_IV We Charter a Tug and become Dispatch Bearers of His Britannic Majesty and Learn of Winter Risks in the Black Sea too late to Retreat_ 54 _V We sail out into the Black Sea in the Salvage Steamer “France” and for Sixty-five Hours Shake Dice with Death_ 73 _VI We Land in Odessa on the Day Set by the Revolutionists for a General Massacre, but because of Effective Martial Law Secure only a “General Situation” Story_ 94 _VII The France does her Best in the Run for the Uncensored Cable, Sticks in the Mud, but Gets Away and Arrives at Sulina Mouth with an Hour to Spare_ 113 _VIII We Send our Cable and Find Ourselves with 5 Francs and Expenses of $200 a Day, but Make a Financial Coup d’Etat, and Sail for the Crimean Peninsula_ 134 _IX We Reach Sevastopol and Land in Spite of Harbor Regulations, Get a “Story” and Sail away with it to the Coast of Asia Minor_ 150 _X We Send our Cable from Sinope and then Sail for the Caucasus where Rumor States Revolution and Anarchy to be Reigning Unmolested_ 167 _XI Christmas Morning on the Black Sea_ 180 _XII We Find Turmoil in the Caucasus but Celebrate Xmas in Spite of Storm and Stress_ 190 _XIII We Sail away from Batuum with a Beat, Official Dispatches, Foreign Mails and a Boat Load of Refugees that Keep Us Awake Nights_ 200 _XIV The Return to the Golden Horn and the End of the Assignment_ 217 TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Dispatch Boat “_France_” lying at anchor in Odessa harbor _Frontis_ PAGE From far Mongolia’s borders for 180 miles eastward stretches the line of the Japanese trenches 20 Regiment after regiment, fresh from Japan, pour along the newly made highways 20 With clanking chains and creaking limbers, batteries are going to the front 48 In eighteen months’ association with the army, we have not seen such activity 48 When the _France_ entered Odessa harbor after the storm she was pretty well shaken up 92 Sulina—the mouth of the Danube River 92