fight, with more losses, more suffering and more misery. We owe it all to the Germans. We do not like it and we are not interested.” I think this point of view is more or less typical, and it accounts in a large measure for the fact that even though they are advancing the Austrians are still surrendering in enormous blocks whenever they get the chance of doing so without being caught in the act by their Allies. For the most part the men that I talked with here thought that the army had retired about as far as it would for the present. But one feels constant surprise at the stoicism of the Russian, who does not apparently feel the smallest concern at withdrawals, for, as they say, “If they keep coming on into Russia it will be as it was with Napoleon. They can never beat us in the long run, and the further they force us back the worse for them. Look at Moscow,” and they smile and offer you a cigarette. I have never in my life seen people who apparently have a more sublime confidence in their cause and in themselves than the Russians. Their confidence does not lie in their military technique, for I think all admit that in that the Germans are their superiors. It lies in their own confidence, in the stamina and character of the Russian people, who, when once aroused are as slow to leave off a fight as they are to begin it. Throughout Russia to-day the strength of the war idea is growing daily. Every reverse, every withdrawal and every rumour of defeat only stiffens the determination to fight harder and longer. Time is their great ally they say, for Germany cannot, they are certain, fight indefinitely, while they believe that they can. These opinions are not my own but the opinions of Russians. These men may be unduly enthusiastic about their countrymen, but what they say I have since heard all over the army at the Front; whether they are right or wrong they may certainly be taken as typical of the natural view. When I left Petrograd I was not cheerful as to the outlook in Galicia. When I left Ivanov’s head-quarters I felt more optimistic than I had been in six weeks. HUNTING FOR THE ARMY OF THE BUKOVINA CHAPTER XVII HUNTING FOR THE ARMY OF THE BUKOVINA Dated: TLUST, GALICIA, _June 30, 1915_.