Chapter VII: The Royal Bolshevik and the Nurse
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...."