We were armed now so that we could defend ourselves.

Moreover, I persuaded the happy possessor of my trousers to give us a permit to carry the weapons.

Then the law and force were both on our side.
In a distant village we bought three horses, two for riding and one for packing, engaged a guide, purchased dried bread, meat, salt and butter and, after resting twenty-four hours, began our trip up the Amyl toward the Sayan Mountains on the border of Urianhai.

There we hoped not to meet Bolsheviki, either sly or silly.

In three days from the mouth of the Tuba we passed the last Russian village near the Mongolian-Urianhai border, three days of constant contact with a lawless population, of continuous danger and of the ever present possibility of fortuitous death.