essity of killing everybody who knew them to be Bolsheviks, so
that the crime should be cast upon the Chinese robber gangs who
occasionally raid Russian territory. This important point in the
regeneration of Russia settled, they shot the man in the chest, the
bullet coming out by the shoulder-blade. The wife, begging for the life
of her husband, was bayoneted, and the aroused Chinese workman was
dispatched with a rifle. Then these harmless idealists proceeded to
depart. So far they had not touched the girl, but the father, on
regaining consciousness, heard the closed door open again, saw the
leader of the "comrades" re-enter and pick up a small axe near the fire,
with which he proceeded to smash the head of the child. Nature in its
terrible revolt gave the father the power to raise himself slightly from
the floor in a vain effort to grapple with this representative of the
new regime. The commissar shouted: "What, still alive!" and fired two
more point-blank shots at the prostrate man.

It was entirely due to the tenacity of the father that the object of the
killing was frustrated and the identification of the scoundrels with the
Bolshevik commanders operating in this neighbourhood completed. I had
no time to pick up the trail and punish the murderers. What sort of
punishment the Tommies would have decided as necessary to fit the crime
is better imagined than described!

It was June when we passed over the Hinghan range, a series of sand
mountains of great extent which form the breeding-ground for numerous
herds of horses who spread themselves over the slopes and plains and
sometimes endanger the safety of the railway. Snow was falling in
clouds, and banked itself against the rails and telegraphs in a
surprising manner considering the time of the year. The summer of this
wild region lasts about two months--July and August--during which time
the sand becomes hot, and travelling is not comfortable. After crossing
the summit the plains fell gradually away, enabling the trains to move
with great rapidity, and in less than two days we struck Harbin, and
donned our topees and tropical clothes.

Harbin is the centre of Chinese and Russian political and financial
intrigue. Other races take a fair hand in the business, but the
predominance must be conceded to these two. There is some sort of
national feeling amongst the worst type of Russian speculator, but none
amongst the Chinese. The Harbin Chinaman is perfectly denationalis