The Red Cloud chief., 1901-09-13

W. ~ hatt Ulu WIFI IHN TlEnT
raised the water hottie.
Your change. Tom said 7.
"Yes, Of course" said Tom. who was
absorbed In the story he was telling
Ne. lie put out his hand as IL to
pick the money up. but seemed to re-
member something. for lie drew his
hand back suddenly.
Coed heaven" said he. "and had
forgotten that
He took out his handkerchief and
wrapped around the foreiinger of his
right hand, and then, with tho fore
finger so covered, gently scrapcd the
money toward him. piece Ivy piece.
ana earnestly looked nj each coin.
Nov. look here. Tom said I. this
Is n very pretty story That You have
been telling me, bur don't try and
gNe 1t IN air Of reality by u perform
ance like that"
You can believe 1t or not. Just
as you like" said Tom. but I tell
you. Fred, that piece of money Ia
coming along this way some day. I
have seen 1t once. and-I left 1t on
the table. You don't catch me touch
Ing any coin while l nm certain that
II Is in circulation. But let Inc con
clndc what / was telling you.
"Urga is n of the most peculiar
places you could think OF. and n OF
or first duties was TO present our
selves TO the Grand Llama. We had
to get n p%alanqnin. for It was only
meet that Europeans Of u import
ancc should 60 In state, and It was
while Ell route that we suddenly came
to the praying mill. This was n sort
OF roundabout with huge wooden
posts sticking out Mt the side. which
every Buddhist passing was supposed
to take hold Of. and push the mill
round at least once.
"Wlat caused Phil to do what he
did then I don't know. hut something
seemed to impel him TO get ont of
the palanquin. make n run Over to
the mill. catch hold Of one of the
wooden posts and commence to push
1t around at its tOpmost pace. The
saAare where the mill was erected
was pretty well filed with people.
and when some of those saw what
had been done they came rushing
toward us. shouting and g%esticulating.
Phil had undoubtedly committed n
sacrilcge, and l was fearful for his
safety. These fanatical MOngolians,
once their religion Is assailed in any
shape OF form, would certainly have
no mercy upon the assai,ant.
Phil came hurricdly back to me.
jumped into the palauQuln, and or
dered the bearers to get ON. The
mob came to us. smashed In the doors
of the palanQuin, dragged us out, and
forr two minutes there was the live
Hest fight on record going oil. We
got the worst OF It. and bruised, bleed
ing and insenslble. were carted Off to
prison.
I'VE were taken before the Grand
LLAMA. and then and there he or
Iered us to he sent across the ST.
berian frontier with the utmost dis
patch. The next day we We're hur-
ried along under an escort of soldiers.
and It was not long before we arrived
Mt the frontier, the town of Miamat-
shin, which really Is the M~ongOlian
portion Of Kiakta. We were taken
to the yellow posts which marked
thcr actual frontier. and there the
soldiers of Llama stopped. We were
removed from the %palanquln In which
we had been carried. and Were COM
manded 10 sit down n few yards
from the posts. Not twenty feet away
Were the black aud white posts OF
q, the Russians. and Il was indeed some-
thing to gladden. ri eyes to see the
brown coat and the astrachan feZ of
the Russian Cossack who stood there
on sentry.
"Our guards spread themselves out.
then there came forward n Bhuddist
priest. who began TO talk to us In
q iargon which, of course. we could
notAunderstand. He finished at length
and produced from his robe n wire
on which were threaded some hun
dreds Of brass cash which the Chi
nese always carry. He took two OF
the cash of the wire and laid them
In front of us on the ground.
"Then the priest began waving his
arms about. and the Mongolians took
ont their hand prayer mills and be-
gan turning them for all they were
worth, The voice of the priest then
rose on the air. He said three or
four words and spat deliberately AT
each Of the coins, which had been
put Pn the ground before MS.
THAT was all. The priest depart
cd. the soldier escorted us to the
posts. the Russian sentry presented
his rife and we presented our pass.
ports. We passed over and breathed
the comparatively free air OF Russia.
Our first duty when we were In Kia-
kta was TO go straight to the Gov
ernor and lay our complaint before
him. He was agitated when he heard
OF the ceremony at the frontier, and
told us that the Bhuddist priest had
put into circulation two coins which
had leceived the sun gods curse, and
that these coins would circulate