me
slight hope that a peace with one may so affect the other that
possibly peace with both may be attained.

"As was to be expected, Trotski replied to my question, whether he
admitted that the Ukrainians should treat with us alone on questions
dealing with their frontiers, with an emphatic denial. I then, after
some exchange of words, proposed that the sitting be adjourned, and a
plenary sitting convened, in order that the matter might be dealt with
by the Kieff and Petersburg parties together.

"_February 2, 1918._--I have tried to get the Ukrainians to talk over
things openly with the Russians, and succeeded almost too well. The
insults hurled by the Ukrainians to-day against the Russians were
simply grotesque, and showed what a gulf is fixed between these two
Governments, and that it is not our fault that we have not been able
to bring them together under one hat on the question of peace. Trotski
was so upset it was painful to see. Perfectly pale, he stared fixedly
before him, drawing nervously on his blotting paper. Heavy drops of
sweat trickled down his forehead. Evidently he felt deeply the
disgrace of being abused by his fellow-citizens in the presence of the
enemy.

"The two brothers Richthofen were here a little while ago. The elder
has shot down some sixty, the younger 'only' some thirty enemy
airmen. The elder's face is like that of a young and pretty girl. He
told me 'how the thing is done.' It is very simple. Only get as near
to the enemy as possible, from behind, and then keep on shooting,
when the other man would fall. The one thing needful was to 'get over
your own fright,' and not be shy of getting quite close to your
opponent.--Modern heroes.

"Two charming stories were told about these two brothers. The English
had put a price on the head of the elder Richthofen. When he learned
of this, he sent down broadsheets informing them that to make matters
easier for them, he would from the following day have his machine
painted bright red. Next morning, going to the shed, he found all the
machines there painted bright red. One for all and all for one.

"The other story is this: Richthofen and an English airman were
circling round each other and firing furiously. They came closer and
closer, and soon they could distinctly see each other's faces.
Suddenly something went wrong with Richthofen's machine-gun, and he
could not shoot. The Englishman looked across in surprise, and seeing
what was wrong, waved