Chapter 7

The train arrived at Kizil Arvat, two hundred and forty-two versts from
the Caspian, at thirteen minutes past seven in the evening instead of
seven o'clock. This slight delay provoked thirteen objurgations from
the baron, one for each minute.

We have two hours to wait at Kizil Arvat. Although the day is closing
in, I could not employ my time better than in visiting this little
town, which contains more than two thousand inhabitants, Russians,
Persians and Turkomans. There is not much to see, however, either
within it or around it; there are no trees--not even a palm tree--only
pasturages and fields of cereals, watered by a narrow stream. My good
fortune furnished me with a companion, or I should rather say a guide,
in Major Noltitz.

Our acquaintance was made very simply. The major came up to me, and I
went up to him as soon as we set foot on the platform of the railway
station.

"Sir," said I, "I am a Frenchman, Claudius Bombarnac, special
correspondent of the _Twentieth Century_, and you are Major Noltitz of
the Russian army. You are going to Pekin, so am I. I can speak your
language, and it is very likely that you can speak mine."

The major made a sign of assent.

"Well, Major Noltitz, instead of remaining strangers to each other
during the long transit of Central Asia, would it please you for us to
become more than mere traveling companions? You know all about this
country that I do not know, and it would be a pleasure for me to learn
from you."

"Monsieur Bombarnac," replied the major in French, without a trace of
accent, "I quite agree with you."

Then he added with a smile:

"As to learning from me, one of your most eminent critics, if I
remember rightly, has said that the French only like to learn what they
know."

"I see that you have read Sainte Beuve, Major Noltitz; perhaps this
sceptical academician was right in a general way. But for my part, I am
an exception to the rule, and I wish to learn what I do not know. And
in all that concerns Russian Turkestan, I am in a state of ignorance."

"I am entirely at your disposal," said the major, "and I will be happy
to tell you all about General Annenkof, for I was all through the work
with him."

"I thank you, Major Noltitz. I expected no less than the courtesy of a
Russian towards a Frenchman."

"And," said the major, "if you will allow me to quote that celebrated
sentence in the _Danicheffs_, 'It will be always thus so long as there
are Frenchmen and Russians.'"

"The younger Dumas after Sainte Beuve?" I exclaimed. "I see, major,
that I am