I examine the train and see that its composition has been modified on
account of there being fewer travelers between Kachgar and Pekin.
Instead of twelve carriages, there are now only ten, placed in the
following order: engine, tender, front van, two first-class cars,
dining car, two second-class cars, the van with the defunct mandarin,
rear van.
The Russian locomotives, which have brought us from Uzun-Ada, have been
replaced by a Chinese locomotive, burning not naphtha but coal, of
which there are large deposits in Turkestan, and stores at the chief
stations along the line.
My first care is to look in at the front van. The custom-house officers
are about to visit it, and I tremble for poor Kinko.
It is evident that the fraud has not been discovered yet, for there
would have been a great stir at the news. Suppose the case is passed?
Will its position be shifted? Will it be put hind side before or upside
down? Kinko will not then be able to get out, and that would be a
complication.
The Chinese officers have come out of the van and shut the door, so
that I cannot give a glance into it. The essential point is that Kinko
has not been caught in the act.
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