before long we struck the road which we had travelled coming northand saw again the kindly rows of chopped down telegraph poles whichhad once so warmly protected us. over the timbered hillocks northof the valley of tisingol we wended just as it was growing dark.
we decided to stay in bobroff's house and our companions thought toseek the hospitality of kanine in the telegraph station. at thestation gate we found a soldier with a rifle, who questioned us asto who we were and whence we had come and, being apparentlysatisfied, whistled out a young officer from the house.
"lieutenant ivanoff," he introduced himself. "i am staying herewith my detachment of white partisans."he had come from near irkutsk with his following of ten men and hadformed a connection with lieutenant-colonel michailoff atuliassutai, who commanded him to take possession of thisblockhouse.
"enter, please," he said hospitably.
i explained to him that i wanted to stay with bobroff, whereat hemade a despairing gesture with his hand and said:
"don't trouble yourself. the bobroffs are killed and their houseburned."i could not keep back a cry of horror.
the lieutenant continued: "kanine and the pouzikoffs killed them,pillaged the place and afterwards burned the house with their deadbodies in it. do you want to see it?"my friend and i went with the lieutenant and looked over theominous site. blackened uprights stood among charred beams andplanks while crockery and iron pots and pans were scattered allaround. a little to one side under some felt lay the remains ofthe four unfortunate individuals. the lieutenant first spoke:
"i reported the case to uliassutai and received word back that therelatives of the deceased would come with two officers, who wouldinvestigate the affair. that is why i cannot bury the bodies.""how did it happen?" we asked, oppressed by the sad picture.
"it was like this," he began. "i was approaching tisingol at nightwith my ten soldiers. fearing that there might be reds here, wesneaked up to the station and looked into the windows. we sawpouzikoff, kanine and the short-haired girl, looking over anddividing clothes and other things and weighing lumps of silver. idid not at once grasp the significance of all this; but, feelingthe need for continued caution, ordered one of my soldiers to climbthe fence and open the gate. we rushed into the court. the firstto run from the house was kanine's wife, who threw up her hands andshrieked in fear: "i knew that misfortune would come of all this!"and then fainted. one of the men ran out of a side door to a shedin the yard and there tried to get over the fence. i had notnoticed him but one of my soldiers caught him. we were met at thedoor by kanine, who was white and trembling. i realized thatsomething important had taken place, placed them all under arrest,ordered the men tied and placed a close guard. all my questionswere met with silence save by madame kanine who cried: 'pity, pityfor the children! they are innocent!' as she dropped on her kneesand stretched out her hands in supplication to us. the short-haired girl laughed out of impudent eyes and blew a puff of smokeinto my face. i was forced to threaten them and said:
"'i know that you have committed some crime, but you do not want toconfess. if you do not, i shall shoot the men and take the womento uliassutai to try them there.'
"i spoke with definiteness of voice and intention, for they rousedmy deepest anger. quite to my surprise the short-haired girl firstbegan to speak.
"'i want to tell you about everything,' she said.
"i ordered ink, paper and pen brought me. my soldiers were thewitnesses. then i prepared the protocol of the confession ofpouzikoff's wife. this was her dark and bloody tale.
"'my husband and i are bolshevik commissars and we have been sentto find out how many white officers are hidden in mongolia. butthe old fellow bobroff knew us. we wanted to go away but kaninekept us, telling us that bobroff was rich and that he had for along time wanted to kill him and pillage his place. we agreed tojoin him. we decoyed the young bobroff to come and play cards withus. when he was going home my husband stole along behind and shothim. afterwards we all went to bobroff's place. i climbed uponthe fence and threw some poisoned meat to the dogs, who were deadin a few minutes. then we all climbed over. the first person toemerge from the house was bobroff's wife. pouzikoff, who washidden behind the door, killed her with his ax. the old fellow wekilled with a blow of the ax as he slept. the little girl ran outinto the room as she heard the noise and kanine shot her in thehead with buckshot. afterwards we looted the house and burned it,even destroying the horses and cattle. later all would have beencompletely burned, so that no traces remained, but you suddenlyarrived and these stupid fellows at once betrayed us.'
"it was a dastardly affair," continued the lieutenant, as wereturned to the station. "the hair raised on my head as i listenedto the calm description of this young woman, hardly more than agirl. only then did i fully realize what depravity bolshevism hadbrought into the world, crushing out faith, fear of god andconscience. only then did i understand that all honest people mustfight without compromise against this most dangerous enemy ofmankind, so long as life and strength endure."as we walked i noticed at the side of the road a black spot. itattracted and fixed my attention.
"what is that?" i asked, pointing to the spot.
"it is the murderer pouzikoff whom i shot," answered thelieutenant. "i would have shot both kanine and the wife ofpouzikoff but i was sorry for kanine's wife and children and ihaven't learned the lesson of shooting women. now i shall sendthem along with you under the surveillance of my soldiers touliassutai. the same result will come, for the mongols who trythem for the murder will surely kill them."this is what happened at tisingol, on whose shores the will-o'-the-wisp flits over the marshy pools and near which runs the cleavageof over two hundred miles that the last earthquake left in thesurface of the land. maybe it was out of this cleavage thatpouzikoff, kanine and the others who have sought to infect thewhole world with horror and crime made their appearance from theland of the inferno. one of lieutenant ivanoff's soldiers, who wasalways praying and pale, called them all "the servants of satan."our trip from tisingol to uliassutai in the company of thesecriminals was very unpleasant. my friend and i entirely lost ourusual strength of spirit and healthy frame of mind. kaninepersistently brooded and thought while the impudent woman laughed,smoked and joked with the soldiers and several of our companions.
at last we crossed the jagisstai and in a few hours descried atfirst the fortress and then the low adobe houses huddled on theplain, which we knew to be uliassutai.
