"The walls of this old _cistern_ promise very little assurance for
our escape.... Still the cistern has its uses in circumstances like
these.... We KNOW, at least, that some kind of human beings are not
beyond our voices if we decide to call for help.... But WHAT KIND of
help?... That is the question.... Last night, as I stood on the floor
of the cistern I heard an amusing conversation.... A voice
overhead was growling; 'I'm as certain as I'm alive that the loan
of $250,000,000 has been made by Japan to those fiends who have
escaped,--and I KNOW they have the GOLD, for why have those trucks
disappeared?... so it is worth while to keep up this revolution until
we get our hands on some of it if we have to follow them all the way
to Vladivostok.'... 'That rumor has been floating around for the past
week,' another bass voice grumbled, 'and I'm inclined to think it is
all a game of bunko to divert attention from the pile of 600,000,000
the gang have smuggled into Omsk.'... 'Nonsense,' grunted the other;
'haven't we a thousand eyes at Harbin who know about the Chinese
Eastern deal?'... 'Well, the only thing to do is to keep this hell in
a constant bubble until we get the stuff at Omsk or the coin Japan has
sent to this CREMATED FAMILY here!'...
"... 'Cremated, Ha! Ha!... why, did you notice those stoves in the
house?... They're not big enough to burn up a good-sized dog!... My
judgment tells me that that whole squad of double-crossers are in
league with that skunk of a "Captain" who pretended to be a friend of
Comrade Trotsky.'... 'Well, we made a mistake when we endorsed that
BURNING lie,--we are ALL in for it NOW, and the only way to get out
of it is to STAY IN IT and lie it out to the end--'.... 'UNLESS--'
'Unless what?'... 'Unless the Lett who pretended to do the killing
is taken out and SHOT!'... 'Oh, give him a little more rope and he'll
hang himself!'... When I related this conversation to my 'prisoner'
he was very much amused.... 'This is a real adventure!' he smiled.
'We're like Tennyson's Light Brigade, with cannons in front, and
cannons behind us and brigands on every side of us, thirsting for our
blood,--these fellows are certainly not Russians!'..."