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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
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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
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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
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