In a previous chapter I pointed out that Kuchik Khan was in military possession of the Manjil-Resht road, and that the Russians under Bicherakoff were concentrating at Kasvin preparatory to trying conclusions with this amiable bandit--the cat's-paw of Turkish-German intrigue--who was barring Bicherakoff's route to the Caspian and to Russia. At the end of May, in order to bring about a more effectual co-operation between his own force and that of the Russian commander, General Dunsterville transferred his headquarters from Hamadan to Kasvin. The original purpose of the Dunsterville Mission, it will be recollected, was to fight Bolshevism by the organizing of Armenians and Georgians and, if possible, Tartars, in the Southern Caucasus. This had now become difficult of realization, owing to {204} the series of bewildering and kaleidoscopic changes in Transcaucasia which had profoundly affected the entire political and military situation. For example, the virus of Bolshevism had infected the Russian troops in Baku; the Germans had landed at Batum and, by making peace with the Georgians, were placed in possession of Tiflis. The Turks had arranged a peace pact with the Armenians which left their armies free to invade north-west Persia, prosecute a vigorous campaign against the Nestorians of Urumia, and, finally, overrun the Caucasus as a preliminary to co-operating with the Germans in their contemplated advance on Baku. Now the Bolshevik leaders in Baku refused to recognize the right of either of the rival belligerent groups--the Central Powers or the Entente--to spoil the flavour of their military hotch-potch in any way. It suited the blasé Russian palate, and that should be sufficient. The Bolsheviks, at all events, were consistent to the extent that, while they opposed the advance of the Germans and Turks towards Baku, they more than once resolutely refused to accept the proposed aid of British troops to help them in overcoming the forces of the Central Powers. [Illustration: DRILLING ARMENIANS AT BAKU.] Negotiations with Kuchik Khan had ended abortively. The leader of the Jungalis was quite prepared to permit Russian troops to withdraw from Persia if they wished, and to pass through his "occupied territory" to their port of embarkation on the Caspian. But British, "No!" They had no business {205} in Persia at all, he argued, and if they were desirous of going to Russia, they would have to find some other road.