Damascus, May 11.
Concerning his further experiences, Lieut. Capt. von Mücke told this
story:
"Two months after our arrival at Hodeida we again put to sea. The time
spent in the highlands of Sana passed in lengthy inquiries and
discussions that finally resulted in our foregoing the journey by land
through Arabia, for religious reasons. But the time was not altogether
lost. The men who were sick with malaria had, for the most part,
recuperated in the highland air.
"The Turkish Government placed at our disposal two 'sambuks' (sailing
ships) of about twenty-five tons, fifteen meters long and four meters
wide. But, in fear of English spies, we sailed from Jebaua, ten miles
north of Hodeida. That was on March 14. At first we sailed at a
considerable distance apart, so that we would not both go to pot if an
English gunboat caught us. Therefore, we always had to sail in coastal
water. That is full of coral reefs, however."
"The Commander," Lieutenant Gerdts said, "had charge of the first
sambuk; I of the second, which was the larger of the two, for we had
four sick men aboard. At first everything went nicely for three days.
For the most part I could see the sails of the first ship ahead of
men. On the third day I received orders to draw nearer and to remain
in the vicinity of the first boat, because its pilot was sailing less
skillfully than mine. Suddenly, in the twilight, I felt a shock, then
another, and still another. The water poured in rapidly. I had run
upon the reef of a small island, where the smaller sambuk was able
barely to pass because it had a foot less draught than mine. Soon my
ship was quite full, listed over, and all of us--twenty-eight men--had
to sit on the uptilted edge of the boat. The little island lies at
Jesirat Marka, 200 miles north of Jebaua. To be sure, an Arab boat lay
near by, but they did not know us. Nobody could help us. If the
Commander had not changed the order a few hours before and asked us to
sail up closer, we would probably have drowned on this coral
reef--certainly would have died of thirst. Moreover, the waters
thereabouts are full of sharks, and the evening was so squally that
our stranded boat was raised and banged with every wave. We could
scarcely move, and the other boat was nowhere in sight. And now it
grew dark. At this stage I began to build a raft of spars and old
pieces of wood, that might at all events keep us afloat.
"But soon the first boat came into sight again. The commander turned
about and sent over his little canoe; in this and in our own canoe, in
which two men could sit at each trip, we first transferred the sick.
Now the Arabs began to help us. But just then the tropical helmet of
our doctor suddenly appeared above the water in which he was standing
up to his ears. Thereupon the Arabs withdrew; we were Christians, and
they did not know that we were friends. Now the other sambuk was so
near that we could have swam to it in half an hour, but the seas were
too high. At each trip a good swimmer trailed along, hanging to the
painter of the canoe. When it became altogether dark we could not see
the boat any more, for over there they were prevented by the wind from
keeping any light burning. My men asked 'In what direction shall we
swim?' I answered: 'Swim in the direction of this or that star; that
must be about the direction of the boat.' Finally a torch flared up
over there--one of the torches that were still left from the Emden.
But we had suffered considerably through submersion. One sailor cried
out: 'Oh, pshaw! it's all up with us now; that's a searchlight.' The
man who held out best was Lieutenant Schmidt, who later lost his life.
About 10 o'clock we were all safe aboard, but one of our typhus
patients, Seaman Keil, wore himself out completely by the exertion; he
died a week later. On the next morning we went over again to the wreck
in order to seek the weapons that had fallen into the water. You see,
the Arabs dive so well; they fetched up a considerable lot--both
machine guns, all but ten of the rifles, though these were, to be
sure, all full of water. Later they frequently failed to go off when
they were used in firing.
"Now we numbered, together with the Arabs, seventy men on the little
boat, until evening. Then we anchored before Konfida, and met Sami
Bey, who is still with us. He had shown himself useful even before in
the service of the Turkish Government, and has done good service as
guide in the last two months. He is an active man, thoroughly familiar
with the country. He procured for us a larger boat, of fifty-four
tons, and he himself, with his wife, sailed alongside on the little
sambuk. We sailed from the 20th to the 24th unmolested to Lith. There
Sami Bey announced that three English ships were cruising about in
order to intercept us. I therefore advised traveling a bit overland. I
disliked leaving the sea a second time, but it had to be done."
"Lith is, to be sure, nothing but this," said Mücke, with a sweeping
gesture toward the desert through which we were traveling, "and
therefore it was very difficult to get up a caravan at once. We
remained aboard ship so long. We marched away on the 28th. We had only
a vague suspicion that the English might have agents here also. We
could travel only at night, and when we slept or camped around a
spring, there was only a tent for the sick men. Two days' march from
Jeddah, the Turkish Government, as soon as it is received news about
us, sent us sixteen good camels.
"Suddenly, on the night of April 1, things became uneasy. I was riding
at the head of the column. All our shooting implements were cleared
for action, because there was danger of an attack by Bedouins, whom
the English here had bribed. When it began to grow a bit light, I
already thought: 'We're through for today'; for we were tired--had
been riding eighteen hours. Suddenly I saw a line flash up before me,
and shots whizzed over our heads. Down from the camels! Form a
fighting line! You know how quickly it becomes daylight here. The
whole space around the desert hillock was occupied. Now, up with your
bayonets! Rush 'em!... They fled, but returned again, this time from
all sides. Several of the gendarmes that had been given us as an
escort are wounded; the machine gun operator, Rademacher, falls,
killed by a shot through his heart; another is wounded; Lieutenant
Schmidt, in the rear guard, is mortally wounded--he has received a
bullet in his chest and abdomen.
"Suddenly they waved white cloths. The Sheik, to whom a part of our
camels belonged, went over to them to negotiate, then Sami Bey and his
wife. In the interim we quickly built a sort of wagon barricade, a
circular camp of camel saddles, rice and coffee sacks, all of which
we filled with sand. We had no shovels, and had to dig with our
bayonets, plates, and hands. The whole barricade had a diameter of
about fifty meters. Behind it we dug trenches, which we deepened even
during the skirmish. The camels inside had to lie down, and thus
served very well as cover for the rear of the trenches. Then an inner
wall was constructed, behind which we carried the sick men. In the
very centre we buried two jars of water, to guard us against thirst.
In addition we had ten petroleum cans full of water; all told, a
supply for four days. Late in the evening Sami's wife came back from
the futile negotiations, alone. She had unveiled for the first and
only time on this day of the skirmish, had distributed cartridges, and
had conducted herself faultlessly.
"Soon we were able to ascertain the number of the enemy. There were
about 300 men; we numbered fifty, with twenty-nine guns. In the night,
Lieutenant Schmidt died. We had to dig his grave with our hands and
with our bayonets, and to eliminate every trace above it, in order to
protect the body. Rademacher had been buried immediately after the
skirmish, both of them silently, with all honors.
"The wounded had a hard time of it. We had lost our medicine chest in
the wreck; we had only little packages of bandages for skirmishes; but
no probing instrument, no scissors were at hand. On the next day our
men came up with thick tongues, feverish, and crying 'Water! water!'
But each one received only a little cupful three times a day. If our
water supply was exhausted, we would have to sally from our camp and
fight our way through. Then we should have gone to pot under superior
numbers. The Arab gendarmes simply cut the throats of those camels
that had been wounded by shots, and then drank the yellow water that
was contained in the stomachs. Those fellows can stand anything. At
night we always dragged out the dead camels that had served as cover,
and had been shot. The hyenas came, hunting for dead camels. I shot
one of these, taking it for an enemy in the darkness.
"That continued about three days. On the third day there were new
negotiations. Now the Bedouins demanded arms no longer, but only
money. This time the negotiations took place across the camp wall.
When I declined, the Bedouin said: 'Beaucoup de combat,' (lots of
fight.) I replied:
"'Please go to it!'
"We had only a little ammunition left, and very little water. Now it
really looked as if we would soon be dispatched. The mood of the men
was pretty dismal. Suddenly, at about 10 o'clock in the morning, there
bobbed up in the north two riders on camels, waving white cloths. Soon
afterward there appeared, coming from the same direction, far back, a
long row of camel troops, about a hundred; they draw rapidly near by,
ride singing toward us, in a picturesque train. They were the
messengers and troops of the Emir of Mecca.
"Sami Bey's wife, it developed, had, in the course of the first
negotiations, dispatched an Arab boy to Jeddah. From that place the
Governor had telegraphed to the Emir. The latter at once sent camel
troops, with his two sons and his personal surgeon; the elder,
Abdullah, conducted the negotiations; the surgeon acted as
interpreter, in French. Now things proceeded in one-two-three order,
and the whole Bedouin band speedily disappeared. From what I learned
later, I know definitely that they had been corrupted with bribes by
the English. They knew when and where we would pass and they had made
all preparations. Now our first act was a rush for water; then we
cleared up our camp, but had to harness our camels ourselves, for the
camel drivers had fled at the very beginning of the skirmish. More
than thirty camels were dead. The saddles did not fit, and my men know
how to rig up schooners, but not camels. Much baggage remained lying
in the sand for lack of pack animals.
"Then, under the safe protection of Turkish troops, we got to Jeddah.
There the authorities and the populace received us very well. From
there we proceeded in nineteen days, without mischance, by sailing
boat to Elwesh, and under abundant guard with Suleiman Pasha in a
five-day caravan journey toward this place, to El Ula, and now we are
seated at last in the train and are riding toward Germany--into the
war at last!"
"Was not the war you had enough?" I asked.
"Not a bit of it," replied the youngest Lieutenant; "the Emden simply
captured ships each time; only a single time, at Penang, was it
engaged in battle, and I wasn't present on that occasion. War? No,
that is just to begin for us now."
"My task since November," said Mücke, "has been to bring my men as
quickly as possible to Germany against the enemy. Now, at last, I can
do so."
"And what do you desire for yourself?" I asked.
"For myself," he laughed, and the blue eyes sparkled, "a command in
the North Sea."