meet with disaster at the hands of the Turks on the
plains of Irak.

One read at Stockholm on the way through of the early successes gained
by the Germans at Verdun, the news sounding by no means encouraging;
so that it was a great relief on arriving in Petrograd to find that
the heroic French resistance before the fortress had brought the
enemy's vigorous thrust practically to a standstill. We met Sir A.
Paget at Tornea on his way back from handing, to the Emperor his baton
of British Field-Marshal. There we also found Colonel Baron Meyendorff
awaiting us, who had been deputed to accompany me during my travels.
The Emperor was absent from the Stavka when we arrived at the capital,
with the consequence that we were detained there for several days. As
we were to make a somewhat prolonged stay in the country this time we
fitted ourselves out with the Russian cap and flat silver-lace
shoulder-straps; the Grand Duke Nicholas had indeed insisted, when he
was Commander-in-Chief, upon foreign officers when at the front
wearing these distinctive articles of Russian uniform as a protection.
Cossacks are fine fellows, but they were apt to be hasty; their plan,
when they came across somebody whose identity they felt doubtful
about, was to shoot first and to make inquiries afterwards.

Meyendorff, who was married to an English lady and who spoke our
language fairly well, looked after us assiduously and provided us with
occupation and amusement during the stay at the capital. One day he
took us to see trotting matches, a very popular form of sport in
Petrograd although it struck me as rather dull. We dined at different
clubs, went to the Ballet one night, and another night were taken to
the Opera where we occupied the Imperial box in the middle of the
house. In those days Russian society thoroughly understood the art of
welcoming a guest of the country, for the different national anthems
of the Allied Powers were played through before the Second Act,
everybody standing up, and when it came to the turn of "God save the
King," the entire audience wheeled round to face the Imperial box, our
national anthem was played twice over, and I received a regular
ovation although all that those present can have known, or cared, was
that here was a British general turned up on some official business.
One result of wearing what amounted to a very good imitation of
Russian uniform was that officers and rank and file all saluted,
instead of starin