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The Treasure of Tamerlane!

Page history last edited by Michael 5 years, 10 months ago

back to Back to Blighty or Hoist High the Jolly Roger

 


Friday, March 8, 1935

 

Lotta, Fury and Ivanov arrived by train from Karachi, and settled into rooms at the Hotel Metropole on Club Road. Air conditioning, famous bar, good service, fine dining and dancing, etc..  

 

Monday, March 11, 1935

 

 

Nora Cullin, Qua Lin Worthington, Bill Davis and Major DeLacy flew the two Heinkel Blitz aircraft from Mombasa to Karachi and joined the rest of the party at the Metropole.

 

luggage sticker from the period 1944-1949 (notice the Pan American Airways sign)

 

There, they planned their trip to the Tien Shan mountains. Specifically the destination was the Kok Shal range, forming the border between the (nominally) Chinese province of Sinkiang, and the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The actual goal of the expedition was to locate the lost treasure of Tamerlane, or something like that.

 

The two Blitz aircraft (obtained from Pierre Boulle) would be used for the journey, to be flown from the major airfield in Karachi, on to Peshawar and then to the mountains. The French CAMS 37/12 amphibian plane didn't have enough ceiling to be useful on the trip.

 

Karachi, the gateway of India as far as flying is concerned, has a large and well-organised aerodrome. For several years a terminus, rather than a gateway, for the British-India Imperial Airway, Karachi will become increasingly important with the completion of the Australian route. It is already fairly well equipped with good sheds and night landing lights, but as a good deal of money has been made available by the Indian Government for its further development, considerable improvement in its layout and facilities is to be expected in the near future.

 

For those who, like myself, have long been interested in the future of lighter-than-air craft, it is sad to see the mooring-mast, erected as one link of an Empire chain of bases for airships, not being utilised. The mast, together with the airship hangar which is used by Imperial Airways, is, however, kept in fine order, and both will, it is hoped, eventually serve the purpose for which they were built.

 

While at Karachi I stayed with Commander Watt, one of our few remaining airship officers, who is in charge of the airport, having been there for the last four years. He is an excellent organiser, and, indeed, I found all the officials most obliging and anxious to help ...

 

At the end of 1933 there were (in India) 82 civil aircraft, 37 being in the private category. On the same date there were in India 216 private pilots, 43 commercial and eight "limited commercial" pilots.

 

Flight, January 1935

 

The expedition could either fly to an existing airfield (or very fortunate flat spot) in Sinkiang or the Kirgiz ASSR; or, more daringly, directly into the Kok Shal range and onto the frozen lake in the Enilchek glacier. On this map, the red route is to an airfield at Kashgar; the blue route, directly to a mountain lake. The longitude lines are 265 miles apart; the Heinkel Blitz has a range of over 2000 miles. Peshawar to Kashgar is 380 miles; Peshawar to the Kok Shal mountains is about 500 miles. Crossing the Hindu Kush and the Pamirs requires a minimum ceiling of 15,000', IF you fly through the passes; better to have a few thousand feet more available ...

 

The trip by foot and pony from Gilgit to Kashgar takes 30 days in good weather. March is definitely not "good weather".

 

 

 

Bill Davis brought "from Czechoslovakia" several 7.92mm semi-auto ZH29 rifles and at least one ZB30 machine gun. Quick stats for setting up your inventory:

 

  • empty rifle with sling:  10 lbs.

  • loaded 10 round magazine:  1 lb.

  • loaded 20 round magazine:  1.8 lbs.

  • 100 rds. on 5-rd. stripper clips:  6 lbs.

  • bayonet in sheath on belt frog:  0.9 lbs

     

The rest of the stats are in the gun list. The 20 round magazines are meant for the ZB30 machine-gun (Ivanov was carrying one of those). The Czechs provide leather belt pouches that will hold two of the 20 round magazines, or four of the 10 round magazines (0.5 lbs. per empty pouch); or a canvas-and-leather seven-magazine bag-on-a-strap (seven of the 20 round mags, so presumably fourteen of the 10 round mags; it weighs 1 lb. empty).

 

 

 

Tuesday, March 12, 1935

 

Some modifications were made to the Blitz aircraft, to prepare them for landing on the frozen lake.

 

  • The revolution in Greece ended when ex-Premier Elentherios Venizelos fled with the wife, on the rebel cruiser Averoff from Canea on the island to Crete, to the Italian island of Rhodes. Infantry patrols scoured the Seres and Drama districts salvaging hundreds of rifles, equipment and field guns abandoned by the fleeing rebels. A total of 70,000,000 drachma (about $1,400,000) was stolen by rebel officers from the banks; railroad cars filled with officers and soldiers of the rebellious 4th Greek Army Corps arrived at the Turco-Greek frontier. The rebels surrendered to Turkish authorities, who disarmed and interned them.

  • In Cuba, under military rule, many government and industrial employees returned to work. Arrests continued during the day. Thousands have gone into hiding. Many opposition politicians have fled from Cuba.

 

Thursday, March 14, 1935

 

Our Heroes flew the Blitz aircraft to Peshawar. There, Major DeLacy arranged for a strong caravan to head into Sinkiang, for the city of Aksu, as soon as the passes were clear (usually not before May). He also purchased climbing equipment for the party (most of us didn't own pitons, etc.). The Himalayan Club and the Peshawar University Mountaineering Club could no doubt tell DeLacy where to buy such things in the city.

 

Somewhere among the bars, caravanserai, souks, clubs and low dives of Peshawar, Our Heroes heard a rumor:  the Governor of Sinkiang province was being bribed by the Soviets with a massive amount of money. The money would be coming over one of the passes from Soviet territory.

 

Friday, March 15, 1935

 

Our Heroes took off in the early morning. One of the Blitz aircraft was piloted by Lotta, with Fury as radio operator/navigator, and Ivanov in the passenger compartment. The other aircraft was flown by Nora Cullin, with Major DeLacy as radio operator/navigator, and Bill Davis and Qua Lin Worthington in the passenger compartment.

 

The planes flew north over the Hindu Kush and the Pamir range, to Irkeshtam Pass. There we spotted a strong Soviet convoy, of 50 trucks, 4 armored cars, a couple of field guns, and a cavalry escort. Flying above the convoy were two R-5 aircraft -- no match for the Blitzes in performance, but armed and equipped with radios. There was a Soviet airfield about 50 miles away at Osh. Much tempted, but we flew onwards to the east.

 

90 minutes later, the expedition passed above the Enilchek glacier and circled Tengri Khan ...

 

the "base camp" area is about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of this photograph

 

On the mountain itself we could see at least three cave openings; and at the base of the mountain was a camp with 8 tents, sleds and sled dogs, and a red-and-yellow flag. There was no obvious sign of a tomb or road to the top.

 

We flew back to the lake in the middle of the glacier (surface 11,000' above sea level), and landed -- Nora first and then Lotta. The landings were bumpy but successful; we chained down the aircraft to long steel stakes, locked the control surfaces, unloaded our gear, and walked the runway looking for debris and bumpy bits. Ivanov wedged the wheels up onto 15" square wooden tiles (to keep them from freezing onto the ice).

 

  • Three men with daggers attempted to assassinate Ibn Saud, ruler of Saudi Arabia, during the Mohammedan festival of sacrifice in Mecca. The King was unharmed, and his assailants were shot down and killed.

  • In Canada, the Ontario legislature passed the bill placing the quintuplet babies of Mr. and Mrs. Dionne, of Callander, under the control of the Minister of Welfare.

 

Saturday, March 16, 1935

 

Our Heroes marched ten or fifteen miles to the camp at the foot of the mountain (at 14,000' above sea level). At the end of the day, we were greeted by a rather multi-ethnic mountaineering support team -- 6 members of the Young Pioneers from the Kirgiz ASSR, some Russians and some Turkic, four men and two women. They were not themselves mountaineers ("That would be foolish, who wants to go up there?"), nor especially young, but seemed friendly enough, and in fact positively non-Communistic. They weren't particularly well-armed (though they did have rifles). The expedition they came with had been on the mountain for several days. We camped next to them overnight.

 

  • The German Government reinstated universal military service. The new conscripted army will have an initial peace-time strength of 12 corps, comprising 36 divisions of 9,000 men each, that is, 324,000 altogether.

 

(funny thing the Nazis didn't do this until they had received the Saar back!)

 

Sunday, March 17, 1935

 

In the morning, Our Heroes made a cache of some supplies, and set out. Each member of the team should have had at least 2 pounds of food per day for the climb, which would probably last at least 18 days -- so 36 pounds per person. The group planned on caching supplies as we advanced, so we wouldn't have to pack half the food to the top of the mountain! Other mountaineering gear, apart from food, would come to about 40 pounds; and then there's weaponry, medical gear, magical doo-dads, etc.

 

That night, we camped at the 16,000' level. After dark, a half-dozen faint lights could be seen far up the mountain, ahead of us. Remaining food at end of day:  34 pounds per person, on average.

 

Monday, March 18, 1935

 

Our Heroes made very little progress this day, in the face of bad weather, tough climbing and altitude sickness. We camped at a ledge which had been clearly used by the Soviet expedition a few days before. Remaining food 32 pounds per person on average. Qua Lin did what she could to alleviate our distress.

 

Altitude Sickness

     A very serious complaint affecting the chemical makeup of the blood above 12,000'. The only effective treatment is to descend to a lower altitude; oxygen can buy some time. After a severe attack, the victim should not re-ascend above 12,000' for at least 14 days.

     A serious attack can lead to pneumonia or brain swelling and coma; either can result in death within a day. Mild attacks cause breathlessness, nausea, and headaches.

     Modern theory suggests that the risk is minimized by ascending no more than 1200' per day above 12,000', and by spending at least at week of acclimatization at the 12,000' level before spending a night at the 15,000' level.  

 

Near the ledge, we found a few dozen empty cartridge cases, from a belt-fed machine-gun. In another discovery nearby, Bill Davis located two bodies -- one a Russian fellow, bitten to death; the other a Javanese.

 

  • According to the Daily Express, Lloyds underwriters have now quoted 10 to 1 against a war involving Great Britain within one year, and 7 to 1 against war within the year between France and Germany. Three months ago these odds were set at 25 to 1 and 19 to 1.

 

Tuesday, March 19, 1935

 

There were some slight falls as we proceeded up the mountain, our path now diverged from that of the Soviet team. We camped at about the 17,000' level, and placed a cache of four days rations (8 pounds per person); remaining food was 22 pounds per person, on average. At night, there was a blizzard, but Lotta could see (using the goggles) half-a-dozen auras far away higher on the mountain. Fury fired off a flare, but nothing could be seen in the blowing snow.

 

  • Berlin was darkened for an air raid exercise, and 70 powerful airplanes and bombers maneuvered over the city.
  • In India, at Karachi, British troops fired into a mob of 20,000 Moslems, killing 23, and wounding over 70. Infuriated because Abdul Kayma, one of their coreligionists, had been executed for the murder of a Hindu, the Moslems, carrying Abdul Kayam's body aloft, attempted to enter the city in a procession.

  • At N.Y. City, in the Harlem district, Negro riots followed a false report that a Negro boy had been beaten to death for stealing candy; over 100 persons were shot, stabbed, clubbed, or stoned; 3 were killed, many shops were wrecked or looted; 697 windows were smashed in 300 establishments.

 

Wednesday, March 20, 1935

 

A blizzard and winds of 15 miles an hour made climbing very dangerous; Bill Davis nearly slid off a cliff, but self-arrested -- however, his ankle was sprained. We arrived at the lowest of the three caves we'd seen. As the group were ditching their packs and preparing to explore the cave, Nora spotted something deeper inside and shouted, "We've got company!" Fury threw a hand grenade before she could add, "They're dead!" The grenade collapsed the mouth of the cave, covering everyone in the party with deep snow -- except Ivanov, who was outside the entrance dealing with equipment.

 

Ivanov quickly deployed his shovel, and dug rapidly into the snow; soon, everyone was recovered, but some of Our Heroes spent five or ten minutes buried, and Nora was unconscious. She had a vivid dream while buried, of some alternate Nora life-story, in which she married some fellow ("Nobody you know."), had children, and worked with an apparently more successful version of the League. In the actual rocky part of the cave (which didn't go very far into the mountain) we uncovered the four bodies Nora saw -- long-frozen and mummified bodies of Soviet mountaineers. We buried the bodies and set up camp in the shelter of the cave, at the 18,000' level. Remaining food was 20 pounds per person, on average.

 

  • To be prepared against the possibility of another drought such as caused havoc last year, Secretary Wallace removed all restrictions on the planting of Spring wheat this year for farmers who sign agreements to offset 1935 increases with corresponding reductions next year.

  • Heavy dust storms ranged from Western Oklahoma and Eastern New Mexico north to South Dakota's Black Hills and reach eastward into Missouri. Later they swept over the East and out into the Atlantic. The dust killed many who breathed it causing pneumonia and other diseases. Serious property losses resulted in the mid-West.

 

Thursday, March 21, 1935

 

Our Heroes advanced up the slick rocks of the mountain. While following a long, steep diagonal crack or ledge, most of the party fell, and hung suspended by ropes or their fingertips; Bill Davis, the only one left fully able to support our weight, couldn't do much to help us regain our footing. Just as the situation seemed direst, we were rescued by an unexpected party of Soviet climbers!

 

The 12-man Soviet party, led by Ivan Sergonov, seemed to have special military training ("Look at their odd folding shovels"). They explained that they were on the mountain "hunting the upir" or undead; and their advance team did indeed do things at night, when the upir are active. They seemed friendly enough, but we decided to go our separate way.

 

That night, we camped at the 18,500' level, and made another cache of food -- 28 pounds of rations in the cache -- leaving about 14 pounds per person on average, enough for 7 days from this point on up).

 

  • At Berlin, the French and Italian ambassadors successively presented to the Foreign Office notes of protest from their governments against the Law for the Reconstruction of the German Defensive Forces. Foreign Minister von Neurath rejected the contentions expressed in both. Other nations, he said, had rearmed in violation of the Versailles Treaty.

 

Friday, March 22, 1935

 

Another day with much wind, but not so blizzardy. We advanced to the second cave, at about the 19,000' level. Leading to the mouth of the cave from the north were the remains of an ancient mountain trail or stair, obviously made long ago. We could see in the distance that parts of the trail had collapsed over the centuries.

 

The cave mouth itself was flanked by two stone plinths, each topped with a (statuary) pile of skulls. The cave seemed partly-natural and partly-worked; every 20' or so there were niches where once some kind of lanterns lit the way. We followed the cave inwards; Ivanov lit his candle lantern, and a couple of provident Heroes pulled out their electric torches. 

 

After about 30 minutes of carefully advancing, we found the site of a recent battle, with the bodies of 14 dead Mongols (perhaps actually upir), 3 dead "Young Pioneers", and a couple of bodies in white snow-smocks. There were boot prints of various eras around the battleground. Advancing another 400 yards, the passage opened into a large chamber, with stalactites and stalagmites alongside the passage; the chamber extended for hundreds of feet on either side of the path. We could hear shouts, gunshots, and screams in the distance; those of Our Heroes with goggles could tell that a small group of Young Pioneers were being quickly destroyed by several dozen upir.

 

(zzzz ... Michael snoozed for a couple minutes)

 

The few survivors of the Young Pioneers were planting explosive charges, but agreed not to destroy the cave while we were inside (at least). They went off to do ... something unexplained ... while Our Heroes advanced to the huge metal-bound wooden doors of the tomb itself! There were bodies of dead Mongols nearby.

 

The door handles felt warm to the touch, but yielded; beyond the doors was a room with many niches filled with scrolls, books, and tablets; a pink marble sarcophagus with gems and gold and silver inlays on the lid; two piles of gold-leaf-covered skulls; and 27 Mongol upir guards, unmoving.

 

Our Heroes opened fire on the upir, who did not react as long as we did not pass the doors -- except to deliquesce when sufficiently perforated or blasted. Fury's explosive ammunition did considerable damage to the piled golden skulls and the collections of books, scrolls, tablets, etc.; only three texts survived (out of more than 40 present when the doors were opened):

 

  • a Tibetan prayer book:  long skinny pages, composed in Sanskrit in the Devanagri script, laced between wooden covers

  • ancient Chinese clay tablets

  • a 13th Century bible, in Latin

 

Fury and Lotta immediately went to work prying open the sarcophagus, pounding pitons into the stone to break the lid free. DeLacy searched the hideously liquified remains of the upir for treasures, finding 27 jade "charms" -- the hearts of the upir? -- and a quantity of swords, helmets, and other Mongol gear. Qua Lin gathered the three surviving books.

 

When the lid of the sarcophagus was eventually breached, there was a sort of "whoosh" noise and a bright flash; those of Our Heroes in the chamber detected a strange metallic odor, and decided to depart and let the wierd gas clear out. Lotta, Fury and DeLacy became somewhat disoriented and nauseous; Fury thought the inner casket contained arsine gas -- to prevent decay, and to kill intruders.

 

Once the gas seemed to have dissipated, most of Our Heroes entered the tomb, and lifted the lid fully off the sarcophagus. Within was a preserved body, in sumptuous silk robes and Mongol armor, with a sabre clutched at his chest; the corpse's face was concealed by a jade mask. It's not clear that the body was Tamerlane, or one of his grandsons, but it was obviously someone important.

 

 

The U.S. House passed, 318 to 90, the Patman bill, which calls for immediate payment to the veterans of $2,000,000,000 in greenbacks.

 

 

On to The King of Heaven

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