Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-21

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had by my alternative Proposal at
any rate achieved the vitality desir-
able object, which at first appeared
to me to be so difficult, If not i'm
possible. as / had got the man out of
the room for a few invaluable mo-
ments, to my own infinites relief.
Hardly had the door -sossd upon
him before ! was hard at work col
lecttng all my papers, orders, dis
patches, and especially eipder-keys,
and was examining thew into the
store. so that when. in ten minutes
time. he returned. a vast amount OF
priceless destruction had been effect
ed. which fact afforded me the great
est possible qualification all through
my long subsequent imprisonment.
X u X
ON his return he told me that the
~ Pasha could not consent to my
proposal, but that he was authorized,
IL ! so desired, to demonstrate to III q
the fact that the house was sur
rounded in force, and to beg me, on
behalf Of the Pasha, to resign myself
TO the fortune OF war. L therefore &C
companied him to the window of my
room and afterwards to other win
dows, commanding all four sides OF
our isolated house, from whence l was
were at last two battalions in posi-
ton all around ia fact which, as
remarked TO the fortress commander,
/ took as great compliment to the
three British soldiers whom I had the
honor to command.
Then. with quite indescribably bit
ter feelings, such as I trust never
again to experience. I proceeded my
self to haul down the British flag,
which l reverently folded and placed
in the breast Of my coat. where 1t
remained in the only safety which II
was In my power to command for II,
until at long last I was eventually
hoisted over the side of one of his
majestys ships Of war, after 20 LONG
months OF suffering and peril. That
flag now forms one Of my most val
ued treasures, and hangs above me
in my English home as ! write.
After we had surrendered our arms,
the commander of the fortress left me
saying that he would see to the post
ing of his troops, and return to take
leave of me when he had done SO
After about half an hour he returned
saying that he had detailed a strong
guard 70 hold the house and an officer
to command. and that the ground
floor windows were then being wired
with barbed wire as a defense against
any sudden attack.
Several days after our confinement
commenced was sitting writing in
my room on the first floor. when be-
came aware OF a remarkable muffie ed
roar outside the house, and at the
same time Of certain commotion
downstairs, where our guards were
tho window without leaving my seat
I saw that all the fiat-covered roofs
OF the houses round were black with
a collection of the most villainous
looking ruffians that 1 had ever seen
who appeared capable OF, and anxious
to, commit at once unspeakable
atrocities of every description, and
also that a crowd Of several thousand
other gentlemen" Of even more for
bidding aspect, were spread over all
the open spaces among the ruins i'm
mediately surrounding our house.
The noise came from all these far
from pleasant-looking neighbors. who
were hooting, and cursing, and shak-
ing their fists, and altogether demon
strating a decidedly antagonistic, or
rather an actively hostile, attitude
towards US. 1t has never before been
my privilege at any time or in any
place to hear more unpleasant sound
than that which this very-repuIsive-
Shortly afterwards the officer in
charge of our guards burst into my
room In a state Of considerable ex-
element, and requested me to come
downstairs at once 10 the guardroom.
as he had no confidence In the be-
havior OF his own men, and was.
was delighted to hear, personally re-
sponsible for our safety.
He assured me, by way OF encour-
q ~ 20 sAla 81
further support. and that he had every
hope endorsements would arrive be-
fore any disaster occurred. AS en-
tirely shared his sentiments in this
respect, ] at once followed him down
stairs, IN manner which, ] trust,
appeared entirely unconcerned, and
therefore I saw no more Of the enter
tainment provided, though I noticed
that the expression on the faces of
our guards who were posted at the
front door was far from showing that
genial spirit towards US, and anxious
concern for our safety. which I could
have desired to observe at that partic-
uiar moment.
nURING the next few months our
~ life was monotonous in the ex-
treme. but not too arduous, as we
had permission to use the back yard
of our house for exercise had a
supply Of money hidden away. and
as an officer was then permanently
stationed in the house. we were able
to purchase food without being rob-
bed in too extortionate a manner.
My party now consisted OF Corpi.
Ankers. my batman, Leadbeater, and
Pvt. Carter OF the Machine Gun
Corps. worthy representative of that
justly famous corps.
To overcome the tedium OF our con-
flnement. I taught the men many
things, among them chess, which we
played on a paper board, with chess
men consisting OF oxo cubes as castles
corks as knights, large revolver
cartridges as bishops, machine-gun
cartridges as queens and big Rus
sian cartridges as kings, small re-
volver cartridges being the pawns.
With these rather explosive" chess
men we had many an interesting
game.
A few weeks after our detention
asked that rations be issued to my
party, alleging that had no funds
remaining upon which to subsist.
ID