登陆注册
14727400000071

第71章

Trouble by The Waters of Babylon From that moment I date the beginning of my madness. Suddenly Iforgot all cares and difficulties of the present and future and became foolishly light-hearted. We were rushing towards the great battle where men were busy at my proper trade. I realized how much Ihad loathed the lonely days in Germany, and still more the dawdling week in Constantinople. Now I was clear of it all, and bound for the clash of armies. It didn't trouble me that we were on the wrong side of the battle line. I had a sort of instinct that the darker and wilder things grew the better chance for us.

'Seems to me,' said Blenkiron, bending over me, 'that this joy-ride is going to come to an untimely end pretty soon. Peter's right.

That young man will set the telegraph going, and we'll be held up at the next township.'

'He's got to get to a telegraph office first,' I answered. 'That's where we have the pull on him. He's welcome to the screws we left behind, and if he finds an operator before the evening I'm the worst kind of a Dutchman. I'm going to break all the rules and bucket this car for what she's worth. Don't you see that the nearer we get to Erzerum the safer we are?'

'I don't follow,' he said slowly. 'At Erzerum I reckon they'll be waiting for us with the handcuffs. Why in thunder couldn't those hairy ragamuffins keep the little cuss safe? Your record's a bit too precipitous, Major, for the most innocent-minded military boss.'

'Do you remember what you said about the Germans being open to bluff? Well, I'm going to put up the steepest sort of bluff. Of course they'll stop us. Rasta will do his damnedest. But remember that he and his friends are not very popular with the Germans, and Madame von Einem is. We're her proteges, and the bigger the German swell I get before the safer I'll feel. We've got our passports and our orders, and he'll be a bold man that will stop us once we get into the German zone. Therefore I'm going to hurry as fast as God will let me.'

It was a ride that deserved to have an epic written about it. The car was good, and I handled her well, though I say it who shouldn't.

The road in that big central plain was fair, and often I knocked fifty miles an hour out of her. We passed troops by a circuit over the veld, where we took some awful risks, and once we skidded by some transport with our off wheels almost over the lip of a ravine.

We went through the narrow streets of Siwas like a fire-engine, while I shouted out in German that we carried despatches for headquarters. We shot out of drizzling rain into brief spells of winter sunshine, and then into a snow blizzard which all but whipped the skin from our faces. And always before us the long road unrolled, with somewhere at the end of it two armies clinched in a death-grapple.

That night we looked for no lodging. We ate a sort of meal in the car with the hood up, and felt our way on in the darkness, for the headlights were in perfect order. Then we turned off the road for four hours' sleep, and I had a go at the map. Before dawn we started again, and came over a pass into the vale of a big river. The winter dawn showed its gleaming stretches, ice-bound among the sprinkled meadows. I called to Blenkiron:

'I believe that river is the Euphrates,' I said.

'So,' he said, acutely interested. 'Then that's the waters of Babylon. Great snakes, that I should have lived to see the fields where King Nebuchadnezzar grazed! Do you know the name of that big hill, Major?'

'Ararat, as like as not,' I cried, and he believed me.

We were among the hills now, great, rocky, black slopes, and, seen through side glens, a hinterland of snowy peaks. I remember Ikept looking for the _castrol I had seen in my dream. The thing had never left off haunting me, and I was pretty clear now that it did not belong to my South African memories. I am not a superstitious man, but the way that little _kranz clung to my mind made me think it was a warning sent by Providence. I was pretty certain that when I clapped eyes on it I would be in for bad trouble.

All morning we travelled up that broad vale, and just before noon it spread out wider, the road dipped to the water's edge, and Isaw before me the white roofs of a town. The snow was deep now, and lay down to the riverside, but the sky had cleared, and against a space of blue heaven some peaks to the south rose glittering like jewels. The arches of a bridge, spanning two forks of the stream, showed in front, and as I slowed down at the bend a sentry's challenge rang out from a block-house. We had reached the fortress of Erzingjan, the headquarters of a Turkish corps and the gate of Armenia.

I showed the man our passports, but he did not salute and let us move on. He called another fellow from the guardhouse, who motioned us to keep pace with him as he stumped down a side lane.

At the other end was a big barracks with sentries outside. The man spoke to us in Turkish, which Hussin interpreted. There was somebody in that barracks who wanted badly to see us.

'By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,' quoted Blenkiron softly. 'I fear, Major, we'll soon be remembering Zion.'

I tried to persuade myself that this was merely the red tape of a frontier fortress, but I had an instinct that difficulties were in store for us. If Rasta had started wiring I was prepared to put up the brazenest bluff, for we were still eighty miles from Erzerum, and at all costs we were going to be landed there before night.

A fussy staff-officer met us at the door. At the sight of us he cried to a friend to come and look.

'Here are the birds safe. A fat man and two lean ones and a savage who looks like a Kurd. Call the guard and march them off.

There's no doubt about their identity.'

'Pardon me, Sir,' I said, 'but we have no time to spare and we'd like to be in Erzerum before the dark. I would beg you to get through any formalities as soon as possible. This man,' and Ipointed to the sentry, 'has our passports.'

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 君为天下倾

    君为天下倾

    蝶恋花·痕清风偶过芙蓉浦,淡水留痕木容秀。龙鳞耀,浮世里。鸢过青冥紫朝气。莫离,莫离,等风归去。陈年暗换三世意,锦瑟流年为君来。轩边倚,只为伊。萱草留香墨无迹。相依,相依,永不分离。
  • 娱乐圈之植物护身系统

    娱乐圈之植物护身系统

    一场车祸改变了她的人生,为了治好爸爸,她答应他假扮千金小姐,她答应他成了超级大明星。本来应该是恨的感情却慢慢成了爱,坏人不断,幸好异能护体,才屡屡化险为夷。但是真相一个接一个袭来,她和他又该何去何从。***********************************虐心、虐情、泪点全方位。娱乐圈、帅哥、异能一个也不能少。请自带纸巾。建议大家养肥后再看。
  • 斗圣天尊

    斗圣天尊

    以王的姿态撑起苍穹,以神的瞳孔俯视众生悠悠千载,疏忽而过,一个不明身世的少年,带着杀伐一切的气概,横扫天地。回到家族,为自己的父亲沉冤得雪,成为绝世的武者。
  • 果香满华庭

    果香满华庭

    夫君不爱,婆婆不亲,姑妈不疼,小妾陷害,最终落得个惨死的下场。再次醒来,回到从前,灵魂易位,不再隐忍,凭借一技之长发家致富。这一世,既然替她而活,穆采薇发誓要报仇雪恨。渣男小妾统统不放,冷酷婆婆狠心姑妈也别想逃。当她大仇得报、稳当地主婆时,却是情债难偿,红线缚牢,再也逃不脱!
  • 极限末日挑战

    极限末日挑战

    这是一个考验人类极限生存能力和意志力的严酷挑战——极限末日挑战!想要重获新生,挑战者必须通过难度逐步增强的挑战,在不同的末日中轮回。寄生末日:寄生虫侵蚀人类,巨型宿虫摧毁都市,在茫茫虫海中,生存希望渺茫……窒息末日:星球氧气消耗殆尽,人类自相残杀,外星异族用窒息的能力夺走无数生命……海猎末日:海洋淹没世界,人类沦为海兽的猎物,巨型海怪蛰伏于航船墓场……腐蚀末日:血雨从天而降,酸液腐蚀生灵,在割裂者的强酸喷洒下,无人生还……辐射末日:核冬天来临,变异兽横行,整个大陆散布着致死射线……时震末日:时间震动,空间破碎,时空混乱的崩溃世界中,人类命运陷入了死循环……【简介的简介】无限流的末日文,主角用最强的意志在末日求生!
  • 不一样的小别离

    不一样的小别离

    tfboys、椿百合、贝小熙、梦菲儿和绮丽演出,讲述了五个家庭的爱情和青春。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 有个呆瓜闺蜜

    有个呆瓜闺蜜

    这个故事发生在一所中学,主人公是一个年仅十二岁的小女孩,九宫汐子。一个完美的女孩子,但她却有一个如呆瓜般的闺蜜,叶子。九宫汐子决定在叶子的学校雁山中学读书,所以两个闺蜜的友谊非常的好。
  • 刃中途

    刃中途

    混沌年间天下分:仙、人、冥、狱四界,由于狱界魔王想一统四界抓了仙界女娲娘娘,引发了仙魔大战。维系女娲性命的天地之石亦是维持四界结界之石,魔王欲杀害女娲毁坏天地之石。好在仙界之首的至尊菩神及时赶到用神域之术将魔王包裹自身体内,但还是无法镇压住魔王几次欲要突破而出。至尊菩神怜悯苍生便散了元神化作无尽符文削弱并封印狱王,用不败金身将其镇压坠至人界。望着满目疮痍的人界,女娲用体内的生命之石照亮了苍茫大地。福泽天地人间。世间又恢复平静。历经数载,大概到了足以让四界都忘却这件事。镇压魔王仇白帝的菩神金身,已落地尘埃,变成了当下人间界赫赫有名修仙圣地—玉峰山。故事从这里开始。。。
  • 恶魔少爷:专宠小娇妻

    恶魔少爷:专宠小娇妻

    我不会逃避。我要把我失去的一点一点拿回来。该是我的就是我的别想溜。喂!我的男宠你要去哪呢!新书《左眼之九世轮回》