Pillage and famine--A land of mud--The Chikar Zabar Pass--Wandering Dervishes--Poor hotel accommodation--A "Hunger Battalion"--A city of the past {xi} CHAPTER XI A CITY OF FAMINE In ancient Hamadan--With Dunsterville at last--His precarious position--"Patriots" as profiteers--Victims of famine--Driven to cannibalism--Women kill their children for food--Trial and execution--Famine relief schemes--Deathblow to the Democrats--"Stalky" CHAPTER XII DUNSTERVILLE STRIKES AFRESH Official hindrances--A fresh blow for the Caucasus--The long road to Tabriz--A strategic centre--A Turkish invasion--Rising of Christian tribes--A local Joan of Arc--The British project CHAPTER XIII THE RACE FOR TABRIZ A scratch pack for a great adventure--Wagstaff of Persia--Among the Afshars--Guests of the chief--Capture of Zinjan--Peace and profiteering CHAPTER XIV CAPTURE OF MIANEH Armoured car causes consternation--Reconnoitring the road--Flying column sets out--An easy capture at the gates of Tabriz--Tribesmen raid the armoured car--And have a thin time--Turks get the wind up CHAPTER XV LIFE IN MIANEH Training local levies--A city of parasites and rogues--A knave turns philanthropist--Turks getting active--Osborne's comic opera force--Jelus appeal for help--An aeroplane to the rescue--The democrats impressed--Women worried by aviator's "shorts"--Skirmishes on the Tabriz road--Reinforcements at last {xii} CHAPTER XVI THE FIGHT AT TIKMADASH Treachery of our irregulars--Turkish machine gun in the village--Headquarters under fire--Native levies break and bolt--British force withdrawn--Turks proclaim a Holy War--Cochrane's demonstration--In search of the missing force--Natives mutiny--A quick cure for "cholera"--A Turkish patrol captured--Meeting with Cochrane--A forced retreat--Our natives desert--A difficult night march--Arrival at Turkmanchai--Turks encircling us--A fresh retirement CHAPTER XVII EVACUATION OF MIANEH We have a chilly reception--Our popularity wanes--Preparation for further retirement--Back to the Kuflan Kuh Pass--Our defensive position--Turks make a frontal attack--Our line overrun--Gallantry of Hants and Worcesters--Pursuit by Turks--Armoured cars save the situation--Prisoners escape from Turks--Persians as fighters CHAPTER XVIII CRUSHING A PLOT Anti-British activities--Headquarters at Hamadan--Plans to seize ringleaders--Midnight arrests--How the Governor was entrapped CHAPTER XIX THE FIRST EXPEDITION TO BAKU Kuchik Khan bars the road--Turk and Russian movements--Kuchik Khan's force broken up--Bicherakoff reaches Baku--British armoured car crews in Russian uniforms--Fighting around Baku--Baku abandoned--Captain Crossing charges six-inch guns {xiii} CHAPTER XX THE NEW DASH TO BAKU