ay next morning, fearing that we were following behind.
He said nothing about our encounter, and the Russian officials became
suspicious of his anxiety to get away. They brought a squad of soldiers
to examine his trucks, and found an enormous amount of loot from
Krasnoyarsk, as well as contraband goods upon which he had to pay duty
to the amount of 130,000 roubles. Having squeezed this toll out of the
"bounder," they gave him a free way to Ekaterinburg, where things are
very scarce, and where he would be able to sell out at a good figure.

General Zochinko told us some funny stories about the French Staff's
attempt to form a powerful counter force to Bolshevism from the German
and Austrian war prisoners. In Novo Nikoliosk the Allied Commander,
General Ganin, had released some hundreds of Austrian and German Poles
from the prison camps and formed them into regiments. In his haste to
get these units complete he forgot to inquire into the antecedents of
the officers chosen to command them. So careless, in fact, were the
French that the Russian authorities awoke one morning to find one of
their most dangerous prisoners, a well-known German officer spy, von
Budburg, in full command of this alleged Allied force. Von Budburg had,
like a true patriot, taken care to choose his subordinates from men of
the same type as himself.

Later on the French Staff became aware of the nature of their handiwork
and sought help and advice from the Russian military authorities about
disarming their new German Legion. A sudden descent on their quarters by
another Polish unit, with some new Russian units standing by to render
help if necessary, ended in these French proteges being disarmed and
got back safely to their prison camp.

Allied help to Russia is like a jig-saw puzzle, a mystery even to the
man who devised it. A straight-forward recognition of the Omsk
Government would have been an honest hand for honest work, but where
would Allied diplomacy have come in? Diplomacy is only necessary when
there are ulterior objects than mere plain, unambiguous assistance to a
helpless friend. What are these hidden objects? The Allies had better be
cautious how they proceed in the diagnosis and dismemberment of this
great people or they may find themselves on the operating table with
this giant holding the knife. In spite of the Biblical legend I prefer
England to be a pal with Goliath!

We arrived at Barabinsk on the morning of March 26, and after