names, addresses, etc. From that time onwards I always used to return home from my walks and meetings very cautiously. I was always ready to get away should I discover, from the signs arranged with my wife, that the police had taken proceedings or that they were waiting for me in my house.
From the end of June warnings had arrived almost every day, and ever since we had managed to send my brother to America I realized the necessity either of escaping or of preparing for prison. I therefore made the last essential arrangements for maintaining connections with Prague. At the beginning of August the police in Prague and Vienna had received the first news of the arrival of Vojta Beneš in America and of his activity there. The gendarmerie were at once informed and I was placed directly under police supervision. On the same day that these police instructions were issued, a report on them was supplied to me by Sergeant Hájek, a brother of Jan Hájek, who had regularly taken part in our movement from the spring of 1915 and had brought me valuable political and police news. A few days later, through Sergeant Šulc, a brother-in-law of Vojta Beneš, I was able to have a glimpse at the gendarmerie instructions concerning myself.
It was high time to get away. I explained the situation to Šámal, Dušek, and other friends of mine who had been helping me in my work. Then I once more spoke to the remaining members of the “Maffia” with regard to Masaryk’s open action, as I wanted to take him a definite reply authorizing an open declaration of war on Austria. The consent to this was given, and Masaryk was left an entirely free hand in choosing the day for availing himself of it. Having made all arrangements with Šámal, Bělohrádek, and Hájek for continuing our work and keeping in touch with us abroad, I completed my final preparations to escape. On the advice of a number of friends I intended to make my way across Hungary, Transylvania, and Rumania to Russia. On the Rumanian frontier I was to be assisted by a certain Transylvanian priest, who was said to have already helped several of our people to escape.
At the end of August I left our summer quarters for Prague with the intention of making for Hungary. At the last moment, however, I changed my plan, as I regarded the journey by way of Rumania as unsafe. Having discovered that Dr. Amerling, an old fellow-student of mine, was the medical officer to the military garrison at Asch, I decided to go there and ask him
