THE THREE HUNS.
As the country before us appeared to be quite deserted, we began to
move off a little before 3 P.M. The going was much the same
as in the early morning, but what had then been small nullahs became
broader and deeper ravines, running across our path at intervals of
seven to eight hundred yards. The north sides of the ravines were
especially steep. An hour and a half after our start we saw ahead of us
some men and a string of camels, possibly engaged in contraband affairs
with Cyprus. Accordingly we halted under cover of some rocks until we
could march again unseen. The rate of marching was slow, hardly two
miles an hour, for we were all very exhausted, trudging along in the
hot sun, and Grunt was almost fainting. After two hours he had to give
up. The terrific blow on his head by the brigand must have been the
start of his collapse, and now, after many days of sticking to it, he
could go no farther. His head felt very dizzy and each foot weighed a
ton. We knew there must be water in a valley a few hundred yards ahead,
as we had seen some trees and a bit of a village. We therefore halted
for food in a small nullah, meaning to get to the stream after dark.
The dixie containing the cocoa, rice, and grit mould was produced, and
we had our meal. The grit was a blessing in a way, as one had to eat
slowly. Two ounces of rice, tinged with cocoa, does not go far with a
ravenous craving for food. As dusk came on we walked slowly for the
few hundred yards to the edge of the river valley, the sides of which
were precipitous and impossible to manoeuvre by moonlight. Cochrane and
Nobby walked along the edge of the ravine to see if there was an easier
descent, but found none. While they were away Grunt told us that he
wished to be left behind, as he was afraid of keeping us back. He said
that if we left a little food with him he could lie up for a couple of
days till we were clear of the locality, and he would then go to the
nearest village, buy food, and make for the coast later,--if he felt
strong enough and was not captured.
When Cochrane returned we held a council of war and decided to halt
for the whole night. Accordingly we returned to the rice-and-grit
nullah, and worked down it towards the main valley until we found a
good resting-place. Nobby found a spring of excellent water a short
way farther on, and there our water-bottles were refilled. By way of
medical comfort Grunt was given the small quantity of Ovaltine that
remained and a piece of biscuit. The Ovaltine had been carried loose
in a bag since we started, and was in consequence as hard as a brick.
Johnny tried to cut bits off the brick, but the knife edge merely
turned on its owner's thumb, so finally Grunt had to gnaw it.
On these very cold nights we had a system of what we called snuggling,
usually in pairs; in larger numbers if the ground permitted, but only
once did the level of our sleeping-place permit of more than two. That
was on the following night. This night Grunt's snuggling partner lit a
pipe, the best pipe of his life, and listened to poor old Grunt gnawing
Ovaltine. It was hard to bear. Fortunately the pipe and the Ovaltine
lasted for the same time. Grunt was very depressed. He reminded his
partner how at Yozgad one day he, being of massive build and great
strength, had prophesied that he would stand the trek worse than any
of us. Ellis, as usual, was very restless. He is a noisy sleeper. When
he doesn't grunt he snores, and he is not still for a minute. We never
heard him whistle in his sleep, but doubtless he does. When lying in
hiding by day we had to wake him if any one came at all close to us.
Before we went to sleep it was decided that the following morning
three of us should go to the nearest village on the river in the guise
of Germans, and buy enough food for the party to finish the journey to
the coast, some fifty-five miles away.
At daylight, about 4.30 A.M., a move was made farther down
the nullah. Here was cooked a two-ounce porridge ration, and then
began our preparations for entering the village. The three to go were
Grunt, Nobby, and Johnny. Grunt had the best Turkish of our party, so
he also had the undying disgrace of playing the _rôle_ of Hun officer.
Nobby and Johnny were the Boche rank and file. It was essential to the
success of the scheme that we should make a good impression on the
villagers. Smartness was our watchword. The theatrical party therefore
were allowed to commandeer clothes. Grunt had Nobby's "Gor Blimy"
(better known, perhaps, as cap, service dress, mark two, star); Ellis's
uniform coat, his own trousers, the Old Man's wrist-watch, and Perce's
boots--not a bad effort. Johnny had his own kit with the exception
of his trousers, an important part of which had remained lazily
behind on a rocky slope the second night of the escape, while Johnny
energetically slid on. Nobby had Ellis's "Gor Blimy" and boots, the
Old Man's coat, and Looney's trousers. The three actors then shaved,
washed, put "Vermi-jelly" grease on their boots to give the latter a
false air of respectability, and at 8.30 A.M. were ready for
their performance.
They thought they were playing a drama at the time: looking back it
was true comedy. The three set off down the steep goat-track towards
the village. It was a tense moment, and we all thought that the
evening would most probably find us once more under the orders of some
uncivilised Turkish _chaouse_; for we had decided that if the three
were captured in the village the other five would give themselves up.
Poor old Cochrane looked very anxious, and it was not to be wondered
at. On the seventeenth day of his former attempt to escape, some two
years previously, he and the two other naval officers of his party of
three were compelled by starvation to buy food from a shepherd's hut.
This man informed on them, with the result that they were taken by
gendarmes. Recaptured, they were kept for six months in a filthy prison
in Constantinople, untried by any court-martial. When the latter was
held, Cochrane and his friends were given a three weeks' sentence,
but actually were imprisoned for yet another four months. This is an
excellent instance of Turkish justice, and the kind we were to expect
should any one make a false move in the village.
Grunt, the officer, walked on ahead. Nobby and Johnny, each carrying an
empty pack and haversack, marched behind.
The first glimpse of the village with its two grey-domed mosques and
a few hundred houses rather frightened them: it was a much bigger one
than they had expected, and the larger the village the more likely
they were to be discovered as impostors. It was, however, too late to
turn back. There were men and women working in the fields who had seen
them, though they caused no real interest except to small boys, who
are inquisitive the world over; so they marched on, Nobby and Johnny
keeping perfect step, with Grunt at a respectful two paces in the rear.
When they entered the village they asked the way to the headman's house.
Their story was to be a plausible one. Their German surveying party
was composed of one officer and seven men. They had left the railway
at Eregli, and, taking to cart transport, were making for Mersina. The
carts had unfortunately broken down, and being pressed for time they
had marched on. They now wanted a few days' supplies for the party.
A hard story to disprove without taking a lot of trouble, and Turks
usually avoid taking much. Also, they had that forged document in
Turkish, with the office stamp of Enver Pasha's Ministry of War on it
to prove their _bona fides_; but this was only to be shown as a last
resource.
After being wrongly directed three times by people who, if questioned
further, would probably have said they were strangers to the place,
the party entered a shop, and Grunt requested the owner to allow his
small boy to show them the way. They were taken to a two-storied
timber-built house, against the door of which lolled a Turkish private
soldier. The conventional greetings passed, and the man asked in
Turkish if they were Germans. The reply was in the affirmative. To
their immense surprise this "simple soldat" in an out-of-the-way
village started talking a very fluent German. It was the limit. The
rank and file now came to the fore, and one suggested that the man
had misunderstood them. They were not Germans: they were Magyars
(Hungarians), and did not understand a word of German. The last part of
the statement was untrue by two words, for the three of them compared
notes that evening and counted the German words they knew--"Verboten,
Schweinfleisch, and Bier" were the sum total.
Stepping by the soldier, Grunt led the way into a small hall furnished
with some harness and a few carpet saddle-bags. On the left was an
open door, which they entered. Here was a long narrow room with a low
ceiling. On three sides of it carpets were spread, with a few cushions
on the floor. Reclining against the cushions on one side were two
grey-bearded Turks, and a young Greek in a straw hat, blue suit, and
brown boots. As they came in, the Greek said in English, "Come on,
come along,"--the limit was surpassed! Later it was found that the
Greek knew only a few words of English, but it was very unpleasant at
the time. Grunt gave the Turkish salutation and sat down. Nobby and
Johnny stayed strictly at attention. Grunt motioned with his hand, and
received a smart salute and heel-click from his two subordinates, who
then dared to seat themselves.
The old Turk, who received Grunt's salutation, was obviously the
headman. His jacket was gaudy, his pantaloons were very voluminous, and
many daggers graced his highly-coloured belt.
To our party's disgust the German scholar now appeared and sat
down beside Johnny. People began to flock in, and the questioning
started--thousands of questions. The three answered as best they could
and gave their story. The soldier now explained that he had served
many years in Austria and knew a great deal about it. The actors did
not. Where had they come from in Austria? Oh, Pruth! This opened the
flood-gates once more. Did they know such and such a place? At some
names they nodded and looked intelligent: at others they shook their
heads. Fortunately the headman here broke in. Had they rifles and
revolvers? Revolvers, yes! but the rifles had been left in the carts.
Would they show him the revolvers? Grunt refused, saying there was an
army order against it. So it went on.
Then another unpleasant incident took place. Grunt was wearing Ellis's
service dress jacket. Before we left Yozgad its brass buttons had been
covered with cloth, so as not to flash in the sun or in the moonlight.
One of the large front buttons, however, had during the days that
followed escape become uncovered, and though we remarked upon the fact
when Grunt put on the coat in the morning, it was not covered again.
Now it caught the scholar's eye. He crawled along to Grunt and started
fingering it. He knew something about buttons, he said, and that
particular one was an English button. The scholar was no fool! Johnny
was very contemptuous,--didn't the man know that it was a specially
good Magyar button, and one of the latest pattern? The scholar
certainly made for excitement.
Now was committed a grave error that might have had disastrous results.
A small bag containing ¼ lb. of tea had been brought along to the
village, in order to propitiate the headman should need arise, and
at this juncture Grunt thought fit to offer it to him, extolling its
excellence as he did so. No sooner had the bag changed hands than to
their horror the three saw that the word TEA was marked plainly on it
in indelible pencil. Had the Greek seen it, he would almost certainly
have been able to read a simple word like this, and the game would
have been up. But once more the party's luck stood by them, and the
incident closed with the headman putting the bag in his pocket.
It was dangerous for our party to talk anything but Turkish, even
amongst themselves. Hindustani might have been safe, but they did not
think of it. Early in the morning we had decided what food should be
demanded. The list was as follows:--
Five okes of meat (an oke equals 2¾ lbs.)
Eight okes of raisins.
Twenty " bread.
Ten " wheat.
Eight " cheese.
Half an oke of butter.
One " honey.
Half " tobacco.
150 eggs.
Of course we did not expect to be able to obtain all these, but they
were now asked for. As each item was named, the price was discussed by
all the occupants of the room except the wretched buyers. Usually the
price first mentioned was fairly moderate, but in a short time they had
run it up amongst themselves as if they were bidding at an auction.
They then turned to the buyers and said "such a thing costs so much,"
and the buyers were hungry enough to swallow any price. It is a trait
of Turkish commerce that no article ever has a fixed value. Finally 23½
Turkish pounds were paid in advance for the stores.
It was here that the party obtained a little war news. Of this we had
had none since leaving Yozgad, and at that time the Turkish papers
would have had us believe that the Germans were even then knocking at
the gates of Paris. In the headman's house the war was now discussed,
and the fighting powers of the various nations criticised. As for the
British, they were a very rich and powerful people, and yet just look
how they had been driven into the sea at Gallipoli, and how the Turks
had forced them to surrender at Kut-el-Amara. The French, of course,
were not good fighters, and the Americans quite untrained to arms. The
actors had perforce to agree to all these statements, but their joy was
great, though well hidden under a disgusted mien, when they heard that
the Germans were retiring.
After this conversation came a welcome diversion. A round table like
a dumb-waiter, about 9 inches in height, was brought in. With it came
a large supply of chupatties, a flat plate of honey, one of cream, a
bowl of sour milk, and a dish piled high with greasy wheat pilau; and
following the food came the headman's son--a lad of nine. The headman
beckoned our three to approach, and, sitting on their hunkers round the
table, the breakfast party of seven began the meal.
The method of eating is simple, but one requires either genius or years
of practice to be any good at it. Break off a piece of chupattie,
quickly shape it into a shovel, scoop up as much honey or cream as
possible, eat the shovel and its contents, and start again. Johnny is
a novice at the game. Though ravenous for food he is an amateur: his
miserable little shovels are merely damp with honey or cream when he
eats them.
Mark Twain is unfortunately dead. He alone could have described how the
nine-year-old boy ate: his shovels were immense, and he always took a
full scoop. He was swallowing continuously, and while his right hand
was feeding his mouth, his left had already shaped a new shovel. He
was an expert--a record-breaker. Grunt and Nobby fared little better
than Johnny, for the three had to conceal the fact that they were
starving. The meal lasted not more than six minutes. Johnny reckoned he
had absorbed one chupattie with a negligible quantity of honey, cream,
and pilau. The boy must have eaten eight, and the greater part of
everything else, and thoroughly earned the undying admiration of three
Englishmen. The meal over, Nobby and Johnny put on their packs and
haversacks. For a change the German scholar said they were really good
Austrian packs and haversacks: perhaps the button incident had affected
him.
A guide was now produced, and the Magyar rank and file went a-shopping.
The packs could not possibly carry the amount of food which it had
been decided to buy, so quantities were cut down, and finally the two
returned to the headman's house, each carrying a load of about 57 lbs.
During their absence Grunt had to answer innumerable questions about
his firearms.
After a short delay the three took their departure, Nobby and Johnny
again clicking heels and doing a pantomime chorus salute. The distance
to the remainder of the party was one and a half miles, and the path
climbed steeply the whole way. The Hun officer of course marched
coolly ahead, while Nobby and Johnny plodded behind, anything but
cool. After going a few hundred yards they glanced behind them. As
was to be expected, they were being followed. First came the beastly
German-speaking man, then the Greek, and after them the headman himself
on a donkey. Johnny advised Grunt to go on ahead and warn the others
that we were now Magyars, and that we each had a revolver. Nobby and
Johnny walked as fast as they could, but the sun was very hot and the
loads very heavy for them in their weak condition. The men who were
following eventually caught up with them and together they came to
where the remainder of the party were camped. This gave the headman a
bit of a shock, as he thought we had lied about everything, and so did
not expect to see five other Magyars.
As soon as the party could get their equipment on we formed up in two
ranks. Grunt made some guttural sounds, at which we "left turned" and
started to march off into the blue, leaving three very puzzled men
behind us. After an hour's going we halted and, seeing no one following
us, had a meal of two chupatties and six raw eggs each. For the two odd
ones of the fifty that had been bought we had "fingers out."
"Fingers out" was a procedure whereby all such debatable matters were
decided during our escape. On the last sound of the words "Fingers
up!" each member of the party held up any number of fingers he chose,
subject to the maximum being four and the minimum one. Having decided
beforehand at which person the counting would start, and which way
round it was to go, the total number of fingers shown was added up and
on whatever member of the party this number ended when counting round,
that was the man. This was the sort of thing that happened: "Starting
with Perce, going round right-handed, Fingers up!" Suppose the total
was 19. That would mean, in our party of eight, that the man two after
Perce would win the count. "Fingers out" was used only to settle
who was to have the pleasant things, such as these odd eggs, or the
scrapings of the cooking-pot; duties such as going on ahead to scout or
going back to a spring to fetch water were undertaken by volunteers.
We were still on the wrong side of the ravine in which was the village,
and inasmuch as it was dangerous to stay in a locality where we had
aroused such suspicion, the ravine must be crossed. A mile farther on
we discovered a possible line of descent to a ledge half-way down.
The ravine was about four hundred feet deep and its sides almost
precipitous.
As we climbed slowly down, Perce, who was coming last, started three
enormous boulders, which crashed below. As Johnny leapt aside one
missed him by only a few inches. Half the descent was successfully
accomplished, but the ground beneath fell sheer away; so we went a
few hundred yards in an up-stream direction on our own level. Coming
round a rocky spur a wonderful sight met our gaze. Beyond us the cliff
curved round in a shallow crescent. It was of soft yellow sandstone,
and contained two large uninhabited cave-villages, about two hundred
yards apart. With the passing of centuries the cliff had worn away,
revealing a honeycomb of square caves. The larger village must have had
ten or twelve stories of rooms connected up by some form of staircases
inside, but we did not see them. The smaller one had two stories laid
bare, but it was not as well finished as the other. The entrances to
the village were Roman arches: under these ran a short passage leading
to the door itself, which was rectangular in shape. In some cases the
one archway contained two doors. The finest arch was carved on both
sides, with crude paintings on it. From the foot of the villages a very
steep pathway ran down to the river-bed below. This we followed, and
a quarter of an hour later arrived at the bottom. Here was the most
delightful sight we had seen since our start from Yozgad: green and
shady trees lining the grassy bank of a murmuring mountain stream. The
water was ice-cold and as clear as crystal--a merit when we thought
of the stagnant cattle-wallows from which we had had to drink. It was
too tempting to leave at once. We found what we thought was a secluded
spot, and here we first of all arranged our packs so that each of us
had an equal weight to carry after the morning's purchases. Then we
bathed. The joy of that bathe after seventeen days was indescribable,
and worth many a hardship.
A bridle-path ran along the edge of the stream, and unfortunately any
one who happened to pass would be able to see us. As luck would have
it, an old man rode by on a donkey while we were engaged in giving our
socks a much-needed wash. When he had gone we looked at each other and
heaved a sigh of relief, for he had not even glanced in our direction;
but when he rode past us again twice in the next twenty minutes and
still failed to look at us, we thought it was time to move. Hastily
filling our water-bottles and chargals, we started to climb the other
side of the ravine. The chargal, an extra weight of ten pounds and
hard to carry, changed hands twice before we got to the top, from where
the view of the cave-villages was very fine.
For the next three hours we picked our way over dreadful going, amongst
grey limestone rocks, cracked and pock-marked everywhere. Progress was
very slow, as one had to watch one's feet the whole time for fear of
breaking an ankle. It was here that we started a leveret, and made a
vain attempt to kill a long snake which swished past Johnny's feet.
We saw four snakes during our escape--one of which made Nobby leap
violently into the air as he nearly trod on it. When there was a chance
of resting, we were almost too tired to think at all, so the thought of
snakes did not worry us.
At about 5 P.M. Cochrane betted Johnny half a sovereign that
the sea would be visible from the next rise, provided there was no
further mountain range within five miles. The bet was lost by nearly
a week, for it was not till the twenty-third day out that seascapes
became part of our scenery.
At 6 P.M. we halted in a rocky cup-shaped depression with some
dried wood lying about. Here we set to work with the meat bought at the
village. It was, or had been, a beautiful goat-kid, and from it we made
a stew such as no multi-millionaire can buy. Certainly no "Cordon-bleu"
has ever achieved such an appetising dish. The recipe will now be
divulged: Take a joint of goat-kid, put it on a rock and saw pieces
off it with a blunt clasp-knife. Place the bits in a dixie over a wood
fire, add a little water, and wait impatiently till the meat is half
cooked. Put your share into an enamel mug, and with the hunger of
seventeen days' starvation as relish, and the thumb and forefinger of
the right hand as a fork, eat, and thank your God.
Our dinner this evening was one to be remembered: a mugful of meat,
two chupatties, a table-spoonful of cheese, and a few spoonfuls of
cooked wheat for each of us; and for the first time for many a day we
lay down feeling well fed. That night we found a level bit of ground
where five could sleep together. Of the rest, two slept practically in
a bushy fir-tree, and Cochrane curled round the fire. All went well
until some one of the five--Ellis for a sovereign--wanted to turn, and
the chance of sleeping was at an end. Fortunately, it was nearly time
to move off, so we did not lose much rest. Just before daylight we
started and did about two miles in two hours, the going being of the
ankle-breaking variety. We were not many miles from a main road, so it
was senseless to risk travelling much after dawn. Looney, too, with his
iron-clad ammunition boots, was going very lame, with large blisters on
his heels. We therefore hid for the day in another rocky cup similar
to that of the previous evening. Shortly after dawn, Nobby, a keen
shikari, slaughtered a hoopoe, which had the misfortune to have a fit
in front of him. This made a welcome addition to our larder, and when,
at our meal before starting that evening, we had "fingers out" for it,
Nobby very appropriately won it. In this bivouac we had the misfortune
to lose our second and last pair of scissors--they were a great loss,
and we sadly needed them later on. The cracks in the rocks, where we
spent the day, were several feet deep, and the scissors are no doubt
lying at the bottom of one of these.
There was some doubt who was guilty of the crime of losing them, but we
bet another sovereign it was ----.