The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1905-06-17
CHAPTER K.

d
bundled miles from Uzan Ada. We have
.even hours to stop at Merv, and in
company with Major Noltitz l 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 Pekin."
THANK you, Popof."
l rush to the telegraph Office, and from
there I send telegram to the Iwentl-
eth Century.
'Merv. 10th 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."
1t cost good DEAL did this telegram,
but YOU will admit it was well worth It's
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 it.
We left the station at eight O'Clock
precisely Forty minutes afterward we
passed near old Merv, and the night be-
ing dark, 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
artesian 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 sleeping car.
The train enters Tchardjoui Station to
the minute Our stop here ought to last
a quarter of an hour. A few travellers
aIight, 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.
I also get out and take a walk up
and down by the side of the front van,
and l 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-
ieum 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?
On the contrary, is it not his intention,
as | am afraid it 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-
pearing 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 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 man of middle height. 1.-THE in
his movements, and with gliding kind
of walk. He could roll himself up like
cat and find quite room enough in his
case. He wears an old vest, his trous-
ers are held up by belt and his cap
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-
hind him. As soon as the train is on the
move 1 will knock at the panel, and this
time
More of the unexpected. Instead of
waiting at Tchardjoui one quarter of an
hour, we have to wait three. A slight
injury to one of the brakes of the en-
CINE has had to be repaired, and, not
withstanding the German baron's remon-
strances, we do not leave the station be-
fore half past three, as the day is be-
ginning to dawn.
At o'clock in the morning the train
stops at the capital of the Khanate of
Bokhara, 1,1O7 miles from Ubun Ada.
Bokhara, the capital of Khanate, is the
Rome Of Islam, the Noble City, the City
of Temples. the revered center of the
Mohammedan religion.
Major Noltitz advised me to visit the
town in which he had lived several
times. He could not accompany me, hav-
ing several visits to pay. We were to
start again at II o'clock in the morning.
Five hours only to wait, and the town
some distance from the railway station.
In four hours l have seen most of the
notable things in Bokhara, and at 1880
alighted at the railway station. l see
at glance that all my numbers are on
the platform, including my German bar
on. In the rear of the train the Per-
slams are keeping faithful guard around
the mandarin Yen Lou. 1t seems that
- three of our travelling companions are
observing them with persistent curiosity
these are the suspicious looking Mon
gols we picked up at Douchak. As
pass near them l fancy that Faruskiar
makes signal to them, which l do not
understand. Does he know them? Any.
how, this circumstance rather puzzles
me.
The train is no sooner of than the
passengers go to the dining car The
places next to mine and the majors
which had been occupied since the start
sre now vacant, and the young China
man. followed by DR.. Ticking, take ad.
vantage Of 1t to come near us. Pan.
Chao knows I am on the staff Of the
Twentieth Century, and he is apparently
as DESTROYS Of talking to me as / am OF
talking to him.
L am not mistaken. He is a true pa
risian OF the Boulevard. in the clothe,
OF Celestial. He has spent three year,
In the world where people amuse them.
selves, and also in the world where they
learn. The Onlv ann Nf Ill