CHAPTER 42
Edrich and Hutton had arrived in the railway terminus town of Andijan six days after leaving the Russian border. The journey from the Russian border was harder than the journey to the border from Kashgar because they had to cross a 13,000-foot pass where despite it being the hottest time of the year there was snow on the ground. Hutton’s weak physical condition slowed the party so that it only arrived in Andijan one day before Sir Walter, who had set out from Kashgar three days after it. Edrich was glad to see Robbins and held a meeting with him in as soon the latter arrived.
‘The mites are already beginning to bite,’ said Robbins scratching at his leg. ‘I can’t wait to get away from the blighters they just seem to love me. Still the last couple of days haven’t been bad - at least we are in Russia and so far safe and sound.’
Edrich nodded as he examined the walls and ceilings of the decrepit inn in which the mission party were staying. Edrich was looking for any hint of a microphone but he found nothing. ‘Yes, Sir Walter, so far so good and lucky for us the border guards accepted our bona fides.’
‘They were old Imperial Army soldiers and knew how to show respect to members of a friendly government. What I am wondering is if we will be allowed to continue on to Tashkent or whether anyone here will actually order us back to Kashgar.’
‘I have sent Hutton to buy railway tickets. I understand we will be unable to get tickets for all of us on the same train – because demand is high and supply is low. If he cannot get any tickets at all that will tell us unofficially that we cannot go on. I was thinking anyway that perhaps we ought not take too many people with us to Tashkent and leave some of our baggage here.’
‘Why?’
‘The situation is so,’ Edrich paused as he struggled for the right word, ‘unclear.’
‘What does that mean?’ Robbins stopped scratching his leg and looked at Edrich with raised eyebrows.
‘Well we have not yet come across any of these Bolsheviks, who according to the border guards use German and Austrians as their soldiers. If we find that the Bolsheviks in Tashkent are not as black as they are painted we send for our people and baggage later.’
Robbins thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement. ‘I was told the same thing. I agree caution is our best policy and there is no need to put people into danger unnecessarily. So whom should we take?’
‘I think that everyone should take just one servant, mine will be Bedi. Havildar Iqbal will be responsible for our escort of course. However, I think we should take only four soldiers with us because I believe that the railway journey is less risky than the journey we have just taken.’
‘Famous last words,’ replied Robbins with a smile and was just about to say something when there was a knock at the door.
A sick looking Hutton appeared with news about the railway and the tickets. Hutton reported that there was an apparent scarcity of accommodation on the trains to Tashkent. Because of this scarcity Hutton said that it might take a week or more before the whole group could be transported to Tashkent. Hutton looked nervously at the other two as he told them that he had only been allowed three tickets for the following day, three for the train two days after that, then a final three tickets leaving in five days time. The rest of the party could buy tickets for their journey only when they became available in a few days.
Edrich told the captain that the ticket purchases tied in with the decision he and Robbins had made about not taking the whole party to Tashkent immediately. Hutton responded with a look of relief that he’d done something right by accident if nothing else. They then discussed the rail journey and it was decided that Edrich would leave first, Hutton next, then Robbins, leaving the Bolotnikovs to buy their tickets when possible. At the end of the discussion Edrich pointed out that this division of the party did have one advantage. The advantage was that if he found himself to be persona non grata to the Bolsheviks when he got to Tashkent then the others would be saved a journey, just then there was a knock at the door.
Edrich undid the flap on his revolver holster and motioned to Hutton to do likewise. Edrich shouted, ‘come in.’
Bishen Shah entered the room and looked surprised at how Edrich and Hutton were crouching with their hands grasping their gun butts. ‘There are three Indian merchants outside who wish to see the British Consul or Representative from Kashgar to discuss some serious matters.’
Robbins smiled and turned to Edrich. ‘Well, colonel, I am no longer that person and as you are my successor I suggest that you deal with them. I will of course stay if you want me too.’
Edrich hesitated, ‘I don’t think that will be necessary, Sir Walter. You are now retired. Captain Hutton you may also be excused.’ Edrich stood and turned to Shah, ‘bring them into my room and I’ll see what they want.’
Edrich went to his room and waited for a few moments before Bishen ushered the Indian merchants into the room. The merchants asked Edrich if it was true that he was a representative of the British Government. Edrich confirmed that he was the British Representative and that he was going to Tashkent to meet with the local Bolshevik Government. For the next hour Edrich discussed with the men the impact that the Bolshevik Government were having on them as traders.
It seemed that the merchants were terrified that the Bolsheviks were going to confiscate all their money or they would lose it because the exchange rate between the rouble and the Indian rupee had fallen astronomically. Edrich was then asked what he could do to help them. Edrich told the men that he would accept their roubles in exchange for some rupees now and give them a promissory note to pay them the balance of the money owed by him once they returned to India. All the merchants stated that it was their intention to return to India as soon as possible because of the current situation. Edrich said he was leaving by train tomorrow for Tashkent and that they should bring their roubles to the hotel in the morning before he left for the station at mid day.
Finally to Edrich’s astonishment he was asked if the mission were the advance guard of a large British invasion force. When Edrich replied – no - he was told by the merchants that there rumours in the town that thousands of British and Indian soldiers were massed across the border in Chinese Turkestan ready to pounce. Edrich wondered how the men could ask such a nonsensical question knowing the difficulty of travel between India and this town. Despite what he thought about the question Edrich took the opportunity to explain that Britain had no intention of invading Russia. Finally Edrich agreed that one of the merchants, Pradip Shah, would find someone to look after the Mission’s baggage when they went to Tashkent.
Edrich was dressing the following morning when he was told that Sir Walter wanted to see him as soon as possible.
‘I am sorry but I have been sick all night so please excuse me receiving you in bed. The Bolotnikovs have gone back to Kashgar. They went at the crack of dawn this morning. Whilst you were dealing with those merchants last evening Bolotnikov came to see me. He and his wife have friends here as you would expect. Those friends recommended that the Bolotnikovs do not to go to Tashkent because if they did go on they’d almost be guaranteed,’ Robbins drew his finger sharply across his throat. ‘They set out back to the border at dawn our friend Ghulam Ahmed went with them.’
‘If Ahmed has gone back that hopefully removes our thoughts on his being a Bolshevik agent. This is what we thought the Bolotnikovs reception here would be - still I suppose they had to try to come back.’
‘God knows how they will live in Kashgar.’
‘Still,’ replied Edrich, ‘they got further than poor old Shahzada Iskander Beg who never got out of Kashgar.’
‘What did those merchants want last night by the way?’ Robins asked shivering.
‘To find out if we could protect them and their money. It seems that these Bolos might take all the merchants’ money without so much as a “by your leave”. Then the exchange rate is also not to these merchants liking. Nor would it be mine because it has gone to ten roubles for each rupee whe
n it used to be one and a half roubles to one rupee. Anyway, I told them that I would take some of their roubles because I thought a few extra roubles might come in handy for us.’ Edrich stopped abruptly and put his finger to his lips.
Robbins looked at Edrich quizzically who pointed his head towards the door Robbins began to talk nonsense. Edrich moved slowly and as quietly to the door as he could but just before he reached it one of the boards creaked loudly. Edrich moved quickly and flung open the door and as he exited through it he nearly knocked Ghulam Ahmad down.
‘Were you listening at the door, Ghulam Ahmad?’ Edrich asked angrily.
‘No colonel.’
‘Then what are you doing standing there?’ Edrich said looking suspiciously at the man in front of him. ‘I thought you had gone with the Bolotnikovs.’
Ahmed looked bewildered, ‘gone where? I work for you not them.’
‘True.’ Edrich nearly said something about being worried about spies but stopped himself just in time.
‘I was not standing, colonel I had just arrived there when you came through it. I came to tell you a man is here to see you most urgently.’
Edrich looked at Ghulam Ahmad without expression for several moments. ‘Who is the man?’
‘The Punjabi merchant, Bana, from last night.’
Edrich told Ahmad to bring Bana to his room. Edrich was surprised: that it was Bana and not Shah the man who was looking after their luggage; Bana was on his own both because the sums of money discussed the previous evening were large and lawlessness in the town was prevalent. It dawned on Edrich the merchant had not brought the money. The man re-iterated that he represented the other merchants but a matter that neither party had discussed the previous evening needed to be resolved. The matter was whether Edrich had any proof that he was who he said he was. Edrich told the merchant that he had no written proof that he was the British Consul in Kashgar but that Sir Walter Robbins could vouchsafe for him. On being informed of this lack of documentary evidence Bana said despite Sir Walter’s presence in the party he and his fellow merchants would not exchange their roubles for a note signed by someone who might not be who he claimed to be. Edrich said he understood the man’s caution and that he would probably do exactly the same thing if he himself were a merchant. This response from Edrich drew a smile of relief from Bana who then left saying that he would return shortly to see if his fellow merchants changed their minds again and took up the promissory notes offered by Edrich. Edrich retorted that whilst he understood the merchants’ predicament Bana must return within the half-hour because he, Edrich, had a train to catch. Bana did not reappear so the last thing Edrich did before he left for the railway station was to destroy the promissory notes.
Robbins and Edrich agreed not to present their credentials to the Tashkent Soviet immediately Sir Walter arrived in the town but to wait for a day or so. This delay the two men felt would give the Bolotnikovs more time to return to the border and cross safely back into China provided the Imperial border guards had not been replaced by Bolos. If there were any problems on the railway that interfered with Robbins’ arrival in Tashkent then Edrich would present his credentials alone.
Edrich on his arrival in Tashkent moved into rooms at one of the town’s best hotels, The Grand, which he felt was ideal for his headquarters. When Hutton arrived two days later sporting a bad back that he claimed was due to the train’s appalling seating Edrich could only agree. As they waited for Robbins, Edrich and Hutton were surprisingly unbothered by anyone from the Bolshevik Foreign Ministry so the pair explored the town trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. It was clear however that the Bolsheviks knew that the mission was in the city because whenever anyone left the hotel they were followed overtly sometimes by as many as three people.
The main observation everyone made was that the Central Powers POWs were to be seen roaming the city everywhere without hindrance. The POWs could be seen either begging or working. If the POWs were working they were doing everything from playing in bands, painting houses and selling tickets at the cinema. Bolshevik soldiers were also seen and these were dressed in a variety of uniforms, German, Austrian, and Russian as well as a hybrid of all three.
Edrich and Hutton received a variety of visitors at the hotel, Indians, Sarts and Russians. Most of the visits were to do with money - to exchange roubles for rupees or gold, to borrow money, to obtain help in smuggling money to Kashgar. Edrich and Hutton firmly rejected all of the visitors on the basis that some of them would be agent provocateurs and neither officer was yet able to tell who was which. Robbins’ arrival in Tashkent was delayed owing to problems on the railway so Edrich decided to present the mission’s credentials at the Foreign Ministry without him. Comrade Plasov, the minister, said he would see Mission members in two days time. Edrich was pleased by this delay because he needed Robbins’ expertise and there was a good chance that the man would have arrived by then. By the morning of the meeting Robbins had still not arrived leaving Edrich nervous about what he should say. Edrich said that Bedi was to act as the interpreter at the meeting. Hutton’s knowledge of Russian would be kept secret for the moment.
The Cotton Spies Page 43