d, a day's work
yielded nearly five miles of track, whereas in the plains of the United
States only about half that rate was accomplished. Labor cost little;
forty-five francs a month for the men from the oasis, fifty centimes a
day for those who came from Bokhara.

It was in this way that Skobeleff's soldiers were taken to Kizil Arvat,
and then eighty-four miles beyond to Gheok Tepe. This town did not
surrender until after the destruction of its ramparts and the massacre
of twelve thousand of its defenders; but the oasis of Akhal Tekke was
in the power of the Russians. The inhabitants of the Atek oasis were
only too ready to submit, and that all the more willingly as they had
implored the help of the czar in their struggle with Kouli Khan, the
chief of the Mervians. These latter to the number of two hundred and
fifty thousand, followed their example, and the first locomotive
entered Merv station in July, 1886.

"And the English?" I asked Major Noltitz. "In what way have they looked
upon the progress of the Russians through Central Asia?"

"Jealously, of course. Think for a moment what it means when the
Russian railways are united with the Chinese, instead of the Indian.
The Transcaspian in connection with the line between Herat and Delhi!
And consider that the English have not been as fortunate in Afghanistan
as we have been in Turkestan. You have noticed the gentleman in our
train?"

"I have. He is Sir Francis Trevellyan of Trevellyan Hall,
Trevellyanshire."

"Well, Sir Francis Trevellyan has nothing but looks of contempt and
shrugs of the shoulder for all we have done. His nation's jealousy is
incarnate in him, and England will never be content that our railways
should go from Europe to the Pacific Ocean, while the British railways
end at the Indian Ocean."

This interesting conversation had lasted for the hour and a half during
which we walked about the streets of Kizil Arvat. It was time to return
to the station, and we did so.

Of course, matters did not end here. It was agreed that the major
should leave his seat in the third car and occupy that next to mine in
the first. We had already been two inhabitants of the same town; well,
we would become two neighbors in the house, or, rather, two friends in
the same room.

At nine o'clock the signal to start was given. The train leaving Kizil
Arvat went off in a southwesterly direction towards Askhabad, along the
Persian frontier.

For another half hour the