CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I From War to Peace in Manchuria—Peking—A New Assignment, “Russia Direct”—Shanghai 1

II The Race for the Situation—Ceylon—Across India—Stalled in Bombay—Russia via the Suez Canal 20

III Constantinople at Last! The Threshold of the Russian Assignment—A Nation in Convulsion 35

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