uneasy at the prolongation of the combat. It will continue
evidently as long as the chief of the band--a tall man with a black
beard--urges on his accomplices to the attack on the train. Up till now
he has escaped unhurt, and, in spite of all we can do, he is gaining
ground. Shall we be obliged to take refuge in the vans, as behind the
walls of a fortress, to entrench ourselves, to fight until the last has
succumbed? And that will not be long, if we cannot stop the retrograde
movement which is beginning on our side.

To the reports of the guns there are now added the cries of the women,
who in their terror are running about the gangways, although Miss
Bluett and Madame Caterna are trying to keep them inside the cars. A
few bullets have gone through the panels, and I am wondering if any of
them have hit Kinko.

Major Noltitz comes near me and says: "This is not going well."

"No, it is not going well," I reply, "and I am afraid the ammunition
will give out. We must settle their commander-in-chief. Come, major--"

But what we are about to do was done by another at that very instant.

This other was Faruskiar. Bursting through the ranks of the assailants,
he cleared them off the line, in spite of the blows they aimed at him.
He is in front of the bandit chief, he raises his arm, he stabs him
full in the chest.

Instantly the thieves beat a retreat, without even carrying off their
dead and wounded. Some run across the plain, some disappear in the
thickets. Why pursue them, now that the battle has ended in our favor?
And I must say that without the admirable valor of Faruskiar, I do not
expect any of us would have lived to tell the story.

But the chief of the bandits is not dead, although the blood flows
abundantly from his chest.

He has fallen with one knee on the ground, one hand up, with the other
he is supporting himself.

Faruskiar stands over him, towering above him.

Suddenly he rises in a last effort, his arm threatens his adversary, he
looks at him.

A last thrust of the kandijar is driven into his heart.

Faruskiar returns, and in Russian, with perfect calmness, remarks:

"Ki-Tsang is dead! So perish all who bear weapons against the Son of
Heaven!"

CHAPTER XXI.

And so it was Ki-Tsang who had just attacked the Grand Transasiatic on
the plains of Gobi. The pirate of Vunnan had learned that a van
containing gold and precious stones of enormous value had formed part
of this train! And was