BEELZEBUB
I found, on my return in September, that life on the Peninsula was much
less strenuous than when I had left for Egypt at the end of July. The
Turks must have been very short of ammunition, for few shells were fired
for the first five or six weeks after our arrival. I was able to have
drills and parades in the open, exposed to the full view of Achi Baba
and Krithia--a thing which would have been out of the question in the
early days. It was quite a pleasure to be able to ride about all over
the Peninsula even to within a few hundred yards of the Turkish trenches
without being shelled. Of course, in the days when the Turks had plenty
of ammunition, they thought nothing of wasting half a dozen rounds on a
solitary horseman, and many a time have I had to gallop at breakneck
speed to avoid the shrapnel which they peppered me with on many
occasions. I was very glad indeed that shells were rather scarce, as it
gave my recruits time to get into shape and get used to the conditions
of warfare.
The new Cairo men took to the life very kindly, and soon burrowed
themselves well into the ground and adapted themselves to cave dwelling
as to the manner born.
In the evenings, when our day's toil was ended, we had concerts round
our camp fires and enjoyed ourselves as much as it was possible to do
under the circumstances; in fact, at times we used to forget that we
were at war.
The camp-fire sing-songs were rather weird affairs--songs in English
(Tipperary, for choice), French, Russian, Hebrew and Arabic--the two
latter made rather melancholy by the plaintive wail of the East. Some of
the men were first-rate Russian dancers and expert wrestlers, so we had
many excellent little side-shows.
The concerts were always ended by singing "God Save the King," the
Marseillaise (for many French soldiers would be present), the Russian
Anthem, and last of all the Maccabæan March.
We had many visitors to our quaint polyglot lines; a strenuous
lieutenant all the way from Canada often called on us, and I was
indebted to him for an invitation to come and try my hand at
tent-pegging on a beautiful tan track which he had made and at which
various officers used to meet to run a course.
Now I used to be rather good at the game, and I think I rather surprised
my Canadian friend, Maurice, when, in answer to his bantering challenge:
"Now, Colonel, show us how it's done!" I took every peg for which I
tried. It was good to find that one could still ride straight and depend
on eye, hand and arm, and that the spear-point could be made to strike
the peg as squarely and as surely as of old.
There was not a great deal of work to be done in these days, as there
was now any amount of other Transport which took much of the weight off
our shoulders.
The lack of steady hard work made the mules very frisky, and some of
them were regular demons. We had one which was rightly named Beelzebub,
for he was indeed a prince of devils, and I veritably believe he made
all the other mules laugh when he kicked one or other of the N. C. O.'s
or men. He had an extraordinary cat-like faculty of being able to plant
fore and hind feet into one's ribs practically simultaneously, while at
the same moment he would make a grab at one's head, emitting all the
while strange noises and terrifying squeals! He pinned me in a corner
one day, apparently to the delight of the other mules, and I was glad to
get out of it alive! In order to make him pay a little more respect to
his commanding officer for the future, I ordered him to be tied up to a
tree and kept for a day without food or water. This, however, did not
fall in with Beelzebub's theory of things, so he gnawed through the rope
in the night and then made for the forage stack, where, to make up for
lost time, he ate about six mule rations!--at which the other mules did
not laugh!
No one was over-particular about Beelzebub's safety, as he was not what
might be called popular, so instead of being put down with the others in
a dug-out, where indeed he would have kicked them to bits, he was
generally left by himself in about the most exposed position that could
be found for him in the camp, and I am quite certain that both Jewish
and Gentile prayers went up for his speedy annihilation by a Turkish
shell; but Beelzebub bore a charmed life. Shells hopped all round him,
cut in two great trees which sheltered him, excavated enormous caverns
at his very heels, but the only effect they had on Beelzebub was to
rouse his ire and start him off on a fresh kicking bout. At last a chunk
of shell hit the ground close to him, bounced up and "ricked" off his
ribs, making a wound, not very serious, it is true, but still not
exactly calculated to improve his diabolical temper.
I sent him off to the sick lines to have his wound dressed. Now I never
could find out what he actually did to the veterinary surgeon who tried
to doctor him there, but this officer wrote a polite little note
requesting me to be so very kind as to remember in future that his
hospital was for sick mules--not for Man-Eaters!
I have already mentioned that on the night of my return to Gallipoli
from Egypt a brilliant moon was shining, and by the light of it I saw
great mounds of earthworks thrown up just to one side of our lines. On
looking closer, I found that these were the emplacements for four heavy
French guns of 9.6-inch calibre.
I cannot say that I was over-pleased at the sight, because I knew that
the moment they opened fire their position would be seen from Achi Baba,
and the shells which the Turks would be bound to hurl at them would be
more than likely to miss the battery and hit my men and my mules.
Two French officers were in charge of the siege pieces, Captain Cujol
and Lieutenant La Rivière, both exceedingly nice men with whom we made
great friends. The gallant captain was a great horseman, and I often
delighted him (for he had no horse with him) by mounting him on one of
mine, and together riding over the Peninsula. Lieutenant La Rivière, who
was a much-travelled man, often entertained us with stories of his
wanderings and adventures in Arabia, Abyssinia and the Soudan in the
long evenings after we had all dined together in our cosy little
dug-out.
While I was away recruiting in Egypt the glamour of the Horse Artillery
had fallen upon Gye, and, furthermore, Davidson and other officers of L
Battery had beguiled him, so that soon after my return he asked me if I
would let him go to the Gunners. I was glad to recommend him for the
transfer, for I felt that with his sound common sense and good
horsemastership he would be of more use to the general cause as a gunner
than as a muleteer.
I had two British officers still left with me, and here, too, was a case
of good material being wasted on work which could have been equally well
done by less brainy men.
Claude Rolo was an eminent civil engineer, and had constructed some of
the most important public buildings in Egypt, and, of course, his
proper place would have been with the Sappers. His brother, I. Rolo,
with his vast business experience in Egypt, should have been employed as
purchasing agent for the Army, where his knowledge of local affairs
would undoubtedly have saved us tens of thousands of pounds. His talents
were wasted merely keeping the records of the Zion Mule Corps Depot at
Alexandria. I recommended both for transfer, but I fear their services
are still being wasted.
I wonder when we will wake up to the fact that we have plenty of talent
if only those in authority would avail themselves of it and use it in
the right way.