carriage.... She was saying, 'Search him, search him; I know he
ran away with it; it belonged to the Princess!' Then that deep heavy
voice: 'What did it look like?' Every word he uttered seemed to add
pneumatic pressure to his grip on my neck.... 'It was almost a light
purple, the size of a hickory nut, shaped like a pyramid and gives
out the reflection of a cluster of stars,' she cried like a wench....
'Worth a great deal of money,' the deep voice grunted as his hand
pressed harder against my windpipe.... 'Priceless!' she shrieked. 'It
couldn't be duplicated for 100,000 rubles; the most gorgeous sapphire
in the world!'... 'Are you sure this man has it?'... 'Certainly!'
she insisted; 'didn't I see that little wasp Kerensky give it to
his cousin, and didn't I see that cousin give it to this man in
America?'... 'Who is this man?' he asked, tightening his grip until my
tongue hung out.... 'They call him Fox on the west coast of America;
but THAT is NOT his name,' was the last I remember until I found
myself lying on the roadside among the hills back yonder.... I
certainly DO resemble my brother slightly and am hoping that if he has
a sapphire the size mentioned by that hissing vixen he will keep it
for the honor and glory of the family of Foxes.... And to think that
a few days ago I was falling in love with her at the Métropole!...
If man is a meditating atom, WOMAN must be a _premeditating
subterfuge!_... I see smoke rising over the hills away to the
east.... Yes, it's the smoke of guns.... I can hear the hoarse roar
of heavy artillery to the right and the spitting hollow barking and
coughing of lighter pieces on the left and I feel the ground quiver as
I write these lines."

11. The next entry read:

"What a somersault has taken place in the general slippery coalitions