We had, when fully mobilised, an army of one hundred and thirty thousand men; this number did not include the garrisons of such places as Soctia, Poiska, or Orvlov. It was the actual fighting force that reached that number. Of these I retained forty thousand; the other ninety thousand were under the command of Avilinoff.
Our railways were never idle, and in order to confuse the enemy's spies very few people knew of the ultimate destination of the troops, these being moved backwards and forwards; but gradually they were drafted off to the frontier, or as near to it as Avilinoff wished.
I made Quarovitch a General, for I intended giving him a large command in the north, and he and I worked hard together concocting our plan, and deciding on the composition of the forces necessary to carry it out.
Forty thousand men may have seemed a large proportion of our fighting force to have kept for the north, and I believe it was greatly criticised, but my reasons were these: we did not know how many of the enemy would be opposed to us, I wished to have the numerical superiority over any probable force.
I wanted to gain a victory, of a decisive kind, quickly, and also I thought that, after a victory in the north, the troops, when they did reach the southern army, would leaven that in a most satisfactory way, especially as Avilinoff's army would have been retreating for some time.
For some days small bodies of troops left Karena, after dark, for a destination known only to the officer in charge, and Quarovitch. Of course, I was aware that they went, and where; but, then, I was supposed to know everything.
A shooting affray in which a Bornian officer was wounded, a fishing boat seized by our coast guard, were the two excuses our enemy needed; these two things happened simultaneously, and within twenty-four hours they had presented an ultimatum.
That same night Piotr returned. He had ample information, and of such a nature that I blessed the thought that had induced me to retain so many troops in the north. He left again some hours later with Quarovitch.
Between Prince Venoff and the Bornian Minister, there was a great deal of going to and fro. Our Foreign Minister, full of wiles, played his part to perfection. He asked for more time, appeared to meditate compliance with the terms of the ultimatum, suggested compromises with every sign of nervousness; but all to no avail, the Bornian was relentless.
I cannot remember meeting a man so born to be duped. He was enormously conceited, overbearing, and haughty. He only possessed a modicum of those qualities a Minister needs.