The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1905-05-17
p X.

train stopped at Merv station, over five
hundred miles from Uzan Ada. We have
seven hours to stop at Merv, and in
company with Major Noltitz I "do" the
town. On our return to the station
Popof runs up to me, saying:
II know the name"
"And 1t isT'
"Yen Lou, the great mandarin Yen
Lou Of Pekip.'
Thank you, Popof."
/ rush to the telegraph office, and from
there / send a telegram to the Twenti-
eth Century.
"Merv, 10th May, Z 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."
1t cost a good deal, did this telegram,
but you will admit it was well worth its
price. The name of Yen Lou was imme-
diately communicated to our fellow trav-
elers, and It seemed TO me that my lord
Faruskiar smiled when he heard ii.
We left the station Mt eight o'clock
precisely. Forty minutes a%fterward we
passed near old Merv, and the night be-
ing dark, l could see nothing of it.
Our train is running northeast. The
stations are twenty or thirty miles
apart. We cross the desert. the real
desert, without a thread Of water, where
a~rtesian wells have to be sunk to supply
the reservoirs along the line. Gradually
my companions go 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 nm hour. A few travellers
alight, 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-
iuces n certain amount of hustle on the
platform.
/ also get out and take a walk ND
and down by the side Of the front van.
and | notice the door silently open and
shut. A man creeps out on 70 the plat
form and slips away through the station.
which is dimly lighted by n few petro-
leum lamps.
1t is my Roumanian. 1t eau be no
oDe else. He has not been seen, and
here he is. lost among the other trav-
alers. Why this escape? Is il to renew
MS provisions at the refreshment bar?
On the contrary, is it not his intention,
as ! am afraid it is, to get away from
as?
Shall stop him? / will make myself
known to him; promise to help him. Be
hold me then following him without ap
pearing to do SO. Amid all this hurrying
to aud fro he is in little danger of being
noticed. Neither Popof nor any of the
company's servants would suspect him to
be a swindler. Is he going toward the
gate to escape me?
No! He only wants to stretch his legs
better than he can do in the van. After
an Imprisonment which has lasted since
he left Baku-that is to say, about sixty
hours-he has earned ten minutes of
freedom.
He is a 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 a belt and his cap
Is a fur one-all of dark color.
am at ease regarding his intentions.
he returns toward the van, mounts the
and shuts the door gently be-
hind him. AS soon as the train is on the
move will knock at the panel, and this
inc
More of the unexpected. Instead of
at Tchardjoui one quarter Of an
iour. we have to wait three. A slight
injury TO one of the brakes of the en-
'ine has had to be repaired, and, not
outstanding the German baron's remon-
frances. we do not leave the station be-
Orc half past three. as the day is be
to dawn.
At . o'clock in the morning the train
tops at the capital Of the Khanate of
3okhara, 1,107 miles from Ubun Ada.
Sokhara, the capital Of Khanate, is the
Rome of Islam, the Noble City, the City
Il Temples, the revered center of the
Ich.=aseaan religion.
Major Noltitz advised me to visit the
own in which he had lived several
INES. He could not accompany me, hay
several visits to pay. We were to
tart again at IL o'clock in the morning.
five hours only to wait, and the town
'ome distance from the railway station.
In. four hours I have seen most of the
things in Bokhara, and Mt 1890
alighted at the railway station. see
1t a glance that all my numbers are on
he platform, including my German bar
IN. In the rear of the train the Per-
are keeping faithful guard around
mandarin Yen Lou. 1t seems that
three OF our travelling companions are
observing them with persistent curiosity;
are the suspicious looking Mon
yols we picked up at Douchak. AS
pass near them | fancy that Faruskiar
makes a signal to them. which i do not
understand. Does he know them? Any
how, this circumstance rather puzzles
me.
The train is no sooner off than the
passengers go TO the dining car. The
Places next to mine and the majors