Then there came a day when the Russian and the German doctors were exchanged, and Kallenbach and his company went home. It was a difficult matter for them to get their protocols through, because the Russians would not allow them to take a single scrap of paper with them. Even the novels they had provided themselves with were confiscated. There was a great scene of preparation for departure, hair-brushes were taken to pieces, and notes written on cigarette paper packed in between the boards, boots and furs were unpicked, and protocols sewn up in them. When Kallenbach left he had smuggled about his person reports on the behaviour of every German in Stretensk. He thought by being a zealous tale-bearer to curry favour with the authorities, and to place his own loyalty beyond a doubt. That might have helped him under the old _régime_, but I doubt if anything can save him if he falls into the hands of this Government. [SN: ABDICATION OF CZAR] And then there came an interval of three or four days without any tidings from the outside world. Wild rumours were flying about, but the wildest was surpassed when the news came through that the Revolution had broken out and established itself almost without bloodshed. At Stretensk things for a moment looked serious. The old colonel gathered his regiment together and delivered a fiery address, calling upon the soldiers to stand true to the Czar and country. He was very busy in measures to counteract the Revolution, and endeavoured to get into communication with Irkutsk by means of telegrams in cipher and in other ways, but the Revolutionaries already had everything in their power and were easily able to frustrate him. Finally, upon instructions from Irkutsk, his second in command deposed him and took over his responsibilities. The colonel was a thorough rascal, deservedly hated by all his men, and he knew it, yet he took his life in his hands to defend his order. Hats off to the old _régime_! The later Governments of Russia have not produced men capable of fighting for them with the dignity, courage, and devotion with which this old blackguard of a colonel fought for the Czar.