As we approached the telegraph station, we were met by a blondeyoung man who was in charge of the office, Kanine by name. Withsome little confusion he offered us a place in his house for thenight. When we entered the room, a tall, lanky man rose from thetable and indecisively walked toward us, looking very attentivelyat us the while.

"Guests . . ." explained Kanine. "They are going to Khathyl.

Private persons, strangers, foreigners . . .""A-h," drawled the stranger in a quiet, comprehending tone.

While we were untying our girdles and with difficulty getting outof our great Mongolian coats, the tall man was animatedlywhispering something to our host. As we approached the table tosit down and rest, I overheard him say: "We are forced to postponeit," and saw Kanine simply nod in answer.

Several other people were seated at the table, among them theassistant of Kanine, a tall blonde man with a white face, whotalked like a Gatling gun about everything imaginable. He was halfcrazy and his semi-madness expressed itself when any loud talking,shouting or sudden sharp report led him to repeat the words of theone to whom he was talking at the time or to relate in amechanical, hurried manner stories of what was happening around himjust at this particular juncture. The wife of Kanine, a pale,young, exhausted-looking woman with frightened eyes and a facedistorted by fear, was also there and near her a young girl offifteen with cropped hair and dressed like a man, as well as thetwo small sons of Kanine. We made acquaintance with all of them.

The tall stranger called himself Gorokoff, a Russian colonist fromSamgaltai, and presented the short-haired girl as his sister.

Kanine's wife looked at us with plainly discernible fear and saidnothing, evidently displeased over our being there. However, wehad no choice and consequently began drinking tea and eating ourbread and cold meat.

Kanine told us that ever since the telegraph line had beendestroyed all his family and relatives had felt very keenly thepoverty and hardship that naturally followed. The Bolsheviki didnot send him any salary from Irkutsk, so that he was compelled toshift for himself as best he could. They cut and cured hay forsale to the Russian colonists, handled private messages andmerchandise from Khathyl to Uliassutai and Samgaltai, bought andsold cattle, hunted and in this manner managed to exist. Gorokoffannounced that his commercial affairs compelled him to go toKhathyl and that he and his sister would be glad to join ourcaravan. He had a most unprepossessing, angry-looking face withcolorless eyes that always avoided those of the person with whom hewas speaking. During the conversation we asked Kanine if therewere Russian colonists near by, to which he answered with knittedbrow and a look of disgust on his face:

"There is one rich old man, Bobroff, who lives a verst away fromour station; but I would not advise you to visit him. He is amiserly, inhospitable old fellow who does not like guests."During these words of her husband Madame Kanine dropped her eyesand contracted her shoulders in something resembling a shudder.

Gorokoff and his sister smoked along indifferently. I very clearlyremarked all this as well as the hostile tone of Kanine, theconfusion of his wife and the artificial indifference of Gorokoff;and I determined to see the old colonist given such a bad name byKanine. In Uliassutai I knew two Bobroffs. I said to Kanine thatI had been asked to hand a letter personally to Bobroff and, afterfinishing my tea, put on my overcoat and went out.

The house of Bobroff stood in a deep sink in the mountains,surrounded by a high fence over which the low roofs of the housescould be seen. A light shone through the window. I knocked at thegate. A furious barking of dogs answered me and through the cracksof the fence I made out four huge black Mongol dogs, showing theirteeth and growling as they rushed toward the gate. Inside thecourt someone opened the door and called out: "Who is there?"I answered that I was traveling through from Uliassutai. The dogswere first caught and chained and I was then admitted by a man wholooked me over very carefully and inquiringly from head to foot. Arevolver handle stuck out of his pocket. Satisfied with hisobservations and learning that I knew his relatives, he warmlywelcomed me to the house and presented me to his wife, a dignifiedold woman, and to his beautiful little adopted daughter, a girl offive years. She had been found on the plain beside the dead bodyof her mother exhausted in her attempt to escape from theBolsheviki in Siberia.

Bobroff told me that the Russian detachment of Kazagrandi hadsucceeded in driving the Red troops away from the Kosogol and thatwe could consequently continue our trip to Khathyl without danger.

"Why did you not stop with me instead of with those brigands?"asked the old fellow.

I began to question him and received some very important news. Itseemed that Kanine was a Bolshevik, the agent of the IrkutskSoviet, and stationed here for purposes of observation. However,now he was rendered harmless, because the road between him andIr............