Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/110

 complicated. The Red gave chase to the members of the Government and the Lantdag, to the officials and bankers in order to arrest them. All these and all who had had anything to do with the Protective Corps had to keep themselves concealed. They stayed with one another, moved sometimes, let their beards grow, and neglected appearances. Disguised thus, the pursued could sometimes take a little walk in the evening. After nine in the evening it was forbidden to go out in Helsingfors. Nor did anybody care to, for every evening there was the sound of shooting in the streets.

Perhaps the worst of all was the absolute uncertainty Red Finland was completely isolated from the outer world, and only had connection with Lenin's St. Petersburg. No Scandinavian newspapers, no letters, no enlightening telegrams got through. Rumours were afloat, and the only sources of news were the newspapers of the Red. They were not to be trusted. The cruelties of the "butchers" and their enormous losses in the fights were the chief contents; from abroad the only news obtained was of the sort that the Kaiser had been deposed, that revolution was breaking out both in France and Norway, that the power of the Bolsheviks in Russia was increasing day by day. People sat nervous and idle in their homes, only this single thought revolving in their minds: "When will Mannerheim come?"

In the meanwhile the Red were at work. They searched houses, made arrests and seizures. They had to fill all the Government offices with their own people, and organise their army. The war operations became the centre of the efforts both of the White and the Red. The result, of course, was dependent on them. There may therefore be some reason for pausing to look a little at the army of the Red.