going during the past forty-eight hours.

This morning the various American committees came to the Legation to
report on the measures they have taken for the protection of the colony
in case of danger. I have been handed the pleasant task of Chief of
Staff, with full authority to settle all matters affecting the
protection of Americans in case hostilities reach this part of the
country, as seems may well be the case before many days. In harmony with
my well-known policy of passing the buck--more politely known as
executive ability--I impressed Major Boyer of the Army, who is here for
the time. He has set up an office at the headquarters of the committee
and makes it his business to keep me fully posted as to what is going on
there. First I started him out to look at the various houses that have
been under discussion by the committee, so that he could decide as to
their relative accessibility and general strategic advantages. He did
this and made all sorts of arrangements tending to co-ordinate the work
of the various sub-committees along the lines of the plan we drew up. It
will be a great thing to have somebody who will act as buffer for all
the detail and relieve me of just that much.

Germans who for one reason or another had not got away on our train kept
turning up all day, and we kept sending them along to the Consulate.
Late this afternoon the hard-working Nasmith came in to say that there
were already seven hundred of them gathered there. We shall have to
have another special train for day after to-morrow morning, and hope to
get most of the remaining Germans out of harm's way by that time.

The Belgians continue to be a surprise. At last accounts they were still
holding the forts at Liege. The French appear to have established
themselves along the Meuse and to be ready for the attack when it comes.
Where the British troops are, nobody here seems to know--and, strange to
say, they are not advertising their whereabouts. There are plenty of
people who have had confidential tips from their cook's brother, who
lives in the country and has seen them with his own eyes. According to
such stories they are all landed at Ostend and are being hurried across
the country through Malines. Another story is that they have been
shipped through to Liege in closed freight cars to outwit German spies,
and that they are now in the thick of it. According to still another of
these confidential fellows, they have been shipped through