had been rather _persona non grata_ in Urga
since the collapse of the empire, and the Mongols were ready to
annoy them whenever it was possible to do so and "get away with it."
All foreigners are supposed to be Russians by the average native
and, when the black Mongol discovered us using a strange machine, he
thought it an excellent opportunity to "show off" before the lamas.
Therefore, he told them that we were casting a spell over the great
temple by means of the motion picture camera which I was swinging up
and down and from side to side. This may not be the true explanation
of the trouble but at least it was the one which sounded most
logical to us.

Our lama had been caught in the city, and it was with difficulty
that we were able to obtain his release. The police charged that he
tried to escape when they ordered him to stop. He related how they
had slapped his face and pulled his ears before they allowed him to
leave the jail, and he was a very much frightened young man when he
appeared at Andersen, Meyer's compound. However, he was delighted to
have escaped so easily, as he had had excellent prospects of
spending a week or two in one of the prison coffins.

The whole performance had the gravest possibilities, and we were
exceedingly fortunate in not having been seriously injured or
killed. By playing upon their superstitions, the black Mongol had so
inflamed the lamas that they were ready for anything. I should never
have allowed them to separate me from my wife and, to prevent it,
probably would have had to use my pistol. Had I begun to shoot,
death for both of us would have been inevitable.

The day that we arrived in Urga from the plains we found the city
flooded. The great square in front of the horse market was a
chocolate-colored lake; a brown torrent was rushing down the main
street; and every alley was two feet deep in water, or a mass of
liquid mud. It was impossible to walk without wading to the knees
and even our horses floundered and slipped about, covering us with
mud and water. The river valley, too, presented quite a different
picture than when we had seen it last. Instead of open sweeps of
grassland dotted with an occasional _yurt_, now there were hundreds
of felt dwellings interspersed with tents of white or blue. It was
like the encampment of a great army, or a collection of huge
beehives.

Most of the inhabitants were Mongols from the city who had pitched
their _yurts_ in the valley for t