constant dangers develop one's watchfulness and keenness ofperception. we did not take off our clothes nor unsaddle ourhorses, tired as we were. i put my mauser inside my coat and beganto look about and scrutinize the people. the first thing idiscovered was the butt end of a rifle under the pile of pillowsalways found on the peasants' large beds. later i noticed theemployees of our host constantly coming into the room for ordersfrom him. they did not look like simple peasants, although theyhad long beards and were dressed very dirtily. they examined mewith very attentive eyes and did not leave me and my friend alonewith the host. we could not, however, make out anything. but thenthe soyot governor came in and, noticing our strained relations,began explaining in the soyot language to the host all about us.
"i beg your pardon," the colonist said, "but you know yourself thatnow for one honest man we have ten thousand murderers and robbers."with this we began chatting more freely. it appeared that our hostknew that a band of bolsheviki would attack him in the search forthe band of cossack officers who were living in his house on andoff. he had heard also about the "total loss" of one detachment.
however, it did not entirely calm the old man to have our news, forhe had heard of the large detachment of reds that was coming fromthe border of the usinsky district in pursuit of the tartars whowere escaping with their cattle south to mongolia.
"from one minute to another we are awaiting them with fear," saidour host to me. "my soyot has come in and announced that the redsare already crossing the seybi and the tartars are prepared for thefight."we immediately went out to look over our saddles and packs and thentook the horses and hid them in the bushes not far off. we madeready our rifles and pistols and took posts in the enclosure towait for our common enemy. an hour of trying impatience passed,when one of the workmen came running in from the wood andwhispered:
"they are crossing our swamp. . . . the fight is on."in fact, like an answer to his words, came through the woods thesound of a single rifle-shot, followed closely by the increasingrat-tat-tat of the mingled guns. nearer to the house the soundsgradually came. soon we heard the beating of the horses' hoofs andthe brutish cries of the soldiers. in a moment three of them burstinto the house, from off the road where they were being raked nowby the tartars from both directions, cursing violently. one ofthem shot at our host. he stumbled along and fell on his knee, ashis hand reached out toward the rifle under his pillows.
"who are you?" brutally blurted out one of the soldiers, turning tous and raising his rifle. we answered with mausers andsuccessfully, for only one soldier in the rear by the door escaped,and that merely to fall into the hands of a workman in thecourtyard who strangled him. the fight had begun. the soldierscalled on their comrades for help. the reds were strung along inthe ditch at the side of the road, three hundred paces from thehouse, returning the fire of the surrounding tartars. severalsoldiers ran to the house to help their comrades but this time weheard the regular volley of the workmen of our host. they fired asthough in a manoeuvre calmly and accurately. five red soldiers layon the road, while the rest now kept to their ditch. before longwe discovered that they began crouching and crawling out toward theend of the ditch nearest the wood where they had left their horses.
the sounds of shots became more and more distant and soon we sawfifty or sixty tartars pursuing the reds across the meadow.
two days we rested here on the seybi. the workmen of our host,eight in number, turned out to be officers hiding from thebolsheviks. they asked permission to go on with us, to which weagreed.
when my friend and i continued our trip we had a guard of eightarmed officers and three horses with packs. we crossed a beautifulvalley between the rivers seybi and ut. everywhere we saw splendidgrazing lands with numerous herds upon them, but in two or threehouses along the road we did not find anyone living. all hadhidden away in fear after hearing the sounds of the fight with thereds. the following day we went up over the high chain ofmountains called daban and, traversing a great area of burnedtimber where our trail lay among the fallen trees, we began todescend into a valley hidden from us by the intervening foothills.
there behind these hills flowed the little yenisei, the last largeriver before reaching mongolia proper. about ten kilometers fromthe river we spied a column of smoke rising up out of the wood.
two of the officers slipped away to make an investigation. for along time they did not return and we, fearful lest something hadhappened, moved off carefully in the direction of the smoke, allready for a fight if necessary. we finally came near enough tohear the voices of many people and among them the loud laugh of oneof our scouts. in the middle of a meadow we made out a large tentwith two tepees of branches and around these a crowd of fifty orsixty men. when we broke out of the forest all of them rushedforward with a joyful welcome for us. it appeared that it was alarge camp of russian officers and soldiers who, after their escapefrom siberia, had lived in the houses of the russian colonists andrich peasants in urianhai.
"what are you doing here?" we asked with surprise.
"oh, ho, you know nothing at all about what has been going on?"replied a fairly old man who called himself colonel ostrovsky. "inurianhai an order has been issued from the military commissioner tomobilize all men over twenty-eight years of age and everywheretoward the town of belotzarsk are moving detachments of thesepartisans. they are robbing the colonists and peasants and killingeveryone that falls into their hands. we are hiding here fromthem."the whole camp counted only sixteen rifles and three bombs,belonging to a tartar who was traveling with his kalmuck guide tohis herds in western mongolia. we explained the aim of our journeyand our intention to pass through mongolia to the nearest port onthe pacific. the officers asked me to bring them out with us. iagreed. our reconnaissance proved to us that there were nopartisans near the house of the peasant who was to ferry us overthe little yenisei. we moved off at once in order to pass asquickly as possible this dangerous zone of the yenisei and to sinkourselves into the forest beyond. it snowed but immediatelythawed. before evening a cold north wind sprang up, bringing withit a small blizzard. late in the night our party reached theriver. our colonist welcomed us and offered at once to ferry usover and swim the horses, although there was ice still floatingwhich had come down from the head-waters of the stream. duringthis conversation there was present one of the peasant's workmen,red-haired and squint-eyed. he kept moving around all the time andsuddenly disappeared. our host noticed it and, with fear in hisvoice, said:
"he has run to the village and will guide the partisans here. wemust cross immediately."then began the most terrible night of my whole journey. weproposed to the colonist that he take only our food and ammunitionin the boat, while we would swim our horses across, in order tosave the time of the many trips. the width of the yenisei in thisplace is about three hundred metres. the stream is very rapid andthe shore breaks away abruptly to the full depth of the stream.
the night was absolutely dark with not a star in the sky. the windin whistling swirls drove the snow and sleet sharply against ourfaces. before us flowed the stream of black, rapid water, carryingdown thin, jagged blocks of ice, twisting and grinding in thewhirls and eddies. for a long time my horse refused to take theplunge down the steep bank, snorted and braced himself. with allmy strength i lashed him with my whip across his neck until, with apitiful groan, he threw himself into the cold stream. we both wentall the way under and i hardly kept my seat in the saddle. soon iwas some metres from the shore with my horse stretching his headand neck far forward in his efforts and snorting and blowingincessantly. i felt the every motion of his feet churning thewater and the quivering of his whole body under me in this trial.
at last we reached the middle of the river, where the currentbecame exceedingly rapid and began to carry us down with it. outof the ominous darkness i heard the shoutings of my companions andthe dull cries of fear and suffering from the horses. i was chestdeep in the icy water. sometimes the floating blocks struck me;sometimes the waves broke up over my head and face. i had no timeto look about or to feel the cold. the animal wish to live tookpossession of me; i became filled with the thought that, if myhorse's strength failed in his struggle with the stream, i mustperish. all my attention was turned to his efforts and to hisquivering fear. suddenly he groaned loudly and i noticed he wassinking. the water evidently was over his nostrils, because theintervals of his frightened snorts through the nostrils becamelonger. a big block of ice struck his head and turned him so thathe was swimming right downstream. with difficulty i reined himaround toward the shore but felt now that his force was gone. hishead several times disappeared under the swirling surface. i hadno choice. i slipped from the saddle and, holding this by my lefthand, swam with my right beside my mount, encouraging him with myshouts. for a time he floated with lips apart and his teeth setfirm. in his widely opened eyes was indescribable fear. as soonas i was out of the saddle, he had at once risen in the water andswam more calmly and rapidly. at last under the hoofs of myexhausted animal i heard the stones. one after another mycompanions came up on the shore. the well-trained horses hadbrought all their burdens over. much farther down our colonistlanded with the supplies. without a moment's loss we packed ourthings on the horses and continued our journey. the wind wasgrowing stronger and colder. at the dawn of day the cold wasintense. our soaked clothes froze and became hard as leather; ourteeth chattered; and in our eyes showed the red fires of fever: butwe traveled on to put as much space as we could between ourselvesand the partisans. passing about fifteen kilometres through theforest we emerged into an open valley, from which we could see theopposite bank of the yenisei. it was about eight o'clock. alongthe road on the other shore wound the black serpent-like line ofriders and wagons which we made out to be a column of red soldierswith their transport. we dismounted and hid in the bushes in orderto avoid attracting their attention.
all the day with the thermometer at zero and below we continued ourjourney, only at night reaching the mountains covered with larchforests, where we made big fires, dried our clothes and warmedourselves thoroughly. the hungry horses did not leave the firesbut stood right behind us with drooped heads and slept. very earlyin the morning several soyots came to our camp.
"ulan? (red?)" asked one of them.
"no! no!" exclaimed all our company.
"tzagan? (white?)" followed the new question.
"yes, yes," said the tartar, "all are whites.""mende! mende!" they grunted and, after starting their cups oftea, began to relate very interesting and important news. itappeared that the red partisans, moving from the mountains tannuola, occupied with their outposts all the border of mongolia tostop and seize the peasants and soyots driving out their cattle.
to pass the tannu ola now would be impossible. i saw only one way--to turn sharp to the southeast, pass the swampy valley of theburet hei and reach the south shore of lake kosogol, which isalready in the territory of mongolia proper. it was veryunpleasant news. to the first mongol post in samgaltai was notmore than sixty miles from our camp, while to kosogol by theshortest line not less than two hundred seventy-five. the horsesmy friend and i were riding, after having traveled more than sixhundred miles over hard roads and without proper food or rest,could scarcely make such an additional distance. but, reflectingupon the situation and studying my new fellow travelers, idetermined not to attempt to pass the tannu ola. they werenervous, morally weary men, badly dressed and armed and most ofthem were without weapons. i knew that during a fight there is nodanger so great as that of disarmed men. they are easily caught bypanic, lose their heads and infect all the others. therefore, iconsulted with my friends and decided to go to kosogol. ourcompany agreed to follow us. after luncheon, consisting of soupwith big lumps of meat, dry bread and tea, we moved out. about twoo'clock the mountains began to rise up before us. they were thenortheast outspurs of the tannu ola, behind which lay the valley ofburet hei.