“He allowed no discussion,” said M. Pastrokoff, “and if he had we should have been discussing it now, and the Terrorists would have re-occupied Perm.  I returned home and felt cold in the feet.  I had a guard of fifteen men placed on my person, the others the same.  I knew that some of my companions in distress were muddlers, but sent for my friend ——­ and drew our plans for carrying out the general’s orders.  We were greatly helped in this determination by witnessing the execution of a company and platoon commander of one of our regiments under General Hepoff’s orders for having allowed thirty men of their company to desert to the enemy during an affair of outposts.  We saw we had to deal with a man who never went back on his word.”

On February 18 the general sent his aide-de-camp to inform the ten that it would be necessary for them to put their affairs in order as they would be taken to the front for execution, so that the starving soldiers might know their immediate chiefs were not responsible for the condition of the army.  M. Pastrokoff was able to prove the things were on the way, and only the disorganised condition of the railway made it necessary to ask for a few days’ grace.  The general granted four days, at the end of which the goods were delivered as per instructions.  “What did the general then do?” I asked.  “When his soldiers were fed he burst into my house and kissed me, and would have gone on his knees if I would have allowed him.  He has been here several times since, and we have become great friends.  He is a true Russian!” added Pastrokoff proudly.

We returned to Ekaterinburg on April 29, and were surprised to find that General Knox and the Headquarters Staff had removed from Omsk and taken up position there.  The Hampshires were about to move up; barrack and other accommodation had already been secured.  The first echelon arrived the following morning.  An Anglo-Russian brigade of infantry was in course of formation and seemed likely to prove a great success.  It offered employment for the numerous officers and N.C.O.s who had arrived and for whom no proper place for work had so far been provided.  It was truly a stroke of genius for our War Office to flood us with officers and men as instructors for the new Russian army, scarcely one of whom could speak a word of Russian!  I feel sure the Russians and ourselves will get on well together, we are so much alike.  Omsk and Whitehall are true to type; they each first exhaust the possibility of error, and when no wrong course is left, the right road becomes quite easy.  The only difference is in the motive.  Ours is mostly because social influence is always on the side of educated mediocrity, and theirs because self, coupled with corruption, is their natural incentive to all exertion.  We have a different standard; all our theories of Government preclude the possibility of hidden personal advantage in the transaction of State business.  The Russian view is that no competent