He never funked and he never lied I reckon he never knowed how. - John Hay

He weren't no saint—but at jedgment I'd run my chance with Jim.
'Longside of some pious gentlemen That wouldn't shook hands with him.
He seen his duty, a dead-sure thing— And went for it thar and then;
And Christ ain't a-going to be too hard On a man that died for men.

At my door the Pale Horse stands
To carry me to unknown lands.

Dealing with a government [Tsarist Russia] with whom mendacity is a science is an extremely difficult and delicate matter.