War in the Garden of Eden | Page 9

is not sand, but a fine dust which permeates
everything, even the steel uniform-cases which I had always regarded
as proof against all conditions. The parching effect was so great that it
was not only necessary to keep all leather objects thoroughly oiled but
the covers of my books cracked and curled up until I hit upon the plan

of greasing them well also. In the alluvial lowlands trench-digging was
a simple affair, but along the hills we found a pebbly conglomerate that
gave much trouble.
Opinion was divided as to whether the Turk would attempt to advance
down the Tigris. Things had gone badly with our forces in Palestine at
the first battle of Gaza; but here we had an exceedingly strong position,
and the consensus of opinion seemed to be that the enemy would think
twice before he stormed it. Their base was at Tekrit, almost thirty miles
away. However, about ten miles distant stood a small village called
Daur, which the Turks held in considerable force. Between Daur and
Samarra there was nothing but desert, with gazelles and jackals the
only permanent inhabitants. Into this no man's land both sides sent
patrols, who met in occasional skirmishes. For reconnaissance work we
used light-armored motor-cars, known throughout the army as Lam
cars, a name formed by the initial letters of their titles. These cars were
Rolls-Royces, and with their armor-plate weighed between three and
three-quarters and four tons. They were proof against the ordinary
bullet but not against the armor-piercing. When I came out to
Mesopotamia I intended to lay my plans for a transfer to the cavalry,
but after I had seen the cars at work I changed about and asked to be
seconded to that branch of the service.
A short while after my arrival our aeroplanes brought in word that the
Turks were massing at Daur, and General Cobbe decided that when
they launched forth he would go and meet them. Accordingly, we all
moved out one night, expecting to give "Abdul," as the Tommies called
him, a surprise. Whether it was that we started too early and their
aeroplanes saw us, or whether they were only making a feint, we never
found out; but at all events the enemy fell back, and save for some
advance-guard skirmishing and a few prisoners, we drew a blank. We
were not prepared to attack the Daur position, and so returned to
Samarra to await developments.
Meanwhile I busied myself searching for an Arab servant. Seven or
eight years previous, when with my father in Africa, I had learned
Swahili, and although I had forgotten a great deal of it, still I found it a

help in taking up Arabic. Most of the officers had either British or
Indian servants; in the former case they were known as batmen, and in
the latter as bearers; but I decided to follow suit with the minority and
get an Arab, and therefore learn Arabic instead of Hindustanee, for the
former would be of vastly more general use. The town commandant,
Captain Grieve of the Black Watch, after many attempts at length
produced a native who seemed, at any rate, more promising than the
others that offered themselves. Yusuf was a sturdy, rather surly-looking
youth of about eighteen. Evidently not a pure Arab, he claimed various
admixtures as the fancy took him, the general preference being Kurd. I
always felt that there was almost certainly a good percentage of Turk.
His father had been a non-commissioned officer in the Turkish army,
and at first I was loath to take him along on advances and attacks, for
he would have been shown little mercy had he fallen into enemy hands.
He was, however, insistent on asking to go with me, and I never saw
him show any concern under fire. He spoke, in varying degrees of
fluency, Kurdish, Persian, and Turkish, and was of great use to me for
that reason. He became by degrees a very faithful and trustworthy
follower, his great weakness being that he was a one-man's man, and
although he would do anything for me, he was of little general use in an
officers' mess.
I had two horses, one a black mare that I called Soda, which means
black in Arabic, and the other a hard-headed bay gelding that was game
to go all day, totally unaffected by shell-fire, but exceedingly stubborn
about choosing the direction in which he went. After numerous changes
I came across an excellent syce to look after them. He was a wild,
unkempt figure, with a long black beard--a dervish by profession, and
certainly gave no one any reason to believe that he was more than
half-witted. Indeed, almost all dervishes are in a greater or less degree
insane; it is probably due to