The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1902-05-03
CHAPTER X.

u&&4AHE plain, planted here and
V&D1T&SDI there with great trees,
principally pines and CO.
OARS. There stood the Tartar tents. There
Feofar- Khan, the terrible emir of Box
hara, was encamped, and there on the
following day. the 7th Of August, were
brought the prisoners taken at Kaly-
van after the humiliation of the Rus
sian force, which had vainly attempted
to oppose the progress of the invaders.
OF the 1000 men who had engaged
with the two columns of the enemy
the bases of which rested on Tomsk
manned. Thus events were going bad
ly, and the imperial government ap-
peared to have lost It's power beyond
the frontiers of the Ural, for time at
least for the Russians could not fail
eventually to defeat the savage hordes
of the invaders. But In the meantime
the invasion had reached the center of
the revolted country both to the east
ern and the western provinces. If the
troops of the Amur and the province
of Takutsk did not arrive in time to
occupy 1t, this capital of Asiatic Rus
STA, being insufficiently garrisoned,
would fall into the hands. of the Tar
tars, and before it could be retaken the
would be sacrificed to the vengeance of
Ivan Ogareff.
Feofar's camp presented magnifi
cent spectacle. Numberless tents of
skin or silk glistened in the rays Of
the sun. The lofty plumes which sur
mounted their conical tops waved amid
banners, flags and pennons Of every
color. The richest of these tents be-
longed to the Seides and Khodjas, who
are the principal personages of the
khanate. A special pavilion, ornament
ed with horses tail issuing from
sheaf Of red and white sticks artistical-
ly interlaced, indicated the high rank
of these Tartar chiefs. Then in the
distance rose several thousand of the
TurcOman tents, which had been car
ried on the backs of camels.
The camp contained at least q hun
dred and fifty thousand soldiers, as
many foot as horse soldiers, collected
under the name of Alamanes. Among
them and as the principal types of Tur-
kestan would have been remarked the
Tadjiks from their regular features,
white skin, tail forms and black eyes
and hair. They formed the bulk of the
Tartar army, and of them the khanates
of Khokhand and Koundough had fur
nished a contingent nearly equal to
that of Bokhara. With the Tadjiks
were mingled specimens of different
races who either reside in Turkestan
or whose native countries border on it.
There were Jsbecks, red bearded, small
In stature, similar to those who had
pursued Michael. Here were Kirghis,
with fiat faces like the KalmucEs,
dressed in coats of mail. Some car
ried the lance bows and arrows of Ash
attic manufacture, some the saber, a
matchbox run and a little short han
died ak, the wounds from which inva-
riably provo fatal. There were Mon
gols, of middle height. with black hair
plated into pigtails, which hung down
their backs, round faces, swarthy COM
plexions, lively deep set eyes, scanty
boards, dressed In blue nankeen trim
med with black plush sword belts of
leather with silver buckles, boots gay,y
braided and silk caps edged with fur
and three ribbons fluttering behind.
Brown skinned Afghans, too might
have been seen. Arabs, having the
primitive type of the beautiful Semitic
races, and Turcomans, with eyes which
looked as If they had lost the pupil-all
enrolled under the emir's flag, the flag
or incendinres and devastators.
When the prisoners were brought into
the camp, the emir was in his tent. He
did not show himself. This was for
tunate no doubt. A sign, word, from
him might have been the signal for
some bloody execution. But he in
trenched himself in that isolation
which constitutes in part the majesty
of eastern kings. He who does not
show himself is admired and, above
all, feared.
AS to the prisoners, they were to be
penned up in some Enclosure where, i'll
treated, poorly fed and exposed to all
the inclemencies of the weather, they
would await Feofars pleasure.
The most docile and patient of them
all was undoubtedly Michael Strogoff.
He allowed himself to be led, for they
were leading him where he wished to
go and under conditions of safety
which free he could not have found on
the road from Kalyvan to Tomsk. To
escape before reaching that town was
to risk again falling into the hands of
the scouts who were securing the
steppe.
At the same time with Michael Stro-
gof and many other prisoners Harry
Blount and Alcide Jollvet had also been
taken to the Tartar camp. Their for
mer travelling companion, captured like
them at the telegraph Office, knew that
they were penned up with him In the
Enclosure, guarded by numerous senti-
nels, but he did not wish to accost
them. 1t mattered little to him, at this
time especially, what they might think
OF him since the affair at Iehim. Be