th Chinese administration, cross Mongolia from north
to south, traverse the desert in the southern part of the Principality
of Jassaktu Khan, enter the Gobi in the western part of Inner Mongolia,
strike as rapidly as possible through sixty miles of Chinese territory
in the Province of Kansu and penetrate into Tibet. Here I hoped to
search out one of the English Consuls and with his help to reach some
English port in India. I understood thoroughly all the difficulties
incident to such an enterprise but I had no other choice. It only
remained to make this last foolish attempt or to perish without doubt
at the hands of the Boisheviki or languish in a Chinese prison. When I
announced my plan to my companions, without in any way hiding from them
all its dangers and quixotism, all of them answered very quickly and
shortly: "Lead us! We will follow."

One circumstance was distinctly in our favor. We did not fear hunger,
for we had some supplies of tea, tobacco and matches and a surplus of
horses, saddles, rifles, overcoats and boots, which were an excellent
currency for exchange. So then we began to initiate the plan of the new
expedition. We should start to the south, leaving the town of Uliassutai
on our right and taking the direction of Zaganluk, then pass through the
waste lands of the district of Balir of Jassaktu Khan, cross the Naron
Khuhu Gobi and strike for the mountains of Boro. Here we should be able
to take a long rest to recuperate the strength of our horses and of
ourselves. The second section of our journey would be the passage
through the western part of Inner Mongolia, through the Little Gobi,
through the lands of the Torguts, over the Khara Mountains, across
Kansu, where our road must be chosen to the west of the Chinese town of
Suchow. From there we should have to enter the Dominion of Kuku Nor and
then work on southward to the head waters of the Yangtze River. Beyond
this I had but a hazy notion, which however I was able to verify from a
map of Asia in the possession of one of the officers, to the effect that
the mountain chains to the west of the sources of the Yangtze separated
that river system from the basin of the Brahmaputra in Tibet Proper,
where I expected to be able to find English assistance.

CHAPTER XV

THE MARCH OF GHOSTS

In no other way can I describe the journey from the River Ero to the
border of Tibet. About eleven hundred miles through the snowy steppes,
over mountains and across