g and merciless of
the Russian leaders, had besieged them in their great fort of Geop Tepe,
an earthwork nearly three miles in circuit, and containing within its
ample walls a desert nation, more than forty thousand in all, men,
women, and children.

On that day, fatal to the Turkoman power, Skobeleff had taken the fort
by storm, dealing death wherever he moved, until not a man was left
alive within its walls except some hundreds of fettered Persian slaves.
Through its gateways a trembling multitude had fled, and upon these
miserable fugitives the Russian had let loose his soldiers, horse, foot,
and artillery, with the savage order to hunt them to the death and give
no quarter.

Only too well was the brutal order obeyed. Not men alone, but women and
children as well, fell victims to the sword, and only when night put an
end to the pursuit did that terrible massacre cease. By that time eight
thousand persons, of both sexes and all ages, lay stretched in death
upon the plain. Within the fort thousands more had fallen, the women and
children here being spared. Skobeleff's report said that twenty thousand
in all had been slain.

Such was the frightful scene which lay before O'Donovan's eyes when he
reached the mountain top, on his way to the Russian camp, a spectacle of
horrible carnage which only a man of the most savage instincts could
have ordered. "Bloody Eyes" the Turkomans named Skobeleff, and the title
fairly indicated his ruthless lust for blood. It was his theory of war
to strike hard when he struck at all, and to make each battle a lesson
that would not soon be forgotten. The Turkoman nomads have been taught
their lesson well. They have given no trouble since that day of
slaughter and revenge.

Such was one of the weapons with which the Russians conquered the
desert,--the sword. It was succeeded by another,--the iron rail. It is
now some twenty years since the idea of a railroad from the Caspian Sea
eastward was first advanced. In 1880 a narrow-gauge road was begun to
aid Skobeleff, but that daring and impetuous chief had made his march
and finished his work before the rails had crept far on their way. Soon
it was determined to change the narrow-gauge for a broad-gauge road, and
General Annenkoff, a skilful engineer, was placed in charge in 1885,
with orders to push it forward with all speed.

It was a new and bold project which the Russians had in view. Never
before had a railroad been built across so bleak