word
came that the troops of the empire were converging from all parts of
Central Asia upon the fords of the Toorgai, as the best place to cut off
the flight of the tribes, while a powerful army was marching rapidly
upon their rear, though delayed by its artillery.

On the 2d of February Ouchim, the much-desired defile, was reached. The
Cossacks had been out-marched. A considerable body of them, it is true,
had reached the pass some hours before, but they were attacked and so
fiercely dealt with that few of them escaped. The Kalmucks here
obtained revenge for the slaughter of their fellows twenty days before.

The road was now open. How long it would continue open was in doubt.
Word came that a large Russian army, led by General Traubenberg, was
advancing upon the Toorgai. He was to be met on his route by ten
thousand Bashkirs and as many Kirghises, implacable enemies of the
Kalmucks, from whom they had suffered in past years. The only hope now
lay in speed, and onward the Kalmucks pressed, their line of march
marked by the bodies of the dead. The weak, the sick, had to be left
behind; nothing was suffered to impede the rapidity of their flight.

From the starting-point on the Volga to the halting-ground on the
Toorgai, counting the circuits that had to be made, was full two
thousand miles, much of it traversed in the dead of winter, the cold,
for seven weeks of the journey, being excessively severe. Napoleon's
army in its retreat from Moscow suffered no more from the winter chill
than did this migrating nation. On many a morning the dawning light
shone on a circle that had gathered the night before around a sparse
fire (made from the lading of the camels or from broken-up
baggage-wagons), now dead and frozen stiff as they sat.

But at length the snows ceased to fall, the frost to chill. Spring came.
March and April passed away. May arrived with its balmy airs. Vernal
sights and sounds cheered them on every side. During all these months
they continued their march, and towards the end of May the Toorgai was
reached and crossed, and the weary wanderers, having left their enemies
far in the rear, hoped to find comfort and security during weeks of
rest, and to complete their journey with less of ruin and suffering.
They little dreamed that the worst of their task had yet to be endured.

During the five months of their wanderings their losses had been
frightfully severe. Not less than two hundred and fifty thousand membe