TERA Il---The Amazing Secret History of an Armistice--- y 8 quiet. hy C of buck: erethe way, soon 4 on a lreaty, L180. hereial Sou a rooms i eet. al platings cauldron ol ¢rookedness bubbles ov- ar with « iy Intriguing for his pi 4, his appoint inability not fo in Whore alse hls safety, or lis govern: : trom sheer prisoners of wor tp live in the Roart of an ewemy capital, and 10 carry on ab active prope: ganda apainet the Minlsiry? Seve: ral of us' were ablé to do this in Constantinople Juris. the summer and aytvann of last Just your jar. Col. "ag and "and Mile axon The best = and . productive work of thd done' "by Lieut,~Col. "his modesty provents mg from oubinuing his name). Enst k 1 told how, while hiding Constantinople, 1 learnoll trom Capiain = Yeats-Brown {who was disguised as a girl) that the colonel Was at large.' The story, of lis escape and what followed 1s as a tale from the Ara hone Ph boen bia the Turkish Mi ies court-martialled escape. brought 'to WF, to ba for. an attained One day, having been quitted owing to Jack of evident: 3 "he was allowed vd the city for a | walk. He pers his escort to : y dot. the : Steed to dela the 1y way further meatings. be ; plans, , eatiy the col- onel and Mlle. "B." Colonel "7" mentioned that he wanted to escape, and the lady agreed to assist him. A little Jater he was sent to the pri- Bon camp at Broussa. Mile. "X, "mith her maid, followed Wim. She &tayed at a small hotel, on the pre- stise of - sulphur baths, A Was amon : few days ; tite roads where * 'were taken for| attract atten aan 3 via 8 wis to see th A 8 a bank on some tru matter oe business, fo mast, wi while hopping in the bazaar i guar to take Him to gow es "fie walked into A! the Inanhier's vik room and question about getting mony h om' EBagland: other man | 'The Amazing Experiences of a Captured British Officer RY CAPTAIN ALAN BOTT, M.C., RAF. Author of "Cavalry of the Clouds" for 'the hire of their bout, Seq with them. A strong wind rag. ed across the Sea of Marmora, «b that: he was fourteen hours at sea, living uring this t'me on bread and ralsing, - Hyen then he and the Greeks had do 10% almost all the put to «| WAY to Constantinople, After a few days in the Colonel "2" found that Other ishooligérs were already there; in yarigUsolding places. Thera 'was Caplaili Yemts«Brown, who knockeq round the city for weeks, very ef- foetively diaguived pag cirly there was Captain Sir. R. VP. who escaped three times and "wax = recapiured twice; and there wera Captain YWhite and myself, living an' a. 1lussian tramp steamer that was moored op- posite the Sultan's palace of Doima Bagtche. I shall always capital, Brit. remember. those thi Colloboration with CAPTAIN FRANCIS YATES BROWN Copyright, 1919, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate. into the very centre of the vortex of plotting that swirled around. the Sultan ithe ministry and the sub- lime porte. It. wads. curious, , Indeed, during those critical weeks---when there existed three separate conspiracies to overthirow the Turkish. Govern ment, and a guarter of a million brigands in the interior were eager for any. change of loot and rapine-- that several Englishmen got in close touch with the desperate situation and influenced 'it in favor 'of the Entente. General Townsend (ihe of Kut-el-Amara), from on. Prinkipo Island, for the formation of a pro-Entente ministry: Colonel "Z;"" escaped technjcally. in hiding, was contribut- ing to the downfall of Telaat Pasha's Government 'and keeping his fipger defender his prison' was intriguing | Turkish politicians. and - Si shadowed his more lcigue. What was pasgging.in . the clevér boain of the man = who had massacred the Armenians and eviet- ed the Greeks, and vet ruled Turkey with a: céitaln ruthless efficiency? Now that the discontented multit- tudes whom be" had wronged were finding voice, haw would he face the music? That he - was 'an. unscrupulous schemer and a hotelier there was no doubt, but his Gourage could not be questioned. Aegording to his owa fights the fir alegraphist who Fog to be Grand Vizier was a patriot, and honest "Dy comparison with most Now that the 'crash was imminent what 'would he do? + What the others 'weitld do Was a foregone concludion. They would run; Djemal : Pasha Fmiujster of anatine, notorious tice fell he wrote a strong memoran- of escaping from the country, dum, suggesting that if Turkey now cause the Turkish Government be- sued {Or a separate peace, she would, obtain better terms than if zhe wait ed until Germany was thoroughly beaten. This memorandum, whith was originally the draft of a proposed piuClaliatton fo the Turkish army, passed successfully through the hands of a European lady, a well}. known Turkish politician, and the Sultan's dentist. The Sultan's dens, tist gave one copy of it to the Sultan ' and another to Fethi Bey, the new punister of {he iptérior Just previous to these events--on Sepfember 29--the Turkish Cabinet had 'met to consider the Bulgarin defection; and the Grand . Vizier, who arrived from Gerfhiany 'by the last Balkan express to pass through Sofia, had offered his resignation. ; At the time nobody could form an Gor w days spent in an-enemy capital. Fach of us had our special friends, v ho wore privy to our separate attempts fu' leave Turkey: although two Reaple, at least, were assisting all of f Bi fourth meeting novel Mlle, "X" ron rad that! had beer © to sehool With the! pa of the Austrian Sousal, Aud; i la. One of these---n certain = mer- phan took great rigks in "cashing our checks to pay the heayy expdéns- 8s. As we had 19 check hooks, we made ordinary Writing. paper serve the purpose. = ------ Plans for Soton For the rest, we wandered about] Har Nelvors th ib ates and met otras Onis tT % Ider Horn Lo the old crtyor SIAM EOE . 570k. on the . toverish pulse of Turkish ¢ polis, Captain Yeath-Brown and 1.9 with four other officers, were alsd' ehgdged in various kinds of propa- 'wand. And shnilar work was done | by one or two Earopean eivilians, whose names it would be yet unad-f visable to publish. I cannot-judge just how much this plotting and Provagette influenced vents tani happened. 'lady whe throughout the war 'and for the yHeved he would be useful to them in arranging an armistice. | What followed I learned, after | had rejoined the British, from Capt. Yeats-Brown, who remained free in the Turkish capital until the armfis- tice was signed, and from. Colonel "Z" Mmself, whom I met in London just before 1 Jeft for America. The colonel received an urgent sage asking him to meet the Valli of Smyrna at the Tokatlian--- one of the two hest hotels in Con- stantinople. There the British of- cer and the high Turkish official shook hands, and after discussing {this question of how hest the Turks might get rid of the Germans, a political dinner party was arranged to take place that same evening (October 16). A Strange Dinner Party. Colonel "Z," accompanied bY i magnificent work for the British wont to an address given him, an met the new Minister of the Interior and other notabilities. Over the dinner table there was. then the strange spectacle of the ' mighty questions of peace and war helug discussed by an escaped prisoner of war; anda prominent - minister of _jthe country 'in which -he way techail- cally still a captive. The British colonel = explained thut though he was working for AlY Hed interests, his [friendly advice {was that it wonld be greatly to Tur: key's advantage to sue for a sepa- rate peace, hecauss whereas Ger- many wanted to: keep a weak Tur- key which the could dominate, the Allies' principles of the rights of nationality forbade | any idea sof completa domination : made by ihe. Minister of the Interior: andy Sort "We know we Nave lost ' our chance. . There have been mistakes in the past. We are practically bankrupt. But we honestly hate [the Germans, and without kowiow- 1ing to the" British, look to them o ibelp us, and to be onr friends, we want to be trisnds with them. » "Colonel "ZY awd the: Turkish | Ministers thrashed out such ques {tions as Turkey's financial bank. i ruptey; the opening of the Dardan- alles, the |for- Armenia and Arabia, and punish- ment for the Armeniany nEsacres mal-treatment 'of Bri- itish prisoners from Kut-elAmara (whereby nearly eighty per ¢ant. of the latter had died). Then, after dinner was cer, the Minister of the Interior dictated in French a long tclegram, which the British colonel was 10 send to Lloyd George as soon a8 he should reach Allied terriory. (Next day the ministry tried to gend him out of the country hy asro- plane. 'This proed to be impossible, for all aircraft wers in the hands of the Germans. It: was therefors cial passports and proceed, Smyrna, to one or other of the Groek islands of Chios or_Mudros. The Colonel Leaves Turkey. . After colonel "Z's" dinner pariy {ol the sixteentls events moved rapid-| 1)¥ tewards an armistice. oA " Smyrna created a sensation oni. eighteenth by stating plainly in rkish newspaper that peace ne- Kotfations were in progress and that e Germans would have to go. That Jame afternoon Colonel "Z" again met him at the Tokatilan Hotel and capitulations, autonomy |: agreed «hat he should receive spe-l viaf The Vali} 8 ESCAPTED COLONEL WHO NEGOTIATED WITH MINISTERS be- discussed the best 'means of ap: proaching England for an armistice. By now the colonel was going about Constantihople quite . openly, al- though Captain. Yeats-Brown and the other escaped officers had to res i main more or less in hiding. Meanwhile ~~ General' Townsend who was still a prisoner, had alsa sent a pra 10 the new government, ih armistice commission wis tora and the general was asked by the Graud Vizier to aceompany 'the delegates who were about To "leaves Turkey; which he did. It was arranged that Colonel "'Z" 'would follow in a few days' time, o On his 'last' night in Constanti- nople Colonel: "Z* went by appoint- ment to the tehiavs of the deserted British Bmbasey, thére met Captain YoatsiBrow jy who had slip- ped. past the police into. the ents bassy grounds, owas a médtie that' batther of them . will evép. forget. Below was the Golden Hom, shimmering in the moonlight, and 'across its . waters the Turkish city of Stamboul show. ed up dimly, quiet and apparently, asleep. But the watchers on the Embasay terrace knew that the city might etir from slumber at any mo- ment, for the Phatap es bristling with machine guns, St, Sophia was an armed camp, and, more f 'than all, péople were 'starving dn Streets, The waning sickle moon that roti above Stamboul seemed the symbod of the Turks' waning dominion over Christian peoples. "Vory soon - the Union Jack would float from - the barren flagstaff above Hig embassy. Very soon Pera quarter of Con decked with b Ri Bron Hi com Next. day Colonel gr who 'bad been handed civil passports by the Minister of # orion travel led from Constantinople to Smyrna. Finally. he left Turkey. as a special adviser, in the company of the new Minister of Marine. The is 4 fo sea in a trawler, and were J up by H. M. 8. "Liverpool. ». Thay, were taken to Mudros, and there the Sultan's plea for a Separate armis- tice was granted. * ° - » . If this history were romantic fies tion the only possible ending woul be for ths British colonel to marty the girl who helped him to escape. And, alhough it is still more ro- mantic fact, that is precisely what will happen. They. are en A and by the time this appears print Mile. "X'" may have become. Madame YZ. "» % 5 ; ;