Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-16
WEIRD FIGHTING
WAYS OF SONS
OF THE DESERT
Wounded British Sergeant
Draws Graphic Picture
of Senussi Snipers
ARABS TERRIBLE POWER
BY ELLEN ADAIR


LONDON, Feb. ga weird story ot
| recent wild fighting in the I,gvptian desert
hsa been given me today by a certain
stalwart soldier, Sergeant Guthrie. who
FORMED one Of reconnoitring party In
the dreary sandwastes of Egypt. The
I deadly fire of the Senussi snipers and the
Arabs power of workmanship are known
all over the East. And It was this very
hre which the little handful of British
soldiers had to face
I've been through fighting in all parts
of the world" said the sergeant, but the
Egyptian deserts the place to give YOU
the creeps Can you picture II? A
world of yellow sand ever drifting, ever
shifting, its horizons stretching TO the
farthest skirts of heaven Munotonous.
did you say? No, not that You're see
ing things all the time, wonderful things,
too beautiful to last-and you're thinking
things that quite surprise you, beautiful
thoughts that go on and on into eternity,
Just like the sands of the desert And
yet the things you see and the things you
think out there in the waste places Just
give you the creeps--like n game we used
to play when we were kids, called Con-
juring Visionsr
MOCKERY OF THE MIRAGE.
ut gets strange grip of you-the dcs-
ert does Twice when I was on outpost
duty | saw an exquisite lake of deepest
blue lying in great hollow. with green
trees growing to the very edge, and cool
shadows playing on its surface The sun
was blazing down on us, and we were
parched with thirst. Onward and onward
we marched to that cool heaven of prom
Use, only to see 1t slip farther and farther
from us. After hours of walking, lake,
trees and land of promise disappeared
and we were left, worn out and too ut
oil for. A..
desert for you
The fighting wisdom of the Arabs is
wonderful-positively 'uncanny. They
kept us always on the qui vive. out of
the Nowhere they suddenly would spring
into being. magnificent men on magnin-
cent chargers, their silhouetteS rising
sharply from the blazing sands and stand
ing out against cruel, burning sky. As
they would disappear behind
some great sand-dune, or gallop off into
the wastes of the desert. But always
after these sudden appearances and dis
appearances we knew there was trouble
In store for u.s.
Like moths on a cloth of gold our little
company would creep along, watching
and waiting for those mercless horse
men,"
SUDDEN AND TERRIBLE.
Bending down to move bandaged foot,
the sergeant paused. "It doesn't seem to
get much better" he said. YES that's
what the Arabs did to me in the desert-a
Senussi sniper, it was! Great marksmen,
these snipers. 1t happened like this: One
blazing morning l was watching the
eternal sandples, thinking of home and
he joys of cold, wet London, when out
If the Nowhere into full view, with wild
ihrieks and imprecatlons, there suddenly
Wheeled a party of Senussi horsemen
Crack Crackr went their rifles. Bang
Bang = in a volley of flame and shouts.
with n wild dash. our reconroitring
oarty raced to envelop the whirling
Enemy. The world narrowed down to one
,hoklng crowd of dust and blood and
teel! Never was such a hand-to-hand
light, such bayoneting, such trampllng
lnder foot
Through clouds of dust I could see |
lothing clearly. Slashing right and left |
With the bayonet was the only thing to |
10 In such mix-up. Suddenly the sounds |
eased, the battle-ground cleared and the |
Arab tribesmen were revealed far off. |
till almost unbroken in their ranks and
eady at the signal of their leaders to
enew attack.
"The signal was given. and in one
rush the Arabs were upon us
gain Bending low in their saddles, they
'hirled their sabres like fails in a corn
eld A moving picture of that terrible
Gene would make a fortune for the
wner,
with flashing eyes and furious shouts,
he Arabs again retreated to a distance,
nd IL was then l first discovered the
readful disaster that had befallen the
platoon of which | was in
barge. A mere handful of men, we were
ut Off by narrow strip of sand from
ne main body of our party! The Arabs
lw our plight. too. and sent a volley of
re over that strip of sand, just TO show
hat would happen to us should we
enture forth on a rush to cross 1t.
DASH FOR LIFE OR DEATH.
The only way to escape annihllatlon
: capture was to make a dash across
le intervening space. Could & be done
he problem was one of life or death.
"At last we decided to risk II, not In a
)dy, but individually. One by one the
en- sprang out on the zone OF death, with
lie Arab snipers sweeping the air with
Illets. At last, only one other man and
were left We tossed coin to see which
lOuld venture first. 1t fell to the other
an to go, and L was left.
MY, friend rose up from the big desert
one behind which we were both shelter
z, and made a dash for the open Alas
,or chap, he hadn't gone 10 yards when
Iddenly he pitched up both arms and fell
in a writhing heap-a bullet
I'd gone through his heart ,
"Removing the offending headgear
hich had served as such a fine target 1 .
ry cautiously raised my head again.
sss than 40 yards away were two dark I
rms, almost hidden behind another stone. .
took steady aim with my rifle and fired. {
le shot went home, for one OF the figures
He'd out on TO the sand and then lay I
IN.
"a Crack ! went rife and Sting = went {
bullet in my foot. The other man had /
/ me at last. The duel was ended"