Geoffrey Keith and Another
What a thing it is to be young and enthusiastic! The very news which,
cabled far and wide, set the world almost trembling; which gave
information of vast armies hurriedly mobilizing and rushing to meet one
another in deadly combat; and which saw families divided, husbands and
fathers and brothers torn from those they cared for, found Geoffrey
Keith in the very highest of spirits.
Not, let us explain, that this young man did not, and could not, realize
the gravity of the position--of the terrible conflict which, at that
moment, was bursting forth in Europe. He was not such a dunce that he
had not learned of the might of Germany, of the military spirit which,
for forty years or more, had swept from end to end of that country, and
of the dark Hohenzollern cloud which had hung over the fair lands of
Europe for many years past. Nor had the gossip of brother officers in
clubs and in messes failed to reach his ears. He knew well enough that
the outbreak of war between Germany and Austria, and France and Russia,
meant terrible fighting. He knew, better still, that if Great Britain
came into the struggle that fighting would become even more strenuous
still; for was not that the character of all Britons--slow to take up a
quarrel, patient and forbearing, they had yet proved themselves in many
a tussle to be stern and stanch fighters. They had shown indeed that
pluck, that grit and determination, which long years since has won for
our nation a wonderful reputation. Bulldogs we are known as, and
bulldogs the British were to prove themselves in the course of this
tremendous upheaval.
Yet, war meant excitement! It meant active service! It meant perhaps
journeying to another country; seeing strange sights and hearing
unfamiliar sounds, and taking part, for all one knew, in deeds which
would become historical.
"Bad luck for some people, no doubt," said Geoffrey as he sat in the
corner of a railway carriage and panted, for the heat was great. "Just
think of it, Philip, my boy! You and I have only recently completed a
special course in England and have not yet joined our regiment, and here
we are, only just arrived in India, and already under orders for active
service. What will they do with us, do you think?"
His companion, a tall, slightly built young fellow of some nineteen
years of age--a few months older than Geoffrey in fact--answered him
with energy. To be sure, he too was lolling listlessly in the opposite
corner of the carriage, and was fanning himself with _The Times_ of
India. It was desperately hot outside, and now that the train had come
to a halt at a wayside junction, what current of air there had been
passing through the compartment was stilled entirely, so that the
interior was like an oven. Outside the sun poured down upon the broad
platform of the junction till one's eyes ached if one looked out through
the gloom of the carriage at its bright reflection; and there, crowded
upon it, careless and unmindful of the sun, chattering and gesticulating
and shrieking at one another as only a native mob can do, were hundreds
of natives, waiting for a train to take them in the opposite direction.
"Where shall we go, eh?" answered Philip. "Where will the Mahrattas be
ordered to? Well now, Geoff, that's rather a large order. To begin with,
you don't suppose, do you, that every regiment--native and British--now
in India will be taken out of the country?"
"Why not?" ejaculated Geoff, peering hard at him through the gloom which
filled the interior of the carriage.
"Why not! Well, of course, there are reasons. For instance: supposing
you were to remove every soldier in the country and leave only civilian
white people behind, those agitators--those native agitators, that
is--always to be found in such a huge population as we have in India,
might stir up trouble, knowing that they had only the police to deal
with. That's a reason, and a very good reason, for keeping troops in
India; and I have got another. Great Britain has already got an
Expeditionary Force fully organized and planned for fighting with our
French ally. But she'll be hard put to it to get that force fully
mobilized and equipped. Not until then will our country have time to
turn round in other directions. So you can take it from me, my boy, we
are likely to stay in our station for some time before we get marching
orders."
As a matter of fact the declaration of war between Germany and Great
Britain produced a great deal more than excitement in far-off India.
There was a great coming and going of trains, a great concentration of
certain of the troops--both native and British--in parts of the Empire,
and, when a few weeks had gone by, transports set out across the Indian
Ocean carrying those two native divisions to France which were to do
such signal service. And, in the interval, those troops not yet under
orders were being busily prepared for fighting. Indeed, Geoff and his
friend Philip had hardly reached their station--within a few miles of
that so recently quitted by Major Joe Douglas--when they found
themselves hard at work training.
"Of course, you young officers have only just joined us," their Colonel
told them a couple of days after their arrival. "But we are fortunate in
one thing, you were both of you born in India--in cantonments--and may
be said to have been brought up in the Indian army. Then you have done
work with the O.T.C. in England, and gone through a special course
before leaving that country. But you will have to nail in at your work
as hard as possible, for it is more than likely--more than likely," he
repeated with emphasis, "that the Mahrattas will be wanted very soon for
foreign service."
"Foreign service! Hurrah!" cried Geoff enthusiastically, when he and his
chum were alone together. "That's what I've always thought and wished
for. But where? France, eh?"
"Hardly likely," came the answer. "Everyone knows that the Meerut and
Lahore Divisions are bound for that quarter. Isn't there any other spot
where there's likely to be fighting?"
Months later, had their question been answered, it would have caused the
one questioned to smile ironically. For indeed this gigantic conflict
has spread across the globe, till there are few places in which fighting
has not occurred; but Mesopotamia! Who would have thought that the
Mahrattas were to undertake service in the neighbourhood of the Persian
Gulf. Why, Philip hardly knew of the existence of such a place, though
Geoff was well acquainted with the country. Let us explain the
circumstances of this young fellow a little more fully before he becomes
immersed in the excitement and adventures of a campaign in the valley of
the Tigris.
Geoff Keith was the only son, the only child in fact, of Captain Robert
Keith, once of the ---- Sikh Regiment, in which Major Joe Douglas was an
officer. Subalterns together, they had grown up side by side, and had
become inseparables. Often enough, when Joe Douglas happened to have
been with his regiment--which was seldom in later years--these two had
spent their leave together, and many a hunting trip had they taken
together in the neighbourhood of the Himalayas. But circumstances in the
end tended rather to separate these two old friends, for, as we have
explained already, Joe Douglas became a "political"--a very
well-thought-of and frequently employed "political", we should
add--while Robert married, and therefore was seen less often in the mess
of his regiment. Yet the old friendship never died away, and when
Robert, who in the meanwhile had had the misfortune to lose his wife,
went on an expedition to the frontier, and there sustained a wound from
which he died, it followed as a natural course that his old friend Joe
Douglas was left as guardian of the boy.
No one could say that this gallant officer had not carried out his
duties with every sympathy. Indeed, Geoffrey had become like a son to
the Major, and during the years that he was in India--for Geoff was sent
to a school for English boys in the hills--the two saw a great deal of
one another. With an eye to the future, the Major went so far as to give
long and painstaking instruction to his charge; so that, when at length,
at the age of sixteen only, Geoff accompanied his guardian on one of
those expeditions of his into Mesopotamia, he found himself by no means
a stranger.
"It will be your own fault, Geoff," said the Major, as they took a river
boat up the Tigris towards Bagdad--"it will be your own fault, my lad,
if you don't, one of these days, follow in my footsteps as a
'political'. I have taught you Turkish, and the Arabic the natives in
and around Bagdad speak, and though I dare say at times you have found
it an awful bore, yet you've stuck to your work like a good 'un. Now
you'll see the advantage of that work. You'll be able to understand what
people are saying round you, and will be able to make your way amongst
the Turks and amongst the Arabs with comparative ease. The few months we
are here during this trip will familiarize you with the country and the
people, and one of these days this trip will prove of immense advantage
to you."
That sojourn in Mesopotamia had indeed been one long delight to Geoff
Keith. The open-air life; their residence, often enough with some wild
Arab tribe; their tent dwellings; those long rides on horseback which
they took across the desert, fascinated him, so that when the time came
for the Major to turn his face towards India, Geoff was by far the most
disappointed of the couple. In the Persian Gulf they bade farewell to
one another, Geoff trans-shipping on to a boat on its way to Suez. From
there he went to England, where he spent a couple of years at one of the
finest of our public schools. A short course at Aldershot followed; and
then, on the eve of this tremendous conflict which had just broken out
between the Kaiser and his hosts, and the free nations of Europe, and in
which Great Britain had just commenced to take her part, Geoff Keith had
taken ship for India once more, where a commission already awaited him
in the Indian army.
To look at the young fellow you would not have imagined for a moment
that he was in any particular way accomplished. Moderately tall and
straight, he was as jolly as a sand-boy, and as careless as a boy of
fifteen. Yet there was a deep look about the eyes which, to those who
took the trouble to notice it, gave signs of something better, of
serious thought in fact, of accomplishments hidden by his joyous manner.
To be precise, you would not for a moment have imagined that Geoff could
speak Hindustani just as well as he could speak English; that he could
gabble Turkish in the markets of Bagdad with such ease and such
precision that even a native would not have suspected him--that is,
provided he were dressed as a subject of the Sultan. In addition, there
was his knowledge of those Arabic tongues, knowledge imparted at first
by his guardian, and since then improved and perfected by residence in
the country.
"Great accomplishments!" you will say. And yet so easily and so
gradually acquired--for youth makes light of such matters--that Geoff
was not conscious of his accomplishments. He was, in fact, just the
careless, happy-go-lucky fellow we have endeavoured to describe him. Not
conceited in the least, but merely a very ordinary specimen of British
youthful humanity.
"Mesopotamia!" he shouted, when the news of their proposed expedition
reached him. "George! That's splendid!"
"Ripping!" echoed Philip, extracting a cigarette from his pocket and
lighting it with a most elaborate show of unconcern, and yet with
fingers which trembled as they held a lighted match to the end of it.
"Ripping! How awfully lucky for the whole lot of us that you've been to
that country! You have, haven't you? But--where on earth is it? I'll
confess at once that geography isn't a strong subject with me, and even
now I haven't done much more than conquer the bare outline of India. Of
course a fellow knows that Mesopotamia is somewhere adjacent to Persia,
and Persia, if I remember rightly, isn't so frightfully far away from
Turkey and Afghanistan. How far'll we be away from our Russian allies
there? And, I say! I suppose it'll be a 'walk-over'!"
Geoff grinned back at his companion.
"Don't you think it!" he told him, his face now serious. "The average
fellow seems to have got hold of the idea that the Turk is a lazy, idle,
good-for-nothing, easy-going beggar, who'll hold up his hands and go
under immediately war is declared on him. Why, I was reading a
paragraph in the paper last evening which told us that Turkey was
committing suicide by joining forces with Germany, and that Russia and
England between them would mop her up and sweep her out of Europe."
Philip looked puzzled. When he said he had no great affection for
geography, and had no particularly good bump of locality, he told his
chum only the bare truth. To be quite candid, and yet essentially
friendly with reference to Geoff's friend, we have to say that not even
Geoff could have described this young officer as brilliant. He was just
a gay, light-hearted, and, when he liked, an energetic and useful
officer. When he liked to apply himself to his profession, or indeed to
any other work of not too exacting a character, Philip could do as well
as any other, though, to be sure, he did not shine as a rule. As a
soldier, he was no better and no worse than his fellows, only his
gayness of heart and his natural dash and courage might easily, under
circumstances of exceptional stress, bring him to the fore and make him
conspicuous. But, to speak bluntly, Philip was a bit of a dunce, and had
lived his short life so far without taking extraordinary notice of his
immediate surroundings, and of the world in general.
"Half a mo'!" he said, blowing a cloud of smoke in Geoff's direction.
"What's that? Turkey in Europe! But Mesopotamia's Asia, isn't it? Here's
a pencil, my boy, and here's a copy of to-day's 'orders'. Just you
sketch out on the back of it the outline of Mesopotamia. I'm not such a
fool that I can't follow a sketch when it's made for me."
A brother "sub" joined them at that moment, and as Geoff sketched
diligently and drew in the outline of the Persian Gulf, of the Afghan
frontier, and of Persia, another and yet another subaltern strolled up,
till, quite unknown to him, a little group of officers were looking on
over his shoulder. Then he suddenly became aware of their presence, and,
colouring furiously, for the young fellow was essentially modest, he
crumpled the paper up and threw it into a corner.
"No you don't, my boy! No you don't!" said a well-known voice from
behind his shoulder. "We are all of us keen on knowing something more
about the place we are bound for, and you are the only one amongst us
who has ever been there. Take it as an order, Geoff. I'll guarantee that
there shall be no larking, and I'm sure that every one of your brother
officers wishes you to give us just a short lecture on the country
called Mesopotamia."
Under the circumstances it was not to be expected that a junior officer,
so junior indeed as Geoff, could refuse the request--the order if you
like to call it, though it was given so pleasantly--of one of his
seniors. It was the senior captain, in fact, who was leaning over his
shoulder, and who patted his arm encouragingly.
"Fire ahead, Geoff," he told him. "It's not showing off! There's no
swank about it! I'd like awfully to know all about this Mesopotamia.
I'll admit the fact, before you young officers, that I'm just about as
ignorant as I can be. Up to now I never imagined that there were any
Turks to speak of in the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf, so why on
earth they should send an Expeditionary Force there from India is more
than I can guess at. The Colonel says it's so that we shall protect the
oil-supply which comes down from Persian territory to somewhere near the
Gulf. Know it, Geoff?"
"Yes, sir! And if you really won't think it's swank----"
"Of course not. Now, here's a piece of paper, and get on with it."
[Illustration: Sketch Map of Mesopotamia]
To one who had visited the country, and, more than all, to one who had
accompanied the studious Major Joseph Douglas, there was no difficulty
in drawing a map which showed all the essential points in Mesopotamia.
It was not exactly Geoff's fault that he knew a great deal about the
country. Thanks to the tuition of his kindly guardian, and the long
discussions which that officer had so frequently indulged in, Geoff had
contrived to visit Mesopotamia and live there, not as an ordinary
tourist might have done, but as an explorer. Brought into the closest
contact with the Turk, the Persian, the Armenian, and the Jew, it was
only natural that, with his guardian's help, he should have learnt
something of the international situation as it concerned Turkey. A visit
to Constantinople had shown him the more civilized side of the country,
while the outbreak of the war between the Balkan Powers and Turkey, and
the dissertations of Major Joe Douglas, had familiarized him more or
less with the situation of Turkey in Europe.
"Of course, there is the 'pipe' line," he told his listeners, "and,
going by what Major Douglas has always told me, it cannot fail to be of
great importance to Britain. You see, numbers of our battleships now use
oil fuel almost exclusively."
"Quite so! That's got it!" chimed in the senior officer. "You've hit the
nail on the head, Geoff. Go ahead!"
"So an expedition to the head of the Persian Gulf may very well be for
the sole purpose of protecting the oil-supply of the British Navy. As to
why the Expedition should come from India rather than from England, I
can say that anyone--any white man that is--who has been to Mesopotamia
will know that it's a beast of a climate. As hot as India in the plains
in the hot weather, and often enough, when the cold season comes along,
bitterly cold and wet. But for the most part it is hot, and damp, and
trying, so that native troops are far more suitable. There's the 'pipe'
line," he told his listeners, sketching in a line from the southern
border of Persia. "It strikes across the desert to the east of the River
Karun, and joins up with the Shatt-el-Arab, close to a place called
Mohammera. I ought to explain that the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates join
up somewhere in the region of Kurnah and Basra, and then flow on,
picking up the River Karun and opening into the Persian Gulf some twenty
miles farther down. As to Turks, of course the bulk of them are up
country, particularly in the neighbourhood of Bagdad. But there are
fortified posts along both rivers and right down to the mouth of the
Shatt-el-Arab. At Basra there are quite a considerable number of
Europeans and Indians, and they tell me that an increasing trade is done
from that port. If we land somewhere about there we are sure to be
opposed, and if there weren't any Turks there are any number of Arabs,
some of whom, at least, are likely to be unfriendly."
"So that there'll be fighting, eh?" asked the senior officer.
"Plenty of it, I imagine," Geoff told him. "Those Arabs are wily beggars
to deal with."
"And where's Bagdad?" he was asked. "And how does it lie compared with
Constantinople?"
"And what about Persia, and Russia, and Turkestan, and Turkey in
Europe?" demanded Philip, anxious to improve the occasion.
Thus pressed, Geoff could not do other than sketch in the various
positions, showing Persia to the east, and Russia where she abutted on
Turkey in Asia, along the line of the Caucasus Mountains. Then, having
shaded in the Black Sea, thus showing the southern shore of Russia and
the Crimea, he sketched the Sea of Marmora and the Narrows, where, at
the Dardanelles, the British fleet was so soon to be hammering.
A glance at the map will show better than any description the chief
features of the situation, and only a few words are needed to explain
the intrusion of Turkey into the gigantic war which had so recently
arisen. If one looks for the cause of Turkey's joining with Germany and
Austria against the Powers of the Entente, one is bound to confess that
no adequate reason can be discovered. Turkey had nothing to fear from
Great Britain or from her allies; yet, for years Germany had been
secretly scheming to expand her sway over Turkey. It may be conceded
that, whereas, exclusive of Russia, the whole of Europe was highly
industrialized, and the greater part of the "middle East" that was easy
to come at was already being busily developed by France or Great
Britain, or others of the European nations, there yet remained the whole
of Turkey in Asia and of Persia--a gigantic sweep of country--the
natural riches of which were, still, not even tapped, and which, thanks
to the listless idleness of the Turk, were likely to remain untapped
until some European Power, with need for extending her commerce, swept
upon the scene and took advantage of such golden opportunities.
Already Russia had brought a portion of Persia under her sway, while
Great Britain had secured the other portion. No doubt, too, Russia had
her eyes on the northern portion of Turkey in Asia, while Britain was
not entirely ignorant of the riches lying undeveloped in Mesopotamia.
What had once been, according to legend, the Garden of Eden, and, since
the Turk had come upon the scene, had been utterly neglected, and had
woefully depreciated till it had become hardly better than a barren
desert, was capable of being coaxed back into its old condition. Riches,
now hidden, might be won from the country by Western energy and
resource, while the country, once firmly occupied by Germany or by any
other nation, would open a way to the subjection of Persia and to an
approach upon India by way of Afghanistan.
Let us say at once that Turkey had no adequate reason for joining in
this vast struggle against Great Britain and her allies; but she was
cajoled into that action. Perhaps her leaders were heavily bribed by the
Germans, who themselves had reason enough in all conscience. The coming
of Turkey into the conflict would of itself detain large forces both of
Russia and of Great Britain; and then again, supposing France and
Britain and Russia to have been defeated in Europe, Germany would have a
clear field in the "middle East", with a prospect one day of even
approaching India, and so of coming nearer to the consummation of that
vastly ambitious scheme the Kaiser had set before him, of becoming the
Ruler of the World.
But Geoff and his brother officers cared not a rap for such thoughts.
That little lesson in geography proved of vast assistance to them all,
and the thought of fighting in the near future, of Turks and of Arabs,
roused their excitement to the highest. A couple of weeks later they
took train down-country, where the bustle about the port, the presence
of other troops who were to take part in the expedition, and the sight
of the transports they were to board brought their spirits to fever
pitch. Two days later they set sail, and within a very short period
found themselves steaming to the head of the Persian Gulf. Before the
dusk fell that evening they were within sight of land, and had the huge
felicity of seeing the gunboat which escorted them exchange shots with
the Turkish forts at the mouth of the Shatt-el-Arab. It was the opening
of their campaign. It was the first shot that many of them had heard
discharged in actual warfare.
"Hurrah!" shouted Philip as he watched a shell bursting in the distance.
"To-morrow, my boy, we'll be in the thick of it."