Then began the sack of Yarkand, the fierce Tatars plundering the bazaars and houses, stripping them of everything of value they could find.
Rob searched anxiously among the bodies of the unconscious Turks for the two men who had robbed him, but neither could be found.  He was more successful later, for in running through the streets he came upon a band of Tatars leading a man with a rope around his neck, whom Rob quickly recognized as one of the thieves he was hunting for.  The Tatars willingly allowed him to search the fellow, and in one of his pockets Rob found the Record of Events.
He had now recovered all his property, except the traveling machine, the one thing that was absolutely necessary to enable him to escape from this barbarous country.
He continued his search persistently, and an hour later found the dead body of the third robber lying in the square in the center of the city.  But the traveling machine was not on his person, and for the first time the boy began to give way to despair.
In the distance he heard loud shouts and sound of renewed strife, warning him that the Turks were recovering consciousness and engaging the Tatars with great fierceness.  The latter had scattered throughout the town, thinking themselves perfectly secure, so that not only were they unprepared to fight, but they became panic-stricken at seeing their foes return, as it seemed, from death to life.  Their usual courage forsook them, and they ran, terrified, in every direction, only to be cut down by the revengeful Turkish simitars.