Anyhow, whatever were the reasons, the fact remains that every one who went on this expedition was keenly envied by those who stayed behind. I myself was among the envied ones, for to my own surprise I was allowed to go. When I applied to Mishchenko for permission to accompany Colonel Plaoutine, I hardly dared to hope that permission would be granted me, but granted it was, instantly and cheerfully. It was rather a damper, however, on my enthusiasm to receive immediately afterwards a small packet containing an antiseptic bandage for wounds, and to hear the regimental doctor hurriedly explain to me how to use it, and assure me that I would probably need it before I came back.
Below I give a plan of our wanderings. The reader is warned, however, that he must not look upon it as a map, my object being only to give him a general idea of our route, and of the respective positions occupied by the villages which we visited.
WITH THE. COSSACKS
We first crossed the Hun river and went to Ei dagow, where we passed the night. Next day we crossed the Liao river at Kolama. This frontier stream is here very unimposing, flowing as it does through a line
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]
level plain, and being only a few hundred yards across. The ice was very firm, and would evidently have supported, without a groan, a railway train in addition to our two "sotnia."
We crossed in the teeth of an icy wind that filled me with a perpetual fear lest my ears, or nose, or feet, or some other part of my anatomy should get frost-bitten without my knowing about it, and I was continuallyputting my hands to these different sections of my body in order to ascertain if they were still there. The beards and moustaches of those who had got such appendages were thick with icicles, while horns of ice several inches long formed on the noses of the horses.
We rested for the night in a little village near the Liao, and on the next day set out towards Davan, one "sotnia " going 'down the left bank of the river, the other down the right. On the way we captured twenty armed Chinamen, who wore the uniform of soldiers, but most of whose rifles did not bear the Russian mark, and were therefore broken in pieces by the Cossacks.
I saved one of them, however — a German Mauser — for myself, and a large quantity of ammunition with it, and carried it until the end of the expedition. The colonel warned me that if the Japanese took me prisoner with this rifle in my possession, they would certainly shoot me; but, in spite of this, I continued to bear it. I did not mean to use it against the Japanese, but I did mean to use it against the Hunghuze in case I was left behind, wounded and dismounted. The prospect of being by some chance abandoned, unarmed, to a people who have reduced cruelty to a fine art, was one that did not appeal to me.
This bit of business done, we proceeded on our way: to our left a fringe of trees bordering the banks of the Liao, to the right a vast plain to which we could see no end. As we rode along, I noticed that something struck the ground sharply within a dozen yards of my horse, which, alarmed at the little puff of dust raised by the missile, whatever it was, swerved suddenly. I did not hear the report of firearms, but I was nevertheless under the impression that this was a bullet, fired from a great distance, probably by the Hunghuze, who caused us trouble later on, and the officers around me were of the same opinion. A few yards further on, a second bullet struck the ground, raising another handful of dust, but there was nothing further just then.
After crossing the Hun river we passed the night at Erdagow, and crossed the Liao-ho into Chinese territory at Kolama. At a place called Asin, near Kolama, we learned that a number of Japanese soldiers and Chinese ex -bandits had been there the day before, conveying grain to the Japanese army. We met several caravans of Chinese carts carrying grain and goods from Yinkow to Tsinmintun, so that it was evident that the Japanese were not interfering with the traffic along the road.
At Kolama we divided, and went down both sides of the Liao-ho as far as Davan, whence we proceeded to Da-hwang-dee, a great business centre, where, in summer, bean cake is shipped in large quantities down the river. We then went still further south to a point about thirty miles distant from Newchwang and twenty miles from the sea, and then, turning north-west, struck the Chinese railway at Ta-ho-shan, returning to Kolama by the more northerly route indicated in the map.