THE LAND OF THE STALKING DEATH 



407 



stone weights, offering withered apples 

 for sale. The American Committee had 

 distributed 85 tons of rice and flour in 

 three weeks — a mere sop to starvation's 

 maw. 



The daily deaths totalled thirty, of 

 which one-third were children. Herb- 

 eating had bloated many of the faces that 

 surged about us — faces so distorted as to 

 express their hope of us with a ghastly 

 semblance of ludicrousness. 



"Bread, bread, bread'/ 3 



That low, moaning monotone, rising 

 and falling like the sound of waves which 

 search the arid shore, only to fall weakly 

 back on themselves, pursued us through 

 the streets and far out into the fields. 

 And we left starvation's host gazing trag- 

 ically after us, as men regard some pass- 

 ing vessel which skirts the barren island 

 where they are marooned with death. 



A CITY OF HARROWING SILENCE 



That night we passed the mountains' 

 summit through the blinding smoke of 

 wind-swept snow drifts, and by next 

 morning we had regained springtime's 

 balm and verdure in the valley at Alexan- 

 dropol. 



Before the flour-unloading began — in- 

 deed, before we were up — there were 

 children about our car, attracted by the 

 American flag which it flew. They were 

 searching the ground with the spell- 

 bound preoccupation of some one who 

 has lost something infinitely small and 

 precious. I say children, but I really 

 mean wizened and ancient dwarfs, with 

 wrinkled foreheads and those downward 

 cheek creases which deepen when one 

 smiles. Not that they were smiling, how- 

 ever; they had forgotten the way of that, 

 long ago. 



Occasionally I saw them stoop, reclaim 

 something, and masticate. Presently the 

 doctor came in, looking decidedly bad- 

 tempered. I asked, "What are those chil- 

 dren eating?" 



"Candle grease," he answered gruffly. 



"Where's that extra loaf of bread?" 



Alexandropol is a blasted town (the 

 handiwork of the Turk upon retreating) , 

 with streets like the Slough of Despond ; 

 low, flat houses ; long lines of sackclothed 

 people sitting, lying, dozing, and dying, 

 all in the spring sunlight ; not a laborer at 



work, not a wheel turning save those of 

 the wretched droshky which we comman- 

 deered. 



Utter silence brooded over Alexandro- 

 pol — a silence profound and sinister, as 

 if the whole town were muffled out of 

 respect for continuous burial. We found 

 no violence, no disorder. The people 

 showed the gentle somnolence of lotus- 

 eaters, as they sat there in the long sun- 

 bathed streets, feeding on hope. 



HUMANITY MASSED LIKE BEES IN 

 SWARMING TIME 



Refugees whose numbers had grown 

 in six weeks from 26,000 to 50,000, and 

 in ten days from 50,000 to 58,000, filled 

 the Russian barracks, where they were 

 massed like bees in swarming time. As 

 we walked through those dark, cell-like 

 rooms of shattered windows and smoked 

 ceilings, not a bed or chair was to be 

 seen, but only groups of wretched hu- 

 manity, huddled together on their com- 

 mon bed of dank flagstones. 



Through the dimness we could see a 

 multitude of hands stretched despair- 

 ingly forth, and again that low drone of 

 "Bread, bread, bread!" shook us as we 

 passed. Those who were strong enough 

 stumbled up and followed us out into the 

 sunlight — an unforgettable throng of 

 waxen faces and of wasted bodies that 

 streamed with rags. To them we must 

 have seemed as the bright god Baldur 

 seemed to the damned spirits among 

 whom he passed in dun Hela's realm. 



"They are dying at a rate of from two 

 hundred to two hundred fifty a day." 

 said the manager of the American Com- 

 mittee, who had accompanied us thither. 

 "Sometimes in merely passing between 

 my house and my office I have counted 

 fifteen bodies lying in the street. Our 

 present stocks do not permit us to dis- 

 tribute more than from three and one- 

 half to seven ounces of flour and less 

 than two ounces of rice a day per person. 

 As you will find everywhere throughout 

 this country, the Turks swept Alexandro- 

 pol bare when retiring. 



A DAUGHTER IN EXCHANGE FOR A SACK 

 OF FLOUR 



"Over there runs the Arpa-Tchai, and 

 bevond it lies the territory of the Tatars, 



