Every man, woman, and child in Petrograd believed the city was about to become the battleground of the bloodiest conflict the world had ever seen. What else was there to believe? Were not the troops of General Korniloff, counted the strongest man in the Russian army, marching on Petrograd to capture the capital and proclaim their leader military dictator? Was not the advancing horde headed by the “savage” division--wildest of the wild Cossacks? Were not the government soldiers, charged with protecting the country against counter-revolution at any cost, marching out to meet them in bloody combat? Korniloff had announced his dictatorship, and offered Kerensky the portfolio of Minister of Justice. Kerensky had declined. In the War Hotel, storm center of the storm center, we sat and awaited the inevitable. I dined that night with a Polish doctor who talked in low, mysterious tones. All around us were officers with various degrees of political belief, ranging from princes suspected of monarchistic tendencies to the most radical of the radicals. All were talking in low, mysterious tones. We spoke of Korniloff. “He is a very desperate man; a very courageous man,” he said. “I was in the battle of Mukden with him, and he remained when all the others of the staff had gone. He is very determined. I do not know what will happen, but I know he is a determined man.” This fact no one questioned. Whatever the political slant of the speaker, it never occurred to any one to suggest that the man whose military exploits are almost legendary might have started something he could not finish. “He is determined; but Kerensky is also a determined man,” one Russian told me that night. “So it will be a fight to the finish.” During the evening Arno Dosch Flurot, an American correspondent, came in to advise me to leave the hotel and go somewhere else for the night. “The hotel may still be here in the morning, but it may not, and there is no use in taking chances,” he said. Rumor had promised me so many tragic ends--she had cried “Wolf, wolf!” so many times--that I had become skeptical. The lobby was swarming with excited officers. Messengers from the staff and the various embassies dashed in and out all evening. A few of the officers were loyal to Kerensky, and their faces were grim and troubled. Most of the others were waiting with open arms to welcome the Dictator, and they made no attempt to hide the joy they felt. For them it was all settled. Kerensky would be overthrown--Korniloff would capture the city. The death penalty would be restored; the leaders of the Soviet would be hanged. Russia’s troubles would be over.