Frank Forester: A Story of the Dardanelles

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XIV

  'A CHIEL AMANG THEM'

  Next morning he woke late. Climbing into the tree, he saw that the sunwas already many degrees up the sky. He looked around, up and down thenullah. No one was in sight. He clambered to the ground and made hisway carefully to the hill-top, taking cover of the scrub. From thispost he had a view, on the one side, of the upper channel of theDardanelles, above the Narrows; on the other, of the waters of theAEgean. Vessels were to-day, as on previous days, moving up and downthe former. One small craft, apparently a motor launch, which he hadnoticed before, was again slipping across the channel towards Chanak,the township which he could clearly see on the opposite shore. No doubtit had started from Maidos, which was tucked away under the hillsbeneath him: he had seen it many times from the deck of a steamer.

  "Lucky beggars!" he thought, envying the occupants of the launch as hewatched it through his borrowed field-glasses, and recalling trips,among the most enjoyable of his experiences, at home and in the Sea ofMarmora.

  "Now to forage," he said to himself.

  It was unlikely that the pursuers, after the excitement of yesterday,had abandoned the hunt, and in descending the hill he used as muchcaution as though they were still in sight. His destination was a smallfarm which he had noticed standing by itself some little distancewestward of the village of Biyuk Anafarta: the village itself, ofcourse, he durst not venture into. His progress was slow, for inflitting prudently from one patch of scrub to another, he had to makeconsiderable detours to avoid more or less open spaces. Every now andagain, too, he stopped to listen, placing his ear to the ground.

  Coming after some hours' difficult wandering to the outskirts of theplantations about the village, he was alarmed to see a herd of cattle inthe charge of several herdsmen moving along the rough track that ledpast the farm, the direction in which he had himself intended to go. Itwas unsafe to continue his journey at present. He took a drink from ahill stream, and plunged into a thicket, resolving, in spite of hishunger, to wait there until late in the afternoon, when movements alongthe road were likely to have ceased.

  It was about four o'clock when he ventured to leave his hiding-place.There was no sign of movement in the hills. In the distance smoke wasrising from the village chimneys. Stealing his way as carefully asbefore, he struck off in the direction of the farm. The husbandmen, ashe had hoped, were still at work in the fields. There would not be manypersons at the farm.

  Taking advantage of every inequality of the ground he crept to the backof the homestead--a small stone-built place with wooden byres and barnsattached. He was well aware that the methods which had formerly servedhim could not be employed now. Without doubt his description had beencirculated throughout Gallipoli. Whether he offered to buy food, orsought to extort it, he would run equal risk. Even if he escaped thehands of the country people, eager to obtain the reward which hadprobably been offered for his capture, he could not show himself withouttheir putting the troops on his track. With every man's hand againsthim he could not afford to indulge the scruples that would be natural tohim in normal circumstances. He meant to obtain food as quickly and assecretly as possible. But he was not going to steal. He would take whathe could find, but leave a fair price.

  All was quiet around the farm. Gaining the outbuildings undetected, heslipped along under cover of them until he had nearly reached what wasapparently the kitchen: a light smoke rose from the chimney above. Morethan once during his excursions he had realised how greatly hisdifficulties would have been increased if the dog were as popular inTurkey as in England. He had not the watchful farmyard dog to fear. Theaction which had cleared Constantinople of the curs that used to infestits streets seemed to have its counterpart in other parts of thecountry: at any rate, he had not hitherto been worried by dogs.

  But he found now, with as much surprise as consternation, that he hadanother kind of guardian to reckon with. He had almost reached what hesupposed to be the kitchen when a small flock of geese advanced towardshim in a mass with much hissing and cackling. There was no alternativebut to beat a prompt retreat. He slipped through the open doorway ofone of the outbuildings, closed the door behind him, and seeing anotherdoor ajar at the further end he hastened towards it, took a cautiouspeep outside and passed into the open. A glance round the corner of thewall showed him a middle-aged woman--dressed in the rusty black whichthe male Turk, himself inclined to bright colours, thinks appropriate tohis women folk--hurrying from the kitchen to ascertain why the watchfulgeese were protesting so noisily.

  Here was his chance. He darted across the open space between himselfand the kitchen, peeped in at the open door, and seeing that the roomwas empty slipped inside. From the upper floor came the voices ofchildren. There was no time to waste. Frank knew nothing about theroom except that it was large, that a pot was on the fire, and that someflat loaves of bread, recently baked, stood in a row upon a slab ofstone beside the oven. Without a moment's hesitation he began to cramthese into the capacious pockets of his military great-coat, and was onthe point of taking out some money to replace them on the slab when heheard the woman returning, grumbling audibly at the geese for theneedless interruption of her cooking.

  To escape by the door was impossible without being seen. The woodensteps in the corner invited him to the upper floor, but the children'svoices repelled. There was no other door. He was caged. He was justmaking up his mind to brazen it out and trust to his ready wit inexplaining his intrusion to the housewife when his eye fell on the longwide board, set against one wall and raised a few inches from the floor,which serves the humble Turk as a sleeping-place. On the impulse of themoment he tiptoed across the room, dropped to the floor, and was justable to wriggle under the board before the woman entered. For a momenthe was doubtful whether, quick as he had been, the woman had not caughtsight of the skirts of his coat, and he pressed himself against the wallin a fever of anxiety. But she clumped across the floor straight to hercooking pot, the sizzling of which mingled with her exclamations ofannoyance. She stirred the pot, made up the fire, called to thechildren to go to sleep--and noticed that some of the loaves were gone.

  "You limbs of Shaitan!" she called up the stairs. "Bring down thoseloaves. Gluttons you are. Did I not give you a supper fit for princes?Bring down the loaves, I say."

  Shrill voices answered her. A boy came half-way down the steps andprotested that neither he nor his brothers or sisters had left theirroom above.

  "Wallahy! are there evil djinni abroad?" exclaimed the woman. "Get youto bed. Allah preserve us! What will the man say when he returns?"

  She went to the door and looked out for her husband; it was time for himto come for his evening meal. Frank already regretted his hasty action.If only the woman would go out! If only she had not believed her smallson, but had gone upstairs to prove him! Apparently he was atruth-teller. Frank felt himself condemned to a long and wearisomedetention. The farmer would return; he would eat his supper; then rugswould be spread on the board, and the good people would sleep there.How in the world was he to get away without disturbing them? Meanwhilehe could at least eat some of the bread which the woman supposed hadbeen spirited away.

  The woman came back to her cooking. Frank's nose was tantalised by thesavoury smell of the ragout simmering in the pot. It was growing dusk,and the woman lighted a small oil-lamp, then sat down on the board,muttering incantations against evil spirits. Presently footsteps andvoices were heard from outside. The woman rose hastily to her feet andwent to the door. A man's voice said a few words, which Frank could notcatch. The woman responded with exclamations of surprise and annoyance.Then they came into the room, followed by several pairs of legs. Frankstarted and shrank more closely against the wall. In the dim light onthe floor beyond his hiding-place he saw military boots. There werestill loud voices outside. He heard the farmer speaking.

  "It is a humble place, effendim, but you are wel
come."

  "Ahi! That stew has a savoury smell. I have an appetite. Haste you,woman, and set before us what you have in the pot."

  Three pairs of legs moved towards the board. Three heavy forms droppedupon it, with clanking of accoutrements. The wood groaned above Frank'shead. A chill perspiration broke out upon his skin. He was in themidst of his pursuers.

  So narrow was the space between the board and the floor that, lyingflat, he could not lift his head more than two or three inches withoutstriking it. To this grovelling posture he saw himself condemned for anindefinite period. He groaned in spirit. What an ass he had been! Hebreathed dust and smells; the air was stifling; how long could he endureit? Suppose he sneezed!--the very thought made his blood run cold, andhe pinched his nose in anticipation.

  Meanwhile the three officers above him were conversing until their mealshould be ready. Frank's attention was distracted from his woes to theconversation rumbling on above his head.

  "Mashallah! It is useless," he heard one say: he thought it was Abdi.

  "But the shells do enormous damage when they hit," said the Anatoliancaptain.

  "True, but what do they hit? It is marvellous, I grant you, that theyhit anything at all--anything of value--when the guns are miles away andthe gunners can see no mark, and without their aeroplanes they wouldhave wrought less havoc even than they have done. But what then? Theycease bombarding, and our engineers repair the damage with exceedingswiftness."

  "Taught by the Germans," remarked the lieutenant.

  "Ahi, the Germans! Your masters!"

  "And yours."

  "Not so, by the Beard! We Kurds will never own them as masters. Theyare great men of war, truly, great devisers of machines; no soullessman, such as you Anatolians and the English, can stand against them.But if they think to crush the free spirits of us Kurds in theirmachinery--wallahy! I hate them."

  "Think you the English have no souls?" asked the captain. "That wilyfellow we are hunting has, methinks, a spirit free as yours."

  "Allah choke him!" growled the Kurd. "It is a knife in my heart that Imay not stay to catch him. Yet to spit Armenians is fitter work for aKurd than to hunt an Englishman, and be sure that few of those dogs whoare fleeing to the mountains near Antioch will escape us."

  "Did I dream, or did my ears hear from your lips the boast that youyourself would flay this very Englishman?" asked the captain gently:perhaps he could afford to be ironical now that Abdi was recalled for amore congenial task.

  "Mashallah! would you taunt me, you pale knock-kneed son of an Anatoliancabbage?" shouted Abdi. "By the Beard, I will carve your carcase intogobbets before----"

  "Peace!" said the lieutenant soothingly. "Here is supper. Let uscomfort our souls in all peaceableness."

  The storm blew over, and for a brief space Frank heard nothing butgobbling above him. Then the Kurd shouted for more bread.

  "Peace be with you, effendim," said the woman, "but there is no more."

  "No more!" roared the truculent Kurd. "What are these few crumbs thatyou have set before three illustrious officers, and me the mostillustrious, even me, Abdi the Kurd?"

  MAP OF THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE GALLIPOLI PENINSULA.]

  "Wallahy! noble effendim," the woman faltered, "I was but even nowtelling my man of the ill that befell this pious house this very night.Behold, there was a fair array of loaves fresh from the oven upon yonderstone, and I went from the house but for one moment to learn the meaningof a great outcry among my geese, and when I came in, lo! of all thosefair loaves only two were left, and those two you have even nowconsumed, effendim. Surely an evil spirit has flown in, and stolen theloaves, and departed again secretly."

  "What is this tale, woman? You were absent but for a moment?"

  "Even so, effendim; and we know the spirits move swifter than the wind."

  "By the Beard, it is that Englishman again," cried the Kurd, thumpingthe board. "Is it not his doing, like those other deeds that we haveheard of him? Of a truth when the woman's back was turned he crept intothe house like a dog and departed with our supper. Mashallah! to-morrowI must go to Chanak, or I would surely catch him and flay him alive."

  "We cannot seek him to-night in the darkness," said the captain. "Trulyhe has more than a dog's cunning."

  "Let us eat and drink," said the lieutenant. "The stew is good, evenwithout bread. To-morrow we will run the fox to earth."

  They finished the meal, and lit cigarettes. The lieutenant went to thebarn where the men were quartered, and posted a guard. He remarked onhis return that it was a useless precaution, since there were no enemieson land.

  "Except one--the Englishman," remarked his captain with a rueful laugh.

  "He will not return here unless we ourselves bring him in bonds,"returned the other.

  Piecing together the scraps of conversation he had already heard withthose he heard subsequently, Frank came to the conclusion that Abdi hadbeen recalled to take part in a battue of Armenians in Asia Minor, andwas to leave next morning by motor launch for Chanak in advance of hismen.

  By and by the officers stamped about the room while the housewifearranged rugs and cushions on the board for their night's repose. Shethen followed her husband upstairs to the higher floor, and theofficers, after removing their boots and accoutrements, arrangedthemselves on the simple bed. The lamp was left alight, and, door andwindow being closed, the room was filled with a heavy, smoky air whichsoon lulled the three men to sleep.

  Frank was by this time suffering painfully from his cramped position andthe foul air. At first he had intended to remain in his hiding-placeuntil the officers departed in the morning, and then to seize the firstopportunity of slipping away. But as time went on he became convincedthat he could not endure his situation through the long night. Beforemorning he would be asphyxiated, or so racked with pain as to have lostthe use of his limbs. If he did not escape during the hours of darknesshe would be unable to escape at all. And when the heavy breathing andsnores above him showed that slumber had sealed the senses of hisenemies, he determined to make an attempt to get away. To be caughtgamely at night was better than to be taken helpless in the morning.

  It was fortunate that the farmer's primitive bed was a flat board, andnot a divan with mattresses bulging below. Otherwise he could hardlyhave moved without causing some pressure beneath the sleepers that wouldcertainly have disturbed them. He lay for a time trying to visualisethe room. The board ran along the whole length of the wall opposite thedoor. There was not space enough for him to creep out at either thehead or the foot: to reach the door he must cross the whole width of theroom. Dim though the light was, it was sufficient to reveal his form.But there was no other way.

  With infinite precaution he sidled his way from beneath the board, thenlay still to listen. The three men were snoring in three differenttones. He inferred from the sounds that two of the three had theirfaces towards the door. To rise at once might cause them to open theireyes; his best chance lay in crawling a little way over the floor.Raising himself on hands and knees, he drew himself along inch by inch;then, gaining courage from the uninterrupted regularity of the snores,he rose to his feet and ventured to glance round. The three men werecurled up under their rugs; only the tops of their heads showed.

  At the same glance he noticed their accoutrements lying on the stoneslab from which he had taken the loaves. Prompted by a dare-devilimpulse that had also an element of precaution, he stole on tiptoe tothe slab, and with slow careful movements, though his hands weretrembling a little, he lifted the flaps of the revolver cases over theirbuttons and abstracted the revolvers one by one. If the men chanced towake before he was clear of the door, they should at least have noweapons to fire at him. A slight click as he slipped the last revolverinto his pocket caused a momentary pause in the _moto continuo_ of oneof the men's recitative, and Frank clutched his own revolver, ready foremergency; but the officer did not stir, and Frank, facing them, creptbackward towards the door.
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  He could not remember whether the door had been locked or bolted, andfelt an inward quaking at the thought of having to turn a possibly rustykey or draw a creaking bolt. It was with immense relief that heperceived that the door was fastened only by a wooden catch. Just,however, as he was raising his hand to release it he heard a stepoutside, approaching the door. With instant presence of mind he tooktwo quick silent paces to the shelf on which the lamp stood and pinchedout the flame.

  There was a knock on the door. The snoring abruptly ceased, but noanswer was given; the sleepers had not been fully awakened. The knockwas repeated. A sleepy voice from the bed said "Enter." The dooropened, and Frank, being unluckily almost behind it, could not slip out.There was a little diffused light from the moon below the horizon, justsufficient to reveal Frank's form, in its long military great-coat, tothe newcomer.

  "A runner with a despatch from headquarters, effendim," said the man,taking Frank for one of his own officers.

  At one and the same moment Frank silently held out his hand for thedespatch and a voice from the other side of the room murmured, "Bring ithere. Light the lamp first." Frank was conscious of surprise andhesitancy in the attitude of the visitor. The critical moment had come.Taking the despatch and thrusting it into his pocket, he bent suddenly,sprang at the man's knees, lifted him from his feet and hurled himacross the room. A threefold shout followed him as he dashed into theopen. The sentry hurried towards him.

  "Fire!" cried Frank. "Fetch water!"

  "Fire! Fire!" repeated the man, turning about and running towards thewell in the yard.

  Frank had already rushed in the opposite direction to the dark side ofthe house. The clamour grew in volume; men were rushing hither andthither with the panic of disturbed sleepers; shrill screams from thestartled housewife and her children mingled with the deeper shouts ofthe soldiers. And Frank dashed away into the darkness. At firstheedless of his direction, he stopped when the sounds were faint in thedistance, and, panting, tried to take his bearings. Somewhat more thanan hour later he clambered down the hollow trunk to his sepulchralrefuge, and threw himself exhausted on its earthy floor.