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Updated: June 4, 2025
He has obtained the necessary visa and it was time. "Passengers for Pekin, take your seats!" shouts Popof in a sonorous voice. The train trembles, it starts, it has gone. We are off on a Chinese railway, single line, the train drawn by a Chinese engine, driven by a Chinese driver.
"But he did not miss the start from Uzun Ada." "It doesn't matter, Popof. I shall be much surprised if this German beats an American at globe trotting." The train arrived at Kizil Arvat, two hundred and forty-two versts from the Caspian, at thirteen minutes past seven in the evening instead of seven o'clock. This slight delay provoked thirteen objurgations from the baron, one for each minute.
After shaking hands, he showed me a Mongol in the second-class car, and said to me, "That is not one of those we picked up at Douchak when we picked up Faruskiar and Ghangir." "That is so," said I; "I never saw that face in the train before." Popof, to whom I applied for information, told me that the Mongol had got in at Tchertchen.
This leading star, I soon learned from Popof, bore the name of Faruskiar. He was accompanied by another Mongol, of inferior rank, of about the same age, whose name was Ghangir. As they looked at the van being attached to the tail of the train in front of the luggage van, they exchanged a few words.
On our side there are three dead, including the Chinese officer, and more than twelve wounded, four of them seriously, the rest slightly, so that they can continue their journey to Pekin. Popof escaped without a scratch, Caterna with a slight graze which his wife insists on bathing. The major has the wounded brought into the cars and does the best for them under the circumstances.
It is important to choose the moment when Popof is sound asleep. It is not necessary for the interview to be a long one. That the gallant fellow should be reassured that is the essential point and he will be, as soon as I have made his acquaintance.
Now the road through Turkestan joins the road through the Celestial Empire, and the ribbon of iron extends without interruption from the Caspian Sea to Pekin. When Popof had given me this information, I asked if he knew anything of our fellow travelers, I meant those who were going through to China. And in the first place of Major Noltitz?
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.
I will go and get a few provisions, liquid and solid, and take them to him, even before the departure of the train, if it is possible to do so without fear of being noticed. The refreshment room at the station is open, and Popof is not there. If he was to see me making purchases he would be astonished, as the dining car contains everything we might want.
Popof is not just now in his seat. The door of the luggage van being open, I conclude that the guard has gone to talk with the driver. On the left of the van the mysterious box is in its place. It is only half-past six as yet, and there is too much daylight for me to risk the gratification of my curiosity. The train advances through the open desert. This is the Kara Koum, the Black Desert.
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