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diff --git a/10338-0.txt b/10338-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a39e0d --- /dev/null +++ b/10338-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1929 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10338 *** + +WITH THE TURKS IN +PALESTINE + +BY + +ALEXANDER AARONSOHN + + + + +[ILLUSTRATION: DJEMAL PASHA] + +1916 + +TO MY MOTHER + +WHO LIVED AND FOUGHT AND DIED +FOR A REGENERATED +PALESTINE + + + _What have I done, or tried, or said + In thanks to that dear woman dead_? + +MASEFIELD + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + +To the editors of the _Atlantic Monthly_, +to the publishers, and to the many +friends who have encouraged me, I +am and shall ever remain grateful + + + + +CONTENTS + + INTRODUCTION + + I. ZICRON-JACOB + + II. PRESSED INTO THE SERVICE + + III. THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA + + IV. ROAD-MAKING AND DISCHARGE + + V. THE HIDDEN ARMS + + VI. THE SUEZ CAMPAIGN + + VII. FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS + + VIII. THE LEBANON + + IX. A ROBBER BARON OF PALESTINE + + X. A RASH ADVENTURE + + XI. ESCAPE + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +DJEMAL PASHA + _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_ + +SAFFÊD + _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_ + +THE AUTHOR ON HIS HORSE KOCHBA + _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald, of Chicago, in March, 1911_ + +SOLDIERS' TENTS IN SAMARIA + +NAZARETH, FROM THE NORTHEAST + _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_ + +HOUSE OF THE AUTHOR'S FATHER, EPHRAIM FISHL AARONSOHN, + IN ZICRON-JACOB + +IN A NATIVE CAFÉ, SAFFÊD + _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_ + +A LEMONADE-SELLER OF DAMASCUS + _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_ + +RAILROAD STATION SCENE BETWEEN HAIFA AND DAMASCUS + _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_ + +CAMELS BRINGING IN NEWLY CUT TREES, DAMASCUS + _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_ + +THE CHRISTIAN TOWN OF ZAHLEH IN THE LEBANON + _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_ + +HAIFA + _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_ + +HAIFA AND THE BAY OF AKKA. LOOKING EAST FROM +MOUNT CARMEL + _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_ + +THE BAZAAR OF JAFFA ON A MARKET DAY + _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_ + +STORMY SEA BREAKING OVER ROCKS OFF JAFFA + _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_ + +THE AUTHOR'S SISTER ON HER HORSE TAYAR + _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald in March, 1914_ + +BEIRUT, FROM THE DECK OF AN OUTGOING STEAMER + _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +While Belgium is bleeding and hoping, while Poland suffers and dreams of +liberation, while Serbia is waiting for redemption, there is a little +country the soul of which is torn to pieces--a little country that is so +remote, so remote that her ardent sighs cannot be heard. + +It is the country of perpetual sacrifice, the country that saw Abraham +build the altar upon which he was ready to immolate his only son, the +country that Moses saw from a distance, stretching in beauty and +loveliness,--a land of promise never to be attained,--the country that +gave the world its symbols of soul and spirit. Palestine! + +No war correspondents, no Red Cross or relief committees have gone to +Palestine, because no actual fighting has taken place there, and yet +hundreds of thousands are suffering there that worst of agonies, the +agony of the spirit. + +Those who have devoted their lives to show the world that Palestine can +be made again a country flowing with milk and honey, those who have +dreamed of reviving the spirit of the prophets and the great teachers, +are hanged and persecuted and exiled, their dreams shattered, their holy +places profaned, their work ruined. Cut off from the world, with no +bread to sustain the starving body, the heavy boot of a barbarian +soldiery trampling their very soul, the dreamers of Palestine refuse to +surrender, and amidst the clash of guns and swords they are battling for +the spirit with the weapons of the spirit. + +The time has not yet come to write the record of these battles, nor even +to attempt to render justice to the sublime heroes of Palestine. This +book is merely the story of some of the personal experiences of one who +has done less and suffered less than thousands of his comrades. + +ALEXANDER AARONSOHN + + + + +WITH THE TURKS IN PALESTINE. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ZICRON-JACOB + + +Thirty-five years ago, the impulse which has since been organized as the +Zionist Movement led my parents to leave their homes in Roumania and +emigrate to Palestine, where they joined a number of other Jewish +pioneers in founding Zicron-Jacob--a little village lying just south of +Mount Carmel, in that fertile coastal region close to the ancient Plains +of Armageddon. + +Here I was born; my childhood was passed here in the peace and harmony +of this little agricultural community, with its whitewashed stone houses +huddled close together for protection against the native Arabs who, at +first, menaced the life of the new colony. The village was far more +suggestive of Switzerland than of the conventional slovenly villages of +the East, mud-built and filthy; for while it was the purpose of our +people, in returning to the Holy Land, to foster the Jewish language and +the social conditions of the Old Testament as far as possible, there +was nothing retrograde in this movement. No time was lost in introducing +progressive methods of agriculture, and the climatological experiments +of other countries were observed and made use of in developing the ample +natural resources of the land. + +[ILLUSTRATION: THE CEMETERY OF ZICRON-JACOB] + +Eucalyptus, imported from Australia, soon gave the shade of its cool, +healthful foliage where previously no trees had grown. In the course of +time dry farming (which some people consider a recent discovery, but +which in reality is as old as the Old Testament) was introduced and +extended with American agricultural implements; blooded cattle were +imported, and poultry-raising on a large scale was undertaken with the +aid of incubators--to the disgust of the Arabs, who look on such +usurpation of the hen's functions as against nature and sinful. Our +people replaced the wretched native trails with good roads, bordered by +hedges of thorny acacia which, in season, were covered with downy little +yellow blossoms that smelled sweeter than honey when the sun was on +them. + +More important than all these, a communistic village government was +established, in which both sexes enjoyed equal rights, including that of +suffrage--strange as this may seem to persons who (when they think of +the matter at all) form vague conceptions of all the women-folk of +Palestine as shut up in harems. + +A short experience with Turkish courts and Turkish justice taught our +people that they would have to establish a legal system of their own; +two collaborating judges were therefore appointed--one to interpret the +Mosaic law, another to temper it with modern jurisprudence. All Jewish +disputes were settled by this court. Its effectiveness may be judged by +the fact that the Arabs, weary of Turkish venality,--as open and +shameless as anywhere in the world,--began in increasing numbers to +bring their difficulties to our tribunal. Jews are law-abiding people, +and life in those Palestine colonies tended to bring out the fraternal +qualities of our race; but it is interesting to note that in over thirty +years not one Jewish criminal case was reported from forty-five +villages. + +Zicron-Jacob was a little town of one hundred and thirty "fires"--so we +call it--when, in 1910, on the advice of my elder brother, who was head +of the Jewish Experiment Station at Athlit, an ancient town of the +Crusaders, I left for America to enter the service of the United States +in the Department of Agriculture. A few days after reaching this country +I took out my first naturalization papers and proceeded to Washington, +where I became part of that great government service whose beneficent +activity is too little known by Americans. Here I remained until June, +1913, when I returned to Palestine with the object of taking +motion-pictures and stereopticon views. These I intended to use in a +lecturing tour for spreading the Zionist propaganda in the United +States. + +During the years of my residence in America, I was able to appreciate +and judge in their right value the beauty and inspiration of the life +which my people led in the Holy Land. From a distance, too, I saw better +the need for organization among our communities, and I determined to +build up a fraternal union of the young Jewish men all over the country. + +Two months after my return from America, an event occurred which gave +impetus to these projects. The physician of our village, an old man who +had devoted his entire life to serving and healing the people of +Palestine, without distinction of race or religion, was driving home one +evening in his carriage from a neighboring settlement. With him was a +young girl of sixteen. In a deserted place they were set upon by four +armed Arabs, who beat the old man to unconsciousness as he tried, in +vain, to defend the girl from the terrible fate which awaited her. + +Night came on. Alarmed by the absence of the physician, we young men +rode out in search of him. We finally discovered what had happened; and +then and there, in the serene moonlight of that Eastern night, with +tragedy close at hand, I made my comrades take oath on the honor of +their sisters to organize themselves into a strong society for the +defense of the life and honor of our villagers and of our people at +large. + +These details are, perhaps, useful for the better understanding of the +disturbances that came thick and fast when in August, 1914, the +war-madness broke out among the nations of Europe. The repercussion was +at once felt even in our remote corner of the earth. Soon after the +German invasion of Belgium the Turkish army was mobilized and all +citizens of the Empire between nineteen and forty-five years were called +to the colors. As the Young Turk Constitution of 1909 provided that all +Christians and Jews were equally liable to military service, our young +men knew that they, too, would be called upon to make the common +sacrifice. For the most part, they were not unwilling to sustain the +Turkish Government. While the Constitution imposed on them the burden of +militarism, it had brought with it the compensation of freedom of +religion and equal rights; and we could not forget that for six hundred +years Turkey has held her gates wide open to the Jews who fled from the +Spanish Inquisition and similar ministrations of other civilized +countries. + +Of course, we never dreamed that Turkey would do anything but remain +neutral. If we had had any idea of the turn things were ultimately to +take, we should have given a different greeting to the _mouchtar_, or +sheriff, who came to our village with the list of mobilizable men to be +called on for service. My own position was a curious one. I had every +intention of completing the process of becoming an American citizen, +which I had begun by taking out "first papers." In the eyes of the law, +however, I was still a Turkish subject, with no claim to American +protection. This was sneeringly pointed out to me by the American Consul +at Haifa, who happens to be a German; so there was no other course but +to surrender myself to the Turkish Government. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PRESSED INTO THE SERVICE + + +There was no question as to my eligibility for service. I was young and +strong and healthy--and even if I had not been, the physical examination +of Turkish recruits is a farce. The enlisting officers have a theory of +their own that no man is really unfit for the army--a theory which has +been fostered by the ingenious devices of the Arabs to avoid +conscription. To these wild people the protracted discipline of military +training is simply a purgatory, and for weeks before the recruiting +officers are due, they dose themselves with powerful herbs and physics +and fast, and nurse sores into being, until they are in a really +deplorable condition. Some of them go so far as to cut off a finger or +two. The officers, however, have learned to see beyond these little +tricks, and few Arabs succeed in wriggling through their drag-net. I +have watched dozens of Arabs being brought in to the recruiting office +on camels or horses, so weak were they, and welcomed into the service +with a severe beating--the sick and the shammers sharing the same fate. +Thus it often happens that some of the new recruits die after their +first day of garrison life. + +Together with twenty of my comrades, I presented myself at the +recruiting station at Acco (the St. Jean d'Acre of history). We had been +given to understand that, once our names were registered, we should be +allowed to return home to provide ourselves with money, suitable +clothing, and food, as well as to bid our families good-bye. To our +astonishment, however, we were marched off to the Hân, or caravanserai, +and locked into the great courtyard with hundreds of dirty Arabs. Hour +after hour passed; darkness came, and finally we had to stretch +ourselves on the ground and make the best of a bad situation. It was a +night of horrors. Few of us had closed an eye when, at dawn, an officer +appeared and ordered us out of the Hân. From our total number about +three hundred (including four young men from our village and myself) +were picked out and told to make ready to start at once for Saffêd, a +town in the hills of northern Galilee near the Sea of Tiberias, where +our garrison was to be located. No attention was paid to our requests +that we be allowed to return to our homes for a final visit. That same +morning we were on our way to Saffêd--a motley, disgruntled crew. + +[ILLUSTRATION: SAFFÊD] + +It was a four days' march--four days of heat and dust and physical +suffering. The September sun smote us mercilessly as we straggled along +the miserable native trail, full of gullies and loose stones. It would +not have been so bad if we had been adequately shod or clothed; but soon +we found ourselves envying the ragged Arabs as they trudged along +barefoot, paying no heed to the jagged flints. (Shoes, to the Arab, are +articles for ceremonious indoor use; when any serious walking is to be +done, he takes them off, slings them over his shoulder, and trusts to +the horny soles of his feet.) + +To add to our troubles, the Turkish officers, with characteristic +fatalism, had made no commissary provision for us whatever. Any food we +ate had to be purchased by the roadside from our own funds, which were +scant enough to start with. The Arabs were in a terrible plight. Most of +them were penniless, and, as the pangs of hunger set in, they began +pillaging right and left from the little farms by the wayside. From +modest beginnings--poultry and vegetables--they progressed to larger +game, unhindered by the officers. Houses were entered, women insulted; +time and again I saw a stray horse, grazing by the roadside, seized by a +crowd of grinning Arabs, who piled on the poor beast's back until he was +almost crushed to earth, and rode off triumphantly, while their comrades +held back the weeping owner. The result of this sort of +"requisitioning," was that our band of recruits was followed by an +increasing throng of farmers--imploring, threatening, trying by hook or +by crook to win back the stolen goods. Little satisfaction did they get, +although some of them went with us as far as Saffêd. + +Our garrison town is not an inviting place, nor has it an inviting +reputation. Lord Kitchener himself had good reason to remember it. As a +young lieutenant of twenty-three, in the Royal Engineering Corps, he was +nearly killed there by a band of fanatical Arabs while surveying for the +Palestine Exploration Fund. Kitchener had a narrow escape of it (one of +his fellow officers was shot dead close by him), but he went calmly +ahead and completed his maps, splendid large-scale affairs which have +never since been equaled--and which are now in use by the Turkish and +German armies! However, though Saffêd combines most of the unpleasant +characteristics of Palestine native towns, we welcomed the sight of it, +for we were used up by the march. An old deserted mosque was given us +for barracks; there, on the bare stone floor, in close-packed +promiscuity, too tired to react to filth and vermin, we spent our first +night as soldiers of the Sultan, while the milky moonlight streamed in +through every chink and aperture, and bats flitted round the vaulting +above the snoring carcasses of the recruits. + +Next morning we were routed out at five. The black depths of the well in +the center of the mosque courtyard provided doubtful water for washing, +bathing, and drinking; then came breakfast,--our first government +meal,--consisting, simply enough, of boiled rice, which was ladled out +into tin wash-basins holding rations for ten men. In true Eastern +fashion we squatted down round the basin and dug into the rice with our +fingers. At first I was rather upset by this sort of table manners, and +for some time I ate with my eyes fixed on my own portion, to avoid +seeing the Arabs, who fill the palms of their hands with rice, pat it +into a ball and cram it into their mouths just so, the bolus making a +great lump in their lean throats as it reluctantly descends. + +In the course of that same morning we were allotted our uniforms. The +Turkish uniform, under indirect German influence, has been greatly +modified during the past five years. It is of khaki--a greener khaki +than that of the British army, and of conventional European cut. Spiral +puttees and good boots are provided; the only peculiar feature is the +headgear--a curious, uncouth-looking combination of the turban and the +German helmet, devised by Enver Pasha to combine religion and +practicality, and called in his honor _enverieh_. (With commendable +thrift, Enver patented his invention, and it is rumored that he has +drawn a comfortable fortune from its sale.) An excellent uniform it is, +on the whole; but, to our disgust, we found that in the great olive-drab +pile to which we were led, there was not a single new one. All were old, +discarded, and dirty, and the mere thought of putting on the clothes of +some unknown Arab legionary, who, perhaps, had died of cholera at Mecca +or Yemen, made me shudder. After some indecision, my friends and I +finally went up to one of the officers and offered to _buy_ new uniforms +with the money we expected daily from our families. The officer, +scenting the chance for a little private profit, gave his consent. + +The days and weeks following were busy ones. From morning till night, it +was drill, drill, and again drill. We were divided into groups of fifty, +each of which was put in charge of a young non-commissioned officer from +the Military School of Constantinople or Damascus, or of some Arab who +had seen several years' service. These instructors had a hard time of +it; the German military system, which had only recently been introduced, +was too much for them. They kept mixing up the old and the new methods +of training, with the result that it was often hopeless to try and make +out their orders. Whole weeks were spent in grinding into the Arabs the +names of the different parts of the rifle; weeks more went to teaching +them to clean it--although it must be said that, once they had mastered +these technicalities, they were excellent shots. Their efficiency would +have been considerably greater if there had been more target-shooting. +From the very first, however, we felt that there was a scarcity of +ammunition. This shortage the drill-masters, in a spirit of +compensation, attempted to make up by abundant severity. The whip of +soft, flexible, stinging leather, which seldom leaves the Turkish +officer's hand, was never idle. This was not surprising, for the Arab is +a cunning fellow, whose only respect is for brute force. He exercises it +himself on every possible victim, and expects the same treatment from +his superiors. + +So far as my comrades and I were concerned, I must admit that we were +generally treated kindly. We knew most of the drill-exercises from the +gymnastic training we had practiced since childhood, and the officers +realized that we were educated and came from respectable families. The +same was also true with regard to the native Christians, most of whom +can read and write and are of a better class than the Mohammedans of the +country. When Turkey threw in her lot with the Germanic powers, the +attitude toward the Jews and Christians changed radically; but of this I +shall speak later. + +It was a hard life we led while in training at Saffêd; evening would +find us dead tired, and little disposed for anything but rest. As the +tremendous light-play of the Eastern sunsets faded away, we would gather +in little groups in the courtyard of our mosque--its minaret towering +black against a turquoise sky--and talk fitfully of the little +happenings of the day, while the Arabs murmured gutturally around us. +Occasionally, one of them would burst into a quavering, hot-blooded +tribal love-song. It happened that I was fairly well known among these +natives through my horse Kochba--of pure Maneghi-Sbeli blood--which I +had purchased from some Anazzi Bedouins who were encamped not far from +Aleppo: a swift and intelligent animal he was, winner of many races, and +in a land where a horse is considerably more valuable than a wife, his +ownership cast quite a glamour over me. + +[ILLUSTRATION: THE AUTHOR ON HIS HORSE KOCHBA] + +In the evenings, then, the Arabs would come up to chat. As they speak +seldom of their children, of their women-folk never, the conversation +was limited to generalities about the crops and the weather, or to the +recitation of never-ending tales of Abou-Zeid, the famous hero of the +Beni-Hilal, or of Antar the glorious. Politics, of which they have +amazing ideas, also came in for discussion. Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen +Victoria are still living figures to them; but (significantly enough) +they considered the Kaiser king of all the kings of this world, with the +exception of the Sultan, whom they admitted to equality. + +Seldom did an evening pass without a dance. As darkness fell, the Arabs +would gather in a great circle around one of their comrades, who +squatted on the ground with a bamboo flute; to a weird minor music they +would begin swaying and moving about while some self-chosen poet among +them would sing impromptu verses to the flute _obbligato_. As a rule the +themes were homely. + +"To-morrow we shall eat rice and meat," the singer would wail. + +"_Yaha lili-amali"_ (my endeavor be granted), came the full-throated +response of all the others. The chorus was tremendously effective. +Sometimes the singer would indulge in pointed personalities, with +answering roars of laughter. + +These dances lasted for hours, and as they progressed the men gradually +worked themselves up into a frenzy. I never failed to wonder at these +people, who, without the aid of alcohol, could reproduce the various +stages of intoxication. As I lay by and watched the moon riding serenely +above these frantic men and their twisting black shadows, I reflected +that they were just in the condition when one word from a holy man would +suffice to send them off to wholesale murder and rapine. + +It was my good fortune soon to be released from the noise and dirt of +the mosque. I had had experience with corruptible Turkish officers; and +one day, when barrack conditions became unendurable, I went to the +officer commanding our division--an old Arab from Latakieh who had been +called from retirement at the time of the mobilization. He lived in a +little tent near the mosque, where I found him squatting on the floor, +nodding drowsily over his comfortable paunch. As he was an officer of +the old régime, I entered boldly, squatted beside him and told him my +troubles. The answer came with an enormous shrug of the shoulders. + +"You are serving the Sultan. Hardship should be sweet!" + +"I should be more fit to serve him if I got more sleep and rest." + +He waved a fat hand about the tent. + +"Look at me! Here I am, an officer of rank and"--shooting a knowing +look at me--"I have not even a nice blanket." + +"A crime! A crime!" I interrupted. "To think of it, when I, a humble +soldier, have dozens of them at home! I should be honored if you would +allow me--" My voice trailed off suggestively. + +"How could you get one?" he asked. + +"Oh, I have friends here in Saffêd but I _must_ be able to sleep in a +nice place." + +"Of course; certainly. What would you suggest?" + +"That hotel kept by the Jewish widow might do," I replied. + +More amenities were exchanged, the upshot of which was that my four +friends and I were given permission to sleep at the inn--a humble place, +but infinitely better than the mosque. It was all perfectly simple. + +[ILLUSTRATION: SOLDIERS' TENTS IN SAMARIA] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA + + +So passed the days of our training, swiftly, monotonously, until the +fateful December morning when the news came like a thunderbolt that +Turkey was about to join hands with Germany. We had had reports of the +war--of a kind. Copies of telegrams from Constantinople, printed in +Arabic, were circulated among us, giving accounts of endless German +victories. These, however, we had laughed at as fabrications of a +Prussophile press agency, and in our skepticism we had failed to give +the Teutons credit for the successes they had actually won. To us, born +and bred in the East as we were, the success of German propaganda in the +Turkish Empire could not come as an overwhelming surprise; but its +fullness amazed us. + +It may be of timely interest to say a few words here regarding this +propaganda as I have seen it in Palestine, spreading under strong and +efficient organization for twenty years. + +In order to realize her imperialistic dreams, Germany absolutely needed +Palestine. It was the key to the whole Oriental situation. No mere +coincidence brought the Kaiser to Damascus in November, 1898,--the same +month that Kitchener, in London, was hailed as Gordon's avenger,--when +he uttered his famous phrase at the tomb of Saladin: "Tell the three +hundred million Moslems of the world that I am their friend!" We have +all seen photographs of the imperial figure, draped in an amazing +burnous of his own designing (above which the Prussian _Pickelhaube_ +rises supreme), as he moved from point to point in this portentous +visit: we may also have seen Caran d'Ache's celebrated cartoon (a +subject of diplomatic correspondence) representing this same imperial +figure, in its Oriental toggery, riding into Jerusalem on an ass. + +The nations of Europe laughed at this visit and its transparent purpose, +but it was all part of the scheme which won for the Germans the +concessions for the Konia-Bagdad Railway, and made them owners of the +double valley of the Euphrates and Tigris. Through branch lines +projected through the firman, they are practically in control of both +the Syrian routes toward the Cypriotic Mediterranean and the Lebanon +valleys. They also control the three Armenian routes of Cappadocia, the +Black Sea, and the trans-Caucasian branch of Urfa, Marach, and Mardine. +(The fall of Erzerum has altered conditions respecting this last.) They +dominate the Persian routes toward Tauris and Teheran as well; and last, +but not least, the Gulf branch of Zobeir. These railways delivered into +German hands the control of Persia, whence the road to India may be made +easy: through Syria lies the route to the Suez Canal and Egypt, which +was used in February, 1915, and will probably be used again this year. + +To make this Oriental dream a reality, the Germans have not relied on +their railway concessions alone. Their Government has done everything in +its power to encourage German colonization in Palestine. Scattered all +over the country are German mills that half of the time have nothing to +grind. German hotels have been opened in places seldom frequented by +tourists. German engineers appeared in force, surveying, sounding, +noting. All these colonists held gatherings in the Arab villages, when +the ignorant natives were told of the greatness of Germany, of her good +intentions, and of the evil machinations of other powers. What I state +here can be corroborated by any one who knows Palestine and has lived in +it. + +About the time when we first knew that Turkey would join the Germanic +powers came the news that the "Capitulations" had been revoked. As is +generally known, foreigners formerly enjoyed the protection of their +respective consuls. The Turkish Government, under the terms of the +so-called Capitulations, or agreements, had no jurisdiction over an +American, for instance, or a Frenchman, who could not be arrested +without the consent of his consul. In the Ottoman Empire, where law and +justice are not at a premium, such protection was a wholesome and +necessary policy. + +The revoking of the Capitulations was a terrible blow to all the +Europeans, meaning, as it did, the practical abolition of all their +rights. Upon the Arabs it acted like an intoxicant. Every boot-black or +boatman felt that he was the equal of the accursed Frank, who now had no +consul to protect him; and abuses began immediately. Moreover, as if by +magic, the whole country became Germanized. In all the mosques, Friday +prayers were ended with an invocation for the welfare of the Sultan and +"Hadji Wilhelm." The significance of this lies in the fact that the +title "Hadji" can be properly applied only to a Moslem who has made the +pilgrimage to Mecca and kissed the sacred stone of the Kaaba. Instant +death is the penalty paid by any Christian who is found within that +enclosure: yet Wilhelm II, head of the Lutheran faith, stepped forward +as "Hadji Wilhelm." His pictures were sold everywhere; German officers +appeared; and it seemed as if a wind of brutal mastery were blowing. + +The dominant figure of this movement in Palestine was, without doubt, +the German Consul at Haifa, Leutweld von Hardegg. He traveled about the +country, making speeches, and distributing pamphlets in Arabic, in which +it was elaborately proved that Germans are not Christians, like the +French or English, but that they are descendants of the prophet +Mohammed. Passages from the Koran were quoted, prophesying the coming of +the Kaiser as the Savior of Islam. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ROAD-MAKING AND DISCHARGE + + +The news of the actual declaration of war by Turkey caused a tremendous +stir in our regiment. The prevailing feeling was one of great +restlessness and discontent. The Arabs made many bitter remarks against +Germany. "Why didn't she help us against the Italians during the war for +Tripoli?" they said. "Now that she is in trouble she is drawing us into +the fight." Their opinions, however, soon underwent a change. In the +first place, they came to realize that Turkey had taken up arms against +Russia; and Russia is considered first and foremost the arch-enemy. +German reports of German successes also had a powerful effect on them. +They began to grow boastful, arrogant; and the sight of the plundering +of Europeans, Jews, and Christians convinced them that a very desirable +régime was setting in. Saffêd has a large Jewish colony, and it was +torment for me to have to witness the outrages that my people suffered +in the name of "requisitioning." + +The final blow came one morning when all the Jewish and Christian +soldiers of our regiment were called out and told that henceforth they +were to serve in the _taboor amlieh_, or working corps. The object of +this action, plainly enough, was to conciliate and flatter the +Mohammedan population, and at the same time to put the Jews and +Christians, who for the most part favored the cause of the Allies, in a +position where they would be least dangerous. We were disarmed; our +uniforms were taken away, and we became hard-driven "gangsters." I shall +never forget the humiliation of that day when we, who, after all, were +the best-disciplined troops of the lot, were first herded to our work of +pushing wheelbarrows and handling spades, by grinning Arabs, rifle on +shoulder. We were set to building the road between Saffêd and Tiberias, +on the Sea of Galilee--a link in the military highway from Damascus to +the coast, which would be used for the movement of troops in case the +railroad should be cut off. It had no immediate strategic bearing on the +attack against Suez, however. + +From six in the morning till seven at night we were hard at it, except +for one hour's rest at noon. While we had money, it was possible to get +some slight relief by bribing our taskmasters; but this soon came to an +end, and we had to endure their brutality as best we could. The +wheelbarrows we used were the property of a French company which, +before the war, was undertaking a highway to Beirut. No grease was +provided for the wheels, so that there was a maddening squeaking and +squealing in addition to the difficulty of pushing the barrows. One day +I suggested to an inspection officer that if the wheels were not greased +the axles would be burned out. He agreed with me and issued an order +that the men were to provide their own oil to lubricate the wheels! + +I shall not dwell on the physical sufferings we underwent while working +on this road, for the reason that the conditions I have described were +prevalent over the whole country; and later, when I had the opportunity +to visit some construction camps in Samaria and Judaea found that in +comparison our lot had been a happy one. While we were breaking stones +and trundling squeaking wheelbarrows, however, the most disquieting +rumors began to drift in to us from our home villages. Plundering had +been going on in the name of "requisitioning"; the country was full of +soldiery whose capacity for mischief-making was well known to us, and it +was torture to think of what might be happening in our peaceful homes +where so few men had been left for protection. All the barbed-wire +fences, we heard, had been torn up and sent north for the construction +of barricades. In a wild land like Palestine, where the native has no +respect for property, where fields and crops are always at the mercy of +marauders, the barbed-wire fence has been a tremendous factor for +civilization, and with these gone the Arabs were once more free to sweep +across the country unhindered, stealing and destroying. + +The situation grew more and more unbearable. One day a little Christian +soldier--a Nazarene--disappeared from the ranks. We never saw him again, +but we learned that his sister, a very young girl, had been forcibly +taken by a Turkish officer of the Nazareth garrison. In Palestine, the +dishonor of a girl can be redeemed by blood alone. The young soldier had +hunted for his sister, found her in the barracks, and shot her; he then +surrendered himself to the military authorities, who undoubtedly put him +to death. He had not dared to kill the real criminal,--the officer,--for +he knew that this would not only bring death to his family, but would +call down terrible suffering on all the Christians of Nazareth. + +[ILLUSTRATION: NAZARETH, FROM THE NORTHEAST] + +When I learned of this tragedy, I determined to get out of the army and +return to my village at all costs. Nine Turkish officers out of ten can +be bought, and I had reason to know that the officer in command at +Saffêd was not that tenth man. Now, according to the law of the country, +a man has the right to purchase exemption from military service for a +sum equivalent to two hundred dollars. My case was different, for I was +already enrolled; but everything is possible in Turkey. I set to work, +and in less than two weeks I had bought half a dozen officers, ranging +from corporal to captain, and had obtained consent of the higher +authorities to my departure, provided I could get a physician's +certificate declaring me unfit for service. + +This was arranged in short order, although I am healthy-looking and the +doctor found some difficulty in hitting on an appropriate ailment. +Finally he decided that I had "too much blood"--whatever that might +mean. With his certificate in hand, I paid the regular price of two +hundred dollars from funds which had been sent me by my family, and +walked out of the barracks a free man. My happiness was mingled with +sadness at the thought of leaving the comrades with whom I had suffered +and hoped. The four boys from my village were splendid. They felt that I +was right in going home to do what I could for the people, but when they +kissed me good-bye, in the Eastern fashion, the tears were running down +their cheeks; and they were all strong, brave fellows. + +On my way back to Zicron-Jacob, I passed through the town of Sheff'amr, +where I got a foretaste of the conditions I was to find at home. A +Turkish soldier, sauntering along the street, helped himself to fruit +from the basket of an old vender, and went on without offering to pay a +farthing. When the old man ventured to protest, the soldier turned like +a flash and began beating him mercilessly, knocking him down and +battering him until he was bruised, bleeding, and covered with the mud +of the street. There was a hubbub; a crowd formed, through which a +Turkish officer forced his way, demanding explanations. The soldier +sketched the situation in a few words, whereupon the officer, turning to +the old man, said impressively,--"If a soldier of the Sultan should +choose to heap filth on your head, it is for you to kiss his hand in +gratitude." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE HIDDEN ARMS + + +When I finally reached Zicron-Jacob, I found rather a sad state of +affairs. Military law had been declared. No one was supposed to be seen +in the streets after sundown. The village was full of soldiers, and +civilians had to put up with all kinds of ill-treatment. Moreover, our +people were in a state of great excitement because an order had recently +come from the Turkish authorities bidding them surrender whatever +fire-arms or weapons they had in their possession. A sinister command, +this: we knew that similar measures had been taken before the terrible +Armenian massacres, and we felt that some such fate might be in +preparation for our people. With the arms gone, the head men of the +village knew that our last hold over the Arabs, our last chance for +defense against sudden violence, would be gone, and they had refused to +give them up. A house-to-house search had been made--fruitlessly, for +our little arsenal was safely cached in a field, beneath growing grain. + +It was a tense, unpleasant situation. At any time the Turks might decide +to back up their demand by some of the violent methods of which they +are past masters. A family council was held in my home, and it was +decided to send my sister, a girl of twenty-three, to some friends at +the American Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, so that we might be +able to move freely without the responsibility of having a girl at home, +in a country where, as a matter of course, the women-folk are seized and +carried off before a massacre. At Beirut we knew that there was an +American Consul-General, who kept in continual touch with the battleship +anchored in the harbor for the protection of American interests. + +My sister got away none too soon. One evening shortly after her +departure, when I was standing in the doorway of our house watching the +ever fresh miracle of the Eastern sunset, a Turkish officer came riding +down the street with about thirty cavalrymen. He called me out and +ordered me to follow him to the little village inn, where he dismounted +and led me to one of the inner rooms, his spurs jingling loudly as we +passed along the stone corridor. + +I never knew whether I had been selected for this attention because of +my prominence as a leader of the Jewish young men or simply because I +had been standing conveniently in the doorway. The officer closed the +door and came straight to the point by asking me where our store of +arms was hidden. He was a big fellow, with the handsome, cruel features +usual enough in his class. There was no open menace in his first +question. When I refused to tell him, he began wheedling and offering +all sorts of favors if I would betray my people. Then, all of a sudden, +he whipped out a revolver and stuck the muzzle right in my face. I felt +the blood leave my heart, but I was able to control myself and refuse +his demand. The officer was not easily discouraged; the hours I passed +in that little room, with its smoky kerosene lamp, were terrible ones. I +realized, however, how tremendously important the question of the arms +was, and strength was given me to hold out until the officer gave up in +disgust and let me go home. + +[ILLUSTRATION: HOUSE OF THE AUTHOR'S FATHER, EPHRAIM FISHL AARONSOHN, IN +ZICRON-JACOB] + +My father, an old man, knew nothing of what had happened, but the rest +of my family were tremendously excited. I made light of the whole +affair, but I felt sure that this was only the beginning. Sure enough, +next morning--the Sabbath--the same officer returned and put three of +the leading elders of the village, together with myself, under arrest. +After another fruitless inquisition at the hotel, we were handcuffed and +started on foot toward the prison, a day's journey away. As our little +procession passed my home, my father, who was aged and feeble, came +tottering forward to say good-bye to me. A soldier pushed him roughly +back; he reeled, then fell full-length in the street before my eyes. + +It was a dismal departure. We were driven through the streets shackled +like criminals, and the women and children came out of the houses and +watched us in silence--their heads bowed, tears running down their +cheeks. They realized that for thirty-five years these old men, my +comrades, had been struggling and suffering for their ideal--a +regenerated Palestine; now, in the dusk of their life, it seemed as if +all their hopes and dreams were coming to ruin. The oppressive tragedy +of the situation settled down on me more and more heavily as the day +wore on and heat and fatigue told on my companions. My feelings must +have been written large on my face, for one of them, a fine-looking +patriarch, tried to give me comfort by reminding me that we must not +rely upon strength of arms, and that our spirit could never be broken, +no matter how defenseless we were. Thus he, an old man, was encouraging +me instead of receiving help from my youth and enthusiasm. + +At last we arrived at the prison and were locked into separate cells. +That same night we were tortured with the _falagy_, or bastinado. The +victim of this horrible punishment is trussed up, arms and legs, and +thrown on his knees; then, on the bare soles of his feet a pliant green +rod is brought down with all the force of a soldier's arm. The pain is +exquisite; blood leaps out at the first cut, and strong men usually +faint after thirty or forty strokes. Strange to say, the worst part of +it is not the blow itself, but the whistling of the rod through the air +as it rushes to its mark. The groans of my older comrades, whose gasps +and prayers I could hear through the walls of the cell, helped me bear +the agony until unconsciousness mercifully came to the rescue. + +For several days more we were kept in the prison, sick and broken with +suffering. The second night, as I lay sleepless and desperate on the +strip of dirty matting that served as bed, I heard a scratch-scratching +at the grated slit of a window, and presently a slender stick was +inserted into the cell. I went over and shook it; some one at the other +end was holding it firm. And then, a curious whispering sound began to +come from the end of the stick. I put my ear down, and caught the voice +of one of the men from our village. He had taken a long bamboo pole, +pierced the joints, and crept up behind a broken old wall close beneath +my window. By means of this primitive telephone we talked as long as we +dared. I assured him that we were still enduring, and urged him on no +account to give up the arms to the Turkish authorities--not even if we +had to make the ultimate sacrifice. + +Finally, when it was found that torture and imprisonment would not make +us yield our secret, the Turks resorted to the final test--the ordeal +which we could not withstand. They announced that on a certain date a +number of our young girls would be carried off and handed over to the +officers, to be kept until the arms were disclosed. We knew that they +were capable of carrying out this threat; we knew exactly what it meant. +There was no alternative. The people of our village had nothing to do +but dig up the treasured arms and, with broken hearts, hand them over to +the authorities. + +And so the terrible news was brought to us one morning that we were +free. Personally, I felt much happier on the day I was put in prison +than when I was released. I had often wondered how our people had been +able to bear the rack and thumbscrew of the Spanish Inquisition; but +when my turn and my comrades' came for torture, I realized that the same +spirit that helped our ancestors was working in us also. + +Now I knew that our suffering had been useless. Whenever the Turkish +authorities wished, the horrors of the Armenian massacres would live +again in Zicron-Jacob, and we should be powerless to raise a hand to +protect ourselves. As we came limping home through the streets of our +village, I caught sight of my own Smith & Wesson revolver in the hands +of a mere boy of fifteen--the son of a well-known Arab outlaw. I +realized then that the Turks had not only taken our weapons, but had +distributed them among the natives in order to complete our humiliation. +The blood rushed to my face. I started forward to take the revolver away +from the boy, but one of the old men caught hold of my sleeve and held +me back. + +[ILLUSTRATION: IN A NATIVE CAFÉ, SAFFÊD/A LEMONADE-SELLER OF DAMASCUS] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SUEZ CAMPAIGN + + +I have already spoken of the so-called "requisitioning" that took place +among our people while I was working at Saffêd. This, of course, really +amounted to wholesale pillage. The hand of the Turkish looters had +fallen particularly heavy on carts and draught animals. As the Arabs +know little or nothing of carting, hauling, or the management of horses +and mules, the Turks, simply enough, had "requisitioned" many of the +owners--middle-aged or elderly men--and forced them to go south to help +along with the tremendous preparations that were being made for the +attack on Suez. Among these were a number of men from our village. In +the course of time their families began to get the most harrowing +messages from them. They were absolutely destitute, no wages being paid +them by the Turks; their clothes were dropping off them in rags; many +were sick. After much excited planning, it was decided to send another +man and myself down south on a sort of relief expedition, with a +substantial sum of money that had been raised with great difficulty by +our people. Through the influence of my brother at the Agricultural +Experiment Station, I got permission from the _mouchtar_ to leave +Zicron-Jacob, and about the middle of January, 1915, I set out for +Jerusalem. + +To Western minds, the idea of the Holy City serving as a base for modern +military operations must be full of incongruities. And, as a matter of +fact, it _was_ an amazing sight to see the streets packed with +khaki-clad soldiers and hear the brooding silence of ancient walls +shattered by the crash of steel-shod army boots. Here, for the first +time, I saw the German officers--quantities of them. Strangely out of +place they looked, with their pink-and-whiteness that no amount of hot +sunshine could quite burn off. They wore the regular German officer's +uniform, except that the _Pickelhaube_ was replaced by a khaki +sun-helmet. I was struck by the youthfulness of them; many were nothing +but boys, and there were weak, dissolute faces in plenty--a fact that +was later explained when I heard that Palestine had been the +dumping-ground for young men of high family whose parents were anxious +to have them as far removed as possible from the danger zone. Fast's +Hotel was the great meeting-place in Jerusalem for these young bloods. +Every evening thirty or forty would foregather there to drink and talk +women and strategy. I well remember the evening when one of them--a +slender young Prussian with no back to his head, braceleted and +monocled--rose and announced, in the decisive tones that go with a +certain stage of intoxication: "What we ought to do is to hand over the +organization of this campaign to Thomas Cook & Sons!" + +However, the German officers were by no means all incompetents. They +realized (I soon found out) that they had little hope of bringing a big +army through the Egyptian desert and making a successful campaign there. +Their object was to immobilize a great force of British troops around +the Canal, to keep the Mohammedan population in Palestine impressed with +Turkish power, and to stir up religious unrest among the natives in +Egypt. It must be admitted that in the first two of these purposes they +have been successful. + +The Turks were less far-sighted. They believed firmly that they were +going to sweep the English off the face of the earth and enter Cairo in +triumph, and preparations for the march on Suez went on with feverish +enthusiasm. The ideas of the common soldiers on this subject were +amusing. Some of them declared that the Canal was to be filled up by the +sandbags which had been prepared in great quantities. Others held that +thousands of camels would be kept without water for many days preceding +the attack; then the thirsty animals, when released, would rush into the +Canal in such numbers that the troops could march to victory over the +packed masses of drowned bodies. + +The army operating against Suez numbered about one hundred and fifty +thousand men. Of these about twenty thousand were Anatolian +Turks--trained soldiers, splendid fighting material, as was shown by +their resistance at the Dardanelles. The rest were Palestinian Arabs, +and very inferior troops they were. The Arab as a soldier is at once +stupid and cunning: fierce when victory is on his side, but unreliable +when things go against him. In command of the expedition was the famous +Djemal Pasha, a Young Turk general of tremendous energy, but possessing +small ability to see beyond details to the big, broad concepts of +strategy. Although a great friend of Enver Pasha, he looked with +disfavor on the German officers and, in particular, on Bach Pasha, the +German Governor of Jerusalem, with whom he had serious disagreements. +This dislike of the Germans was reflected among the lesser Turkish +officers. Many of these, after long years of service, found themselves +subordinated to young foreigners, who, in addition to arbitrary +promotion, received much higher salaries than the Turks. What is more, +they were paid in clinking gold, whereas the Turks, when paid at all, +got paper currency. + +Beersheba, a prosperous town of the ancient province of Idumea, was the +southern base of operations for the advance on Suez. Some of our +villagers had been sent to this district, and, in searching for them, I +had the opportunity of seeing at least the taking-off place of the +expedition. Beyond this point no Jew or Christian was allowed to pass, +with the exception of the physicians, all of whom were non-Mohammedans +who had been forced into the army. + +Beersheba was swarming with troops. They filled the town and overflowed +on to the sands outside, where a great tent-city grew up. And everywhere +that the Turkish soldiers went, disorganization and inefficiency +followed them. From all over the country the finest camels had been +"requisitioned" and sent down to Beersheba until, at the time I was +there, thousands and thousands of them were collected in the +neighborhood. Through the laziness and stupidity of the Turkish +commissariat officers, which no amount of German efficiency could +counteract, no adequate provision was made for feeding them, and +incredible numbers succumbed to starvation and neglect. Their great +carcasses dotted the sand in all directions; it was only the wonderful +antiseptic power of the Eastern sun that held pestilence in check. + +The soldiers themselves suffered much hardship. The crowding in the +tents was unspeakable; the water-supply was almost as inadequate as the +medical service, which consisted chiefly of volunteer Red Crescent +societies--among them a unit of twenty German nurses sent by the +American College at Beirut. Medical supplies, such as they were, had +been taken from the different mission hospitals and pharmacies of +Palestine--these "requisitions" being made by officers who knew nothing +of medical requirements and simply scooped together everything in sight. +As a result, one of the army physicians told me that in Beersheba he had +opened some medical chests consigned to him and found, to his horror, +that they were full of microscopes and gynecological instruments--for +the care of wounded soldiers in the desert! + +Visits of British aeroplanes to Beersheba were common occurrences. Long +before the machine itself could be seen, its whanging, resonant hum +would come floating out of the blazing sky, seemingly from everywhere at +once. Soldiers rushed from their tents, squinting up into the heavens +until the speck was discovered, swimming slowly through the air; then +followed wholesale firing at an impossible range until the officers +forbade it. True to the policy of avoiding all unnecessary harm to the +natives, these British aviators never dropped bombs on the town, +but--what was more dangerous from the Turkish point of view--they would +unload packages of pamphlets, printed in Arabic, informing the natives +that they were being deceived; that the Allies were their only true +friends; that the Germans were merely making use of them to further +their own schemes, etc. These cleverly worded little tracts came +showering down out of the sky, and at first they were eagerly picked up. +The Turkish commanders, however, soon announced that any one found +carrying them would pay the death penalty. After that, when the little +bundles dropped near them, the natives would, run as if from high +explosive bombs. + +All things considered, it is wonderful that the Turkish demonstration +against the Canal came as near to fulfillment as it did. Twenty thousand +soldiers actually crossed the desert in six days on scant rations, and +with them they took two big guns, which they dragged by hand when the +mules dropped from thirst and exhaustion. They also carried pontoons to +be used in crossing the Canal. Guns and pontoons are now at rest in the +Museum at Cairo. + +Just what took place in the attack is known to very few. The English +have not seen fit to make public the details, and there was little to be +got from the demoralized soldiers who returned to Beersheba. Piece by +piece, however, I gathered that the attacking party had come up to the +Canal at dawn. Finding everything quiet, they set about getting across, +and had even launched a pontoon, when the British, who were lying in +wait, opened a terrific fire from the farther bank, backed by armored +locomotives and aeroplanes. "It was as if the gates of Jehannum were +opened and its fires turned loose upon us," one soldier told me. + +The Turks succeeded in getting their guns into action for a very short +while. One of the men-of-war in the Canal was hit; several houses in +Ismaïlia suffered damage; but the invaders were soon driven away in +confusion, leaving perhaps two thousand prisoners in the hands of the +English. If the latter had chosen to do so, they could have annihilated +the Turkish forces then and there. The ticklish state of mind of the +Mohammedan population in Egypt, however, has led them to adopt a policy +of leniency and of keeping to the defensive, which subsequent +developments have more than justified. It is characteristic of England's +faculty for holding her colonies that batteries manned by Egyptians did +the finest work in defense of the Canal. + +The reaction in Palestine after the defeat at Suez was tremendous. Just +before the attack, Djemal Pasha had sent out a telegram announcing the +overwhelming defeat of the British vanguard, which had caused wild +enthusiasm. Another later telegram proclaimed that the Canal had been +reached, British men-of-war sunk, the Englishmen routed--with a loss to +the Turks of five men and two camels, "which were afterwards recovered." +"But," added the telegram, "a terrible sand-storm having arisen, the +glorious army takes it as the wish of Allah not to continue the attack, +and has therefore withdrawn in triumph." + +These reports hoodwinked the ignorant natives for a little while, but +when the stream of haggard soldiers, wounded and exhausted, began +pouring back from the south, they guessed what had happened, and a +fierce revulsion against the Germano-Turkish régime set in. A few weeks +before the advance on Suez, I was in Jaffa, where the enthusiasm and +excitement had been at fever-pitch. Parades and celebrations of all +kinds in anticipation of the triumphal march into Egypt were taking +place, and one day a camel, a dog, and a bull, decorated respectively +with the flags of Russia, France, and England, were driven through the +streets. The poor animals were horribly maltreated by the natives, who +rained blows and flung filth upon them by way of giving concrete +expression to their contempt for the Allies. Mr. Glazebrook, the +American Consul at Jerusalem, happened to be with me in Jaffa that day; +and never shall I forget the expression of pain and disgust on his face +as he watched this melancholy little procession of scapegoats hurrying +along the street. + +Now, however, all was changed. The Arabs, who take defeat badly, turned +against the authorities who had got them into such trouble. Rumors +circulated that Djemal Pasha had been bought by the English and that the +defeat at Suez had been planned by him, and persons keeping an ear close +to the ground began to hear mutterings of a general massacre of Germans. +In fact, things came within an ace of a bloody outbreak. I knew some +Germans in Jaffa and Haifa who firmly believed that it was all over with +them. In the defeated army itself the Turkish officers gave vent to +their hatred of the Germans. Three German officers were shot by their +Turkish comrades during the retreat, and a fourth committed suicide. +However, Djemal Pasha succeeded in keeping order by means of stern +repressive methods and by the fear roused by his large body-guard of +faithful Anatolians. + +[ILLUSTRATION: RAILROAD STATION SCENE BETWEEN HAIFA AND DAMASCUS/CAMELS +BRINGING IN NEWLY CUT TREES, DAMASCUS] + +We felt sure that the Turkish defeat would put a damper on the arrogance +of the soldiery. But even the Mohammedan population were hoping that the +Allies would push their victory and land troops in Syria and Palestine; +for though they hated the infidel, they loved the Turk not at all, and +the country was exhausted and the blockade of the Mediterranean by the +Allies prevented the import and export of articles. The oranges were +rotting on the trees because the annual Liverpool market was closed to +Palestine, and other crops were in similar case. The country was short, +too, of petroleum, sugar, rice, and other supplies, and even of matches. +We had to go back to old customs and use flint and steel for fire, and +we seldom used our lamps. Money was scarce, too, and, Turkey having +declared a moratorium, cash was often unobtainable even by those who had +money in the banks, and much distress ensued. + +As the defeated army was pouring in from the south, I decided to leave +Beersheba and go home. The roads and the fields were covered with dead +camels and horses and mules. Hundreds of soldiers were straggling in +disorder, many of them on leave but many deserting. Soon after the +defeat at the Canal several thousand soldiers deserted, but an amnesty +was declared and they returned to their regiments. + +When I arrived at Jerusalem I found the city filled with soldiers. +Djemal Pasha had just returned from the desert, and his quarters were +guarded by a battery of two field guns. Nobody knew what to expect; some +thought that the country would have a little more freedom now that the +soldiery had lost its braggadocio, while others expected the lawlessness +that attends disorganization. I went to see Consul Glazebrook. He is a +true American, a Southerner, formerly a professor of theology at +Princeton. He was most earnest and devoted in behalf of the American +citizens that came under his care, rendering at Jerusalem the same sort +of service that Ambassador Morgenthau has rendered at Constantinople. He +was practically the only man who stood up for the poor, defenseless +people of the city. He received me kindly, and I told him what I knew of +conditions in the country, what I had heard among the Arabs, and of my +own fears and apprehensions. He was visibly impressed and he advised me +to see Captain Decker, of the U.S.S. Tennessee, who was then in Jaffa, +promising to write himself to the captain of my proposed visit. + +I went to Jaffa the same day and after two days' delay succeeded in +seeing Captain Decker, with the further help of Mr. Glazebrook, who took +me with him. The police interfered and tried to keep me from going +aboard the ship, but after long discussions I was permitted to take my +place in the launch that the captain had sent for the consul. + +Captain Decker was interested in what I had to say, and at his request I +dictated my story to his stenographer. What became of my report I do not +know,--whether it was transmitted to the Department of State or whether +Captain Decker communicated with Ambassador Morgenthau,--but at all +events we soon began to see certain reforms inaugurated in parts of the +country, and these reforms could have been effected only through +pressure from Constantinople. The presence of the two American cruisers +in the Mediterranean waters has without any doubt been instrumental in +the saving of many lives. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS + + +While I was traveling in the south, another menace to our people's +welfare had appeared: the locusts. From the Soudan they came in +tremendous hosts--black clouds of them that obscured the sun. It seemed +as if Nature had joined in the conspiracy against us. These locusts were +of the species known as the pilgrim, or wandering, locust; for forty +years they had not come to Palestine, but now their visitation was like +that of which the prophet Joel speaks in the Old Testament. They came +full-grown, ripe for breeding; the ground was covered with the females +digging in the soil and depositing their egg-packets, and we knew that +when they hatched we should be overwhelmed, for there was not a foot of +ground in which these eggs were not to be found. + +The menace was so great that even the military authorities were obliged +to take notice of it. They realized that if it were allowed to fulfill +itself, there would be famine in the land, and the army would suffer +with the rest. Djemal Pasha summoned my brother (the President of the +Agricultural Experiment Station at Athlit) and intrusted him with the +organization of a campaign against the insects. It was a hard enough +task. The Arabs are lazy, and fatalistic besides; they cannot understand +why men should attempt to fight the _Djesh Allah_ ("God's Army"), as +they call the locusts. In addition, my brother was seriously handicapped +by lack of petroleum, galvanized iron, and other articles which could +not be obtained because of the Allies' blockade. + +In spite of these drawbacks, however, he attempted to work up a +scientific campaign. Djemal Pasha put some thousands of Arab soldiers at +his disposition, and these were set to work digging trenches into which +the hatching locusts were driven and destroyed. This is the only means +of coping with the situation: once the locusts get their wings, nothing +can be done with them. It was a hopeless fight. Nothing short of the +coöperation of every farmer in the country could have won the day; and +while the people of the progressive Jewish villages struggled on to the +end,--men, women, and children working in the fields until they were +exhausted,--the Arab farmers sat by with folded hands. The threats of +the military authorities only stirred them to half-hearted efforts. +Finally, after two months of toil, the campaign was given up and the +locusts broke in waves over the countryside, destroying everything. As +the prophet Joel said, "The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the +corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.... The +land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate +wilderness." + +Not only was every green leaf devoured, but the very bark was peeled +from the trees, which stood out white and lifeless, like skeletons. The +fields were stripped to the ground, and the old men of our villages, who +had given their lives to cultivating these gardens and vineyards, came +out of the synagogues where they had been praying and wailing, and +looked on the ruin with dimmed eyes. Nothing was spared. The insects, in +their fierce hunger, tried to engulf everything in their way. I have +seen Arab babies, left by their mothers in the shade of some tree, whose +faces had been devoured by the oncoming swarms of locusts before their +screams had been heard. I have seen the carcasses of animals hidden from +sight by the undulating, rustling blanket of insects. And in the face of +such a menace the Arabs remained inert. With their customary fatalism +they accepted the locust plague as a necessary evil. They could not +understand why we were so frantic to fight it. And as a matter of fact, +they really got a good deal out of the locusts, for they loved to feast +upon the female insects. They gathered piles of them and threw them upon +burning charcoal, then, squatting around the fire, devoured the roasted +insects with great gusto. I saw a fourteen-year-old boy eat as many as a +hundred at a sitting. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE LEBANON + + +During the locust invasion my brother sent me on an inspection tour to +investigate the ravages of the insect in Syria. With an official +_boyouroulton_ (passport) in my pocket, I was able to travel all over +the country without being interfered with by the military authorities. I +had an excellent opportunity to see what was going on everywhere. The +locusts had destroyed everything from as far south as the Egyptian +desert to the Lebanon Mountains on the north; but the locust was not the +only, nor the worst, plague that the people had to complain of. The +plundering under the name of "military requisitions," the despotic rule +of the army officers, and the general insecurity were even more +desolating. + +As I proceeded on my journey northward, I hoped to find consolation and +brighter prospects in the independent province of the Lebanon. Few +Americans know just what the Lebanon is. From the repeated allusions in +the Bible most people imagine it to be nothing but a mountain. The truth +is that a beautiful province of about four thousand square miles bears +that name. The population of the Lebanon consists of a Christian sect +called Maronites and the Druses, the latter a people with a secret +religion the esoteric teachings of which are known only to the +initiated, and never divulged to outsiders. Both these peoples are +sturdy, handsome folk. Through the machinations of the Turks, whose +policy is always to "divide and rule," the Maronites were continually +fighting against the Druses. In 1860 Turkish troops joined with the +Druses and fell upon the Maronites with wholesale massacres that spread +as far south as Damascus, where ten thousand Christians were killed in +two days. + +[ILLUSTRATION: THE CHRISTIAN TOWN OF ZAHLEH IN THE LEBANON] + +The European powers were moved at last. Fifty warships were sent to +Beirut, and ten thousand French troops were landed in the Lebanon, to +create order. Under the pressure of the European powers the Sublime +Porte was forced to grant an autonomy for the province of the Lebanon. +The French, English, German, Russian, Austrian, and, a year later, the +Italian, Governments were signing the guaranty of this autonomy. + +Since then the Lebanon has had peace. The Governor of the province must +always be a Christian, but the General Council of the Lebanon includes +representatives of all the different races and religions of the +population. A wonderful development began with the liberation from +Turkish oppression. Macadamized roads were built all over the province, +agriculture was improved, and there was complete safety for life and +property. There is a proverb now in Palestine and Syria which says, "In +the Lebanon a virgin may travel alone at midnight and be safe, and a +purse of gold dropped in the road at midday will never be stolen." And +the proverb told the literal truth. + +When one crossed the boundary from Turkish Palestine into the Lebanon +province, what a change met his eyes!--peaceful and prosperous villages, +schools filled with children, immense plantations of mulberry trees and +olives, the slopes of the mountains terraced with beautiful vineyards, a +handsome and sturdy population, police on every road to help the +stranger, and young girls and women with happy laugh and chatter working +in the fields. With a population of about six hundred thousand this +province exported annually two million dollars' worth of raw silk, +silkworm-raising being a specialty of the Lebanon. + +When autonomy was granted the Lebanon, French influence became +predominant among the Maronites and other Christians of the province. +French is spoken by almost all of them, and love for France is a +deep-rooted sentiment of the people. On the other hand, the Druses feel +the English influence. For the last sixty years England has been the +friend of the Druses, and they have not forgotten it. + +It may be worth while to tell in a few words the story of one man who +accomplished wonders in spreading the influence of his country. Sir +Richard Wood was born in London, a son of Catholic parents. From his +early boyhood he aspired to enter the diplomatic service. The East +attracted him strongly, and in order to learn Arabic he went with +another young Englishman to live in the Lebanon. In Beirut they sought +the hospitality of the Maronite patriarch. For a few days they were +treated with lavish hospitality, and then the patriarch summoned them +before him and told them that they must leave the city within +twenty-four hours. The reason for their disgrace they discovered later. +Not suspecting that they were being put to the test, they had eaten meat +on a Friday, and this made the patriarch think that they were not true +Catholics, but were there as spies. + +Leaving Beirut in haste, Wood and his friend sought shelter with the +Druses, who received them with open arms. For two years Wood lived +among the Druses, in the village of Obey. There he learned Arabic and +became thoroughly acquainted with the country and with the ways of the +Druses, and there he conceived the idea of winning the Druses for +England to counteract the influence of the French Maronites. He went +back to London, where he succeeded in impressing his views upon the +Foreign Office, and he returned to Syria charged with a secret mission. +Before long he persuaded the Druse chieftains to address a petition to +England asking for British protection. + +British protection was granted, and for over thirty years Richard Wood, +virtually single-handed, shaped the destiny of Syria. It was he who +broke the power of Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mehemet Ali; it was he who +guided Admiral Stopford in the bombardment of Beirut; it was he, again, +who brought about the landing of English troops in Syria in 1841; we +find him afterwards in Damascus as British Consul, and wherever he went +he was always busy spreading English power and prestige. He understood +the East thoroughly and felt that England must be strong in Syria if she +wished to retain her imperial power. It is very unfortunate that the +policy of Sir Richard Wood was not carried out by his nation. + +It was with high hopes and expectations that I approached the Lebanon. +I was looking forward to the moment when I should find myself among +people who were free from the Turkish yoke, in a country where I should +be able to breathe freely for a few hours. + +But how great was my consternation, when, on entering the Lebanon, I +found on all the roads Turkish soldiers who stopped me every minute to +ask for my papers! Even then I could not realize that the worst had +happened. Of course, rumors of the Turkish occupation of the Lebanon had +reached us a few weeks before, but we had not believed it, as we knew +that Germany and Austria were among those who guaranteed the autonomy of +the Lebanon. It was true, however; the scrap of paper that guaranteed +the freedom of the Lebanon had proved of no more value to the Lebanese +than had that other scrap of paper to Belgium. As I entered the +beautiful village of Ed-Damur, one of the most prosperous and enchanting +places on earth, I saw entire regiments of Turkish troops encamped in +and about the village. + +While I was watering my horse, I tried to ask questions from a few +inhabitants. My fair hair and complexion and my khaki costume made them +take me for a German, and they barely answered me, but when I addressed +them in French their faces lit up. For the Lebanon, for all it is +thousands of miles away from France, is nevertheless like a French +province. For fifty years the French language and French culture have +taken hold of the Lebanon. No Frenchman has more love for and faith in +France than lie in the hearts of the Lebanese Christians. They have +never forgotten that when massacres were threatening to wipe out all the +Christians of the Lebanon, ten thousand French soldiers swept over the +mountains to spread peace, life, and French gayety. + +And when the poor people heard the language they loved, and when they +found out that I too was the son of an oppressed and ruined community, +all the sadness and bitterness of their hearts was told me,--how the +Turkish soldiers had spread over the beloved mountains of Lebanon; how +the strong, stalwart young Lebanese had been taken away from the +mountains and forced into the Turkish army; how the girls and women were +hiding in their homes, afraid to be seen by the soldiers and their +officers; how the chieftains were imprisoned and even hanged; and how +violence and pillage had spread over the peaceful country.[Footnote: +Since the above was written the American press has chronicled many +atrocities committed in the Lebanon. The execution of leaders and the +complete blockade of the mountains by the Turkish authorities resulted +in the starving of eighty thousand Lebanese. The French Government has +warned Turkey through the American Ambassador that the Turks will be +held accountable for their deeds.] + +I could not help wondering at the mistakes of the Allies. If they had +understood the situation in Palestine and Syria, how differently this +war might have eventuated! The Lebanon and Syria would have raised a +hundred thousand picked men, if the Allies had landed in Palestine. The +Lebanon would have fought for its independence as heroically as did the +Belgians. Even the Arab population would have welcomed the Allies as +liberators. But alas! + +With a saddened heart I pursued my journey into Beirut. My coming was a +joyful surprise to my sister. Many sad things had happened since she had +last seen me. During my imprisonment she had suffered tortures, not +knowing what would happen to me, and now that she saw me alive she cried +from happiness. She told me how kindly she had been treated by President +Bliss, of the Syrian Protestant College, and of all the good things the +college had done. + +What a blessing the college was for the people of Beirut! Many +unfortunate people were saved from prison and hardships through the +intervention of President Bliss. He never tired of rendering service, +wonderful personal service. But alas, even his influence and power began +to wane. The American prestige in the country was broken, and the +Turkish Government no longer respected the American flag. An order +issued from Constantinople demanded that the official language of the +college be Turkish instead of English, and Turkish officers even dared +to enter the college premises to search for citizens belonging to the +belligerent nations, without troubling to ask permission from the +American Consul. + +[ILLUSTRATION: HAIFA] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A ROBBER BARON OF PALESTINE + + +Beirut is a city of about two hundred thousand inhabitants, half of whom +are Christians and the rest Mohammedans and Jews. The pinch of hunger +was already felt there. Bread was to be had only on tickets issued by +the Government, and prices in general were extremely high. The +population were discontented and turbulent, and every day thousands of +women came before the governor's residence to cry and protest against +the scarcity of bread. + +The Allies' warships often passed near the town, but the people were not +afraid of them, for it was known that the Allies had no intention of +bombarding the cities. Only once had a bombardment taken place. Toward +the end of March, 1915, a French warship approached the bay of Haifa and +landed an officer with a letter to the commandant of that town giving +notice of his intention to bombard the German Consulate at 3 P.M. sharp. +This was in retaliation for the propaganda carried on by the consul, +Leutweld von Hardegg, and chiefly because of his desecration of the +grave of Bonaparte's soldiers. The consul had time to pack up his +archives and valuables, and he left his house before three. The +bombardment began exactly at three. Fifteen shells were fired with a +wonderful precision. Not one house in the neighborhood of the consulate +was touched, but the consulate itself was a heap of ruins after a few +shells had struck it. The population was exceedingly calm. Only the +German colony was panic-stricken, and on every German house an American +flag was raised. It was rather humorous to see all the Germans who were +active in the Turkish army in one capacity or another seek safety by +means of this trick. + +This bombardment had a sobering effect upon the Mohammedan population. +They saw that the Allies were not wholly ignorant of what was going on +in the country and that they could retaliate, and safety for the +non-Mohammedans increased accordingly. + +In general Beirut was a rather quiet and safe place. The presence of an +American cruiser in the port had much to do with that. The American +sailors were allowed to come ashore three times a week, and they spent +their money lavishly. It was estimated that Beirut was getting more than +five thousand dollars a week out of them. But the natives were +especially impressed by the manliness and quick action of the American +boys. Frequently a few sailors were involved in a street fight with +scores of Arabs, and they always held their own. In a short time the +Americans became feared, which in the Orient is equivalent to saying +they were respected. The Beirut people are famous for their fighting +spirit, but this spirit was not manifested after a few weeks of intimate +acquaintance with the American blue-jackets. + +My inspection of the devastation caused by the locusts completed, I +returned home. The news that greeted me there was alarming. I must +narrate with some detail the events which finally decided me to leave +the country. About one hour's ride on horseback from our village lives a +family of Turkish nobles, the head of which was Sadik Pasha, brother of +the famous Kiamil Pasha, several times Grand Vizier of the Empire. +Sadik, who had been exiled from Constantinople, came to Palestine and +bought great tracts of land near my people. After his death his +sons--good-for-nothing, wild fellows--were forced to sell most of the +estate--all except one Fewzi Bey, who retained his part of the land and +lived on it. Here he collected a band of friends as worthless as himself +and gradually commenced a career of plundering and "frightfulness" much +like that of the robber barons of mediaeval Germany. Before the +outbreak of the war he confined his attentions chiefly to the Arabs, +whom he treated shamefully. He raided cattle and crops and carried off +girls and women in broad daylight. On one occasion he stopped a wedding +procession and carried off the young bride. Then he seized the +bridegroom, against whom he bore a grudge, and subjected the poor +Bedouin to the bastinado until he consented to divorce his wife by +pronouncing the words, "I divorce thee," three times in the presence of +witnesses, according to Mohammedan custom. This Bedouin was the grandson +of the Sheikh Hilou, a holy man of the region upon whose grave the Arabs +are accustomed to make their prayers. But we villagers of Zicron-Jacob +had never submitted to Fewzi Bey in any way; our young men were +organized and armed, and after a few encounters he let us alone. + +After the mobilization, however, and the taking away of our arms, this +outlaw saw that his chance had come. He began to send his men and his +camels into our fields to harvest our crops and carry them off. This +pillage continued until the locusts came--Fewzi, in the mean while, +becoming so bold that he would gallop through the streets of our village +with his horsemen, shooting right and left into the air and insulting +old men and women. He boasted--apparently with reason--that the +authorities at Haifa were powerless to touch him. + +[ILLUSTRATION: HAIFA AND THE BAY OF AKKA. LOOKING EAST FROM MOUNT +CARMEL] + +There was one hope left. Djemal Pasha had boasted that he had introduced +law and order; the country was under military rule; it remained to see +what he would say and do when the crimes of Fewzi Bey were brought to +his notice. Accordingly, armed with my _boyouroulton_, or passport, of a +locust-inspector, I rode to Jerusalem, where I procured, through my +brother, who was then in favor, an interview with Djemal Pasha. He +received me on the very day of my arrival, and listened attentively +while for a whole hour I poured out the story of Fewzi Bey's outrages. I +put my whole heart into the plea and wound up by asking if it was to the +credit of the progressive Young Turks to shelter feudal abuses of a +bygone age. Djemal seemed to be impressed. He sprang from his chair, +began walking up and down the room; then with a great dramatic gesture +he exclaimed, "Justice shall be rendered!" and assured me that a +commission of army officers would be sent at once to start an +investigation. I returned to Zicron-Jacob with high hopes. + +Sure enough, a few days later Fewzi Bey was summoned to Jerusalem; at +the same time the "commission," which had dwindled to one single officer +on secret mission, put in an appearance and began to make inquiries +among the natives. He got little satisfaction at first, for they lived +in mortal terror of the outlaw; they grew bolder, however, when they +learned his purpose. Complaints and testimonies came pouring in, and in +four days the officer had the names of hundreds of witnesses, +establishing no less than fifty-two crimes of the most serious nature. +Fewzi's friends and relatives, in the mean while, were doing their +utmost to stem the tide of accusations. The Kaimakam (lieutenant- +governor) of Haifa came in person to our village and threatened the +elders with all sorts of severities if they did not retract the charges +they had made. But they stood firm. Had not Djemal Pasha, commander-in- +chief of the armies in Palestine, given his word of honor that we should +have redress? + +We were soon shown the depth of our naïveté in fancying that justice +could be done in Turkey by a Turk. Fewzi Bey came back from Jerusalem, +not in convict's clothes, but in the uniform of a Turkish officer! +Djemal Pasha had commissioned him commandant of the Moujahaddeen +(religious militia) of the entire region! It was bad enough to stand him +as an outlaw; now we had to submit to him as an officer. He came riding +into our village daily, ordering everybody about and picking me out for +distinguished spitefulness. + +My position soon became unbearable. I was, of course, known as the +organizer of the young men's union which for so long had put up a +spirited resistance to Fewzi; I was still looked upon as a leader of the +younger spirits, and I knew that sooner or later Fewzi would try to make +good his threat, often repeated, that he would "shoot me like a dog." It +was hardly likely that an open attempt on my life would be made. When +Ambassador Morgenthau visited Palestine, he had stayed in our village +and given my family the evidence of his sincere friendship. These things +count in the East, and I soon got the reputation of having influential +friends. However, there were other ways of disposing of me. One evening, +about sunset, while I was riding through a valley near our village, my +horse shied violently in passing a clump of bushes. I gave him the spur +and turned and rode toward the bushes just in time to see a horseman +dash out wildly with a rifle across his saddle. I kept the incident to +myself, but I was more cautious and kept my eyes open wherever I went. +One afternoon, a fortnight later, as I was riding to Hedera, another +Jewish village, two hours' ride away, a shot was fired from behind a +sand-dune. The bullet burned a hole in the lapel of my coat. + +That night I had a long talk with my brother. There was no doubt +whatever in his mind that I should try to leave the country, while I, on +the contrary, could not bear to think of deserting my people at the +crisis of their fortunes. It was a beautiful night, such a night, I +think, as only Palestine can show, a white, serene, moon-bathed night. +The roar of the Mediterranean came out of the stillness as if to remind +us that help and salvation could come only from the sea, the sea upon +which scores of the warships of the Allies were sailing back and forth. +We had argued into the small hours before I yielded to his persuasion. + +[ILLUSTRATION: THE BAZAAR OF JAFFA ON A MARKET DAY] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A RASH ADVENTURE + + +It was all very well to decide to leave the country; to get safely away +was a different matter. There were two ways out. One of these--the land +route by Constantinople--could not be considered. The other way was to +board one of the American cruisers which, by order of Ambassador +Morgenthau, were empowered to assist citizens of neutral countries to +leave the Ottoman Empire. These cruisers had already done wonderful +rescue work for the Russian Jews in Palestine, who, when war was +declared, were to have been sent to the Mesopotamian town of Urfa--there +to suffer massacre and outrage like the Armenians. This was prevented by +Mr. Morgenthau's strenuous representations, with the result that these +Russian Jews were gathered together as in a great drag-net and herded to +Jaffa, amidst suffering unspeakable. There they were met by the American +cruisers which were to transport them to Egypt. Up to the very moment +when they set foot on the friendly warships they were robbed and +horribly abused by the Jaffa boatmen. The eternal curse of the +Wandering Jew! Driven from Russia, they come to seek shelter in Turkey; +Turkey then casts them from her under pretext that they are loyal to +Russia. Truly, the Jew lifts his eyes to the mountains, asking the +ancient and still unanswered question, "Whence shall come my help?" + +The Turkish Government later repented of its leniency in allowing these +Russian Jews to escape, and gave orders that only neutrals should leave +the country--and then only under certain conditions. I was not a +neutral; my first papers of American citizenship were valueless to +further my escape. I had heard, however, that the United States cruiser +Tennessee was to call at Jaffa, and I determined to get aboard her by +hook or by crook. One evening, as soon as darkness had fallen, I bade a +sorrowful farewell to my people, and set off for Jaffa, traveling only +by night and taking out-of-the-way paths to avoid the pickets, for now +that the locust campaign was over, my _boyouroulton_ was useless. At +dawn, two days later, I slipped into Jaffa by way of the sand-dunes and +went to the house of a friend whom I could trust to help me in every +possible way, and begged him to find me a passport for a neutral. He set +off in search and I waited all day at his house, consumed with +impatience and anxiety. At last, toward evening, my friend returned, +but the news he brought was not cheering. He had found a passport, +indeed, but his report of the rigors of the inspection at the wharf was +such as to make it clear that the chances of my getting through on a +false passport were exceedingly slim, since I was well known in Jaffa. +If I were caught in such an undertaking, it might mean death for me and +punishment for the friends who had helped me. + +Evidently this plan was not feasible. All that night I racked my brain +for a solution. Finally I decided to stake everything on what appeared +to be my only chance. The Tennessee was due on the next day but one, +early in the morning. I gave my friend the name of a boatman who was +under obligations to me and had sworn to be my friend for life or death. +Even under the circumstances I hesitated to trust a Mohammedan, but it +seemed the only thing to do; I had no choice left. My friend brought the +boatman, and I put my plan before him, appealing to his daring and his +sense of honor. I wanted him to take me at midnight in his fishing-boat +from an isolated part of the coast and wait for the appearance of the +Tennessee; then, on her arrival, amid the scramble of boats full of +refugees, I was to jump aboard, while he would return with the other +boats. The poor fellow tried to remonstrate, pointing out the dangers +and what he called--rightly enough, doubtless--the folly of the plan. I +stuck to it, however, making it clear that his part would be well paid +for, and at last he consented and we arranged a meeting-place behind the +sand-dunes by the shore. + +I put a few personal belongings into a little suit-case and had my +friend give it to one of the refugees who was to sail on the Tennessee. +If I succeeded, I was to recover it when we reached Egypt. The only +thing I took with me was the paper which declared my "intention of +becoming an American citizen," the "first paper." From this document I +was determined not to part. I shall not tell how I kept it on me, as the +means I used may still be used by others in concealing such papers and a +disclosure of the secret might bring disaster to them. Suffice it to say +that I had the paper with me and that no search would have brought it to +light. + +Arrived next morning at the appointed place, I gave the signal agreed +upon, the whine of a jackal, and, after repeating it again and again, I +heard a very low and muffled answer. My boatman was there! I had some +fear that he might have betrayed me and that I should presently see a +soldier or policeman leap out of the little boat, but my fears proved +groundless, the man was faithful. + +[ILLUSTRATION: STORMY SEA BREAKING OVER ROCKS OFF JAFFA] + +We rowed out quietly, our boat a little nutshell on the tossing waves. +But I was relieved; the elements did not frighten me; on the contrary, I +felt secure and refreshed in the midst of the sea. When morning began to +dawn, scores of little boats came out of the harbor and circled about +waiting for the cruiser. This was our chance. I crouched in the bottom +of our boat and to all appearances my boatman was engaged merely in +fishing. After I had lain there over an hour with my heart beating like +a drum and with small hopes for the success of my undertaking, I heard +at last the whistle of the approaching cruiser followed by a Babel of +mad shouting and cursing among the boatmen. In the confusion I felt it +safe to sit up. No one paid the slightest attention to me. All were +engaged in a wild race to reach and mount the Tennessee's ladder. I +scrambled up with the rest, and when, on the deck, an officer demanded +my passport, I put on a bold front and asked him to tell Captain Decker +that Mr. Aaronsohn wished to see him. + +Ten minutes later I stood in the captain's cabin. There I unfolded my +story, and wound up by asking him if, under the circumstances, my "first +papers" might not entitle me to protection. As I spoke I could see the +struggle that was going on within him. When he answered it was to +explain, with the utmost kindness, that if he took me aboard his ship it +would be to forfeit his word of honor to the Turkish Government, his +pledge to take only citizens of neutral countries; that he could not +consider me an American on the strength of my first papers; and that any +such evasion might lead to serious complications for him and for his +Government. Well, there was nothing for me to do but to withdraw and go +back to Jaffa to face trial for an attempt to escape. + +When I reached the deck again I found it swarming with refugees, many of +whom knew me and came up to congratulate me on getting away. I could +only shake my head and with death in my heart descend the Tennessee's +ladder. It did not matter now what boat I took. Any boatman was eager +enough to take me for a few cents. As I sat in the boat, every stroke of +the oars bringing me nearer to the shore and to what I felt was +inevitable captivity, a great bitterness swelled my heart. I was tired, +utterly tired of all the dangers and trials I had been going through for +the last months. From depression I sank into despair and out of despair +came, strange to say, a great serenity, the serenity of despair. + +On the quay I ran into Hassan Bey, commandant of the police, who was +superintending the embarkation of refugees. I knew him and he knew me. +Half an hour later I was in police headquarters under examination by +Hassan Bey. I was desperate, and answered him recklessly. A seasick man +is indifferent to shipwreck. This was the substance of our +conversation:-- + +"How did you get aboard the ship?" + +"In a boat with some refugees. A woman hid me with her skirts." + +"So you were trying to escape, were you?" + +"If I had been, I shouldn't have come back." + +"Then what did you do on the cruiser?" + +"I went to talk to the captain, who is a friend of mine. My life is in +danger. Fewzi Bey is after me, and I wanted _my friends in America_ to +know how justice is done in Palestine." + +"Who are your friends in America?" + +"Men who could break you in a minute." + +"Do you know to whom you are speaking?" + +"Yes, Hassan Bey. I am sick of persecution. I wish you would hang me +with your own hands as you hanged the young Christian; my friends would +have your life for mine." + +I wonder now how I dared to speak to him in this manner. But the bluff +carried. Hassan Bey looked at me curiously for a moment--then smiled +and offered me a cigarette, assuring me that he believed me a loyal +citizen, and declaring he felt deeply hurt that I had not come to him +for permission to visit the cruiser. We parted with a profusion of +Eastern compliments, and that evening I started back to Zicron-Jacob. + +[ILLUSTRATION: THE AUTHOR'S SISTER ON HER HORSE TAYAR] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +ESCAPE + + +The failure of my attempt to leave the country only sharpened my desire +to make another trial. The danger of the enterprise tended to reconcile +me to deserting my family and comrades and seeking safety for myself. As +I racked my brain for a promising plan, a letter came from my sister in +Beirut with two pieces of news which were responsible for my final +escape. The American College was shortly to close for the summer, and +the U.S.S. Chester was to sail for Alexandria with refugees aboard. +Beirut is a four days' trip from our village, and roads are unsafe. It +was out of the question to permit my sister to come home alone, and it +was impossible for any of us to get leave to go after her; nor did we +want to have her at home in the unsettled condition of the country. I +began wondering if I could not possibly get to Beirut and get my sister +aboard the Chester, which offered, perhaps, the last opportunity to go +out with the refugees. It would be a difficult undertaking but it might +be our only chance and I quickly made up my mind to carry it out if it +were a possible thing. I had to act immediately; no time was to be +lost, for no one could tell how soon the Chester might sail. + +My last adventure had been entered upon with forebodings, but now I felt +that I should succeed. To us Orientals intuition speaks in very audible +tones and we are trained from childhood to listen to its voice. It was +with a feeling of confidence in the outcome, therefore, that I bade this +second good-bye to my family and dearest friends. Solemn hours they +were, these hours of farewell, hours that needed few words. Then once +more I slipped out into the night to make my secret way to Beirut. + +It was about midnight when I left home, dressed in a soldier's uniform +and driving a donkey before me. I traveled only by night and spent each +day in hiding in some cave or narrow valley where I could sleep with +some measure of security. For food I had brought bread, dried figs, and +chocolate, and water was always to be found in little springs and pools. +In these clear, warm nights I used to think of David, a fugitive and +pursued by his enemies. How well I could now understand his despairing +cry: "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?... How long shall +mine enemy be exalted over me?" + +Five nights I journeyed, and at last one morning beautiful Beirut +appeared in the distance and I found myself in the forest of pines that +leads into the city. The fresh dawn was filled with the balmy breath of +the pines and all the odors of the Lebanon. Driving my donkey before me, +I boldly approached the first picket-house and saluted the +non-commissioned officer in military fashion. He stopped me and asked +whence I came and where I was going. I smiled sweetly and replied that I +was the orderly of a German officer who was surveying the country a few +hours to the south and that I was going to Beirut for provisions. Then I +lighted a cigarette and sat down for a chat. After discussing politics +and the war for a few minutes, I jumped up, exclaiming that if I didn't +hurry I should be late, and so took my departure. It was all so simple, +and it brought me safely to Beirut. My donkey, having served the purpose +for which I had brought him, was speedily abandoned, and I hurried to a +friend's house, where I exchanged my uniform for the garb of a civilian. + +My sister was the most surprised person on earth when she saw me walking +into her room, and, when I told her that I wanted her to go with me on +the Chester, she thought me crazy, for she knew that hundreds of persons +were trying in vain to find means of leaving the country and it seemed +to her impossible that we, who were Turkish subjects, could succeed in +outwitting the authorities. Even when I had explained my plans and she +was willing to admit the possibility of success, she still felt doubts +as to whether it would be right for her to leave the country while her +friends were left behind in danger. I assured her, however, that our +family would feel relieved to know that we were in safety and could come +back fresh and strong after the war to help in rebuilding the country. + +Having gained her consent, I still had the difficult problem of ways and +means before me. The Chester had orders to take citizens of neutral +countries only. Passports had to be examined by the Turkish authorities +and by the American Consul-General, who gave the final permission to +board the cruiser. How was I to pass this double scrutiny? After long +and arduous search, with the assistance of several good friends, I at +last discovered a man who was willing to sell me the passports of a +young couple belonging to a neutral nation. I cannot go into particulars +about this arrangement, of course. Suffice it to say that my sister was +to travel as my wife and that we both had to disguise ourselves so as to +answer the descriptions on the passports. When I went to the American +Consulate-General to get the permit, I found the building crowded with +people of all nations,--Spanish and Greek and Dutch and Swiss,--all +waiting for the precious little papers that should take them aboard the +American cruiser, that haven of liberty and safety. The Chester was to +take all these people to Alexandria, and those who had the means were to +be charged fifty cents a day for their food. From behind my dark goggles +I recognized many a person in disguise like myself and seeking escape. +We never betrayed recognition for fear of the spies who infested the +place. + +After securing my permit, I ran downstairs and straight to "my" consul, +whose dragoman I took along with me to the _seraya_, or government +building. Of course, the dragoman was well tipped and he helped me +considerably in hastening the examination I had to undergo at the hands +of the Turkish officials. All went well, and I hurried back to my sister +triumphant. + +The Chester was to sail in two days, but while we were waiting, the +alarming news came that the American Consul had been advised that the +British Government refused to permit the landing of the refugees in +Egypt and that the departure of the Chester was indefinitely postponed. +With a sinking at my heart I rushed up to the American Consulate for +details and there learned that the U.S.S. Des Moines was to sail in a +few hours for Rhodes with Italian and Greek refugees and that I could +go on her if I wished. In a few minutes I had my permit changed for the +trip on the Des Moines and I hurried home to my sister. We hastily got +together the few belongings we were to take with us, jumped into a +carriage, and drove to the harbor. + +We had still another ordeal to go through. My sister was taken into a +private room and thoroughly searched; so was I. Nobody could leave the +country with more than twenty-five dollars in cash on his person. Our +baggage was carefully overhauled. No papers or books could be taken. My +sister's Bible was looked upon with much suspicion since it contained a +map of ancient Canaan. I explained that this was necessary for the +orientation of our prayers and that without it we could not tell in +which direction to turn our faces when praying! This seemed plausible to +the Moslem examiners and saved the Bible, the only book we now possess +as a souvenir from home. Now our passports were examined again and +several questions were asked. My sister was brave and self-possessed, +cool and unconcerned in manner, and at last the final signature was +affixed and we jumped into the little boat that was to take us out to +the ship. + +At this moment a man approached, a dry-goods dealer of whom my sister +had made some purchases a few months before. He seemed to recognize her +and he asked her in German if she were not Miss Aaronsohn. I felt my +blood leave my face, and, looking him straight in the eye, I whispered, +"If you say one word more, you will be a dead man; so help me God!" He +must have felt that I meant exactly what I said, for he walked off +mumbling unintelligibly. + +At last the boat got away, and five minutes later we were mounting the +side of the Des Moines. Throngs of refugees covered the decks of the +cruiser. Their faces showed tension and anxiety. Their presence there +seemed too good to be true, and all awaited the moment when the ship +should heave anchor. A Filipino sailor showed us about, and as he spoke +Italian, I told him I wanted to be hidden somewhere till the ship got +under way. I felt that even yet we were not entirely safe. That my fears +were justified I discovered shortly, when from our hiding-place I saw +the shopkeeper approaching in a small boat with a Turkish officer. They +looked over all the refugees on the deck, but searched for us in vain. +After a half-hour more of uncomfortable tension the engines began to +sputter, the propellers revolved, and--we were safe! + +[ILLUSTRATION: BEIRUT, FROM THE DECK OF AN OUTGOING STEAMER] + +The day was dying and a beautiful twilight softened the outlines of the +Lebanon and the houses of Beirut. The Mediterranean lay quiet and +peaceful around us, and the healthy, sturdy American sailors gave a +feeling of confidence. As the cruiser drew out of the harbor, a great +cry of farewell arose from the refugees on board, a cry in which was +mingled the relief of being free, anguish at leaving behind parents and +friends, fear and hope for the future. A little later the sailors were +lined up in arms to salute the American flag when it was lowered for the +night. Moved by a powerful instinct of love and respect, all the +refugees jumped to their feet, the men bareheaded and the women with +folded hands, and in that moment I understood as I had never understood +before the real sacred meaning of a flag. To all those people standing +in awe about that piece of cloth bearing the stars and stripes America +was an incarnation of love universal, of freedom and salvation. + +The cool Syrian night, our first night on the cruiser, was spent in +songs, hymns, and conversation. We were all too excited to sleep. +Friends discovered friends and tales of woe were exchanged, stories of +hardship, injustice, oppression, all of which ended with mutual +congratulations on escaping from the clutches of the Turks. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's With the Turks in Palestine, by Alexander Aaronsohn + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10338 *** |