THE RIVER OF THE DEVIL
Ulan Taiga with Darkhat Ola lay behind us. We went forward very rapidly
because the Mongol plains began here, free from the impediments of
mountains. Everywhere splendid grazing lands stretched away. In places
there were groves of larch. We crossed some very rapid streams but they
were not deep and they had hard beds. After two days of travel over
the Darkhat plain we began meeting Soyots driving their cattle rapidly
toward the northwest into Orgarkha Ola. They communicated to us very
unpleasant news.
The Bolsheviki from the Irkutsk district had crossed the Mongolian
border, captured the Russian colony at Khathyl on the southern shore
of Lake Kosogol and turned, off south toward Muren Kure, a Russian
settlement beside a big Lamaite monastery sixty miles south of Kosogol.
The Mongols told us there were no Russian troops between Khathyl and
Muren Kure, so we decided to pass between these two points to reach Van
Kure farther to the east. We took leave of our Soyot guide and, after
having sent three scouts in advance, moved forward. From the mountains
around the Kosogol we admired the splendid view of this broad Alpine
lake. It was set like a sapphire in the old gold of the surrounding
hills, chased with lovely bits of rich dark forestry. At night we
approached Khathyl with great precaution and stopped on the shore of the
river that flows from Kosogol, the Yaga or Egingol. We found a Mongol
who agreed to transport us to the other bank of the frozen stream and to
lead us by a safe road between Khathyl and Muren Kure. Everywhere along
the shore of the river were found large obo and small shrines to the
demons of the stream.
“Why are there so many obo?” we asked the Mongol.
“It is the River of the Devil, dangerous and crafty,” replied the
Mongol. “Two days ago a train of carts went through the ice and three of
them with five soldiers were lost.”
We started to cross. The surface of the river resembled a thick piece
of looking-glass, being clear and without snow. Our horses walked very
carefully but some fell and floundered before they could regain their
feet. We were leading them by the bridle. With bowed heads and trembling
all over they kept their frightened eyes ever on the ice at their feet.
I looked down and understood their fear. Through the cover of one foot
of transparent ice one could clearly see the bottom of the river. Under
the lighting of the moon all the stones, the holes and even some of the
grasses were distinctly visible, even though the depth was ten metres
and more. The Yaga rushed under the ice with a furious speed, swirling
and marking its course with long bands of foam and bubbles. Suddenly I
jumped and stopped as though fastened to the spot. Along the surface of
the river ran the boom of a cannon, followed by a second and a third.
“Quicker, quicker!” cried our Mongol, waving us forward with his hand.
Another cannon boom and a crack ran right close to us. The horses
swung back on their haunches in protest, reared and fell, many of them
striking their heads severely on the ice. In a second it opened up two
feet wide, so that I could follow its jagged course along the surface.
Immediately up out of the opening the water spread over the ice with a
rush.
“Hurry, hurry!” shouted the guide.
With great difficulty we forced our horses to jump over this cleavage
and to continue on further. They trembled and disobeyed and only the
strong lash forced them to forget this panic of fear and go on.
When we were safe on the farther bank and well into the woods, our
Mongol guide recounted to us how the river at times opens in this
mysterious way and leaves great areas of clear water. All the men and
animals on the river at such times must perish. The furious current of
cold water will always carry them down under the ice. At other times a
crack has been known to pass right under a horse and, where he fell in
with his front feet in the attempt to get back to the other side, the
crack has closed up and ground his legs or feet right off.
The valley of Kosogol is the crater of an extinct volcano. Its outlines
may be followed from the high west shore of the lake. However, the
Plutonic force still acts and, asserting the glory of the Devil, forces
the Mongols to build obo and offer sacrifices at his shrines. We spent
all the night and all the next day hurrying away eastward to avoid a
meeting with the Reds and seeking good pasturage for our horses. At
about nine o’clock in the evening a fire shone out of the distance. My
friend and I made toward it with the feeling that it was surely a Mongol
yurta beside which we could camp in safety. We traveled over a mile
before making out distinctly the lines of a group of yurtas. But nobody
came out to meet us and, what astonished us more, we were not surrounded
by the angry black Mongolian dogs with fiery eyes. Still, from the
distance we had seen the fire and so there must be someone there. We
dismounted from our horses and approached on foot. From out of the yurta
rushed two Russian soldiers, one of whom shot at me with his pistol but
missed me and wounded my horse in the back through the saddle. I brought
him to earth with my Mauser and the other was killed by the butt end of
my friend’s rifle. We examined the bodies and found in their pockets
the papers of soldiers of the Second Squadron of the Communist Interior
Defence. Here we spent the night. The owners of the yurtas had evidently
run away, for the Red soldiers had collected and packed in sacks the
property of the Mongols. Probably they were just planning to leave, as
they were fully dressed. We acquired two horses, which we found in the
bushes, two rifles and two automatic pistols with cartridges. In the
saddle bags we also found tea, tobacco, matches and cartridges--all of
these valuable supplies to help us keep further hold on our lives.
Two days later we were approaching the shore of the River Uri when
we met two Russian riders, who were the Cossacks of a certain Ataman
Sutunin, acting against the Bolsheviki in the valley of the River
Selenga. They were riding to carry a message from Sutunin to
Kaigorodoff, chief of the Anti-Bolsheviki in the Altai region. They
informed us that along the whole Russian-Mongolian border the Bolshevik
troops were scattered; also that Communist agitators had penetrated to
Kiakhta, Ulankom and Kobdo and had persuaded the Chinese authorities
to surrender to the Soviet authorities all the refugees from Russia.
We knew that in the neighborhood of Urga and Van Kure engagements were
taking place between the Chinese troops and the detachments of the
Anti-Bolshevik Russian General Baron Ungern Sternberg and Colonel
Kazagrandi, who were fighting for the independence of Outer Mongolia.
Baron Ungern had now been twice defeated, so that the Chinese were
carrying on high-handed in Urga, suspecting all foreigners of having
relations with the Russian General.
We realized that the whole situation was sharply reversed. The route to
the Pacific was closed. Reflecting very carefully over the problem,
I decided that we had but one possible exit left. We must avoid all
Mongolian cities with Chinese administration, cross Mongolia from north
to south, traverse the desert in the southern part of the Principality
of Jassaktu Khan, enter the Gobi in the western part of Inner Mongolia,
strike as rapidly as possible through sixty miles of Chinese territory
in the Province of Kansu and penetrate into Tibet. Here I hoped to
search out one of the English Consuls and with his help to reach some
English port in India. I understood thoroughly all the difficulties
incident to such an enterprise but I had no other choice. It only
remained to make this last foolish attempt or to perish without doubt
at the hands of the Boisheviki or languish in a Chinese prison. When I
announced my plan to my companions, without in any way hiding from them
all its dangers and quixotism, all of them answered very quickly and
shortly: “Lead us! We will follow.”
One circumstance was distinctly in our favor. We did not fear hunger,
for we had some supplies of tea, tobacco and matches and a surplus of
horses, saddles, rifles, overcoats and boots, which were an excellent
currency for exchange. So then we began to initiate the plan of the new
expedition. We should start to the south, leaving the town of Uliassutai
on our right and taking the direction of Zaganluk, then pass through the
waste lands of the district of Balir of Jassaktu Khan, cross the Naron
Khuhu Gobi and strike for the mountains of Boro. Here we should be able
to take a long rest to recuperate the strength of our horses and of
ourselves. The second section of our journey would be the passage
through the western part of Inner Mongolia, through the Little Gobi,
through the lands of the Torguts, over the Khara Mountains, across
Kansu, where our road must be chosen to the west of the Chinese town of
Suchow. From there we should have to enter the Dominion of Kuku Nor and
then work on southward to the head waters of the Yangtze River. Beyond
this I had but a hazy notion, which however I was able to verify from a
map of Asia in the possession of one of the officers, to the effect that
the mountain chains to the west of the sources of the Yangtze separated
that river system from the basin of the Brahmaputra in Tibet Proper,
where I expected to be able to find English assistance.