On the afternoon of his arrival an important movement of enemy forces on our right front caused Major Pichon to ride through my bivouac, when he was formally introduced to the officers and men under my command.  Later he informed me that he did not consider the movement sufficiently important to make any change in our dispositions necessary.  Towards dusk Captain Stephan, accompanied by his adjutant, rode up and reported an important movement of enemy forces towards Runovka, our solitary remaining position on the opposite side of the river, which formed the natural defence and limit of our right flank.  Again I was asked to move forward to render such assistance as might be necessary in case our right were forced to retire across the river.  We marched forward in the darkness with the flash of the Bolshevik guns lighting up the way, but as their attention was entirely directed to our outpost at Runovka, we were as safe as if we had been in Hyde Park.  The Czechs have a fatal preference for woods as a site for defensive works, and they selected a wood on the left flank of the road for my position.  I rejected their plan, and chose a position about two hundred yards in front of the wood at a point where the roads cross, and a fold in the ground, aided by the tall marsh grass, almost entirely hid us from the observation-post of the enemy.  Millions of mosquitoes, against which we had no protection whatever, attacked us as we began to entrench, but officers and men all worked with a will, and by dawn we had almost completed what was probably the best system of field-works so far constructed on this front.  How we wished we might see the enemy advance over the river and attempt to deploy within range of our rifles!  He had by vigorous artillery fire driven our remaining Czech company across the river, and so had become complete master of the other side.

It was here that a second chance came to deal effectively with this attempt to outflank our entire position.  A sudden dash across the bend of the river in the north-eastern corner at Khamerovka on to the unprotected line of enemy communications would have resulted in a complete frustration of the enemy plans, with a fair prospect of his decisive defeat.  I even suggested this, but had to confess that I had moved forward twice, contrary to my imperative orders, and that unless I chose to run the risk of court-martial, if not dismissal, I could not join in the attack, though I would come to the rescue.  This was too ambiguous for the other leaders, and the opportunity was allowed to pass.

Shortly after, I met an old tramp with his pack, and handed him over to my liaison officer.  We could not very well detain him as he had already in his possession a Czech and a French passport, but afterwards I much regretted that I had not perforated his papers with a bullet as they rested in his breast pocket.  He tramped along the road, and my sentries deflected his course away from the trenches, but he saw my men