Transcriber’s Notes: Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_ in the original text. Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals. Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs. Typographical errors have been silently corrected. [Illustration: THE DISPATCH BOAT “FRANCE” LYING AT ANCHOR IN ODESSA HARBOR] THE CABLE GAME THE ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN PRESS-BOAT IN TURKISH WATERS DURING THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION BY STANLEY WASHBURN [Illustration] BOSTON SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY 1912 COPYRIGHT, 1911 SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY TO ALICE ACKNOWLEDGMENT The writer gratefully acknowledges the constant support and unlimited backing accorded him by THE CHICAGO DAILY NEWS, the paper for which he worked, and MR. VICTOR F. LAWSON, its Publisher, whose never failing enterprise in the realms of World News made this narrative of THE CABLE GAME possible. S. W. INTRODUCTION It has seemed worth while to set down the account of the experiences reported in the following pages, not because they represent any important achievement, nor yet because they are conspicuous for any unusual enterprise, for none realizes better than the writer that they comprise nothing more than the day’s work, for the dozens of newspaper men that wander the earth. As a lover of the Profession these few little adventures are narrated in the hope that they may serve as an interpretation to the lay reader of the motives of the men that go forth to gather the news of the world. Fame, money and reputation are all secondary considerations to the real journalist and what he does he does for his Paper and for the pure joy of the game that he plays. What the writer has tried to portray is the atmosphere and fascination of THE CABLE GAME—the game that takes a man far from home ’midst alien races and into strange lands and makes him stake his all in his effort to win that goal of the journalist’s ambition—A World Beat. S. W. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE _I From War to Peace in Manchuria—Peking—A New Assignment, “Russia Direct”—Shanghai_ 1 _II The Race for the Situation—Ceylon—Across India—Stalled in Bombay—Russia via the Suez Canal_ 20 _III Constantinople at Last! The Threshold of the Russian Assignment—A Nation in Convulsion_ 35