for the moment in Baku, but, as my informant advised me, the lull was merely temporary, as they were gathering energy there for another spasm of fighting. The railroad strike had crippled business and almost extinguished the remaining spark of commercial vitality left in the storm-tossed country. Trains were being run by the revolutionists simply to help their own plans of mobilization. As I wrote in my cable, the general situation was complex. Practically every town in the Caucasus was a situation peculiar only to itself. From Tiflis to the Black Sea the dominating factor was the attitude of the Georgians, who were rebels rather than revolutionists. They were divided into many parties, each of which had aims and ideas that would require a chapter to describe. Some wanted absolute independence, while other factions were aiming at reforms only. All had stopped paying taxes, and the police were absolutely helpless and asked only to be let alone. The Georgians were openly defying these dejected officers of the law, and their boasted strength of 8000 organized men within a radius of forty miles of Batuum made their bluff (if indeed it was one) hold good. It was reported that the authorities at Tiflis were going to try and reopen the line of the railroad by force. The revolutionists replied to this that twenty-four hours after such an attempt should be made the railroad in the Caucasus would be non-existent; in other words, that they would blow it into small pieces. The situation was really depressing to the Russians. All of these events have long since ceased to be of vital interest, and the semblance of peace and tranquillity have been restored, and once more the volcano which ever lies beneath the surface in that country of never ending turmoil is smoldering for the moment. It is not my intent to go into the history of the endless complications which were then rife further than the brief outline mentioned, as I merely wish to show the nature of the story which we had to gather. Stuart advised me not to come ashore except unarmed, as he stated that during the past few days being armed had been considered sufficient provocation to administer instant death by the bands of Cossacks that patrolled the streets. Every morning bodies were found lying about in the snow—victims who had not given sufficiently good account of themselves to the half-drunken rowdies that roamed the streets under the name of Cossack patrols. The storm was raging without, and so we decided to lie in the harbor until the sea had abated sufficiently for me to get some coal barges alongside to replenish our bunkers. At three that afternoon we went ashore and had a splendid Xmas dinner with the Consul and absorbed the details and the atmosphere of the remarkable conditions that were the sole topic of conversation among the guests, each of whom had personal experiences and ghastly details to add to what I had already learned.