_The impressive scene when the intrepid survivors of the Emden crew
ended their long and perilous wanderings over the sea and through the
desert, and reported once more to their superior naval officer for
duty, is described in a dispatch from Constantinople, published in the
Berlinger Tageblatt of May 25. The account, written by Dr. Emil
Ludwig, the special correspondent whom the paper had sent to meet the
Emden men as they emerged from the desert, and filed under date of May
24, reads:_
Now the Emden men have at last reached Europe. The many feasts which
the German colonies and the Turkish authorities insisted on preparing
for the heroes on their way through Asia Minor, in Adana, Tarsus,
Bosanti, Konia, and Eskishehir, have improved the condition of the
crew, half of whom are still suffering from malaria or its
consequences. The officers, to be sure, pressed forward. When the
train today drew near to Constantinople, the cordiality and
enthusiasm waxed to a veritable Whitsuntide fraternizing with the
Turks.
The Chief Mayors delivered addresses at every station, or children
recited poems amid the Turkish sounds of which only the words
"Allaman" (Germans) and "Emden" were intelligible to us. One little
child was specially courageous, and recited in German. The flags were
wreathed with laurel, and prettily dressed little children brought up
to the crew great baskets full of cherries and the first strawberries;
but the eyes of the sailors hung more fondly upon beer and tobacco,
which they received in large quantities. Even at those stations where
the train whizzed past without stopping, Oriental applause floated up
to us, and everywhere stood honorary reception committees.
When we at last drew near Haidar-Pasha, the final station of the
railroad on the Asiatic side, the railway station seemed to be
transformed into a festive hall. Lieut. Capt. von Mücke ordered his
men, who had only now transformed themselves again into blue lads,
since navy uniforms had been sent to them on the way, to step up, and
he led them up to a group of navy officers who, with Admiral Souchon
at their head, remained quietly standing.
Then this young "triumphator," who even a moment ago stood amid cheers
and a shower of acacia blossoms, bowing and shaking hands on the
platform, the man who for fourteen days has been the one man wherever
stopped, now steps up in military order to the little Admiral and
lowers his sword:
"Beg to report most obediently, Herr Admiral, landing corps of the
Emden, 44 men, 4 officers, 1 surgeon."
Admiral Souchon received the announcement just as a daily report. Only
then did he press the Lieutenant Captain's hand, bid him welcome, and
marched along the front of the company.
No sooner had the column with the Emden flag appeared at the entrance
of the station than there burst from 10,000 throats a rousing
"Hurrah!" On a torpedo boat that had been waiting for them the crew
crossed the Bosporus, in which all ships had decked themselves with
flags, and landed on the wide park-like point of the seraglio. There,
surrounded by new countless crowds, were the Ministers Enver Pasha and
Talaat Bey, the German Ambassador, Freiherr von Wangenheim, and
Marshal von der Golz Pasha, the combined navy corps of officers,
General Bronsart von Schellendorf, all waiting their arrival.
[Illustration: ENVER PASHA