man district, and the Government told him he could have anything he wanted in men or munitions of war.
"The Government had a hundred miles of railway material somewhere on its south-western frontier, which was intended for use in case of the failure of the Berlin Congress. Skobeleff asked for this material, and it was at once transferred to the Caspian. He changed the base of operations from Krasnovodsk to Mikhailovsk, and at once began the construction of the line. The whole movement was made so quietly that hardly anything was known of the work until the track had been laid about half-way to Kizil Arvat, one hundred and forty-four miles from Mikhailovsk.
"Skobeleff could not wait for the completion of the railway. While the road was being constructed he pushed forward to Bami, a strong point in the Akhal oasis, where he built a fort, and gradually collected the materials for the siege of Geok Tepé. When everything was in readiness he advanced and began the siege, which lasted fully a month.
"Perhaps the following figures will interest you: The Russians were between eight and ten thousand strong, of all arms, infantry, cavalry, and artillery. The artillery comprised sixty-nine guns, while the Turcomans had no cannon to oppose them with. When the siege began, Skobeleff found that his cannon made little impression upon the clay walls of the fort, so he ordered his artillery to fire over the walls and into the enclosed space, in order to demoralize the people within as much as possible. In fighting against Asiatics, artillery always has a prominent part. Its moral effect in frightening them is certainly ten times as great as its destructive power.
"During the siege the artillery fired from one hundred to five hundred shots daily, and the infantry used from ten thousand to seventy thousand rounds of ammunition in the same time. Skobeleff sunk a mine under the rampart, and exploded more than a ton of gunpowder at a single blast. It made a wide breach, through which the Russian army poured into the fort, with very little opposition on the part of the Turcomans. The latter fled in the direction of Merv, but were pursued by the Russian cavalry. The slaughter is said to have been fearful, and the Russians say that twenty thousand Turcomans perished in the siege and capture of Geok Tepé. During the assault and pursuit the infantry fired 273,804 rounds, the cavalry 12,510, and the artillery 5,864; 224 military rockets were also used.[1]
"Many careful students of the history of Central Asia," continued Mr. Ivanovich," consider the siege and capture of Geok Tepé the most im-
- ↑ Marvin's "The Russians at the Gates of Herat."
