All I could see now, except for the very occasional flash of a rifle,
was a frightened group of camel-drivers huddled together on the third
zigzag, apparently waiting for the armed men to join them before they
plucked up sufficient courage to start the ascent. It was too dark
farther down to see a single camel.
Then Jaffa turned to me and said simply: "I go down path--speak to camel
men--tell them you no want kill Bedouin--Bedouin throw rifle away--you
won't shoot--if they no throw rifle away you kill them all."
My aunt! What a chap! What a scheme! If it would only work, and if
only the camel men could get the Arabs to listen!
"I tell them you have a hundred men on top--they no know--very
frightened--very much frightened."
"But they might kill you," I said.
He shook his head, and drew his beloved Mauser pistol. "I go and speak
to them."
"All right! Good for you! Go along!"
He did not stand up and scramble down to the path; he wriggled himself
below the farther side of the crest, and presently appeared through the
gap, walking coolly along the path, his white suit making him very
conspicuous.
I crawled over the crest myself, and made my way to the gap. So did
Griffiths.
We saw Jaffa holding up his hands to show that he came in peace, and
heard him calling loudly. Then some heads appeared much nearer than I
imagined any Arabs to have reached, and gazed at him. He stopped and
harangued them, pointing along the crest where we had been lying,
sweeping his hands from side to side as if there was a bluejacket behind
each rock.
The Arabs were answering him, and he was arguing with them like a
father. Then, as the last rays of the sun streamed through the gap, he
came sauntering back to us. Webster and his marines had joined me.
"They believe me," Jaffa said. "All very frightened--will tell
Bedouin--Bedouin throw away rifles."
"You are a splendid chap!" was all I could say.
I told Webster what Jaffa proposed to do, and at his suggestion we all
began to show ourselves at different points along the crest--one here,
two there, all of us at another place--dodging backwards and forwards,
dividing into parties, and going to opposite sides of the gap. I felt
as though we were a lot of "supers" in a pantomime, trying to "make
believe" that we were an army.
Breathless, we all collected again at the gap.
It was not quite dark yet--not behind us--where the twilight lingered a
little, and we could see perhaps fifty yards along the path into the
"coffee-cup".
Presently Webster proposed that he and I should take station at either
side of the mouth of the gap, and that the two marines should do the
same at the other end of it. He suggested this because if we all stayed
where we were there would be no room for the Arabs to pass. Griffiths I
sent up to the ridge above it, with orders to fire only when told to do
so. He did not like leaving us, because it was so dark. In fact we
could hardly see each other, and, looking down into the hollow, the
darkness seemed like black velvet.
Up from that blackness came sounds of men calling to each other; once or
twice there were yells of pain or fright, and we strained our ears to
hear whether anyone had fallen down. The noises were still far below,
but gradually approaching.
We waited, and, with nothing else to do, began to grow fearfully
nervous. When one is frightened one gives an enemy credit for all the
virtues and valour and skill imaginable, and thinks that he must be cool
and collected. At that time I could not conceive how we could escape
being killed, and was only certain of one thing--that I'd account for as
many Arabs as possible before that happened.
I wondered what our fellows were doing at the bottom, and whether old
Popple Opstein was there. I knew that they dared not attempt to climb
the path at night.
Jaffa began to coach us as to what we should say when the Arabs came.
He made us repeat after him: "Khalli bunduk 'ak", meaning "Throw down
your rifle"; "Ist agel", meaning "Hurry up"; and "Ma kattle kum",
meaning "Won't shoot you".
We repeated these after him till we knew them. Shall I ever forget them!
Then he said it was time for him to go, and asked me for a box of
matches. Luckily I had one--nearly full it was. Why he wanted matches
I did not know.
We heard the stones rattling under his feet as he slipped away down the
path.
"Can you see me?" he called out.