with those brigands?asked the old fellow.
I began to question him and received some very important news. Itseemed that Kanine was a Bolshevik, the agent of the IrkutskSoviet, and stationed here for purposes of observation. However,now he was rendered harmless, because the road between him andIrkutsk was interrupted. Still from Biisk in the Altai country hadjust come a very important commissar.
Gorokoff? I asked.
That's what he calls himself, replied the old fellow; "but I amalso from Biisk and I know everyone there. His real name isPouzikoff and the short-haired girl with him is his mistress. Heis the commissar of the 'Cheka' and she is the agent of thisestablishment. Last August the two of them shot with theirrevolvers seventy bound officers from Kolchak's army. Villainous,cowardly murderers! Now they have come here for a reconnaissance.
They wanted to stay in my house but I knew them too well andrefused them place.""And you do not fear him?" I asked, remembering the different wordsand glances of these people as they sat at the table in thestation.
No, answered the old man. "I know how to defend myself and myfamily and I have a protector too--my son, such a shot, a rider anda fighter as does not exist in all Mongolia. I am very sorry thatyou will not make the acquaintance of my boy. He has gone off tothe herds and will return only tomorrow evening."We took most cordial leave of each other and I promised to stopwith him on my return.
Well, what yarns did Bobroff tell you about us? was the questionwith which Kanine and Gorokoff met me when I came back to thestation.
Nothing about you, I answered, "because he did not even want tospeak with me when he found out that I was staying in your house.
What is the trouble between you?" I asked of them, expressingcomplete astonishment on my face.
It is an old score, growled Gorokoff.
A malicious old churl, Kanine added in agreement, the while thefrightened, suffering-laden eyes of his wife again gave expressionto terrifying horror, as if she momentarily expected a deadly blow.
Gorokoff began to pack his luggage in preparation for the journeywith us the following morning. We prepared our simple beds in anadjoining room and went to sleep. I whispered to my friend to keephis revolver handy for anything that might happen but he onlysmiled as he dragged his revolver and his ax from his coat to placethem under his pillow.
This people at the outset seemed to me very suspicious, hewhispered. "They are cooking up something crooked. Tomorrow Ishall ride behind this Gorokoff and shall prepare for him a veryfaithful one of my bullets, a little dum-dum."The Mongols spent the night under their tent in the open courtbeside their camels, because they wanted to be near to feed them.
About seven o'clock we started. My friend took up his post as rearguard to our caravan, keeping all the time behind Gorokoff, whowith his sister, both armed from tip to toe, rode splendid mounts.
How have you kept your horses in such fine condition coming allthe way from Samgaltai? I inquired as I looked over their finebeasts.
When he answered that these belonged to his host, I realized thatKanine was not so poor as he made out; for any rich Mongol wouldhave given him in exchange for one of these lovely animals enoughsheep to have kept his household in mutton for a whole year.
Soon we came to a large swamp surrounded by dense brush, where Iwas much astonished by seeing literally hundreds of white kuropatkaor partridges. Out of the water rose a flock of duck with a madrush as we hove in sight. Winter, cold driving wind, snow and wildducks! The Mongol explained it to me thus:
This swamp always remains warm and never freezes. The wild duckslive here the year round and the kuropatka too, finding fresh foodin the soft warm earth.As I was speaking with the Mongol I noticed over the swamp a tongueof reddish-yellow flame. It flashed and disappeared at once butlater, on the farther edge, two further tongues ran upward. Irealized that here was the real will-o'-the-wisp surrounded by somany thousands of legends and explained so simply by chemistry asmerely a flash of methane or swamp gas generated by the putrefyingof vegetable matter in the warm damp earth.
Here dwell the demons of Adair, who are in perpetual war withthose of Muren, explained the Mongol.
Indeed, I thought, "if in prosaic Europe in our days theinhabitants of our villages believe these flames to be some wildsorcery, then surely in the land of mystery they must be at leastthe evidences of war between the demons of two neighboring rivers!"After passing this swamp we made out far ahead of us a largemonastery. Though this was some half mile off the road, theGorokoffs said they would ride over to it to make some purchases inthe Chinese shops there. They quickly rode away, promising toovertake us shortly, but we did not see them again for a while.
They slipped away without leaving any trail but we met them laterin very unexpected circumstances of fatal portent for them. On ourpart we were highly satisfied that we were rid of them so soon and,after they were gone, I imparted to my friend the informationgleaned from Bobroff the evening before.
The following evening we arrived at Khathyl, a small Russiansettlement of ten scattered houses in the valley of the Egingol orYaga, which here takes its waters from the Kosogol half a mileabove the village. The Kosogol is a huge Alpine lake, deep andcold, eighty-five miles in length and from ten to thirty in width.
On the western shore live the Darkhat Soyots, who call it Hubsugul,the Mongols, Kosogol. Both the Soyots and Mongols consider this aterrible and sacred lake. It is very easy to understand thisprejudice because the lake lies in a region of present volcanicactivity, where in the summer on perfectly calm sunny days itsometimes lashes itself into great waves that are dangerous notonly to the native fishing boats but also to the large Russianpassenger steamers that ply on the lake. In winter also itsometimes entirely breaks up its covering of ice and gives offgreat clouds of steam. Evidently the bottom of the lake issporadically pierced by discharging hot springs or, perhaps, bystreams of lava. Evidence of some great underground convulsionlike this is afforded by the mass of killed fish which at timesdams the outlet river in its shallow places. The lake isexceedingly rich in fish, chiefly varieties of trout and salmon,and is famous for its wonderful "white fish," which was previouslysent all over Siberia and even down into Manchuria so far asMoukden. It is fat and remarkably tender and produces fine caviar.
Another variety in the lake is the white khayrus or trout, which inthe migration season, contrary to the customs of most fish, goesdown stream into the Yaga, where it sometimes fills the river frombank to bank with swarms of backs breaking the surface of thewater. However, this fish is not caught, because it is infestedwith worms and is unfit for food. Even cats and dogs will nottouch it. This is a very interesting phemonenon and was beinginvestigated and studied by Professor Dorogostaisky of theUniversity at Irkutsk when the coming of the Bolsheviki interruptedhis work.
In Khathyl we found a panic. The Russian detachment of ColonelKazagrandi, after having twice defeated the Bolsheviki and well onits march against Irkutsk, was suddenly rendered impotent andscattered through internal strife among the officers. TheBolsheviki took advantage of this situation, increased their forcesto one thousand men and began a forward movement to recover whatthey had lost, while the remnants of Colonel Kazagrandi'sdetachment were retreating on Khathyl, where he determined to makehis last stand against the Reds. The inhabitants were loadingtheir movable property with their families into carts and scurryingaway from the town, leaving all their cattle and horses towhomsoever should have the power to seize and hold them. One partyintended to hide in the dense larch forest and the mountain ravinesnot far away, while another party made southward for Muren Kure andUliassutai. The morning following our arrival the Mongol officialreceived word that the Red troops had outflanked ColonelKazagrandi's men and were approaching Khathyl. The Mongol loadedhis documents and his servants on eleven camels and left his yamen.
Our Mongol guides, without ever saying a word to us, secretlyslipped off with him and left us without camels. Our situationthus became desperate. We hastened to the colonists who had notyet got away to bargain with them for camels, but they hadpreviously, in anticipation of trouble, sent their herds to distantMongols and so could do nothing to help us. Then we betookourselves to Dr. V. G. Gay, a veterinarian living in the town,famous throughout Mongolia for his battle against rinderpest. Helived here with his family and after being forced to give up hisgovernment work became a cattle dealer. He was a most interestingperson, clever and energetic, and the one who had been appointedunder the Czarist regime to purchase all the meat supplies fromMongolia for the Russian Army on the German Front. He organized ahuge enterprise in Mongolia but when the Bolsheviki seized power in1917 he transferred his allegiance and began to work with them.
Then in May, 1918, when the Kolchak forces drove the Bolsheviki outof Siberia, he was arrested and taken for trial. However, he wasreleased because he was looked upon as the single individual toorganize this big Mongolian enterprise and he handed to AdmiralKolchak all the supplies of meat and the silver formerly receivedfrom the Soviet commissars. At this time Gay had been serving asthe chief organizer and supplier of the forces of Kazagrandi.
When we went to him, he at once suggested that we take the onlything left, some poor, broken-down horses which would be able tocarry us the sixty miles to Muren Kure, where we could securecamels to return to Uliassutai. However, even these were beingkept some distance from the town so that we should have to spendthe night there, the night in which the Red troops were expected toarrive. Also we were much astonished to see that Gay was remainingthere with his family right up to the time of the expected arrivalof the Reds. The only others in the town were a few Cossacks, whohad been ordered to stay behind to watch the movements of the Redtroops. The night came. My friend and I were prepared either tofight or, in the last event, to commit suicide. We stayed in asmall house near the Yaga, where some workmen were living who couldnot, and did not feel it necessary to, leave. They went up on ahill from which they could scan the whole country up to the rangefrom behind which the Red detachment must appear. From thisvantage point in the forest one of the workmen came running in andcried out:
Woe, woe to us! The Reds have arrived. A horseman is gallopingfast through the forest road. I called to him but he did notanswer me. It was dark but I knew the horse was a strange one."Do not babble so, said another of the workmen. "Some Mongol rodeby and you jumped to the conclusion that he was a Red.""No, it was not a Mongol," he replied. "The horse was shod. Iheard the sound of iron shoes on the road. Woe to us!""Well," said my friend, "it seems that this is our finish. It is asilly way for it all to end."He was right. Just then there was a knock at our door but it wasthat of the Mongol bringing us three horses for our escape.
Immediately we saddled them, packed the third beast with our tentand food and rode off at once to take leave of Gay.
In his house we found the whole war council. Two or threecolonists and several Cossacks had galloped from the mountains andannounced that the Red detachment was approaching Khathyl but wouldremain for the night in the forest, where they were buildingcampfires. In fact, through the house windows we could see theglare of the fires. It seemed very strange that the enemy shouldawait the morning there in the forest when they were right on thevillage they wished to capture.
An armed Cossack entered the room and announced that two armed menfrom the detachment were approaching. All the men in the roompricked up their ears. Outside were heard the horses' hoofsfollowed by men's voices and a knock at the door.
Come in, said Gay.
Two young men entered, their moustaches and beards white and theircheeks blazing red from the cold. They were dressed in the commonSiberian overcoat with the big Astrakhan caps, but they had noweapons. Questions began. It developed that it was a detachmentof White peasants from the Irkutsk and Yakutsk districts who hadbeen fighting with the Bolsheviki. They had been defeatedsomewhere in the vicinity of Irkutsk and were now trying to make ajunction with Kazagrandi. The leader of this band was a socialist,Captain Vassilieff, who had suffered much under the Czar because ofhis tenets.
Our troubles had vanished but we decided to start immediately toMuren Kure, as we had gathered our information and were in a hurryto make our report. We started. On the road we overtook threeCossacks who were going out to bring back the colonists who werefleeing to the south. We joined them and, dismounting, we all ledour horses over the ice. The Yaga was mad. The subterraneanforces produced underneath the ice great heaving waves which with aswirling roar threw up and tore loose great sections of ice,breaking them into small blocks and sucking them under the unbrokendownstream field. Cracks ran like snakes over the surface indifferent directions. One of the Cossacks fell into one of thesebut we had just time to save him. He was forced by his ducking insuch extreme cold to turn back to Khathyl. Our horses slippedabout and fell several times. Men and animals felt the presence ofdeath which hovered over them and momentarily threatened them withdestruction. At last we made the farther bank and continuedsouthward down the valley, glad to have left the geological andfigurative volcanoes behind us. Ten miles farther on we came upwith the first party of refugees. They had spread a big tent andmade a fire inside, filling it with warmth and smoke. Their campwas made beside the establishment of a large Chinese trading house,where the owners refused to let the colonists come into their amplyspacious buildings, even though there were children, women andinvalids among the refugees. We spent but half an hour here. Theroad as we continued was easy, save in places where the snow laydeep. We crossed the fairly high divide between the Egingol andMuren. Near the pass one very unexpected event occurred to us. Wecrossed the mouth of a fairly wide valley whose upper end wascovered with a dense wood. Near this wood we noticed two horsemen,evidently watching us. Their manner of sitting in their saddlesand the character of their horses told us that they were notMongols. We began shouting and waving to them; but they did notanswer. Out of the wood emerged a third and stopped to look at us.
We decided to interview them and, whipping up our horses, gallopedtoward them. When we were about one thousand yards from them, theyslipped from their saddles and opened on us with a running fire.
Fortunately we rode a little apart and thus made a poor target forthem. We jumped off our horses, dropped prone on the ground andprepared to fight. However, we did not fire because we thought itmight be a mistake on their part, thinking that we were Reds. Theyshortly made off. Their shots from the European rifles had givenus further proof that they were not Mongols. We waited until theyhad disappeared into the woods and then went forward to investigatetheir tracks, which we found were those of shod horses, clearlycorroborating the earlier evidence that they were not Mongols. Whocould they have been? We never found out; yet what a differentrelationship they might have borne to our lives, had their shotsbeen true!
After we had passed over the divide, we met the Russian colonist D.
A. Teternikoff from Muren Kure, who invited us to stay in his houseand promised to secure camels for us from the Lamas. The cold wasintense and heightened by a piercing wind. During the day we frozeto the bone but at night thawed and warmed up nicely by our tentstove. After two days we entered the valley of Muren and from afarmade out the square of the Kure with its Chinese roofs and largered temples. Nearby was a second square, the Chinese and Russiansettlement. Two hours more brought us to the house of ourhospitable companion and his attractive young wife who feasted uswith a wonderful luncheon of tasty dishes. We spent five days atMuren waiting for the camels to be engaged. During this time manyrefugees arrived from Khathyl because Colonel Kazagrandi wasgradually falling back upon the town. Among others there were twoColonels, Plavako and Maklakoff, who had caused the disruption ofthe Kazagrandi force. No sooner had the refugees appeared in MurenKure than the Mongolian officials announced that the Chineseauthorities had ordered them to drive out all Russian refugees.
Where can we go now in winter with women and children and no homesof our own? asked the distraught refugees.
That is of no moment to us, answered the Mongolian officials.
The Chinese authorities are angry and have ordered us to drive youaway. We cannot help you at all.The refugees had to leave Muren Kure and so erected their tents inthe open not far away. Plavako and Maklakoff bought horses andstarted out for Van Kure. Long afterwards I learned that both hadbeen killed by the Chinese along the road.
We secured three camels and started out with a large group ofChinese merchants and Russian refugees to make Uliassutai,preserving the warmest recollections of our courteous hosts, T. V.
and D. A. Teternikoff. For the trip we had to pay for our camelsthe very high price of 33 lan of the silver bullion which had beensupplied us by an American firm in Uliassutai, the equivalentroughly of 2.7 pounds of the white metal.
Before long we struck the road which we had travelled coming northand saw again the kindly rows of chopped down telegraph poles whichhad once so warmly protected us. Over the timbered hillocks northof the valley of Tisingol we wended just as it was growing dark.
We decided to stay in Bobroff's house and our companions thought toseek the hospitality of Kanine in the telegraph station. At thestation gate we found a soldier with a rifle, who questioned us asto who we were and whence we had come and, being apparentlysatisfied, whistled out a young officer from the house.
Lieutenant Ivanoff, he introduced himself. "I am staying herewith my detachment of White Partisans."He had come from near Irkutsk with his following of ten men and hadformed a connection with Lieutenant-Colonel Michailoff atUliassutai, who commanded him to take possession of thisblockhouse.
Enter, please, he said hospitably.
I explained to him that I wanted to stay with Bobroff, whereat hemade a despairing gesture with his hand and said:
Don't trouble yourself. The Bobroffs are killed and their houseburned.I could not keep back a cry of horror.
The Lieutenant continued: "Kanine and the Pouzikoffs killed them,pillaged the place and afterwards burned the house with their deadbodies in it. Do you want to see it?"My friend and I went with the Lieutenant and looked over theominous site. Blackened uprights stood among charred beams andplanks while crockery and iron pots and pans were scattered allaround. A little to one side under some felt lay the remains ofthe four unfortunate individuals. The Lieutenant first spoke:
I reported the case to Uliassutai and received word back that therelatives of the deceased would come with two officers, who wouldinvestigate the affair. That is why I cannot bury the bodies."How did it happen? we asked, oppressed by the sad picture.
It was like this, he began. "I was approaching Tisingol at nightwith my ten soldiers. Fearing that there might be Reds here, wesneaked up to the station and looked into the windows. We sawPouzikoff, Kanine and the short-haired girl, looking over anddividing clothes and other things and weighing lumps of silver. Idid not at once grasp the significance of all this; but, feelingthe need for continued caution, ordered one of my soldiers to climbthe fence and open the gate. We rushed into the court. The firstto run from the house was Kanine's wife, who threw up her hands andshrieked in fear: "I knew that misfortune would come of all this!"and then fainted. One of the men ran out of a side door to a shedin the yard and there tried to get over the fence. I had notnoticed him but one of my soldiers caught him. We were met at thedoor by Kanine, who was white and trembling. I realized thatsomething important had taken place, placed them all under arrest,ordered the men tied and placed a close guard. All my questionswere met with silence save by Madame Kanine who cried: 'Pity, pityfor the children! They are innocent!' as she dropped on her kneesand stretched out her hands in supplication to us. The short-haired girl laughed out of impudent eyes and blew a puff of smokeinto my face. I was forced to threaten them and said:
"'I know that you have committed some crime, but you do not want toconfess. If you do not, I shall shoot the men and take the womento Uliassutai to try them there.' I spoke with definiteness of voice and intention, for they rousedmy deepest anger. Quite to my surprise the short-haired girl firstbegan to speak.
" "'I want to tell you about everything,' she said. I ordered ink, paper and pen brought me. My soldiers were thewitnesses. Then I prepared the protocol of the confession ofPouzikoff's wife. This was her dark and bloody tale.
" "'My husband and I are Bolshevik commissars and we have been sentto find out how many White officers are hidden in Mongolia. Butthe old fellow Bobroff knew us. We wanted to go away but Kaninekept us, telling us that Bobroff was rich and that he had for along time wanted to kill him and pillage his place. We agreed tojoin him. We decoyed the young Bobroff to come and play cards withus. When he was going home my husband stole along behind and shothim. Afterwards we all went to Bobroff's place. I climbed uponthe fence and threw some poisoned meat to the dogs, who were deadin a few minutes. Then we all climbed over. The first person toemerge from the house was Bobroff's wife. Pouzikoff, who washidden behind the door, killed her with his ax. The old fellow wekilled with a blow of the ax as he slept. The little girl ran outinto the room as she heard the noise and Kanine shot her in thehead with buckshot. Afterwards we looted the house and burned it,even destroying the horses and cattle. Later all would have beencompletely burned, so that no traces remained, but you suddenlyarrived and these stupid fellows at once betrayed us.' It was a dastardly affair,"" continued the Lieutenant, as wereturned to the station. ""The hair raised on my head as I listenedto the calm description of this young woman, hardly more than agirl. Only then did I fully realize what depravity Bolshevism hadbrought into the world, crushing out faith, fear of God andconscience. Only then did I understand that all honest people mustfight without compromise against this most dangerous enemy ofmankind, so long as life and strength endure.""As we walked I noticed at the side of the road a black spot. Itattracted and fixed my attention.
"What is that? I asked, pointing to the spot.
It is the murderer Pouzikoff whom I shot, answered theLieutenant. "I would have shot both Kanine and the wife ofPouzikoff but I was sorry for Kanine's wife and children and Ihaven't learned the lesson of shooting women. Now I shall sendthem along with you under the surveillance of my soldiers toUliassutai. The same result will come, for the Mongols who trythem for the murder will surely kill them."This is what happened at Tisingol, on whose shores the will-o'-the-wisp flits over the marshy pools and near which runs the cleavageof over two hundred miles that the last earthquake left in thesurface of the land. Maybe it was out of this cleavage thatPouzikoff, Kanine and the others who have sought to infect thewhole world with horror and crime made their appearance from theland of the inferno. One of Lieutenant Ivanoff's soldiers, who wasalways praying and pale, called them all "the servants of Satan."Our trip from Tisingol to Uliassutai in the company of thesecriminals was very unpleasant. My friend and I entirely lost ourusual strength of spirit and healthy frame of mind. Kaninepersistently brooded and thought while the impudent woman laughed,smoked and joked with the soldiers and several of our companions.
At last we crossed the Jagisstai and in a few hours descried atfirst the fortress and then the low adobe houses huddled on theplain, which we knew to be Uliassutai.
Once more we found ourselves in the whirl of events. During ourfortnight away a great deal had happened here. The ChineseCommissioner Wang Tsao-tsun had sent eleven envoys to Urga but nonehad returned. The situation in Mongolia remained far from clear.
The Russian detachment had been increased by the arrival of newcolonists and secretly continued its illegal existence, althoughthe Chinese knew about it through their omnipresent system ofspies. In the town no Russian or foreign citizens left theirhouses and all remained armed and ready to act. At night armedsentinels stood guard in all their court-yards. It was the Chinesewho induced such precautions. By order of their Commissioner allthe Chinese merchants with stocks of rifles armed their staffs andhanded over any surplus guns to the officials, who with theseformed and equipped a force of two hundred coolies into a specialgarrison of gamins. Then they took possession of the Mongolianarsenal and distributed these additional guns among the Chinesevegetable farmers in the nagan hushun, where there was always afloating population of the lowest grade of transient Chineselaborers. This trash of China now felt themselves strong, gatheredtogether in excited discussions and evidently were preparing forsome outburst of aggression. At night the coolies transported manyboxes of cartridges from the Chinese shops to the nagan hushun andthe behaviour of the Chinese mob became unbearably audacious.
These coolies and gamins impertinently stopped and searched peopleright on the streets and sought to provoke fights that would allowthem to take anything they wanted. Through secret news we receivedfrom certain Chinese quarters we learned that the Chinese werepreparing a pogrom for all the Russians and Mongols in Uliassutai.
We fully realized that it was only necessary to fire one singlehouse at the right part of the town and the entire settlement ofwooden buildings would go up in flames. The whole populationprepared to defend themselves, increased the sentinels in thecompounds, appointed leaders for certain sections of the town,organized a special fire brigade and prepared horses, carts andfood for a hasty flight. The situation became worse when newsarrived from Kobdo that the Chinese there had made a pogrom,killing some of the inhabitants and burning the whole town after awild looting orgy. Most of the people got away to the forests onthe mountains but it was at night and consequently without warmclothes and without food. During the following days thesemountains around Kobdo heard many cries of misfortune, woe anddeath. The severe cold and hunger killed off the women andchildren out under the open sky of the Mongolian winter. This newswas soon known to the Chinese. They laughed in mockery and soonorganized a big meeting at the nagan hushun to discuss letting themob and gamins loose on the town.
A young Chinese, the son of a cook of one of the colonists,revealed this news. We immediately decided to make aninvestigation. A Russian officer and my friend joined me with thisyoung Chinese as a guide for a trip to the outskirts of the town.
We feigned simply a stroll but were stopped by the Chinese sentinelon the side of the city toward the nagan hushun with an impertinentcommand that no one was allowed to leave the town. As we spokewith him, I noticed that between the town and the nagan hushunChinese guards were stationed all along the way and that streams ofChinese were moving in that direction. We saw at once it wasimpossible to reach the meeting from this approach, so we choseanother route. We left the city from the eastern side and passedalong by the camp of the Mongolians who had been reduced to beggaryby the Chinese impositions. There also they were evidentlyanxiously awaiting the turn of events, for, in spite of thelateness of the hour, none had gone to sleep. We slipped out onthe ice and worked around by the river to the nagan hushun. As wepassed free of the city we began to sneak cautiously along, takingadvantage of every bit of cover. We were armed with revolvers andhand grenades and knew that a small detachment had been prepared inthe town to come to our aid, if we should be in danger. First theyoung Chinese stole forward with my friend following him like ashadow, constantly reminding him that he would strangle him like amouse if he made one move to betray us. I fear the young guide didnot greatly enjoy the trip with my gigantic friend puffing all tooloudly with the unusual exertions. At last the fences of naganhushun were in sight and nothing between us and them save the openplain, where our group would have been easily spotted; so that wedecided to crawl up one by one, save that the Chinese was retainedin the society of my trusted friend. Fortunately there were manyheaps of frozen manure on the plain, which we made use of as coverto lead us right up to our objective point, the fence of theenclosures. In the shadow of this we slunk along to the courtyardwhere the voices of the excited crowd beckoned us. As we took goodvantage points in the darkness for listening and makingobservations, we remarked two extraordinary things in our immediateneighborhood.
Another invisible guest was present with us at the Chinesegathering. He lay on the ground with his head in a hole dug by thedogs under the fence. He was perfectly still and evidently had notheard our advance. Nearby in a ditch lay a white horse with hisnose muzzled and a little further away stood another saddled horsetied to a fence.
In the courtyard there was a great hubbub. About two thousand menwere shouting, arguing and flourishing their arms about in wildgesticulations. Nearly all were armed with rifles, revolvers,swords and axes. In among the crowd circulated the gamins,constantly talking, handing out papers, explaining and assuring.
Finally a big, broad-shouldered Chinese mounted the well combing,waved his rifle about over his head and opened a tirade in strong,sharp tones.
He is assuring the people, said our interpreter, "that they mustdo here what the Chinese have done in Kobdo and must secure fromthe Commissioner the assurance of an order to his guard not toprevent the carrying out of their plans. Also that the ChineseCommissioner must demand from the Russians all their weapons.
'Then we shall take vengeance on the Russians for theirBlagoveschensk crime when they drowned three thousand Chinese in1900. You remain here while I go to the Commissioner and talk withhim.'"He jumped down from the well and quickly made his way to the gatetoward the town. At once I saw the man who was lying with his headunder the fence draw back out of his hole, take his white horsefrom the ditch and then run over to untie the other horse and leadthem both back to our side, which was away from the city. He leftthe second horse there and hid himself around the corner of thehushun. The spokesman went out of the gate and, seeing his horseover on the other side of the enclosure, slung his rifle across hisback and started for his mount. He had gone about half way whenthe stranger behind the corner of the fence suddenly galloped outand in a flash literally swung the man clear from the ground upacross the pommel of his saddle, where we saw him tie the mouth ofthe semi-strangled Chinese with a cloth and dash off with himtoward the west away from the town.
Who do you suppose he is? I asked of my friend, who answered upat once: "It must be Tushegoun Lama. . . ."His whole appearance did strongly remind me of this mysterious Lamaavenger and his manner of addressing himself to his enemy was astrict replica of that of Tushegoun. Late in the night we learnedthat some time after their orator had gone to seek theCommissioner's cooperation in their venture, his head had beenflung over the fence into the midst of the waiting audience andthat eight gamins had disappeared on their way from the hushun tothe town without leaving trace or trail. This event terrorized theChinese mob and calmed their heated spirits.
The next day we received very unexpected aid. A young Mongolgalloped in from Urga, his overcoat torn, his hair all dishevelledand fallen to his shoulders and a revolver prominent beneath hisgirdle. Proceeding directly to the market where the Mongols arealways gathered, without leaving his saddle he cried out:
"Urga is captured by our Mongols and Chiang Chun Baron Ungern! Bogdo Hutuktu is once more our Khan! Mongols, kill the Chinese andpillage their shops! Our patience is exhausted!Through the crowd rose the roar of excitement. The rider wassurrounded with a mob of insistent questioners. The old MongolSait, Chultun Beyli, who had been dismissed by the Chinese, was atonce informed of this news and asked to have the messenger broughtto him. After questioning the man he arrested him for inciting thepeople to riot, but he refused to turn him over to the Chineseauthorities. I was personally with the Sait at the time and heardhis decision in the matter. When the Chinese Commissioner, WangTsao-tsun, threatened the Sait for disobedience to his authority,the old man simply fingered his rosary and said:
"I believe the story of this Mongol in its every word and Iapprehend that you and I shall soon have to reverse ourrelationship.I felt that Wang Tsao-tsun also accepted the correctness of theMongol's story, because he did not insist further. From thismoment the Chinese disappeared from the streets of Uliassutai asthough they never had been, and synchronously the patrols of theRussian officers and of our foreign colony took their places. Thepanic among the Chinese was heightened by the receipt of a lettercontaining the news that the Mongols and Altai Tartars under theleadership of the Tartar officer Kaigorodoff pursued the Chinesewho were making off with their booty from the sack of Kobdo andovertook and annihilated them on the borders of Sinkiang. Anotherpart of the letter told how General Bakitch and the six thousandmen who had been interned with him by the Chinese authorities onthe River Amyl had received arms and started to join with AtamanAnnenkoff, who had been interned in Kuldja, with the ultimateintention of linking up with Baron Ungern. This rumour proved tobe wrong because neither Bakitch nor Annenkoff entertained thisintention, because Annenkoff had been transported by the Chineseinto the Depths of Turkestan. However, the news produced veritablestupefaction among the Chinese.
Just at this time there arrived at the house of the BolshevistRussian colonist Bourdukoff three Bolshevik agents from Irkutsknamed Saltikoff, Freimann and Novak, who started an agitation amongthe Chinese authorities to get them to disarm the Russian officersand hand them over to the Reds. They persuaded the Chinese Chamberof Commerce to petition the Irkutsk Soviet to send a detachment ofReds to Uliassutai for the protection of the Chinese against theWhite detachments. Freimann brought with him communistic pamphletsin Mongolian and instructions to begin the reconstruction of thetelegraph line to Irkutsk. Bourdukoff also received some messagesfrom the Bolsheviki. This quartette developed their policy verysuccessfully and soon saw Wang Tsao-tsun fall in with theirschemes. Once more the days of expecting a pogrom in Uliassutaireturned to us. The Russian officers anticipated attempts toarrest them. The representative of one of the American firms wentwith me to the Commissioner for a parley. We pointed out to himthe illegality of his acts, inasmuch as he was not authorized byhis Government to treat with the Bolsheviki when the SovietGovernment had not been recognized by Peking. Wang Tsao-tsun andhis advisor Fu Hsiang were palpably confused at finding we knew ofhis secret meetings with the Bolshevik agents. He assured us thathis guard was sufficient to prevent any such pogrom. It was quitetrue that his guard was very capable, as it consisted of welltrained and disciplined soldiers under the command of a serious-minded and well educated officer; but, what could eighty soldiersdo against a mob of three thousand coolies, one thousand armedmerchants and two hundred gamins? We strongly registered ourapprehensions and urged him to avoid any bloodshed, pointing outthat the foreign and Russian population were determined to defendthemselves to the last moment. Wang at once ordered theestablishment of strong guards on the streets and thus made a veryinteresting picture with all the Russian, foreign and Chinesepatrols moving up and down throughout the whole town. Then we didnot know there were three hundred more sentinels on duty, the menof Tushegoun Lama hidden nearby in the mountains.
Once more the picture changed very sharply and suddenly. TheMongolian Sait received news through the Lamas of the nearestmonastery that Colonel Kazagrandi, after fighting with the Chineseirregulars, had captured Van Kure and had formed there Russian-Mongolian brigades of cavalry, mobilizing the Mongols by the orderof the Living Buddha and the Russians by order of Baron Ungern. Afew hours later it became known that in the large monastery ofDzain the Chinese soldiers had killed the Russian Captain Barskyand as a result some of the troops of Kazagrandi attacked and sweptthe Chinese out of the place. At the taking of Van Kure theRussians arrested a Korean Communist who was on his way from Moscowwith gold and propaganda to work in Korea and America. ColonelKazagrandi sent this Korean with his freight of gold to BaronUngern. After receiving this news the chief of the Russiandetachment in Uliassutai arrested all the Bolsheviki agents andpassed judgment upon them and upon the murderers of the Bobroffs.
Kanine, Madame Pouzikoff and Freimann were shot. RegardingSaltikoff and Novak some doubt sprang up and, moreover, Saltikoffescaped and hid, while Novak, under advice from Lieutenant ColonelMichailoff, left for the west. The chief of the Russian detachmentgave out orders for the mobilization of the Russian colonists andopenly took Uliassutai under his protection with the tacitagreement of the Mongolian authorities. The Mongol Sait, ChultunBeyli, convened a council of the neighboring Mongolian Princes, thesoul of which was the noted Mongolian patriot, Hun Jap Lama. ThePrinces quickly formulated their demands upon the Chinese for thecomplete evacuation of the territory subject to the Sait ChultunBeyli. Out of it grew parleys, threats and friction between thevarious Chinese and Mongolian elements. Wang Tsao-tsun proposedhis scheme of settlement, which some of the Mongolian Princesaccepted; but Jap Lama at the decisive moment threw the Chinesedocument to the ground, drew his knife and swore that he would dieby his own hand rather than set it as a seal upon this treacherousagreement. As a result the Chinese proposals were rejected and theantagonists began to prepare themselves for the struggle. All thearmed Mongols were summoned from Jassaktu Khan, Sain-Noion Khan andthe dominion of Jahantsi Lama. The Chinese authorities placedtheir four machine guns and prepared to defend the fortress.
Continuous deliberations were held by both the Chinese and Mongols.
Finally, our old acquaintance Tzeren came to me as one of theunconcerned foreigners and handed to me the joint requests of WangTsao-tsun and Chultun Beyli to try to pacify the two elements andto work out a fair agreement between them. Similar requests werehanded to the representative of an American firm. The followingevening we held the first meeting of the arbitrators and theChinese and Mongolian representatives. It was passionate andstormy, so that we foreigners lost all hope of the success of ourmission. However, at midnight when the speakers were tired, wesecured agreement on two points: the Mongols announced that theydid not want to make war and that they desired to settle thismatter in such a way as to retain the friendship of the greatChinese people; while the Chinese Commissioner acknowledged thatChina had violated the treaties by which full independence had beenlegally granted to Mongolia.
These two points formed for us the groundwork of the next meetingand gave us the starting points for urging reconciliation. Thedeliberations continued for three days and finally turned so thatwe foreigners could propose our suggestions for an agreement. Itschief provisions were that the Chinese authorities should surrenderadministrative powers, return the arms to the Mongolians, disarmthe two hundred gamins and leave the country; and that the Mongolson their side should give free and honorable passage of theircountry to the Commissioner with his armed guard of eighty men.
This Chinese-Mongolian Treaty of Uliassutai was signed and sealedby the Chinese Commissioners, Wang Tsao-tsun and Fu Hsiang, by bothMongolian Saits, by Hun Jap Lama and other Princes, as well as bythe Russian and Chinese Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce andby us foreign arbitrators. The Chinese officials and convoy beganat once to pack up their belongings and prepare for departure. TheChinese merchants remained in Uliassutai because Sait ChultunBeyli, now having full authority and power, guaranteed theirsafety. The day of departure for the expedition of Wang Tsao-tsunarrived. The camels with their packs already filled the yamencourt-yard and the men only awaited the arrival of their horsesfrom the plains. Suddenly the news spread everywhere that the herdof horses had been stolen during the night and run off toward thesouth. Of two soldiers that had been sent out to follow the tracksof the herd only one came back with the news that the other hadbeen killed. Astonishment spread over the whole town while amongthe Chinese it turned to open panic. It perceptibly increased whensome Mongols from a distant ourton to the east came in andannounced that in various places along the post road to Urga theyhad discovered the bodies of sixteen of the soldiers whom WangTsao-tsun had sent out with letters for Urga. The mystery of theseevents will soon be explained.
The chief of the Russian detachment received a letter from aCossack Colonel, V. N. Domojiroff, containing the order to disarmimmediately the Chinese garrison, to arrest all Chinese officialsfor transport to Baron Ungern at Urga, to take control ofUliassutai, by force if necessary, and to join forces with hisdetachment. At the very same time a messenger from the NarabanchiHutuktu galloped in with a letter to the effect that a Russiandetachment under the leadership of Hun Boldon and ColonelDomojiroff from Urga had pillaged some Chinese firms and killed themerchants, had come to the Monastery and demanded horses, food andshelter. The Hutuktu asked for help because the ferociousconqueror of Kobdo, Hun Boldon, could very easily pillage theunprotected isolated monastery. We strongly urged ColonelMichailoff not to violate the sealed treaty and discountenance allthe foreigners and Russians who had taken part in making it, forthis would but be to imitate the Bolshevik principle of makingdeceit the leading rule in all acts of state. This touchedMichailoff and he answered Domojiroff that Uliassutai was alreadyin his hands without a fight; that over the building of the formerRussian Consulate the tri-color flag of Russia was flying; thegamins had been disarmed but that the other orders could not becarried out, because their execution would violate the Chinese-Mongolian treaty just signed in Uliassutai.
Daily several envoys traveled from Narabanchi Hutuktu toUliassutai. The news became more and more disquieting. TheHutuktu reported that Hun Boldon was mobilizing the Mongolianbeggars and horse stealers, arming and training them; that thesoldiers were taking the sheep of the monastery; that the "Noyon"Domojiroff was always drunk; and that the protests of the Hutuktuwere answered with jeers and scolding. The messengers gave veryindefinite information regarding the strength of the detachment,some placing it at about thirty while others stated that Domojiroffsaid he had eight hundred in all. We could not understand it atall and soon the messengers ceased coming. All the letters of theSait remained unanswered and the envoys did not return. Thereseemed to be no doubt that the men had been killed or captured.
Prince Chultun Beyli determined to go himself. He took with himthe Russian and Chinese Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce andtwo Mongolian officers. Three days elapsed without receiving anynews from him whatever. The Mongols began to get worried. Thenthe Chinese Commissioner and Hun Jap Lama addressed a request tothe foreigner group to send some one to Narabanchi, in order to tryto resolve the controversy there and to persuade Domojiroff torecognize the treaty and not permit the "great insult of violation"of a covenant between the two great peoples. Our group asked meonce more to accomplish this mission pro bono publico. I hadassigned me as interpreter a fine young Russian colonist, thenephew of the murdered Bobroff, a splendid rider as well as a cool,brave man. Lt.-Colonel Michailoff gave me one of his officers toaccompany me. Supplied with an express tzara for the post horsesand guides, we traveled rapidly over the way which was now familiarto me to find my old friend, Jelib Djamsrap Huktuktu of Narabanchi.
Although there was deep snow in some places, we made from onehundred to one hundred and fifteen miles per day.
We arrived at Narabanchi late at night on the third day out. As wewere approaching, we noticed several riders who, as soon as theyhad seen us, galloped quickly back to the monastery. For some timewe looked for the camp of the Russian detachment without findingit. The Mongols led us into the monastery, where the Hutuktuimmediately received me. In his yurta sat Chultun Beyli. There hepresented me with hatyks and said to me: "The very God has sentyou here to us in this difficult moment."It seems Domojiroff had arrested both the Presidents of theChambers of Commerce and had threatened to shoot Prince Chultun.
Both Domojiroff and Hun Boldon had no documents legalizing theiractivities. Chultun Beyli was preparing to fight with them.
I asked them to take me to Domojiroff. Through the dark I saw fourbig yurtas and two Mongol sentinels with Russian rifles. Weentered the Russian "Noyon's" tent. A very strange picture waspresented to our eyes. In the middle of the yurta the brazier wasburning. In the usual place for the altar stood a throne, on whichthe tall, thin, grey-haired Colonel Domojiroff was seated. He wasonly in his undergarments and stockings, was evidently a littledrunk and was telling stories. Around the brazier lay twelve youngmen in various picturesque poses. My officer companion reported toDomojiroff about the events in Uliassutai and during theconversation I asked Domojiroff where his detachment was encamped.
He laughed and answered, with a sweep of his hand: "This is mydetachment." I pointed out to him that the form of his orders tous in Uliassutai had led us to believe that he must have a largecompany with him. Then I informed him that Lt.-Colonel Michailoffwas preparing to cross swords with the Bolshevik force approachingUliassutai.
What? he exclaimed with fear and confusion, "the Reds?"We spent the night in his yurta and, when I was ready to lie down,my officer whispered to me:
Be sure to keep your revolver handy, to which I laughed and said:
But we are in the center of a White detachment and therefore inperfect safety!"Uh-huh! answered my officer and finished the response with oneeye closed.
The next day I invited Domojiroff to walk with me over the plain,when I talked very frankly with him about what had been happening.
He and Hun Boldon had received orders from Baron Ungern simply toget into touch with General Bakitch, but instead they beganpillaging Chinese firms along the route and he had made up his mindto become a great conqueror. On the way he had run across some ofthe officers who deserted Colonel Kazagrandi and formed his presentband. I succeeded in persuading Domojiroff to arrange matterspeacefully with Chultun Beyli and not to violate the treaty. Heimmediately went ahead to the monastery. As I returned, I met atall Mongol with a ferocious face, dressed in a blue silkoutercoat--it was Hun Boldon. He introduced himself and spoke withme in Russian. I had only time to take off my coat in the tent ofDomojiroff when a Mongol came running to invite me to the yurta ofHun Boldon. The Prince lived just beside me in a splendid blueyurta. Knowing the Mongolian custom, I jumped into the saddle androde the ten paces to his door. Hun Boldon received me withcoldness and pride.
Who is he? he inquired of the interpreter, pointing to me withhis finger.
I understood his desire to offend me and I answered in the samemanner, thrusting out my finger toward him and turning to theinterpreter with the same question in a slightly more unpleasanttone:
Who is he? High Prince and warrior or shepherd and brute?Boldon at once became confused and, with trembling voice andagitation in his whole manner, blurted out to me that he would notallow me to interfere in his affairs and would shoot every man whodared to run counter to his orders. He pounded on the low tablewith his fist and then rose up and drew his revolver. But I wasmuch traveled among the nomads and had studied them thoroughly--Princes, Lamas, shepherds and brigands. I grasped my whip and,striking it on the table with all my strength, I said to theinterpreter:
"Tell him that he has the honor to speak with neither Mongol norRussian but with a foreigner, a citizen of a great and free state. Tell him he must first learn to be a man and then he can visit meand we can talk together.I turned and went out. Ten minutes later Hun Boldon entered myyurta and offered his apologies. I persuaded him to parley withChultun Beyli and not to offend the free Mongol people with hisactivities. That very night all was arranged. Hun Boldondismissed his Mongols and left for Kobdo, while Domojiroff with hisband started for Jassaktu Khan to arrange for the mobilization ofthe Mongols there. With the consent of Chultun Beyli he wrote toWang Tsao-tsun a demand to disarm his guard, as all of the Chinesetroops in Urga had been so treated; but this letter arrived afterWang had bought camels to replace the stolen horses and was on hisway to the border. Later Lt.-Colonel Michailoff sent a detachmentof fifty men under the command of Lieutenant Strigine to overhaulWang and receive their arms.
"Prince Chultun Beyli and I were ready to leave the Narabanchi Kure.
While the Hutuktu was holding service for the Sait in the Temple ofBlessing, I wandered around through the narrow alleyways betweenthe walls of the houses of the various grades of Lama Gelongs,Getuls, Chaidje and Rabdjampa; of schools where the learned doctorsof theology or Maramba taught together with the doctors of medicineor Ta Lama; of the residences for students called Bandi; of stores,archives and libraries. When I returned to the yurta of theHutuktu, he was inside. He presented me with a large hatyk andproposed a walk around the monastery. His face wore a preoccupiedexpression from which I gathered that he had something he wished todiscuss with me. As we went out of the yurta, the liberatedPresident of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and a Russian officerjoined us. The Hutuktu led us to a small building just back of abright yellow stone wall.
In that building once stopped the Dalai Lama and Bogdo Khan and wealways paint the buildings yellow where these holy persons havelived. Enter!The interior of the building was arranged with splendor. On theground floor was the dining-room, furnished with richly carved,heavy blackwood Chinese tables and cabinets filled with porcelainsand bronze. Above were two rooms, the first a bed-room hung withheavy yellow silk curtains; a large Chinese lantern richly set withcolored stones hung by a thin bronze chain from the carved woodenceiling beam. Here stood a large square bed covered with silkenpillows, mattresses and blankets. The frame work of the bed wasalso of the Chinese blackwood and carried, especially on the poststhat held the roof-like canopy, finely executed carvings with thechief motive the conventional dragon devouring the sun. By theside stood a chest of drawers completely covered with carvingssetting forth religious pictures. Four comfortable easy chairscompleted the furniture, save for the low oriental throne whichstood on a dais at the end of the room.
Do you see this throne? said the Hutuktu to me. "One night inwinter several horsemen rode into the monastery and demanded thatall the Gelongs and Getuls with the Hutuktu and Kanpo at their headshould congregate in this room. Then one of the strangers mountedthe throne, where he took off his bashlyk or cap-like headcovering. All of the Lamas fell to their knees as they recognizedthe man who had been long ago described in the sacred bulls ofDalai Lama, Tashi Lama and Bogdo Khan. He was the man to whom thewhole world belongs and who has penetrated into all the mysteriesof Nature. He pronounced a short Tibetan prayer, blessed all hishearers and afterwards made predictions for the coming halfcentury. This was thirty years ago and in the interim all hisprophecies are being fulfilled. During his prayers before thatsmall shrine in the next room this door opened of its own accord,the candles and lights before the altar lighted themselves and thesacred braziers without coals gave forth great streams of incensethat filled the room. And then, without warning, the King of theWorld and his companions disappeared from among us. Behind himremained no trace save the folds in the silken throne coveringswhich smoothed themselves out and left the throne as though no onehad sat upon it."The Hutuktu entered the shrine, kneeled down, covering his eyeswith his hands, and began to pray. I looked at the calm,indifferent face of the golden Buddha, over which the flickeringlamps threw changing shadows, and then turned my eyes to the sideof the throne. It was wonderful and difficult to believe but Ireally saw there the strong, muscular figure of a man with aswarthy face of stern and fixed expression about the mouth andjaws, thrown into high relief by the brightness of the eyes.
Through his transparent body draped in white raiment I saw theTibetan inscriptions on the back of the throne. I closed my eyesand opened them again. No one was there but the silk thronecovering seemed to be moving.
Nervousness, I thought. "Abnormal and over-emphasizedimpressionability growing out of the unusual surroundings andstrains."The Hutuktu turned to me and said: "Give me your hatyk. I havethe feeling that you are troubled about those whom you love, and Iwant to pray for them. And you must pray also, importune God anddirect the sight of your soul to the King of the World who was hereand sanctified this place."The Hutuktu placed the hatyk on the shoulder of the Buddha and,prostrating himself on the carpet before the altar, whispered thewords of prayer. Then he raised his head and beckoned me to himwith a slight movement of his hand.
Look at the dark space behind the statue of Buddha and he willshow your beloved to you.Readily obeying his deep-voiced command, I began to look into thedark niche behind the figure of the Buddha. Soon out of thedarkness began to appear streams of smoke or transparent threads.
They floated in the air, becoming more and more dense andincreasing in number, until gradually they formed the bodies ofseveral persons and the outlines of various objects. I saw a roomthat was strange to me with my family there, surrounded by somewhom I knew and others whom I did not. I recognized even the dressmy wife wore. Every line of her dear face was clearly visible.
Gradually the vision became too dark, dissipated itself into thestreams of smoke and transparent threads and disappeared. Behindthe golden Buddha was nothing but the darkness. The Hutuktu arose,took my hatyk from the shoulder of the Buddha and handed it to mewith these words:
Fortune is always with you and with your family. God's goodnesswill not forsake you.We left the building of this unknown King of the World, where hehad prayed for all mankind and had predicted the fate of peoplesand states. I was greatly astonished to find that my companionshad also seen my vision and to hear them describe to me in minutedetail the appearance and the clothes of the persons whom I hadseen in the dark niche behind the head of Buddha.** In order that I might have the evidence of others on thisextraordinarily impressive vision, I asked them to make protocolsor affidavits concerning what they saw. This they did and I nowhave these statements in my possession.
The Mongol officer also told me that Chultun Beyli had the daybefore asked the Hutuktu to reveal to him his fate in thisimportant juncture of his life and in this crisis of his countrybut the Hutuktu only waved his hand in an expression of fear andrefused. When I asked the Hutuktu for the reason of his refusal,suggesting to him that it might calm and help Chultun Beyli as thevision of my beloved had strengthened me, the Hutuktu knitted hisbrow and answered:
"No! The vision would not please the Prince. His fate is black. Yesterday I thrice sought his fortune on the burned shoulder bladesand with the entrails of sheep and each time came to the same direresult, the same dire result! . . .He did not really finish speaking but covered his face with hishands in fear. He was convinced that the lot of Chultun Beyli wasblack as the night.
"In an hour we were behind the low hills that hid the NarabanchiKure from our sight.
We arrived at Uliassutai on the day of the return of the detachmentwhich had gone out to disarm the convoy of Wang Tsao-tsun. Thisdetachment had met Colonel Domojiroff, who ordered them not only todisarm but to pillage the convoy and, unfortunately, LieutenantStrigine executed this illegal and unwarranted command. It wascompromising and ignominious to see Russian officers and soldierswearing the Chinese overcoats, boots and wrist watches which hadbeen taken from the Chinese officials and the convoy. Everyone hadChinese silver and gold also from the loot. The Mongol wife ofWang Tsao-tsun and her brother returned with the detachment andentered a complaint of having been robbed by the Russians. TheChinese officials and their convoy, deprived of their supplies,reached the Chinese border only after great distress from hungerand cold. We foreigners were astounded that Lt.-Colonel Michailoffreceived Strigine with military honors but we caught theexplanation of it later when we learned that Michailoff had beengiven some of the Chinese silver and his wife the handsomelydecorated saddle of Fu Hsiang. Chultun Beyli demanded that all theweapons taken from the Chinese and all the stolen property beturned over to him, as it must later be returned to the Chineseauthorities; but Michailoff refused. Afterwards we foreigners cutoff all contact with the Russian detachment. The relations betweenthe Russians and Mongols became very strained. Several of theRussian officers protested against the acts of Michailoff andStrigine and controversies became more and more serious.
At this time, one morning in April, an extraordinary group of armedhorsemen arrived at Uliassutai. They stayed at the house of theBolshevik Bourdukoff, who gave them, so we were told, a greatquantity of silver. This group explained that they were formerofficers in the Imperial Guard. They were Colonels Poletika, N. N.
Philipoff and three of the latter's brothers. They announced thatthey wanted to collect all the White officers and soldiers then inMongolia and China and lead them to Urianhai to fight theBolsheviki; but that first they wanted to wipe out Ungern andreturn Mongolia to China. They called themselves therepresentatives of the Central Organization of the Whites inRussia.
The society of Russian officers in Uliassutai invited them to ameeting, examined their documents and interrogated them.
Investigation proved that all the statements of these officersabout their former connections were entirely wrong, that Poletikaoccupied an important position in the war commissariat of theBolsheviki, that one of the Philipoff brothers was the assistant ofKameneff in his first attempt to reach England, that the CentralWhite Organization in Russia did not exist, that the proposedfighting in Urianhai was but a trap for the White officers and thatthis group was in close relations with the Bolshevik Bourdukoff.
A discussion at once sprang up among the officers as to what theyshould do with this group, which split the detachment into twodistinct parties. Lt.-Colonel Michailoff with several officersjoined themselves to Poletika's group just as Colonel Domojiroffarrived with his detachment. He began to get in touch with bothfactions and to feel out the politics of the situation, finallyappointing Poletika to the post of Commandant of Uliassutai andsending to Baron Ungern a full report of the events in the town.
In this document he devoted much space to me, accusing me ofstanding in the way of the execution of his orders. His officerswatched me continuously. From different quarters I receivedwarnings to take great care. This band and its leader openlydemanded to know what right this foreigner had to interfere in theaffairs of Mongolia, one of Domojiroff's officers directly givingme the challenge in a meeting in the attempt to provoke acontroversy. I quietly answered him:
And on what basis do the Russian refugees interfere, they who haverights neither at home nor abroad?The officer made no verbal reply but in his eyes burned a definiteanswer. My huge friend who sat beside me noticed this, strode overtoward him and, towering over him, stretched his arms and hands asthough just waking from sleep and remarked: "I'm looking for alittle boxing exercise."On one occasion Domojiroff's men would have succeeded in taking meif I had not been saved by the watchfulness of our foreign group.
I had gone to the fortress to negotiate with the Mongol Sait forthe departure of the foreigners from Uliassutai. Chultun Beylidetained me for a long time, so that I was forced to return aboutnine in the evening. My horse was walking. Half a mile from thetown three men sprang up out of the ditch and ran at me. I whippedup my horse but noticed several more men coming out of the otherditch as though to head me off. They, however, made for the othergroup and captured them and I heard the voice of a foreignercalling me back. There I found three of Domojiroff's officerssurrounded by the Polish soldiers and other foreigners under theleadership of my old trusted agronome, who was occupied with tyingthe hands of the officers behind their backs so strongly that thebones cracked. Ending his work and still smoking his perpetualpipe, he announced in a serious and important manner: "I think itbest to throw them into the river."Laughing at his seriousness and the fear of Domojiroff's officers,I asked them why they had started to attack me. They dropped theireyes and were silent. It was an eloquent silence and we perfectlyunderstood what they had proposed to do. They had revolvers hiddenin their pockets.
Fine! I said. "All is perfectly clear. I shall release you butyou must report to your sender that he will not welcome you backthe next time. Your weapons I shall hand to the Commandant ofUliassutai."My friend, using his former terrifying care, began to untie them,repeating over and over: "And I would have fed you to the fishesin the river!" Then we all returned to the town, leaving them togo their way.
Domojiroff continued to send envoys to Baron Ungern at Urga withrequests for plenary powers and money and with reports aboutMichailoff, Chultun Beyli, Poletika, Philipoff and myself. WithAsiatic cunning he was then maintaining good relations with allthose for whom he was preparing death at the hands of the severewarrior, Baron Ungern, who was receiving only one-sided reportsabout all the happenings in Uliassutai. Our whole colony wasgreatly agitated. The officers split into different parties; thesoldiers collected in groups and discussed the events of the day,criticising their chiefs, and under the influence of some ofDomojiroff's men began making such statements as:
We have now seven Colonels, who all want to be in command and areall quarreling among themselves. They all ought to be pegged downand given good sound thrashings. The one who could take thegreatest number of blows ought to be chosen as our chief.It was an ominous joke that proved the demoralization of theRussian detachment.
It seems, my friend frequently observed, "that we shall soon havethe pleasure of seeing a Council of Soldiers here in Uliassutai.
God and the Devil! One thing here is very unfortunate--there areno forests near into which good Christian men may dive and get awayfrom all these cursed Soviets. It's bare, frightfully bare, thiswretched Mongolia, with no place for us to hide."Really this possibility of the Soviet was approaching. On oneoccasion the soldiers captured the arsenal containing the weaponssurrendered by the Chinese and carried them off to their barracks.
Drunkenness, gambling and fighting increased. We foreigners,carefully watching events and in fear of a catastrophe, finallydecided to leave Uliassutai, that caldron of passions,controversies and denunciations. We heard that the group ofPoletika was also preparing to get out a few days later. Weforeigners separated into two parties, one traveling by the oldcaravan route across the Gobi considerably to the south of Urga toKuku-Hoto or Kweihuacheng and Kalgan, and mine, consisting of myfriend, two Polish soldiers and myself, heading for Urga via ZainShabi, where Colonel Kazagrandi had asked me in a recent letter tomeet him. Thus we left the Uliassutai where we had lived throughso many exciting events.
On the sixth day after our departure there arrived in the town theMongol-Buriat detachment under the command of the Buriat Vandaloffand the Russian Captain Bezrodnoff. Afterwards I met them in ZainShabi. It was a detachment sent out from Urga by Baron Ungern torestore order in Uliassutai and to march on to Kobdo. On the wayfrom Zain Shabi Bezrodnoff came across the group of Poletika andMichailoff. He instituted a search which disclosed suspiciousdocuments in their baggage and in that of Michailoff and his wifethe silver and other possessions taken from the Chinese. From thisgroup of sixteen he sent N. N. Philipoff to Baron Ungern, releasedthree others and shot the remaining twelve. Thus ended in ZainShabi the life of one party of Uliassutai refugees and theactivities of the group of Poletika. In Uliassutai Bezrodnoff shotChultun Beyli for the violation of the treaty with the Chinese, andalso some Bolshevist Russian colonists; arrested Domojiroff andsent him to Urga; and . . . restored order. The predictions aboutChultun Beyli were fulfilled.
I knew of Domojiroff's reports regarding myself but I decided,nevertheless, to proceed to Urga and not to swing round it, asPoletika had started to do when he was accidentally captured byBezrodnoff. I was accustomed now to looking into the eyes ofdanger and I set out to meet the terrible "bloody Baron." No onecan decide his own fate. I did not think myself in the wrong andthe feeling of fear had long since ceased to occupy a place in mymenage. On the way a Mongol rider who overhauled us brought thenews of the death of our acquaintances at Zain Shabi. He spent thenight with me in the yurta at the ourton and related to me thefollowing legend of death.
"It was a long time ago when the Mongolians ruled over China. ThePrince of Uliassutai, Beltis Van, was mad. He executed any one hewished without trial and no one dared to pass through his town. All the other Princes and rich Mongols surrounded Uliassutai, whereBeltis raged, cut off communication on every road and allowed noneto pass in or out. Famine developed in the town. They consumedall the oxen, sheep and horses and finally Beltis Van determined tomake a dash with his soldiers through to the west to the land ofone of his tribes, the Olets. He and his men all perished in thefight. The Princes, following the advice of the Hutuktu Buyantu,buried the dead on the slopes of the mountains surroundingUliassutai. They buried them with incantations and exorcisings inorder that Death by Violence might be kept from a furthervisitation to their land. The tombs were covered with heavy stonesand the Hutuktu predicted that the bad demon of Death by Violencewould only leave the earth when the blood of a man should hespilled upon the covering stone. Such a legend lived among us. Now it is fulfilled. The Russians shot there three Bolsheviki andthe Chinese two Mongols. The evil spirit of Beltis Van broke loosefrom beneath the heavy stone and now mows down the people with hisscythe. The noble Chultun Beyli has perished; the Russian NoyonMichailoff also has fallen; and death has flowed out fromUliassutai all over our boundless plains. Who shall be able tostem it now? Who shall tie the ferocious hands? An evil time hasfallen upon the Gods and the Good Spirits. The Evil Demons havemade war upon the Good Spirits. What can man now do? Only perish,only perish. . . .
"