ABSTRACT

Next morning we started early and, just outside the town, were hailed by a couple of mounted men who took us to the inspection tent. I went at once with the papers in my hand into the principal tent, but found only a Chinese coolie engaged in making a fire. The occupants of the tent, the two controllers of the station, had gone down to one of the Chinese firms to carry out some investigations. If I would take a seat, they would soon return, which they did—after I had been waiting four hours. That is to say, one of them came, who unfortunately was only the second in command, and he could not let me and the caravan proceed until the arrival of the commandant himself. But what he could do was to satisfy his unbelievable curiosity during the two more hours that elasped before his chief arrived. He stuck his flat nose into every part of the loads on my wagons. My Mongol, Dagbar, who suspected nothing about the perilous wares lying hidden at the bottom on the two boxes, was helpfulness itself and assisted the official to shift the goods and open up the packages, so that the latter should be able to see as much as possible. They came appallingly near to the two compromising boxes. To render him harmless I ordered Dagbar to keep the foal at a distance of twenty yards from the wagons, in the hope that this would require all his energy for a good while ; and it did—so for once the foal was of some use.