Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1905-07-07


"Quickw said the major. "Out of the
train!'
CHAPTER XXI.
In moment the passengers, more or
less bruised and alarmed, were out on
the track. Nothing but complaints and
questions uttered in three or four differ
ent languages, amid general bewilder-
ment.
Faruskiar, Ghangir and the four Mon
gols were the first to jump off the cars.
They are out on the line, kandijar in one
hand, revolver in the other. No doubt
an attack has been organized to pillage
the train.
The rails have been taken up for about
hundred yards, and the engine, after
humping over the sleepers, has come to
a standstill In a sand hill.
"What! The railroad not finished
and they sold me through ticket from
Tiflis to Pekin! And came by this
Transasiatic to save nine days in my
trip round the woridv' shouted the voice
of the irascible baron.
''The baron is mistaken" said Popof,
''the railway is completed, and If hum
dred yards of rails have been lifted here,
1t has been with some criminal inten-
ton"
'"To stop the train!' exclaim.
"And steal the treasure they are send
ing to Pekin" says Caterna.
There is no doubt Of that" says
Popof. "Be ready to repulse an attack
ut is Ki-Tsang and his gang that we
have to do with?' I ask.
Ki-Tsang! The name spread among
the passengers and caused inexpressible
terror.
The major said to me in a low voice,
"Why Ki-Tsang?, Why not my lord
FaruskiarY'
"He-the manager of the Transasi-
aticY'
'If it is true that the company had to
take several of these robber chiefs into
its confidence to assure the safety of the
trains"
Il will never believe that, major"
"As you please, Monsieur Bombarnac
But assuredly Faruskiar knew that this
pretended mortuary van contained mill
ions."
"Come, major, this is no time for jok-
ing"
No, it was the time for defending, and
defending ones self courageously. The
Chinese officer has placed his men around
the treasure van. They are twenty in
number, and the rest Of the passengers,
not counting the women, amount to thir-
ty. Popof distributes the weapons,
which are carried in case of attack.
Major Noltitz, Caterna, Pan Chao, Eph-
rinell, driver and stoker, passengers, Ash
attic and European, all resolve to fight
for the common safety.
On the right of the line, about a hun
dred yards away, stretches a deep,
gloomy thicket, a sort of jungle, in which
doubtless are hidden the robbers, await
ing the signal to pounce upon US.
Suddenly there is a burst of shouting,
the thicket has given passage to the
gang in ambush-some sixty Mongols,
nomads of the Cobb. If these rascals
beat US, the train will be pillaged, the
treasure Of the Son of Heaven will be
stolen, and, what concerns us more in
timately, the passengers will be massa-
cred without mercy.
And Faruskiar, whom Major Noltitz
so unjustly suspected? I look at him.
His face is no longer the same; his fine
features have become pale, his height
has increased, there is lightning in his
eyes.
The bandits fire volley, and begin
brandishing their arms and shouting
Faruskiar, pistol in one hand, kandijar in
the other, has rushed on to them, his
eyes cleaning, his lips covered with
light foam. Ghangir is at his side, fol-
lowed by four Mongols whom he is ex-
citing by word and gesture
Major Noltitz and I throw ourselves
into the midst of our assailants. Ca
terna is in front of us, his mouth open.
his white teeth ready to bite, his eyes
blinking, his revolver fourishing about.
The actor has given place to the old sail
or who has reappeared for the occasion.
These beggars want to board u.s."
said he. forward, forward, for the
honor Of the. flag! To port, there, fire!
To starboard, there, fire! All together,
fire!"
And it was with no property daggers
he was armed, nor dummy pistols loaded
with inoffensive powder. No! A revolver
in each hand, he was bounding along, fir
ing right and left, and everywhere.
Pan Chao also exposed himself brave
~, smile on his lips, CALAMITY leading
on the other Chinese passengers. Popof
and the railway men did their duty
bravely. Sir Francis Trevellyan, of
Trevellyan Hall, took matters very
coolly, but Ephrinell abandoned himself
to true Yankee fury, being no less irri-
tated at the interruption to his marriage
than as to the danger run by his forty
two packages Of artificial teeth.
Faruskiar, my hero-I cannot call him
anything eise-displays extraordinary in
trepidity, bearing himself the boldest In
the struggle, and when he had exhausted
his revolver, using his kandijar like
man who had often faced death and new
er feared It.
Already there were a few wounded -,