speak and
prophesy! But there exists a more powerful and more holy man. . ."

"Is it the King of the World in Agharti?" I interrupted.

He stared and glanced at me in amazement.

"Have you heard about him?" he asked, as his brows knit in thought.

After a few seconds he raised his narrow eyes and said: "Only one man
knows his holy name; only one man now living was ever in Agharti. That
is I. This is the reason why the Most Holy Dalai Lama has honored me and
why the Living Buddha in Urga fears me. But in vain, for I shall never
sit on the Holy Throne of the highest priest in Lhasa nor reach that
which has come down from Jenghiz Khan to the Head of our yellow Faith. I
am no monk. I am a warrior and avenger."

He jumped smartly into the saddle, whipped his horse and whirled away,
flinging out as he left the common Mongolian phrase of adieu: "Sayn!
Sayn-bayna!"

On the way back Tzeren related to us the hundreds of legends surrounding
Tushegoun Lama. One tale especially remained in my mind. It was in 1911
or 1912 when the Mongols by armed force tried to attain their liberty in
a struggle with the Chinese. The general Chinese headquarters in Western
Mongolia was Kobdo, where they had about ten thousand soldiers under the
command of their best officers. The command to capture Kobdo was sent
to Hun Baldon, a simple shepherd who had distinguished himself in fights
with the Chinese and received from the Living Buddha the title of Prince
of Hun. Ferocious, absolutely without fear and possessing gigantic
strength, Baldon had several times led to the attack his poorly armed
Mongols but each time had been forced to retreat after losing many of
his men under the machine-gun fire. Unexpectedly Tushegoun Lama arrived.
He collected all the soldiers and then said to them:

"You must not fear death and must not retreat. You are fighting and
dying for Mongolia, for which the gods have appointed a great destiny.
See what the fate of Mongolia will be!"

He made a great sweeping gesture with his hand and all the soldiers saw
the country round about set with rich yurtas and pastures covered
with great herds of horses and cattle. On the plains appeared numerous
horsemen on richly saddled steeds. The women were gowned in the finest
of silk with massive silver rings in their ears and precious ornaments
in their elaborate head dresses. Chinese merchants led an endless
caravan of merchandise up to distinguished looking Mongol Saits,
surroun