Accused by Moscow of being a British master-spy, Colonel F.M. Bailey recounts the 16-month game of cat-and-mouse he played with the Bolshevik secret police. At one point, with a false identity, he joined the ranks of the latter, who unsuspectingly sent him to Bokhara to arrest himself.

'one of the best books about secret intelligence work ever written' Peter Hopkirk. Colonel F. M. Bailey, whose extraordinary adventures are told here, was long accused by Moscow of being a British master-spy sent in 1918 to overthrow the Bolsheviks in Central Asia. As a result, he enjoyed many years after his death an almost legendary reputation there - that of half-hero, half-villain. In this remarkable book he tells of the perilous game of cat-and-mouse, lasting sixteen months, which he played with the Bolshevik secret police, the dreaded Cheka. At one point, using a false identity, he actually joined the ranks of the latter, who unsuspectingly sent him to Bokhara to arrest himself. Told with almost breathtaking understatement, Bailey's narrative - set in a region once more back in the headlines - reads like vintage Buchan.

Introduction by Peter Hopkirk
Persia to Kashgar
Kashgar to Tashkent
Tashkent
Conditions in Tashkent
Alone
Arrested
I Disappear
To the Mountains
The Bee-farm
In Troitskoe
Return to Tashkent
Tashkent Again
Local Bolshevism
Spring Activities
Summer Difficulties
Back to the Mountains
Tashkent Affairs
To Kagan
On to Bokhara
Bokhara
Plans for Departure
In the Desert
Across the Murghab
Frontier Skirmish
Safe in Meshed
Appendix
Epilogue by Peter Hopkirk