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Updated: May 25, 2025
An hour with my cigar will take me to Kizil Arvat, where the train has to stop for some time. In going from the second to the first car I meet Major Noltitz. I step aside to let him pass. He salutes me with that grace which distinguishes well-bred Russians. I return his salute. Our meeting is restricted to this exchange of politeness, but the first step is taken.
We spoke to Popof, while Major Noltitz continued to watch Faruskiar and the Mongols. "The baron is mistaken," said Popof, "the railway is completed, and if a hundred yards of rails have been lifted here, it has been with some criminal intention." "To stop the train!" I exclaim. "And steal the treasure they are sending to Pekin!" says Caterna. "There is no doubt about that," says Popof.
During our crossing of Russian Turkestan he had maintained his incognito like a great personage in a foreign country; but now on the Chinese railways he resumed the rank which belonged to him. And I in a joke, it is true had permitted myself to identify him with the pirate Ki-Tsang. And Major Noltitz, who had spent his time suspecting him!
"I see that you have read Sainte Beuve, Major Noltitz; perhaps this sceptical academician was right in a general way. But for my part, I am an exception to the rule, and I wish to learn what I do not know. And in all that concerns Russian Turkestan, I am in a state of ignorance."
Of course, as soon as they found that their attempt had failed, they would hasten to get away. How would they dare six strong to attack a hundred passengers, including the Chinese guard? Twelve of us, including Pan-Chao, Caterna, and myself, volunteered to accompany Major Noltitz.
"Console yourself," said Major Noltitz. "Your satisfaction could not be complete, for old Merv has been rebuilt four times. If you had seen the fourth town, Bairam Ali of the Persian period, you would not have seen the third, which was Mongol, still less the Musalman village of the second epoch, which was called Sultan Sandjar Kala, and still less the town of the first epoch.
That is the only remembrance I retain of the Rome of Turkestan. Besides, as I was not able to stay a month there, it was as well to stay there only a few hours. At half-past ten, accompanied by Major Noltitz, whom I found at the terminus of the Decauville, I alighted at the railway station, the warehouses of which are crowded with bales of Bokhariot cotton, and packs of Mervian wool.
They are excellent mechanics, and it is the same with the engineers who laid out the line through the Celestial Empire. They are certainly a very intelligent race, and very fit for industrial progress." "I think, major, that they will one day become masters of the world after the Slavs, of course!" "I do not know what the future may have in store," said Major Noltitz, with a smile.
Leaving the station of Tchontchai behind, we enter station at nine o'clock in the evening. The stoppage is to last two hours. We get out onto the platform. As we are leaving the car I am near Major Noltitz, who asks young Pan Chao: "Have you ever heard of this mandarin Yen Lou, whose body is being taken to Pekin?" "Never, major."
Before three o'clock the engine from Tai-Youan ought to be here. I am ready to start." "So am I," said Popof! "I think several of us ought to go. Who knows if we may not meet Faruskiar and his Mongols on the road?" "You are right, Popof," said Major Noltitz, "and we should be armed." This was only prudent, for the bandits who ought to be on their way to the Tjon viaduct could not be very far off.
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