20. "My Charybdis conducted me to the barracks where a lot of
undisciplined philosophers were discussing the parceling out of
land.... The ringleader was a round-headed, long-nosed and bulky
individual with a shaggy beard and dirty uniform.... I knew him in an
instant, but he did not recognize me ... he was one of Von der Goltz'
men who aided in the defense at Gallipoli.... The night before the
Allied fleet withdrew he was lying beside a short, thickset and
dark-haired Associated Press reporter with a German name and
tortoise-shell eyeglass and was telling that same reporter that unless
REINFORCEMENTS arrived AT ONCE the defenses would collapse!... The
next day he was at Headquarters informing the General in command that
BUT FOR HIM the Turkish forces would have surrendered!... He is NOW
wearing a number of decorations for his military skill and bravery....
Such are the fortunes of war!... This is the man who one minute
preaches communism and another minute gravely asserts that it will
be a good thing for the Kaiser to get killed in the war so as to
guarantee the SUCCESSION of the Empire.... Perhaps he is doing this
for my benefit.... Anyway he occupies the center of the stage at
present and GOVERNS this greedy and unruly mob by kicking discipline
into a cocked hat and allowing every unshaved Bolshevik his own
unrestricted way!... Under other circumstances I should dearly like to
meet this boasting _Furioso_ in a ten-foot ring when a little exercise
is needed to keep myself in trim.... But NOW I am accepted as a
BOLSHEVIK,--one of the elect, privileged to select my lady and rob and
pillage when I please!... _This suits me very well_ ... but on mature
_reflection_ it seems to me that a FEW in this literally UNGODLY gang
are playing a very cunning part.... If that BE so I am _not_ so sure
how far my own assumed conversion to the doctrine of rapine will
protect my skin.... So far, however, I have adopted the policy of
vindictiveness, and, when asked a question, I merely growl and swear
like a trooper.... _I am making an impression_...."
21. "On the way here the HERO of Gallipoli took quite a fancy to me,
because I could beat him swearing perhaps.... Growing confidential
over his liquor and Turkish cigarettes he asked point-blank: 'Didn't I
see you at the TWELFTH DAY CEREMONY at the Winter Palace the time the
Archbishop lost the golden cross in the river, a few years ago?'...
I thought it better to deny the acquaintance and the incident.... I
could have easily recalled the ceremony on the Neva, the decorated
pavilion on the ice in front of the palace, the procession of church
dignitaries in their stiff Byzantine robes and scintillating mitres
moving slowly across the road followed by the Grand Dukes and the
Emperor, the clear voices of the choir cutting through the frosty
air, the ladies of the Court standing near the window and crossing
themselves as the Czar stood motionless beneath the gilded and fretted
canopy,--_I could have recalled it all_ ... but I swore profanely and
declared emphatically that ALL RELIGION WAS A COBWEB AND A SNARE to
emancipated minds.... I pretended to get violently MAD about it and
told him I would strangle any man who insulted me by accusing me of
the most distant relationship with any religion excepting the religion
of FREE LOVE.... He laughed like a lion with a sliver in its paw. 'You
are _absolutely_ the best COUNTERFEIT in circulation that I know of!'
he guffawed. 'Well, I'm going to fire Syvorotka and put you in
charge of a little FIRING SQUAD when we get to our camping ground at
Ekaterinburg!' were his exact words, half whispered, half insinuated
and wholly growled across the table in the diner.... With assumed
hostility I actually barked: 'The dirtier the deviltry the more
diverting!'... He opened his eyes widely like one emerging from a
solemn drunk and WINKED knowingly as he shook my hand.... 'You know
where Kerensky got his orders to release our fellows, of course,' he
whispered. 'I guess you KNOW why he sent _some people_ to Ekaterinburg
a couple of days before the Czecho-Slovaks are scheduled to _take_
it, and I guess you know too how it happened that so many MOTOR TRUCKS
came all the way from Archangel to Ekaterinburg so as to be on
hand when a certain Indian officer shows up, the ridiculous ranter
raved.... But...."
"... If these lines should ever come to light I want to record right
now, in justice to that apparently besotted creature, that I am under
unutterable obligations to him for assigning to me the most diabolical
piece of brutality that has been conceived during this period of moral
leprosy and unrepenting malevolence.... _I shall do my work well_."