We rested soundly in the yurta after the two days of travel whichhad brought us one hundred seventy miles through the snow and sharpcold. Round the evening meal of juicy mutton we were talkingfreely and carelessly when suddenly we heard a low, hoarse voice:

"Sayn--Good evening!"We turned around from the brazier to the door and saw a mediumheight, very heavy set Mongol in deerskin overcoat and cap withside flaps and the long, wide tying strings of the same material.

Under his girdle lay the same large knife in the green sheath whichwe had seen on the departing horseman.

"Amoursayn," we answered.

He quickly untied his girdle and laid aside his overcoat. He stoodbefore us in a wonderful gown of silk, yellow as beaten gold andgirt with a brilliant blue sash. His cleanly shaven face, shorthair, red coral rosary on the left hand and his yellow garmentproved clearly that before us stood some high Lama Priest,--with abig Colt under his blue sash!

I turned to my host and Tzeren and read in their faces fear andveneration. The stranger came over to the brazier and sat down.

"Let's speak Russian," he said and took a bit of meat.

The conversation began. The stranger began to find fault with theGovernment of the Living Buddha in Urga.

"There they liberate Mongolia, capture Urga, defeat the Chinesearmy and here in the west they give us no news of it. We arewithout action here while the Chinese kill our people and stealfrom them. I think that Bogdo Khan might send us envoys. How isit the Chinese can send their envoys from Urga and Kiakhta toKobdo, asking for assistance, and the Mongol Government cannot doit? Why?""Will the Chinese send help to Urga?" I asked.

Our guest laughed hoarsely and said: "I caught all the envoys,took away their letters and then sent them back . . . into theground."He laughed again and glanced around peculiarly with his blazingeyes. Only then did I notice that his cheekbones and eyes hadlines strange to the Mongols of Central Asia. He looked more likea Tartar or a Kirghiz. We were silent and smoked our pipes.

"How soon will the detachment of Chahars leave Uliassutai?" heasked.

We answered that we had not heard about them. Our guest explainedthat from Inner Mongolia the Chinese authorities had sent out astrong detachment, mobilized from among the most warlike tribe ofChahars, which wander about the region just outside the Great Wall.

Its chief was a notorious hunghutze leader promoted by the ChineseGovernment to the rank of captain on promising that he would bringunder subjugation to the Chinese authorities all the tribes of thedistricts of Kobdo and Urianhai. When he learned whither we weregoing and for what purpose, he said he could give us the mostaccurate news and relieve us from the necessity of going farther.

"Besides that, it is very dangerous," he said, "because Kobdo willbe massacred and burned. I know this positively."When he heard of our unsuccessful attempt to pass through Tibet, hebecame attentive and very sympathetic in his bearing toward us and,with evident feeling of regret, expressed himself strongly:

"Only I could have helped you in this enterprise, but not theNarabanchi Hutuktu. With my laissez-passer you could have goneanywhere in Tibet. I am Tushegoun Lama."Tushegoun Lama! How many extraordinary tales I had heard abouthim. He is a Russian Kalmuck, who because of his propaganda workfor the independence of the Kalmuck people made the acquaintance ofmany Russian prisons under the Czar and, for the same cause, addedto his list under the Bolsheviki. He escaped to Mongolia and atonce attained to great influence among the Mongols. It was nowonder, for he was a close friend and pupil of the Dalai Lama inPotala (Lhasa), was the most learned among the Lamites, a famousthaumaturgist and doctor. He occupied an almost independentposition in his relationship with the Living Buddha and achieved tothe leadership of all the old wandering tribes of Western Mongoliaand Zungaria, even extending his political domination over theMongolian tribes of Turkestan. His influence was irresistible,based as it was on his great control of mysterious science, as heexpressed it; but I was also told that it has its foundationlargely in the panicky fear which he could produce in the Mongols.

Everyone who disobeyed his orders perished. Such an one never knewthe day or the hour when, in his yurta or beside his gallopinghorse on the plains, the strange and powerful friend of the DalaiLama would appear. The stroke of a knife, a bullet or strongfingers strangling the neck like a vise accomplished the justice ofthe plans of this miracle worker.

Without the walls of the yurta the wind whistled and roared anddrove the frozen snow sharply against the stretched felt. Throughthe roar of the wind came the sound of many voices in mingledshouting, wailing and laughter. I felt that in such surroundingsit were not difficult to dumbfound a wandering nomad with miracles,because Nature herself had prepared the setting for it. Thisthought had scarcely time to flash through my mind before TushegounLama suddenly raised his head, looked sharply at me and said:

"There is very much unknown in Nature and the skill of using theunknown produces the miracle; but the power is given to few. Iwant to prove it to you and you may tell me afterwards whether youhave seen it before or not."He stood up, pushed back the sleeves of his yellow garment, seizedhis knife and strode across to the shepherd.

"Michik, stand up!" he ordered.

When the shepherd had risen, the Lama quickly unbuttoned his coatand bared the man's chest. I could not yet understand what was hisintention, when suddenly the Tushegoun with all his force struckhis knife into the chest of the shepherd. The Mongol fell allcovered with blood, a splash of which I noticed on the yellow silkof the Lama's coat.

"What have you done?" I exclaimed.

"Sh! Be still," he whispered turning to me his now quite blanchedface.

With a few strokes of the knife he opened the chest of the Mongoland I saw the man's lungs softly breathing and the distinctpalpitations of the heart. The Lama touched these organs with hisfingers but no more blood appeared to flow and the face of theshepherd was quite calm. He was lying with his eyes closed andappeared to be in deep and quiet sleep. As the Lama began to openhis abdomen, I shut my eyes in fear and horror; and, when I openedthem a little while later, I was still more dumbfounded at seeingthe shepherd with............