24 
LAiND & WATER 
October 5, 191b 
(Conltuued from pai^e 22.) 
This was Pos.-,Mt, wlio liad been Governor of Erzcrum till 
ho fell sick and Ahmed Fevzi took his place. He had a 
pce\isli mouth and big blue pouches below his eyes. He 
was supposed to be a good engineer and to have made 
Erzerum impregnable, but the look in his face gave me the 
impression that his reputation at the moment was a bit 
unstable. 
The staff-officer spoke to him in an undertone. 
" Yes, yes, I know," he said testily. " Are these the men ? 
They look a pretty lot of scoundrels. WTiat's that you say ? 
They deny it. But they've got the car. They can't deny 
that. Here, you," and he fixed on Blenkiron, " who the 
devil are you ? " 
Blenkiron smiled sleepily at him, not understanding one 
word, and I took up the parable. 
" Our passports, sir, give our credentials," I said. 
He glanced through them, and his face lengthened. 
" They're right enough, But what about this story of 
stealing a car ? " 
" It is quite true," I said, " But I would prefer to use a 
pleasanter word. You will see from our papers that e\ery 
authority on the road is directed to give us the best transport. 
Our own car broke down, and after a long delay we got some 
wretched liorses. It is vitally important that we should be 
in Erzerum without delay, so I took the liberty of apjiropriat- 
ing an empty car we found outside an inn. I am sorry for 
the discomfort of the owners, but our business was too grave 
to wait." 
" But the telegram says you are notorious spies ! " 
I smiled. " Who. sent the telegram ? " 
" I see no reason why I shouldn't give you his name. It 
was Rasta Bey. You've picked an awkward fellow to make 
an enemy of." 
1 did not smile, but laughed. " Rasta ! " I cried. " He's 
one of Enver's satellites. That explains many things. I 
should like a word with you alone, sir." 
He nodded to the staf?-officer, and when he had gone I 
put on my most Bible face and looked as important as a 
provincial mayor at a royal visit. 
" I can speak freely," I said, "for I am speaking to a 
soldier of Germany. There is no love lost between Enver 
and those I serve. I need not tell you that. This Rasta 
tliought he had found a chance of delaying us, so he invents 
this trash about spies. These comitadjis have spies on the 
brain. . . . Especially he hates Frau von Einem." 
He jumped at the n ame. 
" You have orders from her ? " he asked, in a respect- 
ful tone. 
' Why, yes," I answered, " and those orders will not 
wait." 
He got up and walked to a table, whence he turned a 
puzzled face on me. " I'm torn in two between the Turks 
and my own countrymen. If I please one I offend the other, 
and the result is a damnable confusion. You can go on to 
Erzerum, but I shall send a man with you to see that you 
report to headquarters there. I'm sorry, gentlemen, but 
I'm obliged to take no chances in this business. Rasta's 
got a grievance against you, but you can easily liide behind 
the lady s skirts. She passed through this town two days ago.'' 
Ten minutes later we were coasting through the slush of 
the narrow streets with a stolid German li u enant sitting 
beside me. 
The afternoon was one of those rare days when in the pauses 
of snow you have a spell of weather as mild ns May. I re- 
membered several like it during our winter's training in Hamp- 
shire. The road was a line one, well engineered, and well 
kept, too, considering the amount of trafTic. We were little 
delayed, for it was sufiiciently broad to let us pass troops 
and transport without slackening pace. The fellow at my 
side was good-humoured enough, but his presence naturally 
put the lid on our conversation. I didn't want to talk , how- 
ever, I was trying to piece together a plan, and making very 
little of it, for I had nothing to go upon. We must find Hilda 
von Einem arul Sandy, and between us we must wreck the 
<^ircenmantle business. That done, it didn't matter so much 
what happned to us. As I reasoned it < ut, the Turks must 
hi in a bad way, and, unless thev got a filhp from Grconmantle, 
would crump'-C rp before the Russians. In the rout I hoped 
we might, get a chance to change our sides. But it was no 
good looking so far forward ; the first tiling was to get to 
Smdy. 
N )'.v I was still in the mood of reckless bravado which 
I lia.l got from bagging the car. I did not realise how thin 
our story was, and how easily Rasta might have a big graft 
at headquarters. If I had, I would have shot out the 
German lieutenant long before we got to Erzerum. and found 
some way of getting mi-ed up in the ruck of the population. 
Jliis.in could luuc h?Ipjd nic to that. I was getting so con- 
fident since our inter\'iew with Posselt that I thought I ecu' 1 
blutl the whole out lit. 
But my main business that afternoon was pure nonsense 
I was trying to find my little hill. At every turn of the road 
I expected to see the caslrol before us. You must know that 
ever since I could stand I have been crazy about high moun 
tains. My father took me to Basutoland when I was a boy. 
and I reckon I have scrambled over almost every bit of upland 
south of the Zambesi, from the Hottentots Holland to tht 
Zoutpansberg, and from the ugly yellow kopjes of Damaraland 
to the noble cliffs of Mont aux Sources. One of the things 1 
had looked forward to in coming home was the chance o! 
climbing the Alps. But now I was among peaks that 1 
fancied were bigger than the Alps, and I could hardly keep 
my eyes on the road. I was pretty certain that my castrol 
was among them, for that dream had taken an almight^ 
hold on my mind. Funnily enough, 1 was ceasing to think 
it a place of evil omen, for one soon forgets the atmosphere ol 
nightmare. But I was convinced that it was a thing I was 
destined to see, and to see prett}' soon. 
Darkness fell when we were some miles short of the city, 
and the last part was difficult driving. On both sides of the 
road transport and engineer's stores were parked, and =omf 
of it strayed into the highway. I noticed lots of small details 
— machine-gun detachments, signalling parlies, scjuads ol 
stretcher-bearers — which mean the fiinge of an army, and 
as soon as the night began the white fingers of searchlights 
began to grope in the skies. 
And then, above the hum of the roadside, rose the voii t 
of the great gims. The shells were bursting four or five miU* 
away, and the guns must have been as many more distant. 
But in that upland pocket of plain in the frosty night thej- 
sounded most intimately near. They kept up their solemn 
litany, with a minute's interval between each — ^no rafale 
which rumbles like a drum, but the steady persistence of 
artillery exactly ranged on a target. I judged they must be 
bombarding the outer forts, and once there came a loud ex- 
plosion and a red glare as if a magazine had suf;ercd. 
It was a sound I had not heard for five months, and it fairly 
crazed me. I remembered how I had first lieard it on the 
ridge before Lavcntie. Then I had been half afraid, hal) 
solemnised, but every nerve had been quickened. Then ii 
had been the new thing in my life that held me breathlesi- 
with anticipation ; now it was the old thing, the thing 1 
had shared with so many good fellows, my proper work, and 
the only task for a man. At the sound of the guns I felt thai 
I was moving in natural air once more. I felt that I w;is 
coming home. 
We were stopped at a long line of ramparts, and a German 
sergeant stared at us till he saw the lieutenant beside me, 
when he saluted and we passed on. Almost at once we 
dippved into narrow twisting streets, choked with soldieis, 
where it was a hard business to steer. There were few lights 
— only now and then the flare of a torch which showed the 
grey stone houses, with every window latticed and shuttered. 
I had put out my headlights and had only side lamps, so wt 
had to pick our way gingerly through the labyrinth. I hoped 
we would strike Sandy's quarters soon, for we were all pretty 
empty, and a frost had set in which made our thick coats 
seem as thin as paper. 
The lieutenant did the guiding. We had to present our 
passports, and I anticipated no more difficulty than in landing 
from the boat at Boulogne. But I wanted to get it over, for 
my hunger pinched me, and it was fearsome cold. Still 
the guns wont on, like hounds baying before a quarry. The 
city was out of range, but there were strange lights on the 
ridge to the east. 
At last we reached our goal and marched through a fine oki 
carved archway into a courtyard, and thence into a drauelit\ 
hall. 
" You must see the Sektionschef ," said our guide. 
I looked round to see if we were all there, and noticed that 
Hussin had disappeared. It did not matter, for he was not 
on the passports. 
We followed as we were directed through an open door 
, There was a man, standing with his back towards us looking 
at a wall map, a very bfg man with a neck that bulged over 
his collar. 
I would have known that neck among a million. At the 
sight of it I made a half-turn to bolt back. It was too late, 
for the door had closed behind us, and there were two armed 
sentries beside it. 
The man slewed round and looked into my eyes. I had a 
despairing hope that I might bluff it out, for \ was in different 
clothes and had shaved m.y beard. But you cannot spcnfi 
ten minutes in a death-gripple without your advers.'-rj' gettinf:; 
to know you. 
He went very pale, then recollected himself and twisted 
his features into the old grin. 
(To ie continued) 
