Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-14

to be our intention. for they made no
attempt to interfere with the train
pa ssinR on to the main line: but AS
the engine passed che points. going
ba elk wards pushing the train, | leaped
on to, the footplate, and kept the
throttle open ana the reversing gear I'm
lction, so that we did not stop and
'everse, as they expected, to- go on
o the frontier, but continued to go
backwards AL the way to AIeXan-
1ropol
Here the engineer disappeared and
was seen no more. having suffered a
severe nervous sitociz from the con-
temptation of my automatic pistol all
through the journey. | should imag-
inc the Turks disgust at the failure
CT their scheme must have been great,
but 1t was nothing at all in compari-
son with my Satisfaction at defeat
ing their plans.
We made u stop of half an hour
only at AleNandropol,. where we were
lucky to obtain an Armenian engineer
We then carried oh successfully to
Tiflis. A few hours at c::is, to re-
port to advance headquarters, and
having left my men and train there. /
went or by myself and reached Ba-
tum just in time to catch the COM
mander-in chief, to make "A personal
report and TO show him the documents
in my possession before he sailed
that day.
d Eft RNINo; to Tiris. soon left
~ with IA small detachment of men
with the hope of reaching ErZerum.
the headquarters of the Turkish
Eleventh Army. Progressing Very
slowly because of shortage of fuel
for our locomotive. We ar:rvad at the
1, .xTt liza t,,v,v Of Oh
hundred miles west of TtQtS. where
We were obliged to stop to vbtain 1t.
This tunnel is near the head OF the
Borzom Deffle. through which runs
the Koura River. and in these parts
the Russian grand dukes, viceroyS of
the Caucasian provinces Of imperial
Russia III the days before the Boil
shevik revolution, had for many years
occupied a magnificent summer pail
ace. This palace had now long lain
in ruins. as had also the village sur
rounding It.
During our halt there I observed
with much interest d great black
shape wandering among the ruins,
which, though skeleton only and in
the last extremfttes of starvation, I
could see at d glance was In reality a
magnificent dog, evidently one Of the
/ imperial breed of bear-hounds. which
have for generations been exclusively
bred for the imperial family in the
Caucasus.
This magnificent animal, more re-
sembfng a Great Dane than anything
| else. but showing more quality than
the finest Of that breed, was very shy
indeed, and 1t took a good half hour.
after we had obtained our fuel, to
entice him on to the observation plat
form of my carriage. with the assist
ance of my one and only sirloin of
beef Even then we were unable TO
induce him to enter the carriage, I'M
til l went there. leaving the meat on
the floor. and went out again by the
farther door.
After a while, he entered. and hav-
ing in the meanwhile gone round out
side the train myself. the door was
quickly closed and the train started.
From that time, with the exception
of my short trip to London in Au-
gust OF that year and the six months
which he later spent in quarantine.
he has never left me. and lies beside
me as I write here, at home in
England today. We called him
George" as he is Georgian born
and bred, and he has since then be-
come well known to the Army of the
Black Sea, the Turkish Fifteenth
Corps, the greater part of the Medi-
terranean fleet, and even to the Brit
| ish public.
A more faithful and Intelligent
| friend and companion no one can ever
hope to find. He has only this one
shortcoming. that, being only dog
he cannot speak, though he comes
terribly near doing so at times, and
it Is never the least difficulty to I'M
derstand anything he desires to con-
vey.
Finally arriving at Batum, our
party of 16 embarked. with s motor
cars, for Trebizond. whence we were
to make the long journey by automo-
btles to Erzerum. OF the country
over which we were to travel our
only informatio was that sit was
extremely difficult, with many high
passes under deep snow" although
1t was then mid-ApriL The accuracy
OF this information was soon Inn
pressed upon US
EVENTUALLY we arrived at Erze-
IL rum, where we made a survey of
the arsenals and Notifications and an
inspection of the Turkish army rec
ords, in order to learn the progress
of rehabilitation.
The condition of the railway line
near Erzerum made it necessary for
HE 70 IIlSthc louT OI iuspcCliou
order to have the roadbed put in
shape. It was while we were return
ing to a camp we had established at
Twin that we had the misfortune to
break a wheel of our car. This
caused delay and necessitated tele-
graphing to Erzerum for another car
and a spare wheel. This was COM
pensated, however, by a wonderful
experience that followed