24 
LAND & WATER 
November 2, 1916 
(Continued from pagt 22.) 
shoulders. Hussin, from a deep saddle-bag, brought out 
rifles and bandoliers for the rest of us. As I laid mine across 
my saddle-bow I saw it was a German Mauser of the latest 
pattern. 
" It's hell-for-leather till we find a place for a stand," 
said Sandy. "The game's against us this time." 
Once more we entered the mist, and presently found better 
going on a long stretch of even slope. Then came a rise, 
and on the crest of it I saw the sun. Presently we dipped 
into bright dayUght and looked down on a broad glen, with a 
road winding up it to a pass in the range. 1 had expected this. 
It was one way to the Palantuken pass, some miles south of 
the house where we had been lodged. 
And then, as I looked southward, I saw what I had been 
■watching for for days. A little hill spUt the valley, and on 
its top was a kram of rocks. It was the castrol of my per- 
sistent dream. 
On that I promptly took charge. " There's our fort," I 
•cried. " If we once get there we can hold it for a week. 
Sit down and ride for it." 
We bucketed down that hillside like men possessed, even 
Blenkiron sticking on manfully among the twists and turns 
and slithers. Presently we were on the road and were racing 
past marching infantry and gun teams and empty wagons. 
I noted that most seemed to be moving downward and few 
going up. Hussin screamed some words in Turkish that 
secured us a passage, but indeed our crazy speed left them 
staring. Out of a corner of my eye I saw that Sandy had 
flung off most of his wrappings and seemed to be all a dazzle 
of rich colour. But I had thought for nothing except the 
little hill, now almost fronting us across the shallow glen. 
No horses could breast that steep. We urged them into 
the hollow, and then hastily dismounted, humped the packs, 
and began to struggle up the side' of the castrol. It was 
strewn with great boulders, which gave a kind of cover that 
very soon was needed. For, snatching a glance back, I saw 
that our pursuers were on the road above us and were getting 
ready to shoot. 
At normal times we would have been easy marks, but, 
fortunately, wisps and streamers of mist now clung about 
that hollow. The rest could fend for themselves, so I stuck 
to Blenkiron and dragged him, wholly breathless, by the 
least exposed route. Bullets spattered now and then against 
the rocks, and one sang unpleasantly near my head. In 
this way we covered three-fourths of the way, and had only the 
bare dozen yards where the gradient eased off up to the edge 
of the kranz. 
Blenkiron got hit in the leg, our only casualty. There was 
nothing for it but to carry him, so I swung him on my shoulders, 
and with a bursting heart did that last lap. It was hottish 
work, and the bullets were pretty thick about us, but we all 
got safely to the kranz and a short scramble took us over 
the edge. I laid Blenkiron inside the castrol and started to 
prepare our defence. 
We had little time to do it. Out of the thin fog figures were 
comirig, crouching in cover. The place we were in wa,s a 
natural redoubt, except that there was no loopholes or sand- 
bags. We had to show our heads over the rim to shoot, but 
the danger was lessened by the superb field of fire given by 
those last dozen yards of glacis. I posted the men and 
waited, and Blenkiron, with a white face, insisted on taking 
his share, announcing that he used to be handy with a gun. 
I gave the order that no man was to shoot till the enemy 
had come out of the rocks on to the glacis. The thing ran 
right round the top, and we had to watch all sides to prevent 
them getting us in flank or rear. Hussin's rifle cracked out 
presently from the back, so my precautions had not been 
needless. 
We were aU three fair shots, though none of us up to Peter's 
miraculous standard, and even the Ci^mpanions made good 
practice. The Mauser was the weapon 1 knew best, and I 
didn't miss much. The attackers never had a chance, for 
their only hope was to rush us by numbers, and, the whole 
party being not above two dozen, they were far too few. I 
think we killed three, for their bodies were left lying, and 
wounded at least six, while the rest fell back towards the road. 
In a quarter of an hour it was all over. 
" These are dogs of Kurds," I heard Hussin say fiercely. 
" Only a Kurdish gkiaour would fire on the livery of the 
Kadba." 
Then I had a good look at Sandy. He had discarded 
shawls and turban and wrappings, and stood up in the 
strangest costume man ever wore in battle. Somehow he 
had procured field-boots and an old pair of riding-breeches. 
.\bove these, reaching well below his middle, he had a wonder- 
"ul silken jibbah or ephod of a bright emerald. I call it silk, 
but it was like no silk I had ever known, so exquisite in the 
mesh, with such a sheen and depth in it. Some strange 
p.ittem was woven on the breast, which in the dim light I 
could not trace. I'll warrant no rarer or costlier garment 
was ever exposed to lead on a bleak winter hill. 
Sandy seemed unconscious of his garb. His eye, listless 
no more, scanned the hollow. " That's only the overture," 
he cried. " The opera will soon begin. We must put a 
breastwork up in these gaps or they'll pick us off from a 
thousand yards." 
I had meantime roughly dressed Blenkiron's wound with 
a linen rag which Hussin provided. It was from a ricochet 
bullet which had chipped into his left shin. Then I took a 
hand with the others in getting up our earthwork to com- 
plete the circuit of the defence. It was no easy job, for we 
wrought only with our knives and had to dig deep down 
bolow the snowy gravel. As we worked I took stock of our 
refuge. 
The castrol was a rough circle about ten yards in diameter, 
its interior filled with boulders and loose stones, and its para- 
pet about four feet high. The mist had cleared for a consider- 
able space, and I could see the immediate surroundings. 
\Yest, beyond the hollow, was the road we had come, where 
now the remnants of the pursuit were clustered. North, 
the hiU fell steeply to the valley bottom, but to the south, 
after a dip, there was a ridge which sliut the view. East lay 
another fork of the stream, the chief fork I guessed, and it 
was evidently followed by the main road to the pass, for I 
saw it crowded with transport. The two roads seemed to 
converge somewhere farther south out of my sight. 
I guessed we could not be very far from the front, for the 
noise of guns sounded very near, both the sharp crack of the 
field-pieces and the deeper boom of the howitzers. More, I 
could hear the chatter of the machine-guns, a magpie note 
among the baying of hounds. I even saw the bursting of 
Russian shells, evidently trying to reach the main road. 
One big fellow — an 8-inch — landed not ten yards from a con- 
voy to the east of us, and another in the hollow through 
which we had come. These were clearly ranging shots, 
and I wondered if the Russians had observation-p)osts on 
the heights to mark them. If so, they might soon try a 
curtain, and we should be very near its edge. It would be 
an odd irony if we were the target of friendly shells. 
" By the lord Harry," I heard Sandy say, "if we had a 
brace of machine-guns we could hold this place against a 
division." 
" What price shells ? " I asked. " If they get a gun up 
they can blow us to atoms in ten minutes." 
" Please God the Russians keep them too busy for that," 
was his answer. 
With anxious eyes I watched our enemies on the road. 
They seemed to have grown in numbers. They were signalling 
too, for a white flag fluttered. Then the iriist rolled down on 
us again, and our prospect was limited to ten yards of vapour. 
" Steady," I cried ; " they may try to rush us at any 
moment. Every man keep his eye on the edge of the fog, 
and shoot at the first sign." 
For nearly half an hour by my watch we waited in that 
queer white world, our eyes smarting with the strain of 
peering. The sound of the guns seemed to be hushed, and 
everything grown deathly quiet. Blenkiron's squeal, as he 
knocked his wounded leg against a rock, made every man 
start. 
Then out of the mist there came a voice. 
It was a woman's voice, high, penetrating, and sweet, 
but it spoke in no tongue I knew. Only Sandy understood. 
He made a sudden movement as if to defend himself against a 
blow. ■• 
The speaker came into clear sight on the glacis a yard or 
two away. Mine was the first face she saw. 
" I come to offer tefms," she said in English. " Will you 
permit me to enter ? " 
I could do nothing except take off my cap and say, " Yes, 
ma'am." Blenkiron, snuggled up against the parapet, was 
cursing furiously below his breath. 
She climbed up the kranz and stepped over the edge as 
lightly as a deer. Her clothes were strange — spurred boots 
and breeches over which fell a short green kirtle. A little 
cap skewered with a jewelled pin was on her head, and a cape 
of some coarse country cloth hung from her shoulders. She 
had rough gauntlets on her hands, and she carried for weapon 
a riding whip. The fog crystals clung to her hair, I remember, 
and a silvery film of fog lay on her garments. 
I had never before thought of her as beautiful. Strange, 
uncanny, wonderful, if you like, but the word beauty had too 
kindly and human a sound for such a face. But as she stood 
with heightened colour, her 'eyes like stars, her poise like a 
wild bird's, I had to confess that she had her own loveliness. 
She might be a devil, but she was also a queen. I considered 
that there might be merits in the prospect of riding by her 
side into Jerusalem. 
Sandy stood rigid, his face very grave and set. She held 
(Ctntinued <m page 26) 
