The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1905-07-08
CHAPTER x.

h1n
nsvan hours to stop at Merry, and In
oomnany with Major Noltitz ! do the
sown On our return TO the station
ponof runs up to me, saying:
II know the name.
"And 1t is?"
"Yen Lou, the great mandarin Yen
Lou Of Pekin."
THANK you, Popof."
I rush to the telegraph ONCE, and from
there send a telegram to the TWenti-
eth Century.
" "Merv, 18th May, p. m.
"Train. Grand Transasiatic, just leav-
ing Merv. Took from Douchak the body
Of the great mandarin Yen Lou coming
from Persia to Pekin."
II cost a good deal, did this telegram,
hit YOU will admit 1t was well worth its
mice The name Of Yen Lou was imme-
dietelv communicated to our fellow trav-
elers, and it seemed to me that my lord
Faruskiar smiled when he heard 1t.
We left the station at eight o'clock
nrecsely. Forty minutes afterward we
passed near old Merv, and the night be-
Ing dark, could see nothing Of 1t.
Our train is running northeast. The
Utations are twenty or thirty miles
opaEt We cross the desert, the. real
desert, without a thread of water, where
ertesian wells have to be sunk to supply
the reservoirs along the line. Gradually
nv companions 60 to sleep, and our car
riage is transformed into a sleeping car.
The train enters Tchardjoui Station to
the minute Our stop here ought to last
a quarter of an hour. A few travellers
aliRht for they have booked to this town,
which contains about thirty thousand IN
habitants Others get In to proceed to
Bokhara and Samarkand, but these are
only second-class passengers. This pro-
duces a certain amount of hustle ON the
platform.
| also get out and take walk up
and down by the side of the front van,
and | notice the door silently open and
shut. A man creeps out ON to the plat
form and slips away through the station,
which is dimly lighted by few petrO-
leum lamps.
1t Is my Roumanian, 1t can be no
one else He has not been seen, and
there he is, lost among the other. trav-
elers. Why this escape? Is it to renew
his provisions at the refreshment bar 7
On the contrary, is 1t not his intention.
as l am afraid 1t is, to get away from
US?
Shall stop him. I will make myself
known to him; promise to help him. Be
hold me then following him without ap-
pearng to do so. Amid all this hurrying
to and fro he is in little danger Of being
noticed. Neither Popof nor any Of the
company's servants would suspect him to
be swindler. Ia he going toward the
gate to escape met
No! He only wants to stretch his legs
better than he can do In the van. After
an imprisonment which has lasted since
ho left Baku-that is to say, about sixty
hours-he has earned ten minutes OF
freedom.
He Is man of middle height, 1.-the In
his movements. and with a gliding kind
OF walk. He could roll himself up like
a cat and find quite room enough In his
case He wears an old vest, his trous
ers are held up by belt and his car
Is fur one-all of dark color.
l am at ease regarding his Intentions
he returns toward the van, mounts the
platform and shuts the door gently be
mind him. AS soon as the train Ia ON tht
move | will knock at the panel, and this
time
More Of the unexpected. Instead Of
waiting at Tchardjoui one quarter of ar
hour, we have to wait three. A Sigh
INJURY to one Of the brakes Of the en-
gne has had to be repaired, and, not
outstanding the German baron's remon
strances, we do not leave the station be
lore half past three, as the day 10 be
ginning to dawn.
At o'clock In the morning the traiI
stops at the capital of the Khanate o.
bokhara, 1,107 miles from Ubun Ada
bokhara, the capital Of Khanate, 10 thu
home of Islam. the Noble City, the CIT!
OF Temples, the revered center Of tn
Mohammedan religion.
Major Noltitz advised me to visit tn
town In which he had lived severa
tllneS He could not accompany me, hav
ing several visits to pay. We were t.
start again at II o'clock In the morning
Five hours only to wait, and the tow
some distance from the railway station
IN four hours / have seen most Of tn
notable things in BOkhara, and at 1913
alighted at the railway station. &c
At glance that all my numbers are o.
= me Platform, including my German bar
On In the rear Of the train the Per
ASSPAAB
inc mandarin Yen Lou. 1t seems tina
'Hfse of our travelling companions ar
observing them with persistent curiosity
tnese are the suspicious looking Mon
SoIS we picked up at Douchak. As
pass near them fancy that Faruskla
makes a signal to them, which do no
Understand. Does he know them7 Any
me. ~---O
h Inc train is no sooner of than tn
p,aSsehgerS go to the dining car. TIL
pihces next to mine and the major'f
"n'ch had been occupied since the star
e now vacant, and the young China
r nau' followed by DR.. Tio-King, take I'd
C%hnAge OF 1t to come near US. Par
ma Tnao knows I am on the STAFF Of tn
"sntleth Century, and he is apparent
+o 10 GeSirous of talking to ME as am c
,,.i. am not mistaken. He is a true Ps
~ ISn OF the Boulevard. in the clothe
IN q, celestial. He has spent three year
a a. the world where people amuse then
les and also In the world where the
n iUU n, The only son Of rich mercha1
~ Eekin, he has travelled under the win