WHICH INTRODUCES OOO AND TELLS WHY THE PIMPLE GOT
HIS FACE SMACKED
After we had been a week in solitary confinement the Spook decided we
were sufficiently “in tune” to begin the treasure-hunt. The Commandant,
now that his fears of the consequences from the telepathy trial were at
rest, had begun to show a little impatience. It was time to throw him a
sop. Besides, we had now reconnoitred the ground, and had gained a good
idea of the character of the man with whom we had to deal. We were ready
for the next fence.
To the Turks the important part of the séances that followed was the
treasure story. To us, the treasure story was only the jam that hid the
pill. The séances were really an exposition of what goes on in all cases
of conversion to spiritualism—the development of a theory of spooking
which the Turk (quite unconsciously) made his own. We were building up,
for Kiazim Bey, the Pimple, and the Cook, an experience of spooking
which would give them the proper point of view when the time came to
propose our migration from Yozgad. For, whatever the reader may think to
the contrary, the Turk is a rational animal who, like everyone else,
judges any new idea in the light of his own previous knowledge; and so,
with infinite caution, we set to work to stuff him with the fallacious
experience that was the necessary basis for the conclusion we wished him
to reach. Had he shared the knowledge as well as the faith of some
British spiritualists, it would have saved us a great deal of time and
trouble. But as things were he had first to be taught the A B C of
spiritualism, without realizing that he was being taught anything.[25]
Our first treasure séance in the Colonels’ House took place on the 14th
March between 5.30 and 10 p.m. After the usual preliminary greetings,
the Spook said it would explain a few things. I quote the séance record:
SPOOK. “Death is like birth. For some time after death a person is
unable to communicate. Gradually he learns how to do so, like a child
learning to talk. Now, the more violent the death, the longer it takes
to learn; do you understand?”
MOÏSE. “Yes, we understand.”
SPOOK. “Well, we do not use voice sounds in this sphere; we simply send
thoughts, and just as you can stop your voice from sounding, so we can
stop our thoughts from going out. Very few humans can read thoughts
among themselves; on the other hand, very few of what you call ‘spirits’
can make their voices heard to human ears, and none can read human
thoughts except by entering into a medium. Do you understand?”
MOÏSE. “I think we have understood everything except the last part of
the sentence.”
SPOOK. “By ‘entering into a medium’ I mean, for example, to read
thoughts I must do it through Jones or Hill, and my success or failure
depends as much on their powers as on mine. I can put thoughts _into_ a
person’s head, but I cannot take them _out_. Do you understand?”
MOÏSE. “Yes.”
SPOOK. “Well, when it becomes a question of reading human thoughts, I am
as ignorant of what I read as the mediums are until it is read out, and
all I do is to communicate certain movements to the mediums, who in turn
communicate them to the glass. That is to say I myself act as an
intermediary medium to a control in a still higher sphere. So you see
thought-reading demands that not only should the two human mediums be in
tune between themselves, but also with me, and the difficulty of keeping
in tune varies as the square of distance between the two human mediums,
and the human whose thoughts have to be read.”
MOÏSE. “Explain more, please.”
SPOOK. “This has never yet been understood by humans; it is very
difficult. Listen, please, I will try again. In ordinary cases you use
two mediums, Jones and Hill. In these cases I take complete control, and
it is I who give the answers. In these cases I know what to do and what
I am saying. But when it is necessary to thought-read a human brain you
have three mediums—of whom I am one. Do you understand?”
MOÏSE. “Yes.”
SPOOK. “Now to explain about distance. First,—distance has no meaning to
me, but it affects the human mediums. When you think a thought you cause
certain ethereal movements. Now, my powers are such that distance does
not affect me, but with humans it is different. The further away the
humans are from the thinker, the harder it becomes for them to notice
the ethereal movements. If too far away they are not affected at all,
and to keep in tune they must be affected by the movement. Therefore
distance is important.”
MOÏSE. “It is good.”
SPOOK. “Let me explain further. When you ask a question aloud, your
asking it at once puts the mediums in tune with one another, because
they hear the same thing at the same time. But if you are working with
three mediums, and I catch the ethereal movements while the two human
mediums do not catch them, then I and the humans are not in tune, so you
cannot get anything. ‘The strength of a chain is that of its weakest
link.’ Now you know something never before revealed in your sphere. Do
you understand all I said?”
MOÏSE. “Yes, go on, please. Thank you for this great revelation.”
SPOOK. “I said I would tell my difficulties. First difficulty is that
OOO closes his thoughts to me. He has not yet shaken off the hatred of
your sphere and refuses to benefit those he hates.”
MOÏSE. “Who is OOO, please? What did you mean by OOO?”
SPOOK. “That is his name here.”
MOÏSE. “The name of whom?”
SPOOK. “OOO.”
MOÏSE. “Who is he there?”
SPOOK. “The one whose wealth you seek. He is here now.”
MOÏSE. “Go on, please.”
SPOOK. “He says, if I understand him rightly (as yet he is not very good
at conveying thoughts), that if you are friends he can reveal now.”
MOÏSE (aside in excitement, _“Mon Dieu!”_) (Aloud): “What does he mean
by friends?”
SPOOK. “Not those he hates.”
MOÏSE. “We don’t know if he hates us or not.”
SPOOK. “Turks. He wants to speak to you himself to see if you are
friends.”
MOÏSE. “Mr. Jones is a English. Mr. Hill too, and I am Ottoman, but not
a Turk. Let him speak to us, Sir.”
SPOOK. “Are you ready? He is going to try.”
MOÏSE. “All right.”
The glass now moved round the board in short, jerky movements, but did
not touch any letters. The jerky movements then stopped, and our Spook
took control again.
SPOOK. “He says the letters are not his letters, but he is going to give
you a test with these letters. Take down carefully.”
MOÏSE. “We are ready.”
(The jerky movements of the glass began again, indicating that OOO was
in control.)
OOO. “INTCHESELGUIZAKHAYERENKIDEK.”[26]
SPOOK. “Do you understand that?”
MOÏSE. “I know that it is Armenian, but I cannot understand it because I
do not know Armenian.”
SPOOK. “OOO says ‘Thank you, that is exactly what he wanted to know. If
you do not know Armenian you are no friend of his’—(Moïse, aside, _“Mon
Dieu!”_)—and he bids you farewell, and may one called ASDUNDAD curse all
Turks. He is angry and has gone.“ (NOTE.—The glass appears very angry.)
MOÏSE. “Who will curse us?”
SPOOK (angrily). “ASDU-_I_-DAD!” (Moïse had noted down Asdu_n_dad in
error.)
MOÏSE (nervously). “Thank you, Sir, thank you, Sir. I have corrected
spelling. What to do now?”
SPOOK. “I can find out where the money is in another way. You are very
stupid not to have understood simple Armenian, though it is not in
Armenian characters. If you had understood he might have told you where
the treasure is. (Moïse, aside, _“Mon Dieu!”_) But never mind, I forgive
you. You have missed a good chance. (Moïse, aside, _“Mon Dieu!”_) I am
sorry for you. However, in five days I shall be ready with a new plan,
and I will begin to fulfil my promise and tell you how the treasure was
hidden. The presence of OOO here to-night was a lucky chance that may
not occur again. Good-night, I am tired.”
MOÏSE. “Good-night, Sir.”
SPOOK. “Good-night. Hard luck.”
Next day Moïse complained to us that the Commandant had cursed him for a
fool (i) because he did not know Armenian, (ii) because his translation
of the early part of the séance was not understandable in Turkish!! The
poor little man remarked that during the séance he understood
everything, and knew quite well that the Spook was revealing valuable
knowledge to us, but when he came to read it over afterwards he found
that his former clarity of vision had departed, and the more he studied
the record, the more fogged he became. Only one thing was quite
clear—the strength of thought-waves varied inversely with the square of
the distance.
As this was precisely the item of knowledge we wished him to imbibe,
Hill and I were thoroughly satisfied. We told him we also were fogged
now, but no doubt we would understand it again some day.
“But,” Moïse grumbled, “that fool of a Commandant says I told lies to
the Spook—because I said I understood when I didn’t! He will _not_
believe I understood at the time.”
“Oh, never mind him, Moïse,” said Hill, “he’s an uneducated, incredulous
ass.”
“He _is_!” said Moïse, with great fervour. “But in one thing he was
right. I should have asked the name of OOO in this world.”
“Why?” I asked. “Don’t you know it already?”
“Oh, yes,” said the Pimple, “we know it. We only want to see if the name
is the same—if it is the same treasure. But I can ask next time!”
This was a corker! We dared not ask Moïse for the name of the owner of
the treasure, and then reproduce it on the spook-board, for he might
give us a false name as a test. Nor did we wish to repeat the hackneyed
trick of pretending that Spooks have difficulties in giving names, for
our Spook had been cheerily naming Maule, Gilchrist, and others right
along. Of course, if the worst came to the worst, the Spook could forget
the name, and prove from an eloquent and scientific passage in _Raymond_
that this was a common failing with spirits.[27] But we hoped to find a
more original way out of the difficulty.
Before the next treasure séance took place we had some success in
dealing with the camp’s business, which will be narrated later. We met
again for treasure-hunting from 8.15 to 11.30 p.m. on March 19th. There
were the usual preliminaries. Then the Spook said—(I again quote the
record):
SPOOK. “Now, about OOO. I have found out a lot about him.”
MOÏSE. “Had you much work before you found out? And will you tell us how
you did it?”
SPOOK. “It is very hard, and it is difficult to tell you about him,
because he and his friends are struggling to control the mediums.” (The
glass here began to move jerkily, indicating OOO.) “Look out. Stop!” (We
stopped, in obedience to Moïse, who was greatly excited.)
SPOOK. “When the glass begins jerking like that it means I have lost
control, and the mediums must stop at once, as OOO is in control. Do you
understand?”
MOÏSE. “We understand. Would you like to tell us what sort of a struggle
it is?”
SPOOK. “Mental struggle, but do not go into side questions to-night, as
there is much opposition.”
MOÏSE. “All right, Sir.”
SPOOK. “Keep cool, Moïse! You are too excited, and will influence the
mediums.”
MOÏSE. “Right, Sir. I will keep cool. Will you go on?”
SPOOK. “OOO was a shrewd man. He was closely connected with a certain
secret organization[28] about which the Sup.[29] has heard. As soon as
Russia declared war he foresaw that Turkey would come into it, and at
once began quietly to——” (the glass began jerking again).
MOÏSE. “Stop, Jones! Stop, Hill! Stop! Stop! Stop!” (As Hill and I were
in a “half-trance” Moïse had to shout loudly to stop us. After a pause
the Spook continued)——“realize his wealth and convert it into gold. Damn
you! Go away!” (Glass jerked again.)
MOÏSE. “Stop, Jones! Stop, Hill! Stop! Stop!” (We stopped.)
MOÏSE (aside). “Why was he damning us?”
SPOOK. “I was talking to OOO.”
MOÏSE. “I understand.”
SPOOK. “Well, before Turkey declared war OOO began to bury his gold.”
(Jerks again, and a pause.) “He hid it in a place known only to himself,
nor did he ever tell anybody to his dying day. He was afraid to tell his
relations in case they might reveal the secret under torture. Well, when
Turkey entered the War, OOO contributed a large sum of gold to the
Armenian Association, and realized his debts as far as possible. When
the Armenians joined the Russians, he knew a massacre was likely. His
difficulty then was this: if he told nobody where the money was hidden,
then he might be killed and his family would derive no benefit from his
wealth. On the other hand, if he told his family they might reveal the
secret under pressure. Do you know what he did? This is where I shall
meet strong opposition. I want to see if the mediums are in good tune.
Tell them to rest a moment, and we will see if they are in good tune.”
MOÏSE (to Jones and Hill). “Rest a moment. Rest a moment.” (We took our
fingers off the glass.)
JONES and HILL (absolutely simultaneously, and à propos of nothing). “I
say, Moïse, we want a walk tomorrow!”
MOÏSE. “How do you think they are? Do you think they are in tune? Are
you satisfied?”
SPOOK. “That was quite good. Don’t you think so, Moïse?”
MOÏSE. “Yes, I think so.”
SPOOK. “It was very nearly trance-talk—well——” (angrily to OOO)——“Now
see here, I am stronger than you! You may as well give up. I am going to
tell in spite of you! Moïse, if I am interrupted——”
MOÏSE. “Stop! Stop!” (Moïse was very excited and thought the Spook had
said ‘I am interrupted.’ After a pause we continued):
SPOOK. “I repeat, _if_ I am interrupted, as the mediums are in tune, let
us fight it out with OOO.”
MOÏSE. “Yes, I understand.”
SPOOK. “Take down carefully! The opposition may sometimes manage to get
to the wrong letters, but take everything down.”
MOÏSE. “I will try. Try to write slowly because I could make mistakes. I
will do my best. I am ready.” (At this point the glass began moving very
slowly in evident effort, getting near a letter and then being forced
away. Moïse said afterwards that he could see the whole fight going on,
and that it was wonderful to watch. Both mediums were affected, breathed
heavily, and got very tired. The struggle is indicated in the text by
capitals where resistance was greatest. The remarks in brackets are
explanatory notes and ejaculations by Moïse. The portions in brackets
and italics were those written by the opposition, when they succeeded in
getting control, though of course Moïse only discovered this afterwards.
Moïse, unfortunately, forgot the Control’s injunction to keep cool: he
got more and more excited, with disastrous results, as will be seen
below.)
SPOOK. “OOO therefore made THREE C-L-U-E-S A-L-L ALIKE. (_Asduidad!
Asduidad!_) One named the place from which to M-E-A-S-U-R-E, one the
DIS-T-ANCE, and the third gave the D-I-R-E-C-T-I-O-N.” (Quickly.)
“Rest—very good! Very good. Rest.” (Note: Mediums exhausted.)
SPOOK (continuing after a rest). “Well, he wrote out these three clues
on three pieces of paper; each was written in a peculiar way so that
nobody would guess they were clues to treasure, if they were found. He
then took three pieces of paper and W-R-A-P-P-E-D a S-A-M-P-L-E in each,
enclosed each in a S-E-P-A-R-A-T-E R-E-C-E-P-T-A-C-L-E AND B-U-R-I-E-D
(_Asduidad! Asduidad!_) E-A-C-H separately, having first covered each
receptacle with a thick coating of fat to prevent rust. Good. Very good.
One more struggle, and that will be enough for to-night. Rest.” (Mediums
rested.)
SPOOK (continuing). “Now his fear was if he told one man where all these
were buried that man might dig them up and then keep the treasure; so he
said nothing about treasure to anybody. His plan was this: he selected
three persons he knew were likely to remain alive; let us call them by
their names, WHICH W-E-R-E (_Asduidad! Asduidad!_) Steady! they are
beating me.” (Moïse, excitedly, “My God!”) “Did THEY SAY THAT WORD, WORD
WORD?”
MOÏSE. “Yes.”
SPOOK. “And why did you help them, Moïse? You called too, and that has
beaten me.” (Moïse, aside, “My God!”)
SPOOK. “There you go again. I am BEATEN. (_What did you say, Moïse, what
did you say? Moïse! repeat those ejaculations!_)”
MOÏSE. “I said ‘My God!’”
SPOOK. “(_Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!_) Oh, Moïse, I can never give the names
now! Three times you called on your God. Three times they succeeded in
doing the same! I am beaten! Rest. I will explain.” (Mediums, who were
now utterly exhausted, rested.)
During the pause, Moïse accused himself, but could not understand why
the Control should have laughed. The Spook apparently must have listened
to Moïse’s remarks, for he gave the following interesting explanation.
SPOOK. “No, no, Moïse, you do not understand. Owing to your saying that
ejaculation twice, I had lost control. _They_” (emphatically) “took
charge and made you say it a third time. Then _they_ burst out laughing.
It does not matter much. It makes it a little harder for you, because
henceforth they can always stop me from giving the name.”
MOÏSE. “I am very sorry. I could not know that the fact of saying ‘My
God!’ would make such a difference.”
SPOOK. “The mediums are not to blame. The reason why your saying those
words made such a difference was because _They_” (OOO and his friends)
“were saying the same thing. That puts you in tune with them instead of
with me. It was for this reason I warned you at the beginning not to get
excited. I never say anything without cause!”
MOÏSE. “I am very sorry indeed, Sir.”
SPOOK. “Never mind, listen! OOO went to each of the three separately.
What names shall we give them to distinguish them?”
MOÏSE. “I do not understand, Sir.”
SPOOK. _“I”_ (emphatically) “cannot name them now.”
MOÏSE. “Call them AAA, YYY, and KKK.”
SPOOK. “Yes. OOO went to AAA secretly, and said to him, ‘I have hidden a
certain thing in a certain place.’ He described exactly the place where
the first clue is hidden. He said to AAA, ‘If I die, send for YYY, and
do what he says.’ Then he made AAA swear a great oath never to reveal
what had been told him. He then went secretly to YYY and told him where
the second clue was buried. He said, ‘If I die, someone will send for
you and show you a token. When that happens send for KKK.’ He gave
tokens to both AAA and YYY. Then he went to KKK, and, putting him on
oath, he told him where the third clue was buried, and said, ‘If I die,
two persons will send for you. You will know them by their tokens. When
this happens all three of you go to my heir, and tell him what I have
told you.’ YYY and KKK are dead. I must stop, as the mediums are getting
exhausted.” (Mediums rested.) (Continuing): “No more about the treasure
tonight.”
MOÏSE. “I am sorry for what I said.”
SPOOK. “All right. It does not matter. We can get round it. What else do
you want to ask?”
MOÏSE. “Mr. Jones wants to know if he and Mr. Hill can have a little
more food tomorrow.”[30]
SPOOK. “Certainly. And listen! They may have anything they want for 24
hours. I give them a complete holiday because they have done very well
to-night. After 24 hours they must begin living on bread alone—no cooked
food. This is necessary to counter-balance the mistake made by the
sitter to-night. Twenty-four hours’ freedom to do what they like, then
semi-starvation till first clue is found. Tomorrow at noon I shall give
some advice to the Sup. Next treasure séance after five days.
Good-night.”
MOÏSE. “Good-night, Sir.”
Moïse was almost in tears at the failure. Over and over again he abused
himself for having forgotten the Spook’s injunction to keep calm. He
explained, pitifully, that he had not intended to name the Divinity.
_“Mon Dieu!”_ is a common, everyday expression of surprise in France,
where he had been educated, and he had merely used the English
equivalent. Besides, he did not know that _“Asduidad”_ was the Armenian
for God, as the local Armenians pronounced the word “_Asdvad_.” How was
he to know he was getting into tune with the opposition? If he had only
kept silence, we would have got the names, and it would not have taken
long to make their owners tell what they knew! Now the names were hidden
for ever! And so on.
We consoled him, and saw him to the gate, for he was very excited and
very nervous as to what the Spook might do to him. Then Hill and I
waltzed together in the little yard, for we had got out of the
difficulty as to the name of the hider of the treasure, and the blame
lay not with the Spook, nor with us, but with the Turks. We had also
created a most useful “opposition” and taught the Turks—_by
experience_—that the Spook depended largely for its success on our
conduct, and on that of the Pimple, the Cook, and the Commandant. Lastly
the Pimple’s only criticism of our Stevensonian treasure story had been
to marvel at the cleverness of OOO. He had swallowed the yarn whole.
From our window we could see South hill gleaming white in the moonlight.
Beside a rock in the snow the first clue lay buried. With luck, we’d dig
it up quite soon, and photograph the Commandant in the process. Hill
took extra pains in his practice at palming the camera that night.
And next morning the poor little Pimple came to us more nearly in tears
than ever. His face was very red. The Commandant, he told us, had just
smacked it because he had called three times upon his God.
“And indeed,” wailed the Pimple, “perhaps I should have known, for three
is a mystic number!”
But all the same he shook his fist in the direction of Kiazim Bey’s
office.
-----
Footnote 1:
A list of the officers who were prisoners of war with us in Yozgad is
given in Appendix I.
Footnote 2:
Of course neither this nor any other of the conversations in the book
claims to be a _verbatim_ report of what was said. Such a thing would
be difficult to give even after twenty-four hours—much more so after
two years. These conversations are “true” in the sense that they are
faithful reconstructions of my recollection of what took place. Every
event mentioned in the book occurred. (_See footnote_, p. 85.)
Footnote 3:
I believe the English language is indebted to Lieut. L.C.P. TUDWAY,
R.N., for the invention of this word. A “posh” is a good-tempered
cross between a riot and a rugby scrum. The object of the “poshers” is
conjointly and severally to sit upon the victim and to pinch, smack,
tickle, or otherwise torture him until he begs for mercy.
Footnote 4:
See Appendix II.
Footnote 5:
The séance that follows is incidentally an example of a conversation
with a person still alive, or, in the technical language of the séance
room, “still on _this side_.”
Footnote 6:
_Yok_ is the Turkish equivalent of “Na-poo” in Tommy’s French.
Footnote 7:
_Yessack_: Forbidden.
Footnote 8:
The conjuror was Lieutenant C.W. Hill, R.A.F., who ultimately became
my partner for escape and whose better acquaintance the reader will
make later on.
Footnote 9:
From now onwards O’Farrell, Matthews, and Price did not attend any of
our séances, as communication was not allowed between the Schoolhouse
and the Hospital House after dark. The séances that led up to trapping
the Interpreter were conducted by Nightingale, Bishop, Hill, and
myself, with Edmonds and Mundey as recorders, and numerous casual
visitors.
Footnote 10:
It is true that the feat was eventually accomplished, and eight men
led by Cochrane reached Cyprus in September 1918. The narrative of
their adventures has been published, and is a splendid story of pluck
and almost superhuman endurance, of wise and heroic leadership. But
these qualities, which the party possessed in measure full to
overflowing, would have availed them little had they not met with the
stupendous luck that their courage deserved. It detracts not one whit
from the splendour of their achievement that their effort was favoured
by the Goddess of Fortune. And the reflection may bring some comfort
to the eighteen others who started the same night—only to be
recaptured—and to those wiseacres who remained behind.
Footnote 11:
Events prove we were perfectly correct in our anticipation of what the
Turks would do in the event of an escape.
(1) After the attempted escape of Cochrane, Price, and Stoker from
Afion Kara Hissar in 1916, the whole camp was confined for six weeks
without exercise, in a church. (2) The escape of Bishop, Keeling,
Tipton, and Sweet from Kastamouni in 1917 was followed by a very
severe “strafing” of the whole camp.
(3) The big escape of twenty-six officers from Yozgad in August 1918
was followed by a camp “strafe.”
(4) The following Turkish Order, which was put up on our notice-board
in Yozgad in October 1917 speaks for itself. I quote it _verbatim_:
“The stipulations of the Penal Military Statutes will be applied
_fully_ and _severely_ to the officers or men Prisoners of War who
will try to run away and will be caught and they will be confined in a
special building in the district of Afion Kara Hissar. In (_sic_) the
other hand their comrades will be deprived of all liberty and
privileges. The prisoners of war in my camp are requested to take
information of this communique.
”THE COMMANDANT.”
Footnote 12:
For the benefit of the curious our code-system is given in Appendix
III.
Footnote 13:
Complete records of all séances between February 2nd and April 26th
were kept and smuggled out of Turkey. The above is a verbatim copy of
the Pimple’s statement. From this point to Chapter XXIV. (where our
written record ends) all questions put to, and answers given by, the
Spook are quoted from these records. So, too, are the letters to and
from the Turkish War Office at Constantinople. We have to thank Capt.
O’Farrell, Capt. Matthews, Capt. Freeland, Capt. Miller, Lieut.
Nightingale, Lieut. Hickman and others for the preservation of our
documents and photographs.
Footnote 14:
The Senior Officer of the camp met me after I had regained my liberty.
“Why on earth did you keep us in the dark, Jones?” he asked; “if you
had only told us what you were up to we would have helped you.” “Would
you, sir?” I replied. “I put it to you frankly: had we gone to you in
February and said we were planning to do the things which we actually
did, you would undoubtedly have regarded it as impossible, and used
your authority to stop us.” “Yes,” he admitted, after a moment’s
thought, “you’re right. I would.”
Footnote 15:
This is really a code sentence (code-word “Bonhil,” code Playfair). It
was put in for our own protection should things go seriously against
us at any future time. Decoded it reads: “Take note this is a leg pull
against both Turks and camp.”
Footnote 16:
This report was sent by the Commandant to the Turkish War Office on
18th March, 1918, and was the first of a series of official documents
dictated by the Spook.
Footnote 17:
See p. 100.
Footnote 18:
The order is quoted in the footnote. p. 70.
Footnote 19:
Major Gilchrist was not alone in his admiration for the Commandant’s
leniency. Major Peel, in recording the sentence in his account of the
trial, adds the comment: “The Commandant seems to have behaved
remarkably well over this.” See also Col. Maule’s letter to the
Netherlands Ambassador at Constantinople quoted in Chapter XXX.
Footnote 20:
The “hockey pitch” was a piece of ground rather smaller than a
tennis-court and surrounded by stone walls. Lack of space limited the
size of the sides to four men.
Footnote 21:
Several of the photos in this volume were taken with this homemade
camera. They were developed at Yozgad by Hill and Miller, who somehow
got possession of the necessary chemicals.
Footnote 22:
After our “conviction” for telepathy Colonel Maule asked the spookers
in the camp to refrain from further experiments.
Footnote 23:
Really to give us a “starved look” which might be ascribed to madness
should we have to adopt the madness scheme, and in order to enable us
to accuse the Commandant of starving us should enquiries come on the
compassionate release plan. It could be made to serve either purpose.
Footnote 24:
The author has taken the liberty of altering the names in paragraphs
1, 3 and 4 of the Pimple’s letter, as he sees no necessity for making
public the identity of these two ladies.
Footnote 25:
One of our principal assets was _Raymond_, which reached the camp
about the end of February 1918. Moïse translated it to the Commandant,
and read it himself, by order of the Spook.
Footnote 26:
The phrase is borrowed from Spink’s Armenian Phrase Book, which he
compiled from a study of _Lavengro_ and a dictionary.
Footnote 27:
See _Raymond_, pp. 360-361.
Footnote 28:
Such a secret organization of Armenians actually existed.
Footnote 29:
“Sup.”—“the Superior.” The Spook’s name for the Commandant.
Footnote 30:
Since the 14th, the Spook had controlled our diet, allowing us no
meat, but “tomorrow” (20th March) was the Ski Club dinner, and we
wanted a “bust” before going on to bare bread. We were starving in
preparation for a medical examination, should the “escape” plan fail.
We tried (by secret signal to Matthews) to stop Posh Castle from
sending us food from the 14th March, but our friend Price insisted on
continuing until after the big dinner at least, and would have gone on
for ever in the face of any opposition but our own.