CHAPTER XIV
The Greeks save the Allies and thrust
back the Turks
THE Allied Premiers looked round in despair.
At last they half realized the situation. The
East was up. The Bolsheviks were becoming
dominant. The Turks were about to throw the Allied
troops " bag and baggage " and in rout, out of Con-
stantinople. Great Britain had her hands full. The
few troops at her disposal were in Ireland. The Indian
Army was doubtful in loyalty, and even its British officers
were disgruntled with constant changes and the insistent
threats of reduction. The French were busy in Syria
and Africa and still afraid of Germany. The Italians
were striving with the agonies of attempted red revolu-
tion. The Premiers looked round in despair.
Quiet, plausible, unmoved stood M. Venizelos. His
eye-glasses and charm of manner give him an air of
childlike simplicity, but, as ever, with careful shrewd
calculation he was ready in Paris. At a reasonable
price he was prepared to place the Greek troops at the
disposal of the Allies. The price of more land round
Smyrna and the immediate occupation of Eastern Thrace
were at once agreed upon. The Greeks would do the
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