Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1905-07-01
CHAPTER l.

L -,
Transcaucasia."
found on the 18th of May when l arrived
at Tihis.
This is what the telegram said:
AS the matters in hand will terminate
on the 10Th instant, Claudius Bombarnac
will repair to Uzun Ada, a port on the
east coast of the Caspian. There he
will take the train by the direct Grand
Transasiatic, between the European FROM
tier and the capital of the Celestial EN-
pire. He will transmit his impressions
in the way of news, interviewing remark
able people on the road, and report the
most trivial incidents by letter or tele-
gram as necessity dictates. The Twenti-
eth Century trusts to the zeal, intelli-
gence, activity and tact of its correspond
ent, who can draw on it's bankers to any
extent he may deem necessary"
1t was the very morning l had arrived
at Tihis, with the intention of spending
three weeks there in a visit to the
Georgian provinces for the benefit of my
newspaper, and also l hoped for that of
its readers.
Here was the unexpected, indeed the
uncertainty of special correspondents
life. l had hardly arrived before | was
ODNged TO be OH again WITHOUT unSlrap-
ping my portmanteau!
1t was hard, but there was no way out
of it. And to begin with, at what o'clock
did the train for Tifis start from the
Caspian? l went to the railway station
at a run, and rushed into the departure
office.
"When is there a train for Baku?" l
asked.
''Sx o'clock tonight"
"And when does it get there?'
"Seven o'clock in the morning"
as that in time, to catch the boat for
Uzun Ada?"
The man at the trap door replied to
my salute by a salute of mechanical pre-
cision. The question of passport did not
trouble me- The French consul would
know how to give me all the references
required by the Russian administration.
At o'clock, having secured my pass
port, l hurry to the railway station.
There there is a crowd of Armenians,
Georgians, Mingrelians, Tartars, Kurds,
Israeites, Russians, from the shores of
the Caspian, some taking their tickets
direct for Baku, some for intermediate
sta tons.
l take a ticket for Baku, first class.
go down on the platform to the carriages.
According to my CUSTOM | install myself
In a comfortable corner. A few travel
ers follow me, while the cosmopolitan
populace invade the second and third
class carriages. The doors are shut af
ter the visit of the ticket inspector. A
last scream of the whistle announces that
the train is about to start. Suddenly
there is a shout-a shout in which anger
Is mingled with despair-and l catch
these words in German:
stop! Stop"
put down the window and look out.
A fat man, bag in hand, travelling cap on
head, his legs embarrassed in the skirts
of a huge overcoat, short and breathless.
He is late. The porters try to stop him.
Try to stop a bomb in the middle of its
trajectory Once again has right to give
place to might.
The Teuton bomb describes a well-cal-
culated curve, and has just fallen into the
compartment next to ours, through the
door a traveller had obligngly left open.
The train begins to move at the same in
stant the engine wheels begin to slip on
the rails, then the speed increases. We
are off.
1t is still daylight at o'clock in the |
evening in this latitude. 1 have bought |
a time table and I consult it. Then l |
began to examine my travelling compan-
ions. There were four of us, and l need |
scarcely say that we occupied the four
corners of the compartment. l had taken |
the furthest corner, facing the engine. |
AT the two opposite angles two travellers |
were seated facing each other. AS soon |
as they got in they pulled their caps |
down on their eyes and wrapped them |
selves up in their cloaks-evidently they |
were Georgians. as far as 1 could see.
In front of me was quite a different |
type, with nothing Of the oriental about |
IT. thirty-two to thirty-five years old, face !
with a reddish beard, very much alive in |
look, nose like that of a dog standing at |
point, mouth only too glad to talk, hands |
free and easy, ready for shake with |
anybody; a tall, vigorous, broad-shoul- |
dered, powerful man. BY the way in |
which he settled himself and put down |
his Bag and unrolled his travelling rug
of bright-hued tartan, l had recognized |
the Anglo-Saxon traveller, more accus-
toned to long journeys by land and sea
than to the comforts of his home, if he
had a home. He looked like a CONNER
cia traveller. 1 noticed that his jewelry
was in profusion; rings on his fingers pin |
in his scarf studs on his cuffs with pho
Geographic views in them, snowy trinkets |
hanging from the watch chain across his |
waist coat. l should not have been sur |
prised if he turned out to be an Ameri- |
can.
If am not mistaken, he will be lust
as glad to speak to me as l am to speak |
to him-and reciprocally. 1 will see. But |
a fear restraints me. Suppose this Amer
lean should also be special correspond |
ent, and suppose he has also been or