... We noticed
that the waters neither rose nor fell.... So we plowed our way back to
the other members of our party as speedily as we could.... On arriving
at the wall again we found my 'prisoner' lying propped up against
a large slab of concrete and breathing heavily while he held the
Empress' hand and essayed a feeble smile...."
33. The following entry seems to dovetail in:
"The walls of this old _cistern_ promise very little assurance for
our escape.... Still the cistern has its uses in circumstances like
these.... We KNOW, at least, that some kind of human beings are not
beyond our voices if we decide to call for help.... But WHAT KIND of
help?... That is the question.... Last night, as I stood on the floor
of the cistern I heard an amusing conversation.... A voice
overhead was growling; 'I'm as certain as I'm alive that the loan
of $250,000,000 has been made by Japan to those fiends who have
escaped,--and I KNOW they have the GOLD, for why have those trucks
disappeared?... so it is worth while to keep up this revolution until
we get our hands on some of it if we have to follow them all the way
to Vladivostok.'... 'That rumor has been floating around for the past
week,' another bass voice grumbled, 'and I'm inclined to think it is
all a game of bunko to divert attention from the pile of 600,000,000
the gang have smuggled into Omsk.'... 'Nonsense,' grunted the other;
'haven't we a thousand eyes at Harbin who know about the Chinese
Eastern deal?'.
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