22 
LAND & WATER 
September 28, 1916 
{Continued from pa^e 20) 
find a chance of wrecking it. . . Were moving eastward 
to-morrow — with a new prophet if the old one is dead." 
" Where are you going ? ' I asked. 
" I don't know. But I gather its a long journey, judging 
by the preparations. And it must be to a cold country, 
judging by the clothes provided." 
" Well, wherever it is, we're goini^ with vou. You haven't 
heard our end of the yam. Blcnkiron and I have been moving 
in the lx>st circles as skilled American engineers who are 
going to play Old Harry with the British on the Tigrjs. I'm 
a pal of Knvers now, and he has offered me his protection. 
The lamented Kasta brought our passports for the journey 
to Mesoptitamia to-morrow, but an hour ago your lady tore 
them up and put them in the fire. We arc going with her, 
and she vouchsafed the information that it was towards the 
great hills." 
Sandy whistled long and low. " I wonder what the deuce 
she wants with you ? This thing is getting dashed compli- 
cated. Dick. . . . Wlierc, more by token, is Blcnkiron ? 
He's the fellow to know about high politics." 
The missing Blcnkiron, as Sandy spoke, entered the room 
with his slow, quiet step. I could see by his carriage that for 
once he had no dyspepsia, and by his eyes that he was excited. 
" Say. boys." he said, " I've got something pretty con- 
siderable in the way of noos. There's been big fighting on 
the Eastern border, and the Buzzards have taken a bad knock." 
His hands were full of papers, from which he selected a 
map and spread it on the table. 
■ They keep mum about the things in this capital, but 
I've been piecing the storj' together these last days and I think 
I've got it straight. A fortnight ago old man Nicholas 
descended from his mountains and scupjiered his enemies 
there — at Kuprikeui, where the main road eastwards crosses 
the Araxes. That was only the beginning of tlie stunt, for he 
pressed on on a broad front, and the gentleman called Kiamil, 
who commands in those parts, was not up to the job of holding 
him. The Buzzards were shepherded in from north and east 
and south, and now the .Muscovite is sitting down outside the 
forts of Erzerum. I can tell you they're pretty miserable 
about the situation in the highest quarters. . . Enver 
is sweating blood to get fresh divisions to Erzerum from 
Gally-poly, but it's a long road and it looks as if they would 
be too late for the fair. . . . You and I, Major, start for 
Mesopotamy to-morrow, and that's about the meanest bit 
of bad luck that ever happened to John S. We're missing the 
chance of seeing the goriest fight of this campaign." 
1 picked up the map and pocketed it. Maps were my 
business, and I had been looking for one. 
" We're not going to Mesopotamia," I said. " Our 
orders have been cancelled." 
" But I've just seen Enver, and he said he had sent round 
our passports." 
" They're in the fire," I said. " The right ones will come 
along to-morrow morning." 
Sandy broke in, his eyes bright with excitement. 
" The great hills ! . . . We're going to Erzerum. 
, . . . Don't you see that the Germans are playing their 
big card ? They're sending Grecnmantle to the point of 
danger in the hopt^ that his coming will rally the Turkish 
defence. Things are beginning to move, Dick, old man. 
No more kicking the heels for us. We're going to be in it up 
to the neck, and Heaven help the best man. ... I 
must be off now, for I've a lot to do. Au revcir. We meet 
some time soon in the hills." 
Blenkiron still looked puzzled, till I told him the story of 
that night's doing. As he listened, all the satisfaction went 
out of his face, and a childish air of bewilderment crept in. 
It's not for me to complain, for it's in the straight line 
of' our dooty, but I reckon there's going to be big trouble 
ahead of this caravan. It's Kismet, and we've got to bow. 
But I won't pretend that I'm not considerable scared at the 
prospect." 
" Oh, so am I," I said. " The woman frightens me into 
fits. We're up against it this time all right. .All the same 
I'm glad we're to be let into the real star metropolitan p)er- 
fonnance. I didn't relish the idea of touring the provinces." 
" I guess that's correct. But I could wish that the good 
God would see fit to take that lovely lady to Himself. She's 
too much for a quiet man at my time of life. When she 
invites us to go in on the ground-floor I feel like taking the 
elevator to the roof-garden." 
CHAPTER XVI 
The Battered Caravanserai 
Two days later, in the evening, we came to Angora, the 
first stage in our journey. 
The passports had arrived next morning, as Frau von 
Einrm had promi.sed, and with them a plan of our 
journey. More, one of the Companions, who spoke a little 
English, was detailed to accomf)any us — a wise precaution, 
for no one of us had a word of Turkish. These were the sum 
of our instructions. I heard nothing more of Sandy or Green- 
mantle or the lady. We were meant to travel in our own 
party. 
We had the railway to Angora, a very comfortable German 
schlafwagen, tacked to the end of a troop-train. There 
wasn't much to be seen of the country, for after we left the 
Bosporus we ran into scuds of snow, and except that we 
seemed to be climbing on to a big plateau I had no notion of 
the landscajje. It was a marvel that we made such good 
time, for that line was congested bej'ond anything I have 
ever seen. The place was crawling with the Gallipoli troops, 
and every siding was packed with supply trucks. When we 
stopped — which we did on an average about once an hour — 
you could see vast camps on both sides of the line, and often 
we struck regiments on the march along the railway track. 
They looked a fine, hardy lot of ruffians, but many were 
deplorably ragged, and I didn't think much of their boots. 
I wondered how they would do the five hundred miles of 
road to Erzerum. ' 
Blenkiron played Patience, and Peter and I took a hand at 
picquet, but mostly we smoked and yarned. Getting 
away from that infernal city had cheered us up wonderfully. 
Now we were out on the open road, moving to the sound of 
the guns. At the worst we should not perish like rats in a 
sewer. We would be all together, too, and that was a com- 
fort. I think we felt the relief which a man who has been 
on a lonely outpost feels when he is brought back to his 
battalion. Besides, the thing had gone clean beyond our 
power to direct. It was no good planning and scheming, for 
none of us had a notion what the next step might be. We 
were fatalists now, believing in Kismet, and that is a com- 
fortable faith. 
All but Blenkiron. The coming of Hilda von Einem into 
the business had put a very ugly complexion on it for him. 
It was curious to see how she affected the different members 
of our gang. Peter did not care a rush ; man, woman, and 
hippogiif? were the same to him ; he met it all as calmly 
as if he were making plans to round up an old lion in a patch 
of bush, taking the facts as they came and working at them 
as if they were a sum in arithmetic. Sandy and I were 
impressed — it's no good denying it : horribly impressed — but 
we were too interested to be scared, and we weren't a bit 
fascinated. We hated her too much for that. But she 
fairly struck Blenkiron dumb. He said himself it was just 
Hke a rattlesnake and a bird. 
I made him talk about her, for if he sat and brooded he 
would get worse. It was a strange thing that this man, the 
most imperturbable and I think about the most courageous 
I have ever met, should be paralysed by a slim woman. 
There was no doubt about it. The thouglvt of her made the 
future to him as black as a thundercloud. It took the power 
out of his joints, and if she was'going to be much around, it 
looked as if Blenkiron might be counted out. 
I suggested that he was in love with her, but this he 
vehemently denied. 
" No, sir ; I haven't got no sort of affection for the lady. 
My trouble is that she puts me out of countenance, and I 
can't fit her in as an antagonist. 1 guess we Americans 
haven't got the right poise for dealing with that kind of 
female. We've exalted our womenfolk into little tin gods, 
and at the same time left them out of the real business of 
life. Consequently, when we strike one playing the biggest 
kind of man's game we can't place her. We aren't used to 
regarding them as anything except angels and children. I 
wish I had had yoii boys' upbringing." 
Angora was like my notion of some place such as Amiens 
in the retreat from Mons. It was one mass of troops and 
transport— the neck of thd bottle, for more arrived every 
hour, and the only outset was the single eastern road. The 
towTi was pandemonium into which distracted German 
officers were trying to introduce some order. They didn't 
worry much about us, for the heart of Anatolia wasn't a hkely 
hunting-ground for suspicious characters. We took our 
passports to I h ■ commandant, who vised them readily, and told 
us he'd do his best to get us transport. We spent the night 
in a sort of hotel, where all four crowded into one little bed- 
room, and next morning I had my work cut out getting a 
motor-car. It took four hours, aiid the use of every great 
name in the Turkish Empire, to raise a dingy sort of Stude- 
baker, and another two to get the petrol and spare tyres. 
As for a chauffeur, love or money could'nt find him, and I 
was compelled to drive the thing myself. 
We left just after midday and swung out into bare bleak 
downs patched with scrubby woodlands. There was no 
snow here, but a wind was blowing from the east which 
[Conlinurd on page 24.) 
