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THE "AYESHA' 
 

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VON MUCKE 
 
The "AYESHA" 
 
 BEING 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF THE LANDING SQÜAD 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ii 
 
 EMDEN» 
 
 BY 
 
 Kapitänleutnant 
 HELLMUTH von MÜCKE 
 
 TRANSLATED BY HELENE S. WHITE 
 
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 « • • • • 
 
 » » • » ) > 
 
 RITTER & COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 

 Copyright, 191 7, by 
 RITTER & COMPANY 
 
 AU rights reserved, including the translation 
 into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian 
 
 First Printing, January, 191 7 
 Second Printing, February, 1917 
 
 
 THE • PLIUPTON • PftESS 
 NORWOOO«MA88*U«S*A 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 
 
 The translator has so enjoyed rendering this 
 little volume into English, that she feels im- 
 pelled to testify to the pleasure it gave her, and 
 to express a hope that it may find many readers 
 who will follow its record of vaHant deeds with 
 as great interest. 
 
 That men placed in almost daily peril of 
 their Hves can retain their sense of humor and a 
 kindly attitude toward men and circumstances 
 throughout a desperate struggle with adverse 
 conditions is a happy testimony to the buoy- 
 ancy and to the superiority to the merely 
 physical that courage in the face of danger 
 begets. 
 
 Although always bravely confident, there is 
 an engaging ingenuousness and freedom from 
 self-conceit in Lieutenant von Mücke's dehght- 
 ful recital of his amazing achievement, while 
 his never failing appreciation of the humorous 
 side of the Situation iUumines the entire narra- 
 tive as with flashes of sunshine. 
 
 4425S5 
 
vi TRANSLATOR^S PREFACE 
 
 The translator desires also to acknowledge 
 her indebtedness to an earlier but unpublished 
 translation of the book by Mrs. Anne Rich- 
 mond Vaughan. 
 
 Helene S. White 
 
 January, 4th, 1917. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 That TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION 
 
 is amply illustrated in the foUowing gripping 
 narrative. I have read practically all the 
 stories and yarns of this war, many in their 
 original languages, but I have found none to 
 surpass this interesting tale. In the years to 
 come, all men, especially those "who go down 
 to the sea in ships/' will find in these adven- 
 tures some very profitable lessons in persever- 
 ance, resourcefulness and courage. Although 
 this feat may be dimmed by the light of the 
 major Operations of the war, I predict that no 
 reader who has once started to read this book 
 will fail to complete it, nor on completion, 
 will he fail to say that he has enjoyed a most 
 interesting series of adventures. 
 
 J. H. Klein, Jr., 
 
 Lieutenant, U. S, Navy. 
 Washington, D. C. 
 3 January, 191 7 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEK PAGE 
 
 I. Keeling Island i 
 
 II. The "Ayesha" 12 
 
 III. On Board 27 
 
 IV. A FiNE Day on Board 39 
 
 V. An Uneasy Day 45 
 
 VI. Padang 53 
 
 VII. The Meeting with the "Choising" . 76 
 
 VIII. The Passing of the "Ayesha" 88 
 
 IX. From Perim to Hodeida 98 
 
 X. On to Sanaa 121 
 
 XI. Shipwreck 140 
 
 XII. The Attack 160 
 
 Xin. To the Railroad 204 
 
 XIV. HOMEWARD BOUND 220 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Kapitänleutnant von Mücke (after his 
 
 return) Frontispiece 
 
 The "Ayesha" page i6 
 
 Von Mücke (from an earlier photograph) " 72 
 
 View of Hodeida ) ^^ 
 
 Crossing the Desert ) ^ 
 
 Map of Arabia " 166 
 
 Map showing the entire trip from Keeling 
 
 Islands to Constantinople " 218 
 
THE "AYESHA" 
 
 Chapter I 
 KEELING ISLAND 
 
 "I REPORT for duty the landing squad from 
 the ship, — three officers, six petty officers, and 
 forty men streng." 
 
 It was on the ninth of November, 1914, at 
 six o'clock in the morning that I reported for 
 duty to the commanding officer of his Maj- 
 esty's ship, "Emden," Captain von Mueller, 
 at the gangway of the ship. The "Emden" 
 was lying at anchor in Port Refuge, a harbor 
 formed by Keeling Reefs. Alongside were 
 the two Cutters in which the officers and men 
 of the landing squad had ahready taken their 
 places. The steam launch was ready to push 
 off and tow them ashore, My Orders were 
 
'2 THE "AYESHA'^ 
 
 to destroy the wireless telegraph and cable 
 Station on Direction Island, which is the most 
 northerly Island of the Keeling group, and to 
 bring back with me, in so far as possible, all 
 Signal books, secret code books, and the like. 
 
 Three cables run from Direction Island, one 
 line to Mauritius, another to Perth in Aus- 
 tralia, and a third to Batavia. As this Station 
 was the last absolutely British connection be- 
 tween Australia and the motheriand — the 
 other cables having been cut by some of the 
 other ships of our cruising fleet — we had every 
 reason to suppose that we would meet with 
 vigorous military resistance. For this reason 
 we were taking with us all of the four machine 
 guns that the "Emden" carried. Two were 
 aboard the steam laxmch, the others had been 
 put on the cutters. The men were equipped 
 with rifles, side arms, and pistols. The laimch 
 took the cutters in tow, and we were off for 
 Direction Island. 
 
 Even quite small boats must pick their way 
 
KEELING ISLAND 
 
 very carefiilly while within the waters of this 
 atoll,^ in Order to avoid the numerous, con- 
 stantly changing coral reefs. The course that 
 we were to take from the ship to the point at 
 which we were to land, covered a distance of 
 about 3000 meters. 
 
 Direction Island is very flat, and is covered 
 with a luxuriant growth of tall palms. Among 
 their towering tops we could discern the roofs 
 of the European houses and the high tower 
 of the wireless Station. This was our objective 
 point, and I gave Orders to steer directly for 
 it. Just below our landing place a small white 
 sailing vessel was riding at anchor. 
 
 "Shall we destroy that, too?'' inquired one 
 of my lieutenants, pointing to the little schooner. 
 
 "Certainly," was my answer. "It has sailed 
 on its last voyage. Detail a man at once to be 
 ready with the explosive cartridges." 
 
 With our machine guns and firearms ready 
 for action, we landed at a little dock on the 
 * Group of coral islands. 
 
THE "AYESHA" 
 
 beach, without meeting with resistance of any 
 kind, and, falling into step, we promptly pro- 
 ceeded to the wireless Station. The destruc- 
 tion of the little white sailboat was deferred 
 for the time being, as I wished first of all to 
 find out how affairs on shore would develop. 
 
 We quickly f ound the telegraph building and 
 the wireless Station, took possession of both of 
 them, and so prevented any attempt to send 
 Signals. Then I got hold of one of the English- 
 men who were swarming about us, and ordered 
 him to summon the director of the Station, who 
 soon made his appearance, — a very agreeable 
 and portly gentleman. 
 
 "I have Orders to destroy the wireless and 
 telegraph Station, and I advise you to make 
 no resistance. It will be to your own interest, 
 moreover, to band over the keys of the several 
 houses at once, as that will relieve me of the 
 necessity of forcing the doors. All firearms in 
 your possession are to be delivered immedi- 
 ately. All Europeans on the Island are to as- 
 
KEELING ISLAND 
 
 semble in the Square in front of the telegraph 
 building." 
 
 The director seemed to accept the Situation 
 very calmly. He assured me that he had not 
 the least intention of resisting, and then pro- 
 duced a huge bunch of keys from out his 
 pocket, pointed out the houses in which there 
 was electric apparatus of which we had as yet 
 not taken possession, and finished with the 
 remark: "And now, please accept my con- 
 gratulations/' 
 
 " Congratulations ! Well, what for? " I asked 
 with some surprise. 
 
 "The Iron Gross has been conferred on you. 
 We learned of it from the Reuter telegram that 
 has just been sent on." 
 
 We now set to work to tear down the wireless 
 tower. The men in charge of the torpedoes 
 quickly set them in place. The stays that sup- 
 ported the tower were demolished first, and 
 then the tower itself was brought down and 
 chopped into kindling wood. In the telegraph 
 
THE *'AYESHA» 
 
 rooms the Morse machines were still ticking 
 busily. What the messages were we could not 
 decipher, for they were all in secret code. But 
 we chuckled with both amusement and satis- 
 faction as we pictured to ourselves the aston- 
 ishment of the senders, who were waiting in 
 vain for a reply to their messages, for, from 
 the vigorous action of the apparatus, we con- 
 cluded that some Information was eagerly de- 
 sired. But this, to our regret, it was not in our 
 power to furnish. 
 
 Our next duty was quite to the taste of my 
 vigorous boys in blue. A couple of heavy axes 
 were soon foimd, and, in a few minutes. Morse 
 apparatus, ink bottles, table legs, cable ends, 
 and the like were flying about the room. " Do 
 the work thoroughly!" had been our Orders. 
 Every nook and comer were searched for re- 
 serve apparatus and other like matter, and 
 everything that bore any semblance of useful- 
 ness in a wireless Station was soon destroyed. 
 Unfortimately this fate was shared by a seis- 
 
KEELING ISLAND 
 
 mometer that had been set up on the Island. 
 In their zeal my men had mistaken it for 
 a lately invented addition to the telegraph 
 Service. 
 
 To locate and cut the submarine cables was 
 the most difficult part of our task. A chart, 
 showing the directions in which the cables ex- 
 tended, was not to be found in the Station, but 
 close to the shore we discovered a number of 
 Signboards bearing the inscription, "Cables." 
 This, therefore, must be the place where we must 
 search for the ends of the cable Strands. Back 
 and forth the steam launch carried us over the 
 cables that were plainly to be seen in the 
 clear water as we tried to grasp them with a 
 couple of drags and heavy dredging hooks, 
 which we drew along the bottom. It was no 
 light task, for the cables were very heavy, and 
 the only power at our command was a very 
 limited amount of himian strength. For a 
 while, it seemed impossible to draw the cables 
 to the surface; in the end, after we had suc- 
 
THE "AYESHA' 
 
 ceeded in raising the bight of the cable a litüe, 
 my men had to get into the water, dive, and 
 tie tackle to it, by the aid of which we con- 
 tinued our labor. With great difficulty we at 
 length succeeded in getting the cable Strands 
 into the boat. I did not want to use any of 
 the dynamite cartridges for the work of de- 
 struction, as the "Emden" might have need 
 of them for the sinking of more steamers. So 
 we set to work upon the stout cables with crow- 
 bars, axes, driving chisels, and other like im- 
 plements. After long and weary labor, we 
 succeeded in cutting through two of them, and 
 we then dragged the ends out to sea, and 
 dropped them there. The third cable was not 
 to be found in spite of our düigent search for it. 
 A small house of corrugated iron, in which 
 were stored quantities of reserve apparatus and 
 all sorts of duplicate parts, was blown up and 
 set on fire with a couple of explosive cartridges. 
 All newspapers, books, Morse tapes, and the 
 like, we took away with us. 
 
KEELING ISLAND 
 
 Our landing squad was just about to reem- 
 bark when, from the "Emden," came the signal 
 "Hurry your work.'* I quickly summoned my 
 men, abandoned my intention of blowing up 
 the small white schooner as a matter of Httle 
 importance, and was on the point of pushing ojff 
 from shore, when it was reported to me: "The 
 'Emden' has just soimded her siren." This 
 was the command to retum to the ship with 
 the utmost despatch. As I was boarding the 
 steam launch, I saw that the anchor flag of the 
 "Emden" was flying at half mast, which told 
 US that she was weighing anchor. The reason 
 for this great haste was a mystery to me, and, 
 for the present, was no concern of mine. All 
 my effort was bent upon getting back to the 
 ship as speedily as possible. With all steam 
 on we raced toward the "Emden," taking the 
 shortest course between the reefs. 
 
 Meanwhile, the "Emden" had tumed sea- 
 ward, and was running at high speed out of 
 the harbor. My first thought was that she 
 
lo THE "AYESHA^ 
 
 was going to meet our tender, the "Buresk," 
 that had been ordered here with coal, and which, 
 I supposed, she was going to pilot through the 
 reefs. In this belief I continued to follow the 
 "Emden" as fast as I could, but was surprised 
 to find her going at a speed of from sixteen to 
 seventeen miles. Our launch, with the heavily 
 laden cutters in tow, could make barely four 
 miles an hour. 
 
 Suddenly we saw the battle flags on the 
 "Emden" nm up, and then a broadside bnrst 
 from her starboard. Even yet the reason for 
 all this was hidden from me, and I believed the 
 "Emden" to be in pursuit of a steamer that 
 had come in view. 
 
 But now a salvo of five heavy shells Struck the 
 water just aft of the "Emden"; five tall water- 
 spouts marked the places where they feil into the 
 sea. There was no longer any room for doubt; 
 we knew that a battle was on in earnest. The 
 "Emden's" Opponent we could not see, for the 
 Island, with its tall palms, was between us. The 
 
KEELING ISLAND ii 
 
 "Emden," in the meantime, had increased her 
 distance from us to several thousand meters, 
 and was adding to her speed with every mo 
 ment. All hope of overtaking her had therefore 
 to be abandoned, and I turned back. 
 
Chapter II 
 THE ''AYESHA'' 
 
 We landed at the same place at which we 
 had gone ashore before. Again I ordered all 
 the Englishmen to assemble, and their firearms 
 were taken from them. The German flag was 
 raised on the Island, which was declared to be 
 under martial law; every attempt to communi- 
 cate by signal with any other Island, or with the 
 enemy^s ships, was forbidden; my officers were 
 given Orders to clear the beach for defence, to 
 mount the machine guns, and to prepare to in- 
 trench. Should the engagement between the 
 two ships prove to be a short one, I could count 
 with certainty upon the enemy's cruiser running 
 into port here, if for no other reason than to 
 look after the Station. It was not my Inten- 
 tion, however, to surrender without a blow an 
 Island on which the German flag was flying. 
 
THE "AYESHA" 13 
 
 The Englishmen on the Island were little 
 pleased at the prospect, and begged permission, 
 m case it should come to a battle, to withdraw 
 to one of the other Islands. Their request was 
 granted. 
 
 Accompanied by two of my signal men, I now 
 took my Station on the roof of the highest house 
 to watch the fight between the two cniisers. 
 As a whole, the Englishmen showed little in- 
 terest in the conflict that was going on but a 
 few thousand meters distant from the Island. 
 Other matters seemed to claim their attention. 
 WIth an Ingratlating smile one of them stepped 
 up to our officers, who were head over ears in 
 work down on the beach, and asked: 
 
 "Do you play tennis?'' 
 
 It was an invitation which, under the clr- 
 cumstances, we feit compelled to decline. 
 
 By the time I had reached the roof, the fight 
 between the "Emden" and the other cruiser 
 was well under way. I could not identify the 
 enemy's ship, but, judging from her structure, 
 
14 THE ''AYESHA» 
 
 and the amoiint of water raised by the falling 
 Shells, I concluded that it must be one of the 
 two Australian cruisers, the "Sydney" or the 
 "Melbourne." As the colimms of water raised 
 by the enemy's Shells were much taller than 
 those caused by the "Emden's," I estimated 
 the guns of the enemy to be of 15 centimeter 
 caliber. 
 
 The "Sydney," for she it was, as I leamed 
 later, was more than a match for the "Emden." 
 Our ship of 3600 tons displacement could de- 
 liver a broadside of only five 10^ centimeter 
 guns, and had no side armor.> whereas the 
 "Sydney," being a vessel of 5700 tons displace- 
 ment, could fire a broadside of five 15.2 centi- 
 meter guns, and had armored sides. From the 
 very beginning, the "Emden's" fire reached its 
 mark on the enemy's cruiser, whose guns, it 
 must be said, were aimed pretty badly. The 
 water spouts that were raised by their falling 
 Shells were mostly several hundred meters dis- 
 tant from one another. But when one of the 
 
THE "AYESHA" 15 
 
 volleys did hit, it made havoc on our xrnar- 
 mored vessel. 
 
 During the very first of the fight, the forward 
 smoke Stack of the "Emden" was shot away 
 and lay directly across the deck. Another shell 
 crashed into the stern aft of the cabin, and 
 Started a great blaze, the gray smoke of which 
 was mixed with white steam, showing that the 
 steam pipes had been damaged. The " Emden " 
 now turned sharply about and made a dash for 
 her foe, apparently for the purpose of making a 
 torpedo attack. It cost her her foremast, which 
 was shot away and feil overboard. For the mo- 
 ment it seemed as though the enemy's ship in- 
 tended to discontinue the fight, for she turned 
 and ran at high speed, followed by the "Em- 
 den." Whether the "Sydney" had suffered 
 serious damage which could not be discerned 
 from without, I conld not teil. Perhaps it was 
 simply her Intention to increase her fighting 
 distance from the "Emden," in order to take 
 advantage of the greater caliber of her guns. 
 
i6 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 The running fight between the two ships now 
 took a northerly course at an ever increasing 
 distance from the Island, and soon the two 
 cruisers, still fighting, were lost to view beyond 
 the horizon. 
 
 The point for me to settle now was what to 
 do with the landing squad. So far as our ship 
 was concerned, the damage she had suffered at 
 the hands of a far superior foe was so great that 
 a retum to the Island, even in the event of a 
 most favorable outcome of the battle, was 
 out of the question. She must run for the 
 nearest port where she could make repairs, 
 bury her dead, and leave her wounded. At 
 the same time I could count with certainty 
 upon the arrival of an English war vessel ere 
 long in Keeling harbor, to leam what had 
 befallen the cable and wireless Station. For, 
 had not the telegraphic Service to AustraHa, 
 Batavia and Mauritius been cut off entirely? 
 
 With our four machine guns and twenty- 
 nine rifles we could, for the time at least, have 
 
^ ,f*^ 
 
THE "AYESHA" 17 
 
 prevented the English from making a landing 
 on the Island, but against the fire of the English 
 cruiser's heavy guns, which would then have 
 been directed against us, we would have had no 
 defence whatever. Taking everything into con- 
 sideration, therefore, we could do no more than 
 defer the surrender of a position that, from the 
 outset, it had been impossible to hold. More- 
 over, confinement in an English prison was 
 little to our taste. 
 
 , Now, fortunately for us, the small white 
 schooner that we had failed to blow up was 
 still riding at anchor in the harbor. It could, 
 and it should help us to escape from our pre- 
 dicament. I decided to leave the Island on the 
 little boat. Her name was "Ayesha," ^ and at 
 one time she had served to carry copra from 
 Keeling to Batavia two or three times a year, 
 and to bring provisions back with her on her 
 return trip. Now that steamship Service had 
 
 ,^ "Ayesha"^is not an English but an Arabic name, and 
 is pronounced A-ee-sha. Äyesha is the name of the favorite 
 wife of the Prophet Mohammet. 
 
i8 THE "AYESHA' 
 
 been established between these two points, she 
 lay idle and dismantled in the harbor, and was 
 gradually falling into decay. 
 
 Taking no one with me, I got into the steam 
 launch and went out to the schooner to leam 
 whether she was at all seaworthy. The captain 
 and a single sailor were aboard her. Of the 
 former I inquired casually whether he had any 
 ammunition aboard, for I did not wish him to 
 suspect the real purpose of my Coming. He 
 Said there was none, and a brief inspection of 
 the ship led me to believe that she was still sea- 
 worthy. Consequently I sent my officers and 
 men aboard the "Ayesha" to get her into trim 
 for sailing. 
 
 There was plenty to do on the little ship. 
 All the sails and rigging had been taken down 
 and stowed away, and had now to be put in 
 place again. 
 
 When the Englishmen on the island realized 
 that it was my intention to sail off in the 
 schooner, they wamed me with great eamest- 
 
THE "AYESHA" 19 
 
 ness against trusting ourselves to her, saying 
 that the "Ayesha" was old and rotten, and 
 could not stand a sea voyage. Furthermore, 
 they informed me that an English man-of- 
 war, the "Minotaur," and a Japanese cruiser 
 were in the vicinity of the Island, and that we 
 would snrely fall a prey to one of them. 
 
 As my predecessor in command of the 
 "Ayesha" was leaving her, he wished us God- 
 speed, and concluded with the comforting re- 
 mark, "But the ship's bottom is worn through." 
 
 When, in spite of all these warnings, we re- 
 mained firm in our purpose, and continued the 
 work of getting the "Ayesha" ready for sea, 
 the sporting side of the Situation began to ap- 
 peal to the EngHshmen, and they almost ran 
 their legs off in their eagerness to help us. 
 Could it have been gratitude that impelled 
 them to lend us their aid? It is a question 
 I have never been able to answer to my satis- 
 faction, although, to be sure, several of them 
 did express a feeling of relief at the thought 
 
20 THE "AYESHA 
 
 that now the fatiguing telegraph Service with 
 its many hours of overwork, and its lack of 
 diversion, was a thing of the past. They 
 showed US where the provisions and water were 
 kept, and urgently advised us to take provisions 
 from the one side, where they were new and 
 fresh, rather than from the other, where they 
 were stale. They fetched out cooking Utensils, 
 water, barreis of petroleum, old clothes, blan- 
 kets, and the like, and themselves loaded them 
 on trucks and brought them to us. From every 
 side invitations to dinner poured down upon 
 us; my men were supplied with pipes and 
 tobacco; in short, the Englishmen did all they 
 could to help us out. 
 
 Nor were they sparing with advice as to the 
 course we ought to take, and time proved that 
 all they told us of wind and weather, of cur- 
 rents, etc., was in every way trustworthy. As 
 the last of our boats left the shore, the English- 
 men gave US türee hearty cheers, wished us a 
 safe journey, and expressed their gratitude for 
 
THE *'AYESHA'^ 2i 
 
 the "moderation" which we had shown in the 
 discharge of our duty, wherein all of our men 
 had behaved "generously," they said. Then, 
 Cameras in band, they still swarmed about the 
 "Ayesha," taking pictures of her. 
 
 Meanwhile the lookout on our ship reported 
 that the two battling cruisers had come into 
 sight again. From the top of the "Ayesha's" 
 mast I could at first see only the thick cloud 
 of black smoke that the "Sydney^s" smoke 
 Stack was belching forth, but soon the masts, 
 smoke Stacks and upper deck came in sight. 
 Of the "Emden" I could see only one smoke 
 Stack and one mast; the rest of the ship was 
 below the horizon. Both cruisers were steer- 
 ing an easterly course, and both were still firing 
 their guns. 
 
 Suddenly, at füll speed, the "Sydney" made 
 a'dash at the "Emden." "Now," thought I, 
 "the 'Emden's' last gun has been silenced, and 
 the 'Sydney' is running at her to deal her her 
 death blow." But then, in the black smoke of 
 
22 THE "AYESHA^ 
 
 the English ship, between the foremast and the 
 nearest smoke Stack, a tall column of water 
 shot up, which could only be the resiilt of a 
 serious explosion. We supposed that it was 
 caused by a well-aimed torpedo shot from the 
 "Emden.'' The "Sydney," which was stül 
 running at a speed of twenty nautical miles, 
 now made a quick tum to starboard, changed 
 her course entirely, and steamed slowly west- 
 ward. The "Emden" continued to steer an 
 easterly course. Both ships were still firing at 
 each other, but the distance between them grew 
 greater and greater, until finally they were be- 
 yond the reach of each other's guns. The 
 fight was over. In the approaching darkness 
 both vessels were soon lost to sight beyond the 
 horizon. That was the last we saw of them. 
 The conflict, which had begun at about 8.30 in 
 the morning, ended at six o'clock in the evening. 
 The report, published in all the English news- 
 papers, that it was only a "sixty mmutes' run- 
 ning fight" is therefore to be classed with the 
 
THE "AYESHA'* 23 
 
 many similarly false reports made by the 
 English. 
 
 The oncoming darkness now warned me to 
 make my way as speedily as possible out of 
 the harbor, for the dangers of the coral reefs 
 render it unsafe for navigation after nightfall. 
 In the meantime we had taken aboard water 
 enough for four weeks, and provisions for eight. 
 The sails had been bent on as best they could 
 be. I made a short speech, and with three 
 cheers for the Emperor, first in command, the 
 war flag and pennant fluttered up to the mast- 
 head of his Majesty's latest ship, the schooner 
 " Ayesha." Slowly the steam launch took us in 
 tow. I cHmbed to the top of the foremast, as 
 from there I could best discern where lay the 
 reefs and the shoals, for of charts we had none. 
 With the boatswain's whistle I gave the launch 
 Orders to steer to starboard or to port, accord- 
 ing to the lay of the reefs. The "Emden^s" 
 two Cutters we carried in tow. 
 
 Our departure was much too slow to suit us. 
 
24 THE "AYESHA= 
 
 The sun was setting, and in these latitudes, so 
 near the equator, there is no twilight. No 
 sooner has the sun disappeared below the 
 horizon than the blackness of midnight reigns. 
 We had not passed quite through the danger 
 Zone of the reefs before it grew so dark that, 
 from my position on the foremast, I could not 
 See ahead sufficiently far to direct our course. 
 In Order to be able to see anything at all, I 
 climbed down into the port fore Channels close 
 by the water, and gave my Orders from there. 
 
 Just as we were passing the last reef that 
 might prove dangerous to us, we spent some 
 anxious moments. Suddenly, m spite of the 
 darkness, I could see every pebble, every bit 
 of seaweed on the bottom, an immistakable 
 evidence that we were in very shallow water. 
 Our lucky star guided us over this shoal also, 
 however, and we did not run aground. 
 
 Meanwhile we had set some sail, and had 
 thus lightened the work of the steam launchj 
 which still had us in tow. Before long we were 
 
THE "AYESHA" 25 
 
 free of the sheltering Islands, and the long, 
 heavy swells of the ocean put some motion into 
 our new ship. 
 
 When we were far enough out at sea to sail 
 our boat without danger of running into the 
 surf to leeward, I called the steam launch back 
 to the ship, so as to take off the crew. The 
 heavy swell made this manoeuvre no light task. 
 Again and again the little steamboat was 
 dashed against the side of the "Ayesha," and, 
 although the future of the launch was of little 
 interest to me, this unexpected encounter be- 
 tween my old ship and my new one gave me 
 serious concern. I had no confidence in the 
 "Ayesha's" ability to endure with safety such 
 vigorous demonstrations of friendship. Finally, 
 however, we succeeded in ridding ourselves of 
 the steam launch in this way: the last man 
 aboard her started her engine again with the 
 little steam that was left in the boiler. Then, 
 from aboard the "Ayesha," we reached over 
 with a boat hook, and turned the rudder of the 
 
26 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 steam launch to port. Courtesying elegantiy, 
 the littie boat drew away from us, and soon 
 vanished in the darkness. Whither it went, I 
 do not know. In all likelihood it f ound a grave 
 in the surf that beat wildly only a few hundred 
 meters away. Perhaps, however, it is still beat- 
 ing about the ocean, raiding on its own account. 
 
Chapter III 
 ON BOARD 
 
 On the following day we undertook a closer 
 inspection of our new abiding place. The 
 "Ayesha" was a ship of 97 tonnage, as we 
 learned from an inscription on one of the beams 
 in the hold. Her length was about thirty 
 meters, and her width somewhere between 
 seven or eight. She was rigged with three 
 masts. Of these, the after two, the mainmast 
 and the mizzenmast, carried only fore and aft 
 sails, whereas the foremast had two Square sails. 
 The ship was originally intended to be manned 
 by a crew of five, besides the captain. There 
 were now fifty of us aboard her. Provision for 
 berthing the crew had been made in a special 
 crew's cabin in the extreme forward part of the 
 ship. But here there was room for only six 
 men at the most; the rest of my crew had to 
 sleep in the hold. 
 
28 THE "AYESHA 
 
 When we took possession of the "Ayesha" 
 there was no cargo aboard her — nothing but 
 iron bailast in the hold. Luxurious couches my 
 men surely did not have, for we had brought 
 with US from Keeling but few blankets and 
 mattresses. For the time being, the men slept 
 in a spare sail spread over the iron ballast. In 
 time, however, they would be able to better 
 their condition considerably. They therefore 
 went busily to work at making hammocks out 
 of old ropes which they untwisted, out of 
 twine, and out of old sail cloth torn into Strips, 
 and other like material. These hammocks were 
 swung wherever a place could be f ound for them, 
 and afforded the occupants reUef from the rather 
 violent motion of the ship. 
 
 Below deck, aft of the hold, were two small 
 cabins originally fitted out for sleeping rooms, 
 but in which we were compelled to störe our 
 provisions. Moreover, swarms of huge cock- 
 roaches made them impossible as living rooms. 
 In the extreme af ter part of the ship was another 
 
ON BOARD 29 
 
 small cabin, designated by a sign over the door 
 as navigation room. In it the petty officers 
 were quartered. 
 
 On deck was a little deck house. This was 
 divided into two cabins, with a bed in each. 
 One of them I occupied myself ; the other was 
 shared by my two lieutenants. Adjoining these 
 cabins was another tiny one, furnished with a 
 table and a few small benches. This served us 
 as mess, as navigation, smoking and wine room, 
 as saloon and for occupation by the officer whose 
 watch it happened to be. 
 
 Our commissary department was carried on 
 under many difficulties. To be sure, the canned 
 provisions that we had taken with us from 
 Keeling were of an excellent quality, but the 
 caboose, that is, the ship's kitchen, was, of 
 course, planned for cooking to be done for only 
 five men, and the Lilliputian hearth was in no 
 way sufl&cient for our needs. Nor could the 
 fresh water we had with us be used for cooking, 
 as the supply was sufl&cient only for drinking 
 
30 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 purposes. To enlarge our cooking facilities we 
 brought pieces of iron ballast from the hold, 
 and with this and some Strips of tin tom from 
 places in the ship where it was not absolutely 
 necessary, we fashioned a fireproof hearth, and 
 in this improvised fireplace we kindled an open 
 fire. Around it, in a circle, sat the men holding 
 the cooking pots on rods over the fire, until the 
 food was cooked. To set the cooking Utensils 
 on the fire and leave them there was quite im- 
 possible, as the rolling motion of the ship would 
 soon have dislodged them. 
 
 All our cooking was done with salt water. 
 What each day's bill of fare was to be, we left 
 to the decision of the cook. We did not fare 
 poorly on the "Ayesha" by any means. For 
 the most part our meals consisted of rice cooked 
 with fruit, smoked sausage, corned beef, or the 
 like. 
 
 The drinking problem was a more difficult 
 one. Aboard our little ship we had foimd four 
 small iron water tanks in which a supply of 
 
ON BOARD 31 
 
 fresh water sufficient for a crew of five could 
 easily be carried. These tanks we had not had 
 time to examine while getting the "Ayesha" 
 ready for sea. We had been obhged to fill them 
 as quickly as possible. Now, with the small 
 crew, only one tank had been used, and after 
 a few days we discovered that the other three 
 had become foul. The water we had put into 
 them was therefore unfit to drink. The supply 
 of bottled Seltzer water which I had put aboard 
 at Keeling, I feit must not be used except in 
 case of extreme emergency, for I had to reckon 
 with the possibility that the "Ayesha" might 
 prove unseaworthy, and that we would have to 
 abandon her, and take to the "Emden's'' two 
 Cutters, that we had aboard. In that case, the 
 bottled water would be all that we could take 
 with US. 
 
 We hoped to be able in a reasonably short 
 time to replenish our water supply by refilling 
 with rain-water the three tanks in which the 
 water had fouled. In this hope we wäre not 
 
32 THE "AYESHA 
 
 disappointed. On the thirteenth of November, 
 only four days after our departure from Keeling, 
 the first of the usual tropical rains set in. Our 
 bad tanks had been cleaned in the meantime, 
 and an old sali got ready to catch the rain. 
 It was stretched horizontally across the main 
 hatch. In the middle of the sail was a hole, 
 and directly under this hole a man was stationed 
 with a petroleum can, the kind in which the 
 Standard Oil Company delivers petroleum, and 
 into which the rain-water ran. When it was 
 füll, it was passed from hand to hand along a 
 line of men until it reached the tank into which 
 it was to be emptied. In addition to this, the 
 cabin roof was arranged to catch rain-water. 
 Along the edges of the roof we fastened strips of 
 moulding, and the water which collected on the 
 roof was conducted through two gutters into 
 petroleum cans hung where they emptied. 
 This rain-water was not only fit to drink, but 
 was rendered quite palatable by the addition 
 of a dash of lime juice, of which we had fortu- 
 
ON BOARD 33 
 
 nately found a few bottles among the provisions 
 of the former captain. 
 
 As, from this time forth, the tropical down- 
 pours set in with pleasing regularity, every 
 morning and every evening, our tanks were 
 soon füll. In addition to these, all the available 
 Utensils and petroleum cans were filled with 
 water. These rainfalls were very welcome for 
 other reasons also. Since all the fresh water 
 had to be reserved for drinking purposes, our 
 prospects for washing seemed rather dubious. 
 Soap will not dissolve in salt water, and to wash 
 with salt water alone is not cleansing. We 
 therefore utilized these tropical downpours to 
 wash ourselves, and as shower baths, our 
 necessity resulting in the invention of a new 
 sort of bath, — a swinging bath. To prevent 
 the rain-water from running off the deck, we 
 stopped up the drain holes, the so-called scup- 
 pers, with old rags. With the rolling motion 
 of the ship, the water which had thus been col- 
 lected on the deck ran from one side to the 
 
34 THE ^'AYESHA^ 
 
 other, and so gave us a most excellent oppor- 
 tiinity for a bath, while the descending rain 
 answered for a final shower. 
 
 Moreover, the "Ayesha" carried two small 
 jolly-boats, the one barely large enough to hold 
 two, the other to hold three men. These boats 
 hung on the davits near the deck house. They 
 also were now used to collect water by closing 
 the drain holes with the plugs provided for that 
 purpose. Although we were disappomted to 
 find that the water contained in them was some- 
 what salty, and therefore unfit to drink, it 
 nevertheless served us very well for washing 
 purposes. 
 
 For the ship's Service the crew was divided 
 into two watches, a starboard and a port watch. 
 Most of my men were, of course, whoUy un- 
 used to hfe on a saiHng vessel, and the handling 
 of the gear was entirely new to them. This 
 was particularly the case with the stokers, who, 
 naturally enough, had never seen Service on a 
 sailing vessel. Still, there were among the crew 
 
ON BOARD 35 
 
 a sufficient number of fishermen and seamen 
 who at some former time had served on sailing 
 vessels, to make it possible for me to handle 
 the ship with safety. Whenever there was a 
 Job to be done that required great physical 
 strength, every man aboard was available as 
 so much man power. 
 
 At first the gear gave us much trouble. 
 Most of the sails were old and rotten, and tore 
 at the sHghtest provocation, so that we were 
 constantly at work mending and patching the 
 canvas. The tackle also gave way frequently. 
 We were theref ore obliged to exercise the great- 
 est care during a squall, as we never knew just 
 how much the masts could bear. 
 
 The condition of the ship itself was not such 
 as to inspire one with any great degree of con- 
 fidence. The captain's opinion, expressed in 
 the words, "The bottom is worn through," as 
 he left the ship, seemed to be well founded. 
 When we went down into the hold and cau- 
 tiously scraped away at the planking, we dis- 
 
36 THE "AYESHA'' 
 
 covered that the wood was red and rotten, so 
 much so, indeed, that we quickly stopped our 
 scratching, as we had no desire to poke the 
 point of our knife into the Indian Ocean. 
 
 During the first days out we had a heavy 
 swell astern, and the "Emden's" two cutters 
 performed some wonderful dancing at the ends 
 of the long ropes by which we carried them 
 in tow. In one of its wild gyrations one of the 
 cutters took a notion to catch on to the ship, 
 just under the overhanging stern. Usually such 
 set-to's between a ship and its jolly-boat end 
 to the decided disadvantage of the latter, but 
 in this case the conditions were reversed. 
 With a Sharp plunge the nose of the boat buried 
 itself in the rotten wood of the stern, and broke 
 a plank above the water line. I had little de- 
 sire for a repetition of this Performance. We 
 therefore set the ill-mannered cutter adrift, and 
 so had but one left, which, for a while, behaved 
 very well. But this proper behavior was not of 
 long duration, for, seized by an overweening 
 
ON BOARD 37 
 
 desire for its fellow, no doubt, the remaining 
 Cutter departed one night, and carried with it 
 a large piece of the bulwarks to which it had 
 been fastened. And again the break in the 
 ship showed red and rotten wood. 
 
 In those first days, the " Ayesha" also leaked 
 badly. In a short time we had so much water 
 in the ship, that it rose to the height of the 
 iron ballast on which the men slept. When 
 we tried to work the ship's pump, we found 
 that it was out of order. The packing of the 
 pistons was gone. So we took the pump to 
 pieces, got the piston out, replaced the missing 
 rubber packing with rags soaked in oil, and 
 finally succeeded in pumping the ship dry. 
 Taking it all in all, the "Ayesha'^ cut a pretty 
 sorry figure as a ship. 
 
 Had we had visitors at this period of our sea 
 voyage, they would have been amazed at the 
 resemblance our costumes bore to those in 
 vogue in the Garden of Eden, for even aside 
 from the times when we took our tropical 
 
38 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 shower baths — then we wore nothing at all — 
 cur clothing was very scant. For the landing 
 at Keeling we had not only clothed ourselves as 
 lightly as possible, but I had given the men 
 Orders to wear their oldest clothing. Now, with 
 the continuous handling of the sails, and the 
 other strenuous work aboard the ship, our wear- 
 ing apparel was fast disappearing. Having 
 neither needles nor thread, we could not even 
 mend it. To be sure, we had some gar- 
 ments that had been given us at Keeling, but 
 these served rather as a source of amusement 
 than as clothing. I had always had the Im- 
 pression that Englishmen generally are tall and 
 spare. Whether those at Keeling were an ex- 
 ception, or what the reason was, I cannot say, 
 but certain it is that most of their trousers 
 reached only to a little below the knees of my 
 men, and their jackets and blouses were big 
 enough for two. 
 
Chapter IV 
 A FINE DAY ON BOARD 
 
 OvR men rose with the sun, at six o'clock in 
 the moming. On war vessels it is the custom 
 to rouse the crew by a call of three long trills 
 given by all the petty oflScers at the same time 
 on boatswains' whistles. At this signal the men 
 turn out and lash their hammocks. We gave 
 up the attempt to conform to this custom, as 
 the noise that our one boatswain's whistle could 
 make would hardly have been loud enough to 
 attract the attention of waking men. The 
 crew slept side by side, packed like herrings in 
 a box, and aU that was needed to waken the 
 men, was to rouse the first one, who, in rising, 
 could not fail to waken his nearest neighbor, 
 who, in turn, would waken the next, and so on, 
 until the last one was up. 
 
 After we were up, the next thing to be done 
 
40 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 was to wash, provided there was water enough 
 left in the jolly-boats from the night before. 
 If it so happened that we could not get a wash, 
 we accepted the Situation with a cheerful spirit, 
 as being quite in harmony with the total ab- 
 sence of toothbrushes aboard the ship. But 
 our hair demanded special attention, for it was 
 growing longer and longer with every day. The 
 only comb that we possessed was passed from 
 hand to hand, each man's neighbor serving him 
 as looking glass, while for hair tonic we had 
 most excellent salt water. There was even a 
 shaving apparatus for the dandies, the rusty 
 condition of the razor, however, making it 
 necessary to use considerable caution. 
 
 Then came the cleaning of the ship. Water 
 was haiiled up in paus from over the sides of 
 the vessel, and dashed over the deck. A part 
 of the crew set to work at the pumps to rid 
 the ship of the water that had leaked in over 
 night. The sailors were up in the shrouds, 
 looking after the latest damage that had been 
 
A FINE DAY ON BOARD 41 
 
 sustained there, and making repairs. The cook, 
 in the Company of his own chosen helpers, was 
 forward by the caboose, busy with getting 
 breakfast, for which, besides rice, we also had 
 coffee and tea. When this was over, there was 
 really nothing more for the men to do. No 
 drilling could be attempted, for lack of room. 
 So we filled in the time occasionally by initiat- 
 ing the stokers, and others unused to life on a 
 sailing vessel, into the mysteries of steering, of 
 the compass, and of Service in the rigging. At 
 other times the one chart of which the ship 
 could boast was fetched out, and the men were 
 shown just where the ship lay. Many an idle 
 hour was spent in making plans for our future. 
 As for Charts, besides special maps of Ba- 
 tavia, where we had no Intention of going, 
 there was only the one large map that has been 
 mentioned, which represented the half of the 
 globe, and accordingly was on a very small 
 Scale. It began with Hong Kong and Borneo 
 on the east, and ended with Suez, Zanzibar, and 
 
42 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 Mozambique on the west. The long distance, 
 about 700 nautical miles, to Padang, the port 
 to which I intended to go, was represented on 
 the Chart by a space of no more than a hand's 
 breadth. 
 
 Meanwhile the dinner hour had arrived. As 
 there were not enough plates, forks, etc., to go 
 round, we ate in relays. Each man's portion 
 was dished out by the cook under supervision 
 of one of the petty oflScers of the commissary 
 department» With the dinner, a cup of coffee 
 or tea was also served. To while away the long 
 aftemoon, we prolonged the meal as much as 
 possible, and, when it was over, usually in- 
 dulged in an aftemoon nap. The Separation 
 of officers and crew, as is customary on board 
 ship, was, of course, out of the question with us. 
 The deck space was but just large enough to 
 accommodate all the men with some degree of 
 comfort on the upper deck. 
 
 Soon little groups had f ormed among the men, 
 the members of which gathered each aftemoon 
 
A FINE DAY ON BOARD 43 
 
 at some favorite spot. There they would sit 
 or lounge, smoking or sleeping, or happy if it 
 was their tum to have the use of one of the f ew 
 packs of Cards that we had been able to secure 
 before we left Keeling. Some of our men were 
 devoted fishermen. Over the bulwarks, at 
 every available spot, hung the fish lines in 
 waiting for an unwary fish, but I cannot re- 
 member that I ever heard of one being caught. 
 Can it be possible that this is to be ascribed 
 to a dislike for rice on the part of the fish? 
 For rice was our only bait. Reminiscences 
 were exchanged, and rebuses, arithmetic ques- 
 tions, conundrums, and the like, went the 
 rounds. 
 
 In the evening, after supper was over and 
 the sun was setting, the men usually assembled 
 forward on the deck, and sang. As there were 
 a number of good voices among them, their 
 singing in chorus was very pleasing, and, as 
 usual when Germans are having a good time, 
 the "Loreley" and other like tragic songs were 
 
44 THE "AYESHA^ 
 
 those that were oftenest sung. But "Pupp- 
 chen" and the "Song of the Reeperbahn" were 
 not neglected. 
 
 No particular honr was set for tuming in. 
 Everyone lay down to sleep when it suited him 
 best, and the watches, that is, the forward look- 
 out, and the man at the wheel, themselves saw 
 to it that they were relieved at the right time. 
 We carried no lights at night. We had but 
 little petroleum aboard, and the two oil lamps 
 that we had, gave out more smoke than hght. 
 
Chapter V 
 AN UN EASY DAY 
 
 Not always, however, did the days pass as 
 uneventfully as the one just described. Often 
 we had to struggle against high gales and 
 thundergusts. In fact, they had to be reck- 
 oned with both morning and evening of every 
 day. As welcome as the thunderstorms were 
 for the supply of fresh water they brought us, 
 we yet looked forward to them with dread also, 
 because of the strain on ship and rigging. In 
 the tropics the Coming of a thunderstorm can 
 be Seen from afar, and the time of its arrival 
 quite accurately timed. 
 
 The approach of one of these storms was 
 usually heralded by a f ew dark clouds near the 
 horizon, the falling rain showing as a long, 
 broad streak reaching from sky to ocean. As 
 the clouds rose toward the zenith, the columns 
 
46 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 of rain came visibly nearer. When the stonn 
 was within a thousand meters of us, the sails 
 were furled as far as necessary, and we rode 
 out the gale. We "laid to" then, with close 
 reefed sails, the ship's head close to the wind, 
 until the gale, which was always accompanied 
 by a downpour of rain so heavy that we could 
 see nothing except what was immediately in 
 front of US, was over. 
 
 One day we had an especially heavy thunder- 
 storm. The clouds hung so low that it seemed 
 as though we could grasp them with our hands. 
 The wind set in more quickly than we had ex- 
 pected, and just as we had begun to shorten 
 our light sails, the tempest was upon us. It 
 seized the mizzen-topsail, and whipped it furi- 
 ously through the air. The men on deck could 
 not hold it against the strain, it flew over the 
 mizzengaff, caught fast on it, and hung there. 
 To secure it at the time was impossible, be- 
 cause of the heavy roUing of the ship. For a 
 while, the flapping of the sail endangered the 
 
AN UNEASY DAY 47 
 
 whole mizzen-topmast, but more especially the 
 slender upper part of the mast, which is always 
 only lightly stayed. Its violent motion filled 
 US with anxiety. Moreover, we were now in the 
 worst of the gale, and had all we could do to 
 attend to the other sails. Nevertheless, we 
 finally succeeded in furling aU the sails with 
 the exception of a few bits of canvas that had 
 to be left out to give the ship steerage way. 
 
 The clouds were so heavy that it was almost 
 as dark as night. Unceasingly the lightning 
 flashed about us, followed instantly by a heavy 
 dap of thunder. So near and so vivid were the 
 flashes of lightning, that they blinded us for 
 the moment, and for seconds at a time we 
 could see nothing at all. It was a genuine little 
 cyclone that was sweeping over us. 
 
 Then the violent wind suddenly ceased as 
 the Center of the storm reached us, and the air 
 about US grew absolutely still. The high seas 
 and swells continued, however. The ship, 
 suddenly robbed of its support by the almost 
 
48 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 instant falling away of the wind, rolled so 
 heavily from side to side, that we feared the 
 masts would go overboard without our being 
 able to do anything to prevent it. The atmos- 
 phere was filled with electricity; on each of 
 our mast-heads bnrned St. Ehno fires, a foot 
 high. 
 
 Slowly the thunderstorm passed over. After 
 a few more brief but violent gusts of the recur- 
 ring gale, the wind died down and blew more 
 steadily and quietly. Soon nothing remained 
 but a few distant flashes of lightning to remind 
 US of the anxious hours we had but just passed. 
 One after the other the sails were set, and we 
 proceeded on our way. But soon afterward, 
 the wind died away entirely. 
 
 The times when we were becahned were per- 
 haps even more unpleasant than when the 
 wind paid us an over-amount of attention, for, 
 with the high and never-ceasing ocean swells, 
 oxir ship rolled very heavily whenever there 
 was no breeze to drive her. Then the sails, 
 
AN UNEASY DAY 49 
 
 no longer filled by the wind, flapped from side 
 to side, and when the heavy booms went over, 
 the whole ship shivered, and the masts trembled. 
 At such times we often thought it best to furl 
 all sails, and so avoid any possible danger to 
 ship and rigging. 
 
 On account of the violent and jerking motion 
 of the ship on such days, life aboard her was 
 extremely unpleasant and very fatiguing. To 
 remain aboard the ship at all, we had to hold 
 on to some support continuously with both 
 hands, or eise wedge ourselves firmly into a 
 secure corner. 
 
 On this particular day, we were again obliged 
 to furl all sails. While we were thus in the 
 worst of the rolling, and were swearing vigor- 
 ously at the ship's eccentricities, suddenly a 
 cloud of smoke was reported in sight on the 
 port bow forward. As we were wholly outside 
 of any course ordinarily followed by steamers, 
 we concluded that the vessel sighted must, like 
 ourselves, have reason to avoid the usual routes 
 
50 THE "AYESHA^ 
 
 of steamship travel. At first we thought it 
 might, perhaps, be one of oxir coaling ships, 
 either the "Exford" or the "Buresk," which, 
 just before the fight off Keeling, had been dis- 
 missed by the "Emden" to await her at certain 
 designated points. Having neither heard nor 
 Seen anything of the "Emden," they might 
 now be running into Padang, hoping there 
 to leam what had happened. On the other 
 hand, it might quite as well be a hostile cruiser 
 that had run into Keeling after the fight, and, 
 having heard of onr departure, was now looking 
 for US. 
 
 There were, in fact, but three courses for 
 US to choose from while making our escape 
 from Keeling, — to run to Padang, to Batavia, 
 or to Africa. Of these the most probable ones 
 were to Batavia, or to Padang. For a fast 
 cruiser it would be an easy matter to search 
 for US on both of these routes, and so make 
 sure of finding us. Elnowing that we were 
 whoUy dependent upon the wind for our prog- 
 
AN UNEASY DAY 51 
 
 ress, our pursuers could easily picture to them- 
 selves the course we had taken, and where they 
 would most likely find us. 
 
 Naturally, we made every effort to discover 
 the character of the unknown vessel. But even 
 from the mast-heads we could see no more than 
 the smoke she was leaving behind her. To 
 elude her by changing our course was quite 
 out of the question with the "Ayesha," be- 
 cahned as we were, and drifting idly. But, 
 after giving us a few anxious hours, the smoke 
 on the horizon vanished. 
 
 Meanwhile, the regulär evening breeze had 
 set in, and with it came the usual torrents of 
 rain. We were now in the region where the 
 Southeast and Northwest Monsoons meet and 
 struggle for the mastery. The wind changed 
 every few moments. First, a gust would strike 
 the ship from forward, and the next minute it 
 would be blowing a gale from af t, a condition of 
 affairs that afforded opportunity for some 
 expert and ingenious sailing manoeuvres. After 
 
52 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 we had practised dose hauling the sails a 
 number of times, we were suddenly confronted 
 with a task that well nigh proved too much for 
 US. A violent gust of wind from the north- 
 west was sweeping down upon the ship from 
 forward at the same time that one from the 
 south was approaching from aft. We were 
 therefore obliged to tack by close hauling the 
 foresail, while, at the same time, the mainsail 
 had to be set for wind from astern. The two 
 shower baths that the two gusts brought us 
 could not have been better managed in an up- 
 to-date sanitarium, where alternating hot and 
 cold showers are a feature of the baths. The 
 gust from the northwest brought a torrent of 
 rain so icy cold that most of us got below decks 
 as fast as we could, whereas the one from the 
 south, which overtook us a few minutes later, 
 showered us with water that was more than 
 lukewarm. 
 
Chapter vi 
 
 PADÄNG 
 
 On the twenty-third of November, early in 
 the morning, the ship was " cleared for action," 
 for we were now getting near land, and it was 
 not at all improbable that we would run across 
 an English or Japanese torpedo boat destroyer 
 coaling somewhere among the Islands. For 
 such an emergency my plans were made. I 
 intended to tack ahead of the destroyer, which 
 would certainly not be expecting an attack 
 from US, to bring up alongside of it by an ap- 
 parently unsuccessful manoeuvre, and then to 
 grapple with the enemy at close quarters. To 
 make the best use of our armament we had 
 cut four holes in the railing of the "Ayesha" 
 where the machine gims could be placed to 
 some advantage, although the rigging, with 
 its lanyards and dead ends, would certainly 
 
54 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 be a great hindrance. The rifles and pis- 
 tols were taken up on deck, and the ammuni- 
 tion was set within easy reach. As the machine 
 guns had not been used for some time, a shot 
 was fired from each of them, to test them. 
 
 At ten o'clock in the moming the lookout at 
 the mast-head reported: "Land in sight ahead." 
 Just where we were, and what land we were 
 approaching, it was quite impossible for us 
 to know, with the limited means of navigation 
 at our command. But to be near any land 
 whatever was a source of satisfaction to us. 
 Gradually, one island after another came in 
 sight. By four o'clock in the aftemoon we had 
 got our bearings sufficiently to know that we 
 were just outside of Seaflower Channel, and 
 about eighty nautical miles from Padang. 
 
 Of Seaflower Channel we had no charts 
 whatever; we only knew that it abounded in 
 reefs. As a calm always set in towards evening, 
 and I dared not venture to pass at night through 
 this Channel so imfamiliar to me, we lay to, 
 
PADANG 55 
 
 and slowly drifted seaward under reefed sails. 
 Just before sunrise we turned about, and steered 
 for the Channel again. 
 
 Lookouts were stationed in the masts to 
 watch the water for the change m color that 
 indicates the presence of reefs or shoals. With 
 all sails set, and with a light wind in our favor, 
 we passed through the Channel during the 
 course of the day without meeting with any 
 serious difficulties in the way of navigation. 
 
 As we no longer had any reason to fear a 
 shortage in onr fresh water supply before 
 reaching Padang, the bottles of Seltzer water 
 were brought out, and one was given to each ^ 
 man, as an especial treat, and probably 
 afforded us more enjoyment than had a bottle 
 of Champagne under ordinary circumstances. 
 On that evening, just before seven o'clock, 
 our log registered the eight-hundredth mile. 
 
 Before the night was over, a final gale, with 
 a rain like a veritable cloudburst, gave us con- 
 siderable to do. As the day dawned, the 
 
56 THE "AYESHA = 
 
 high mountains of Sumatra came in sight 
 against the horizon. Unfortunately, the wind 
 was not only very light, but off shore also, and 
 we could make but little headway. The heat 
 was so intense that towards noon a sail had 
 to be spread for an awning. 
 
 Our supply of tobacco had given out entirely 
 by this time. The men smoked tea leaves as 
 a Substitute. The officers tried it also, but — 
 bah, the devil was welcome to it! The crew 
 seemed to get considerable enjoyment out of 
 it, however. 
 
 As a guide for the run into Padang, between 
 all the many reefs and Islands, we had drawn 
 a Chart for ourselves according to Information 
 gathered from an antiquated sailors' hand-book 
 that some one had raked up. Although this 
 Chart could lay no claim to being either accu- 
 rate or complete, it was nevertheless better than 
 none. During the evening we saw, on one of 
 the Islands that we passed, a beacon which 
 was whoUy a surprise to us. Before the night 
 
PADANG 57 
 
 was over the long-looked-for flash-light of 
 Padang came in sight, but we passed it at a 
 great distance. Much to our regret, the cur- 
 rent, instead of taking us toward land, was 
 steadily carrying us farther out to sea, and, 
 with the light breeze that was blowing, to tack 
 was out of the question. By morning, there- 
 fore, we were five nautical miles farther ojff 
 shore than we had been on the previous evening. 
 The strait in which we now were is the high- 
 way for all ships. We had little desire to re- 
 main here, if for no other reason than that we 
 were very likely to encounter some hostile 
 cruiser. By this time a complete calm had set 
 in. We therefore lowered our two jolly-boats, 
 the smaller one manned by one, the larger boat 
 by two men, hitched them to our "Ayesha," 
 and so attempted to make some headway. 
 For the men at the oars, this was no light 
 task, exposed as they were to the füll rays of 
 a tropical sun, as they sat unprotected from 
 it in the open boats. We, on board, were not 
 
58 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 idle either. The oars of the "Emden's" two 
 Cutters, which we had with us, were fetched 
 out and tied together by pairs, so as to lengthen 
 them, and with these we proceeded to row the 
 "Ayesha." Although it cannot be said that 
 we attamed the speed of a fast mail steamer 
 in this way, we did, however, make some 
 progress. 
 
 On the following day a light wind did at 
 last set in, and relieved us of this strenuous 
 labor. In the distance, near the coast, we saw 
 a number of steamers that were evidently 
 either entering or leaving the port of Padang. 
 One of these roused our interest more than 
 any of the others, because she apparently did 
 not change her position at all, and so was evi- 
 dently laying to, as the great depth of water 
 in this vicinity precludes the possibility of 
 anchoring. As we drew near to the vessel, we 
 could make out with some degree of certainty 
 that she was not a merchantman. She ap- 
 peared to be a small warship of some kind — a 
 
PADANG 59 
 
 gun-boat, or a torpedo-boat destroyer, and flew 
 a flag which we could not distinguish, because 
 of its great distance from us. 
 
 Suddenly, the ship that had been lying so 
 motionless began to move. Thick clouds of 
 smokepoured from the smokestacks; she tumed 
 sharply, headed for us, and approached at 
 high speed. In a short time we recognised the 
 war flag of the Netherlands flying at the mast- 
 head. As we had no desire to drop our incog- 
 nito as yet, and as we were sailing in free waters, 
 there was no reason why we should show our 
 colors. We therefore quickly gathered up all 
 our rifles, and, together with our artillery equip- 
 ment, stowed them away below decks. All the 
 men quickly disappeared down the main hatch- 
 way, which was closed after them. The wildest 
 looking one of the sailors and myself were the 
 only ones who remained in sight. That we 
 both belonged to the Imperial Navy no one 
 would ever have imagined, as our clothing was 
 so scant that we would much more readily have 
 
6o THE "AYESHA" 
 
 beert sized up as belonging to the war fleet of 
 some one of the Island kingdoms of the Pacific. 
 Before long, the torpedo-boat destroyer was 
 close beside us, and began to evince an interest 
 in US, which, inexplicable from the first, soon 
 became extremely embarrassing. At a distance 
 of fifty meters she slowly passed by. On the 
 conamander's bridge stood all the officers, each 
 provided with marine glasses, through which 
 they examined our ship with great curiosity. 
 From the lively conversation that was going on 
 between the officers, we concluded that they 
 were talking about us. The destroyer passed 
 around us, close under our stern, and all the 
 binoculars were turned toward our ship's name, 
 which had long since disappeared imder a coat 
 of the thickest white paint. We were just 
 congratulating ourselves that we had bluffed 
 her, when, at a distance of 5000 meters, she 
 suddenly turned, and lay to. At this, I could 
 not rid myself of the thought that we had been 
 expected. 
 
PADANG 6i 
 
 At the destroyer's approach we had got 
 our war flag ready to run up, for if we had 
 been spoken, we would, of course, have replied 
 by a display of our colors. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon our attend- 
 ant, whom by this tirae we had identified by 
 the ship's name as the Dutch destroyer, 
 "Lynx," left us, and disappeared in the dbec- 
 tion of Padang. In our cheerful but overhasty 
 conclusion that she was preceding us into port 
 to give notice of our Coming, so that maids of 
 honor might be in waiting, and triumphal 
 arches be prepared for us, we were doomed to 
 disappointment, however. 
 
 By nightfall we lay close before the small, 
 flat coral islands that lie in front of the en- 
 trance to the harbor. We could see the Hghts 
 of a steamer that was Coming out of the harbor. 
 Another was moving into port. We looked 
 upon both of them with suspicion, as we sup- 
 posed one of them to be our companion of the 
 foregoing afternoon. We therefore carefully 
 
62 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 screened the "Ayesha's" lights. We had made 
 no mistake, for in signaling to the incoming 
 steamer, the outgoing ship revealed herseif to 
 be our old acquaintance, the "Lynx." To our 
 regret, she had sighted us in spite of all the 
 precaution we had taken. Again she became 
 our close companion, and for a while her green 
 and red side lights could be seen immediately 
 astem, at a distance of not more than one 
 hundred meters. We feit truly sorry for the 
 "Lynx." It must have been very irritating to 
 her to have to trundle behind us at the wonder- 
 ful speed of one nautical mile, a speed which, 
 with the Hght breeze blowing, the "Ayesha" 
 could not exceed. The engineers at the looo 
 horse-power engines of the "Lynx" probably 
 wished us elsewhere more than once that 
 night. 
 
 In so far as our problems of navigation were 
 concemed, the presence of the "Lynx" was a 
 distinct advantage to us, for we were sailing 
 in waters with which we were wholly unac- 
 
PADANG 63 
 
 quainted, but we could feel perfectly siire that 
 wherever the "Lynx" could float, we could 
 also. We knew that if we were nearing a 
 shoal, our escort would retreat in time, and 
 we could then turn and follow her. 
 
 Otherwise, however, her companionship was 
 little to our liking, for it gave us the appear- 
 ance of a disreputable little vagabond being 
 brought in by a burly policeman. As we were 
 a warship, we had no Intention of allow- 
 ing ourselves to be thus escorted. I there- 
 fore determined to communicate with the 
 "Lynx" by signal. For this purpose I had a 
 white bullös eye lantem, that usually hung in 
 the men's quarters, brought on deck. In front 
 of this lantem we held a board, and by raising 
 and lowering it, we gave our Morse Signals. 
 By means of this apparatus of high technical 
 development, we conveyed to our escort the 
 message in English, "Why are you following 
 me?" Although the "Lynx" acknowledged 
 our Signal as having understood it, we received 
 
64 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 no reply to our question. After a half hour 
 had passed without an answer, we resorted to 
 our Morse signal again, but this time asked in 
 German, "Why do you follow me?" And 
 again the signal was acknowledged, but no 
 answer given. Shortly afterward, however, the 
 "Lynx" increased her speed, and steamed off. 
 For another whole day the poor "Lynx" had 
 to dog our footsteps, for the wind continued to 
 fail US. 
 
 When, on the following day, the "Ayesha" 
 had carried us within the limits of Dutch terri- 
 torial waters, we immediately ran up our war 
 flag and pennants. The "Lynx" did not again 
 draw near to us, but kept at a distance of 
 several thousand meters. 
 
 Toward noon we found ourselves in a Posi- 
 tion of some peril. We were aware that we 
 were now in a region of submerged reefs over 
 which a vessel of even our light draught could 
 not pass in safety, but of the exact location of 
 these reefs we knew nothing. To our great 
 
PADANG 6s 
 
 relief, a little Malay sailboat came alongside, 
 and brought us a native pilot, whom I was 
 glad to employ. The only prospect of remunera- 
 tion that I could hold out to him was through 
 cur consul, as the entire amount of cash on 
 board consisted of a Shilling and twopence, 
 which we had found in a pocket-book that the 
 former captain had forgotten to take with him, 
 and which we had confiscated for the benefit 
 of the Imperial treasury. In marked contrast 
 to the Impression we made on the Dutch — 
 as developed later — this Malay pilot, who 
 seemed to us to be a very intelligent person, 
 was from the outset untroubled by any doubt 
 of our Status as a German warship, for he at 
 once declared himself willing to accept our 
 promise of a later payment through the Ger- 
 man consul. 
 
 Hardly had the pilot come alongside, when 
 the "Lynx" made a dash for us at high speed. 
 As we had no idea what her intentions were, I 
 ordered the war flag, which had been lowered 
 
66 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 in the meantime, to be run up again. In 
 Order to impress the "Lynx" more fully with 
 the fact that she was dealing with an Imperial 
 ship of war, I ordered the salute customary 
 between warships to be given, as she sped 
 past US at a distance of about sixty meters. 
 Our entire crew stood at attention on deck, 
 and our officers saluted. The "Lynx'' at once 
 retumed our salute in like manner. 
 
 Just before running into the harbor, I flagged 
 a Signal to the "Lynx," saying, "I am sending 
 a boat." Then I donned my full-dress uniform 
 — my khaki brown landing suit from the 
 "Emden," of which I had been most careful — 
 and went on board the "Lynx." 
 
 Her Commander received me at the gangway 
 ladder, and escorted me to the messroom. I 
 opened the conversation, saying that we had 
 feit much flattered at the lively interest he had 
 shown in us during the past day and a half, 
 that we were a landing squad from the "Em- 
 den," and were on the way to Padang with 
 
PADANG 67 
 
 his Majesty's ship, "Ayesha," that at Padang 
 we wished to repair damages, and relieve the 
 distress on board by replenishing our störe of 
 provisions and our water supply. I then in- 
 quired whether he knew of any reason why we 
 could not mn into the harbor. To this the 
 Commander replied that he had Orders to ac- 
 company us, that there was nothing to prevent 
 US from running into the harbor, but that in all 
 probability we would not be allowed to nm 
 out again; that these matters would, however, 
 be decided by the civil authorities on shore, 
 and that he could give us neither further, nor 
 more definite, Information. 
 
 I represented to him that the "Ayesha," 
 being a warship, could leave the harbor at any 
 time, and that no one had the right to detain 
 US. Then I added in jest: "I hope you and I 
 will not get into a fight when I run out." 
 
 As I left the destroyer, I saw the "Ayesha" 
 for the first time from a distance, and under 
 füll sail. I must say that she made a capital 
 
68 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 appearance, and looked very pretty, even 
 though the patched and torn sails she carried 
 were little in harmony with the pennant and 
 war flag of the German Empire. 
 
 Just before we reached the entrance to the 
 harbor, a small steam tug came out to meet us. 
 It was bringing the harbor master, who was 
 Coming to show us where to drop anchor. He 
 indicated a place quite far out. It was my 
 Intention, however, to get as close as possible 
 to the steamships lying in the harbor, for even 
 now I could distinguish the German and 
 Austrian flags flying on some of them. I 
 therefore told the harbor master that I would 
 rather not anchor so far out, but would like to 
 run farther into the harbor. It was not a 
 sufficiently sheltered place for my ship, I ex- 
 plained, and furthermore, that it required a 
 great length of chain to anchor in water of 
 that depth. That our chains were in fact quite 
 long enough to reach to the bottom of water 
 six times as deep, I did not feel obliged to teil 
 
PADANG 69 
 
 him. By and by his objections were overcome 
 by argument in piain German. But, as we got 
 farther in, he demanded very insistentiy that 
 we anchor at once. Now it chanced that by 
 a mishap the two topsails, the very ones by 
 which a ship makes the most headway, abso- 
 lutely refused to come down. Again and again 
 the sheets and halyards hitched, so that, as 
 was my original intention, we had come dose 
 up to the steamers before we found it possible 
 to anchor. 
 
 As soon as the "Ayesha" lay at anchor, I 
 sent my senior officer, Lieutenant Schmidt, 
 on shore to report our arrival officially, and to 
 make my wishes known to the authorities. At 
 the same time, the German consul was asked 
 to come on board. Furthermore, I announced 
 that, in accordance with international custom, 
 no one would be allowed to come on board 
 without the permission of the govemment au- 
 thorities, nor would any one from the ship 
 be permitted to go ashore. 
 
70 THE ^'AYESHA" 
 
 Soon the " Ayesha" was surroimded by boats 
 Coming from the Gennan ships. There were 
 the "Kleist," the "Rheinland," and the "Chol- 
 sing" of the Lloyd line, besides an Austrian 
 ship. They all had their top flags set, and 
 greeted us with a "Hurrah." Cigars, ciga- 
 rettes, tobacco, watches, clothing, poems, letters, 
 and, what we wanted most of all, Gennan news- 
 papers, were thrown to us. That these were 
 old, none later than the second of October, 
 and it was now the twenty-seventh of Novem- 
 ber, mattered little. They were most welcome, 
 for up to this time, the only news that we had 
 obtained was from the English papers that we 
 had found on board the English steamers that 
 the "Emden" had raided. All that we had 
 heard of the war, therefore, were the widely dis- 
 seminated Reuter tales of horror such as: — 
 The Russians near Berlin — the Kaiser wounded 
 — the Crown Prince fallen — suicide epidemic 
 among Gennan generals — revolution in Ger- 
 many — the last horse slaughtered — complete 
 
PADANG 71 
 
 rout on the western front, and the like. To- 
 gether with the newspapers, many pictures had 
 been thrown on board also, and, on Coming into 
 the cabin and mess soon afterward, I found 
 the walls covered with pictures of the Kaiser, 
 the Chief of the fleet, the Secretary of State for 
 the Imperial Navy, and others, which the men 
 had tacked up for decoration. 
 
 At first the Dutch govemment authorities 
 made trouble for us, as they were not disposed 
 to accord us the Status of a warship, but in- 
 tended to regard us as a prize of war. Against 
 this, I made an instant and vigorous protest by 
 declaring that it was only to my superior officers 
 in Germany that I would have to account for my 
 right to command this ship. At the same time 
 I asked permission to take aboard water, pro- 
 visions, ropes, sailcloth, clothing, nautical Charts, 
 and the simplest toilet necessities, such as soap, 
 tooth brushes, hair brushes, shoe polish, etc. 
 The German consul took charge of this. The 
 "neutrality officer," especially appointed by 
 
72 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 the Dutch govemment to look after such mat- 
 ters, immediately wired to Batavia to get his 
 Orders conceming us direct from the authorities 
 there. Altogether, the Impression I received 
 was that every efifort was bemg made to hold 
 the "Ayesha," and to intern the officers and 
 crew. It was very evident that the local 
 authorities were much disturbed, and feared 
 complications with Japan or England, if we 
 were allowed to leave. 
 
 The person most concemed, and the one 
 with whom the decision lay, seemed to be 
 the harbor master, a subaltem ojQ&cial, and a 
 Belgian at that. When the aftemoon had well 
 nigh passed, and the things ordered for the 
 ship had not arrived, I requested the senior 
 Dutch Commander at Padang to order the 
 goods to be delivered at once, as, in conformity 
 to the neutral code, I would have to run out 
 of the harbor within twenty-four hours. Fi- 
 nally, at seven o'clock in the evening, a part of 
 what had been ordered arrived, and with the 
 
' 1 »3 ) 
 
 VON MUCKE 
 

PADANG 73 
 
 things came the neutrality oflScer. He made 
 every possible effort to induce me to allow 
 officers and crew to be interned. As I had 
 foreseen this, my officers had been asked to 
 be present and take part in the conversation, 
 so that he might be convinced from the begin- 
 ning that the "Ayesha's" officers were unani- 
 mous in refusing to consider his proposition. 
 
 In the first place, the neutrality officer repre- 
 sented to me — in so far as I could see, by 
 advice from Batavia — how wholly impossible 
 it would be for us to get away, as it was for- 
 bidden to deliver either marine charts, or nauti- 
 cal books. There were many other things also 
 with which we could not be supplied, such as 
 clothing, for instance, since, to provide us with 
 these, as well as with soap, tooth powder, etc., 
 would be to "increase oxir war strength." 
 
 As it had now been three weeks since any of 
 US had been able to brush our teeth, we de- 
 cided that this hardship could be endured a 
 little longer. Nor had the one comb we pos- 
 
74 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 sessed failed to serve our modest demands. 
 As the harbor master had seen that my men 
 were going almost naked for want of clothing, 
 and as he also was aware that we had no 
 marine charts, I could but conclude that there 
 was intention in refusing us these very necessary 
 articles. When I persisted in my determina- 
 tion to sail with or without charts, I was told 
 that we could not escape capture if we ran out, 
 as the waters round about were being scoured 
 by Japanese and English cruisers; that it had 
 only been by a lucky chance that we had 
 escaped capture so far, and that we would 
 surely be caught if we put to sea again; that 
 the " Emden " had acquitted herseif well enough, 
 and that no one would criticize us if this hope- 
 less attempt were abandoned. It is needless to 
 say that we absolutely refused to be moved by 
 all this persuasion. 
 
 Meanwhile, the provisions had been delivered 
 and stowed away on board, and the ship made 
 ready to weigh anchor, the only hindrance to 
 
PADANG 75 
 
 our departure being the ten live pigs that we 
 had taken with us, for they persisted in Standing 
 just where our anchor chain was being hove up. 
 At eight o'clock in the evening we left oxir 
 anchorage. 
 
 From the Dutch papers that we received a 
 few weeks later, we learned that the people had 
 occupied themselves with various speculations 
 as to what we were going to do, and where we 
 were bound. They might have spared them- 
 selves the trouble of these speculations if they 
 had listened as we departed, for the answer to 
 the question whither we were going and what 
 were our intentions, was bom back to them 
 upon the breeze, as the " Ayesha" vanished into 
 the night: 
 
 " To the Rhine, the Rhine, the German Rhine, 
 To guard its sacred boundary line! " 
 
Chapter vn 
 
 TEE MEETING WITH TEE ''CEOISING'' 
 
 WiTH a light wind astem, the "Ayesha" 
 dowly made her way out from among the 
 Dutch Islands, and toward three o'clock in 
 the morning had passed beyond the limits of 
 Dutch territorial waters. I had but just 
 turned in when Lieutenant Schmidt, whose 
 watch it was, waked me with the words: 
 "Captain, a German boat is Coming alongside." 
 
 As I knew that we were then well out at sea, 
 I growled out: "Man, don't talk nonsense! 
 Let me sleep!" 
 
 But he assured me again that it was as he 
 had said, and would not be frightened off even 
 by the most violent protests. At the same 
 time I heard loud voices from outside crying: 
 "There she is, there she is! We have caught 
 her after all." 
 
MEETING WITH THE "CHOISING" 77 
 
 As I came on deck, I saw a little rowboat 
 with a few people in it swiftly approaching us 
 from out the darkness of the lingering night. 
 Soon one traveling case, and then another, 
 came flying on board. Their two owners ap- 
 peared immediately afterward, and turned out 
 to be an officer of the reserves and a chief 
 engineer's mate, also a reservist. Both re- 
 ported to me for duty. As we were outside 
 of the limit of Dutch territorial waters, there 
 was no reason for deferring their enrollment. 
 
 Our only difficulty was to provide quarters 
 for the officers now aboard the "Ayesha," as 
 there was but the one bed, which was hardly 
 big enough for three. In the end, it was ar- 
 ranged that one officer should sleep in the bunk 
 in the cabin, while another chose the place on 
 the floor under the mess table for his bed, a 
 resting place which was not wholly free from 
 disturbance, however, as the third officer, who 
 had the watch, was inclined to put his feet 
 there. 
 
78 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 By evening, a moderate, favorable breeze had 
 taken us as far as Seaflower Channel, with 
 which we were well acquainted. To our sur- 
 prise, we discovered a large steamer Coming 
 toward us on an easterly course. As there are 
 no beacon lights on this strait, it is avoided by 
 steamers, most merchantmen preferring to go 
 by way of the more northerly route through 
 Siberut Strait, where there are many lights. 
 The appearance of a steamer in this imfre- 
 quented spot was, therefore, to say the least, 
 rather remarkable. I strongly suspected it to 
 be a warship. 
 
 As qnickly as possible every sail, to the very 
 last rag we had, was set, our course was changed 
 hard to starboard, and, with all the speed we 
 could muster, we tried to get back into Dutch 
 waters. To our great relief, the low, palm- 
 covered coral Islands soon came into sight, 
 easily distinguishable by the broad white line 
 of the surf that always breaks on their shores. 
 We crept as dose as we dared to this line of 
 
MEETING WITH THE "CHOISING" 79 
 
 surf, keeping at a distance of about a thousand 
 meters from the shore. To anchor in this 
 depth of water was quite impossible, for these 
 coral Islands rise abmptly, abnost perpendicu- 
 larly, out of the water. 
 
 Our frame of mind was in no wise improved 
 when suddenly our unknown steamer began to 
 exchange flashlight signals in secret code with 
 some other vessel as yet invisible to us. Soon 
 afterward the second warship, for it could be 
 no other kind of vessel, steamed away toward 
 the south, while the other cruised back and 
 forth through Seaflower Channel, Unfortu- 
 nately the wind died down more and more, — 
 so much so that our hope that by daylight we 
 would be out of sight of the cruising steamer, 
 was doomed to disappointment. 
 
 It was my intention now to run in between 
 the many small islands, to tie the "Ayesha" 
 fast to the first convenient palm tree, take 
 down top-masts and sails, and so make it im- 
 possible to discover us from out at sea. Then I 
 
8o THE "AYESHA'^ 
 
 meant to find out the nature of the ship in 
 which we were so much interested. The calm 
 which set in rendered it impossible to carry out 
 this plan, however. At sunrise we were only 
 a few nautical miles distant from the warship, 
 and hardly had the dayhght revealed to her 
 the masts of the "Ayesha," when she changed 
 her course and approached us at high speed. 
 We were still within the limit of Dutch terri- 
 torial waters, and I had not the least desire to 
 leave them. Fortunately for us, the man-of- 
 war turned out to be neither English nor 
 Japanese. It was the Dutch flag-ship, "De 
 Zeven Provincien." The iron-clad followed us, 
 always at some distance, however, until we 
 had left Dutch waters in our course westward. 
 We continued to sail toward the west, in- 
 tending to keep the "Ayesha" within the 
 vicinity of a certain point where we hoped to 
 meet with some German steamer. Although 
 it had not been possible for us to make any 
 definite arrangements with any of the German 
 
MEETING WITH THE ^XHOISING'' 8i 
 
 vessels that were lying at Padang, neverthe- 
 less, from the conversations that had taken 
 place from deck to deck, their captains had some 
 knowledge of the course we intended to follow. 
 We took it for granted, therefore, that some one 
 of these steamers would follow us with a view 
 of aiding us on our farther journey. So we 
 drifted about at sea for nearly three weeks. 
 During a part of this time we had rough 
 weather, which was especially trying to our 
 ten pigs, for whom quarters had been put up 
 in the bows near the capstan. To make Hfe 
 aboard the "Ayesha," when she was rolling 
 heavily, at all endurable to these animals, we 
 had nailed slats on the flooring of their quar- 
 ters. Before this had been done, the poor 
 creatures went sliding back and forth across 
 the smooth deck, from rail to rail. 
 
 Twice our hope that a friendly steamer was 
 Coming to our relief was disappointed. Each 
 time it was an English ship. One of them be- 
 haved so peculiarly, and made such unusual 
 
82 THE *'AYESHA" 
 
 manoeuvres as we came in sight, that we be- 
 lieved her to be an auxiliary cruiser. We 
 therefore cleared the "Ayesha's" deck for ac- 
 tion. To occupy the attention of the cruiser, 
 with whom we wished to pass for a harmless 
 merchant vessel, we signaled: "Please give me 
 the geographica! position." This is a signal 
 very commonly used by sailing vessels when 
 meeting a steamer. The desired information 
 was given us, but with it came the embarrassing 
 question : " Who are you? " We had no special 
 Signal of our own, and the "Ayesha's" signal, 
 which we had learned from the ship's papers, 
 we did not, for obvious reasons, care to give. 
 So we took four flags that happened to be at 
 hand, arranged them one above the other, tied 
 a knot in the two upper ones, so that no one 
 could teil what they were, and then hoisted this 
 signal in such a way that it was half hidden 
 by the sails. This scheme we hoped would lead 
 the steamer to beheve that we had answered 
 the question, but that she had failed to de- 
 
MEETING WITH THE "CHOISING" 83 
 
 cipher our signal. About half an hour later the 
 steamer had disappeared. We saw her answer- 
 ing signal, "I have seen your signal, but cannot 
 make it out," fluttering after her at half mast as 
 long as she remained in sight. The second Eng- 
 lish steamer came in view at a great distance 
 from US, and probably did not see us at all. 
 
 The fourteenth of December, 1914, was a 
 thick, foggy and rainy day, with rather high 
 seas running. The "Ayesha" was tacking 
 back and forth under close reefed sails, when 
 suddenly, through the dense atmosphere, we 
 could see, only about four thousand meters 
 ahead, a steamer looming up out of a thick, 
 gray fog bank. She had two masts and one 
 smoke Stack, and was steering an easterly 
 course. We were sailing toward the west. 
 At this point the course of the ordinary mer- 
 chantman can only be either to the north, or 
 to the south. Hence, a steamer running on 
 an easterly course here, must have some un- 
 usual reason for doing so. The natural infer- 
 
84 THE "AYESHA^ 
 
 ence was that this was one of the German 
 steamers looking for us. We steered our course 
 for her at once, under as much sail as our ship 
 could carry. We sent off red and white fire 
 balls that are visible by day as well as by 
 night, in the hope of attracting the attention 
 of the steamer, which by this time we had 
 recognized as the Lloyd steamer, "Choising.'' 
 Our great fear was that the "Choising" would 
 fail to see us in the foggy weather, and so would 
 pass US by. At last, after we had sent off our 
 fourth or fifth fire ball signal, we saw the ship 
 tum, and come towards us. 
 
 Up flew our flag and pennant. The steamer 
 ran up the German flag. The crew laid aloft 
 into the shrouds, and three cheers rang from 
 deck to deck. As usual, our men were dressed 
 in the manner customary in the Garden of 
 Eden, a costume which necessity had forced 
 upon them. The men of the "Choising" con- 
 fided to US later that they were blank with 
 astonishment when suddenly, out of the fog, 
 
MEETING WITH THE ^'CHOISING" 85 
 
 emerged a schooner, the shrouds of which were 
 filled with naked forms. Because of the heavy 
 seas running, an immediate transfer to the 
 "Choising" was not possible. As better 
 weather had prevailed in the region to the 
 south, from which we had come, I signaled 
 the "Choising" to follow the "Ayesha." 
 
 But, instead of growing better, the weather 
 grew steadily worse on the following day, 
 until, during the course of the night, it de- 
 veloped into a heavy storm. The "Ayesha's" 
 sails were dose reefed, and, it must be said, 
 she behaved well. Not one of the heavy 
 combers broke over her; she rode them like a 
 duck. Of course, the inside of the ship was 
 as wet as the outside, for the spray dashed 
 over the deck without intermission. 
 l At daybreak the "Choising," which is a ship 
 of 1700 tonnage, signaled by flag: "On account 
 of the storm and heavy seas I cannot remain 
 here." I therefore decided to run in under the 
 lee of the land, so as to make the transfer there. 
 
86 THE "AYESHA = 
 
 and accordingly, signaled another place of 
 meeting to the "Choising." The two ships 
 separated again, as I, in my sailing vessel, could 
 not steer the same course that the steamer took. 
 The next night was the worst that we ex- 
 perienced on the "Ayesha." All night long 
 the tempest raged. Although aware of our 
 proximity to the Islands, we did not know just 
 where we were. Both the wind and the cur- 
 rent threatened to dash us against the reefs. 
 The night was so black that we could not see 
 anything. If , under these conditions, we should 
 get too near the shore, both ship and crew were 
 doomed. Even the small rags of sails, closely 
 reefed as they were, which we still carried, were 
 almost too much. Towards morning an espe- 
 cially fierce squall set in. It was too much 
 for our rotten old sails. We heard a sharp 
 crack, and then another, — our foresail and 
 our staysail had tom away from their holt 
 ropes, and only a few small rags were left 
 whipping in the wind. The departing foresail 
 
MEETING WITH THE "CHOISING" 87 
 
 took with it a third sail, the fore staysail, so 
 that we lost all our forward canvas. To set 
 a spare sail was quite impossible at the time, 
 both on account of the darkness and of the 
 heavy running seas. We had to lay to, there- 
 fore, with only the aftersails, and trust to luck 
 to keep away f rom the surf. 
 
 As soon as the day dawned, the spare sails 
 were got out and bent on. Before long, the 
 wind began to die down. We found it possible 
 to increase our canvas and steer toward the 
 place appointed for our meeting with the 
 " Choising." As we drew near to it, at about 
 nine o'clock in the morning, the "Choising" 
 appeared in the distance. In the meantime, 
 however, the wind had fallen off so completely 
 that the "Ayesha" could hardly make any 
 headway at all. I therefore signaled the 
 "Choising" to take us in tow, and get in the 
 lee of the nearest island. There we would 
 find shelter from both wind and waves, and 
 the transfer could be safely made. 
 
Chapter VIII 
 TEE PASSING OF THE "AYESHA'* 
 
 While we were being towed by the "Choi- 
 sing," we began to unrig the good old " Ayesha." 
 It saddened us to think that we would have to 
 sink her, as there was no port to which we 
 could take her. There was danger that she 
 would be restored to her former owner if Twe 
 took her to a Dutch port. This we wanted to 
 prevent under any circumstances. All the pro- 
 visions we still had on hand were placed on the 
 Upper deck, and our arms were taken there 
 also. Trunks there were none to pack. The 
 "Ayesha's'' figure-head, which represented the 
 favorite wife of the prophet, was taken down, 
 and the rudder wheel unscrewed; both were 
 to be carried with us aboard the "Choising,*' 
 and kept as Souvenirs. 
 
 Soon we had reached the shelter of the small 
 Islands, the swell ceased, and it was possible 
 
THE PASSING OF THE "AYESHA'' 89 
 
 to bring the "Ayesha" alongside the steamer. 
 Meanwhile, the "Ayesha's" shrouds, the ropes 
 which hold the masts, were cut, and all other 
 ends and stays were either removed, or cut 
 through. At the same time two holes were 
 bored into the hold, and through these the 
 ship began slowly to fill. 
 
 Towards four o'clock in the aftemoon the 
 "Choising's" engine was started up, and the 
 "Ayesha" was cut adrift. It appeared as 
 though the little ship were loth to part from us, 
 for, although our steamer was moving on, and 
 no hawser was holding the "Ayesha" to us, 
 she kept alongside the "Choising" for some 
 time. And then, at last, as though she had 
 found her own strength insufl&cient to keep up 
 with US, the "Ayesha" caught on to our ship, 
 just behind the gangway ladder, carrying a 
 part of it with her. 
 
 I wanted to stay by the "Ayesha" as long as 
 she was afloat, so our steamer was stopped, and 
 we lay to at a distance of three hundred to 
 
90 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 four hundred meters off from her. The loss 
 of the brave little ship touched us deeply. 
 Although our life on board had been anything 
 but comfortable, we nevertheless all realized 
 fully that it was to the "Ayesha" we owed 
 our liberty. For nearly a month and a half 
 she had been our home. In that time she had 
 carried us 1709 nautical miles. We all stood 
 aft at the stem raüing of the "Choising," 
 and watched the "Ayesha's" last battle with 
 the waves. Gradually, and very slowly, she 
 sank lower and lower ua the water. Soon it 
 washed her upper deck. Then suddenly a 
 shudder passed over the whole ship; she 
 seemed to draw a long breath; the bow rose 
 out of the water for a last time, only to plunge 
 into it again the more deeply. The iron bailast 
 roUed forward; Standing on end, her rudder 
 up, her masts flat on the water, the ^'Ayesha" 
 shot like a stone into the deep, never to be 
 Seen again. Three cheers for her rang out 
 above her ocean grave. 
 
THE PASSING OF THE **AYESHA" 91 
 
 The day was the sixteenth of December, 
 1914, and the hour, fifty-eight minutes after 
 four o'clock m the afternoon. 
 
 Aboard the "Choising," the first thing to 
 be done was to order a course to the west, and 
 the next, to see what provision conld be made 
 for my men. A place had already been pre- 
 pared for them in a part of the ship ordinarily 
 used for the storing of coal. It had been cleaned 
 up, and mattresses, blankets, etc., sufficient 
 for all, were in readiness, so that, in com- 
 parison with the days spent on the "Ayesha," 
 a life of luxury was before us. 
 
 An ocean greyhound my new ship surely 
 was not. When in the best of trim, she went 
 at the rate of seven and one half miles, but 
 there were times when we had to content our- 
 selves with four. This was due, in part, to 
 poor coal. The "Choising" was a ship that 
 had originally been intended for use as a coal- 
 ing steamer for the "Emden," and in this 
 capacity had waited long for her at the 
 
92 THE ''AYESHA'' 
 
 appointed place. But, as the British Admi- 
 ralty had been so obliging as to provide the 
 "Emden" most generously and considerately 
 with the best of Welsh coal, although its in- 
 tended destination was Hong Kong, there had 
 been no reason why the "Emden" should take 
 on any of the poor quality of coal from India 
 and Australia, which the "Choising" had 
 aboard for her. While waiting for the "Em- 
 den" the "Choising^s" cargo of coal had got 
 on fire, and we were now using what was left 
 of this half-burned coal. 
 
 On the "Choising" we had news which was 
 of importance to us. At the time that we left 
 Padang in the "Ayesha," we foimd it a most 
 difl&cult Problem to decide where to go. My 
 earliest plan, to try to reach Tsing-tao, had 
 to be abandoned when, at Padang, we leamed 
 of the fall of that colony. My next Intention 
 was to join his Majesty's ship "Königsberg," 
 of whose whereabouts we knew nothing more 
 than that she was somewhere in the Indian 
 
THE PASSING OF THE ^'AYESHA" 93 
 
 Ocean. In case she was no longer there (I 
 had hoped to get news of her from the " Choi- 
 sing"), my next plan was to sali to German 
 East Africa. We knew that there had been 
 some severe fighting there between our colonial 
 troops and the Enghsh, and, upon reflection, 
 I abandoned this project also, as being an 
 absolutely hopeless one. With only fifty men, 
 whose clothing outfit was an entirely inade- 
 quate one, and who were wholly unprovided 
 with any of the many things necessary to 
 troops on land, with neither surgeon nor medi- 
 cines, no knowledge of the language, no guide, 
 and no maps, it would be next to impossible, 
 in a district as large as the fighting area of 
 Southeast Africa, to locate and make connec- 
 tion with troops numbering not more than a 
 few thousands themselves. For the present, 
 therefore, there was but one course left open 
 to US, — to make our way homeward by f ol- 
 lowing the route around Africa. How to Pro- 
 vision our ship for so long a journey was a 
 
94 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 Problem which suggested many difficulties, 
 however. 
 
 But at last we found in one of the news- 
 papers the report of a battle between Turkish 
 and British troops at Sheikh Said, near Perim, 
 an island in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb (Gate 
 of Tears). This gave us reason to believe that 
 Turkey also had now entered the war. Our 
 diHgent search for confirmation of this surmise 
 was finally rewarded by finding in one of the 
 papers the annoiincement that war between the 
 Turkish and British Empires had begun. The 
 new Situation thus created suggested a land- 
 ing in Arabia as our nearest and most hopeful 
 prospect. The course which appeared to be 
 even more reasonable, viz., to join the "Königs- 
 berg," was abandoned, in the first place, be- 
 cause the "Choising" had brought word that 
 the "Königsberg" had been sunk in battle 
 somewhere to the north of Australia, and in 
 the second place, because of news that she 
 was bottled up in the Rufiji River. If she 
 
THE PASSING OF THE "AYESHA" 95 
 
 had been sunk, our search for her would be to 
 no purpose, and if she was shut in by a blockade, 
 she would neither have coal, nor could she use 
 any that we might bring her. The fifty men 
 whom we shoidd add to her numbers would 
 only make so many more mouths to feed. 
 
 The "Choising" was therefore started on a 
 southerly course, in the first place, to avoid the 
 principal steamer routes, and secondly, to keep 
 out of the region in which the tropical cyclones 
 are most frequent, for the "Choising" was not 
 equal to such a tempest. A sharp lookout was 
 kept, so that we might catch sight of an enemy's 
 ship before we ourselves were discovered. On 
 account of our ship's remarkable speed, the 
 only Chance of escape we had, in case we came 
 in contact with a hostile man-of-war, lay in a 
 game of bluff. 
 
 The "Choising" was still painted like all 
 Lloyd steamships, viz., black huU, white bul- 
 warks, and ochre brown trimmings. Of course, 
 we could not in safety continue like that. So 
 
96 THE "AYESHA= 
 
 we gave our ship a coat of paint that made her 
 look like a Dutchman. But on second thought, 
 we concluded that this was hardly safe, as we 
 were likely to meet a number of vessels in the 
 Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, and that some of 
 them might ask us the question, "Who are 
 you? " which already had proved so embarrass- 
 ing to US. We had no record of seagoing ships 
 on board, except an EngUsh list, at the end of 
 which we found the names of a number of 
 EngHsh vessels that had been sold by the 
 EngHsh to foreign countries. Among these 
 there was one steamship, the "Shenir," that 
 had been sold to a Genoa firm, and that was 
 a vessel of 1700 tons. As this was the exact 
 size of the " Choising," we decided to adopt the 
 "Shenir" as Sponsor for our ship, and ere long 
 the legend, "Shenir, Genoa," in large white 
 letters, adorned our stern. 
 
 This discovery we had made in the English 
 shipping list was especially welcome to me, as 
 I preferrcd to pass for an Italian. In view of 
 
THE PASSING OF THE "AYESHA" 97 
 
 Italy's attitude of vacillation, I had reason to 
 believe that even an English warship would 
 hesitate unnecessarily to harass an Italian 
 vessel. 
 
 The "Shenir," from Genoa, would naturally 
 be expected to fly the Italian flag. But this was 
 an article which, unfortunately, was not num- 
 bered among the possessions of the " Choising." 
 Nor was there any green bunting on board. A 
 green window curtain was discovered by some 
 one, however, and to it we sewed a strip of 
 red, and a strip of white bunting. A committee 
 was then selected from among the men who had 
 artistic ability, and they were soon hard at 
 work painting Italy's coat of arms upon the 
 white Strip. The green of the curtain was not 
 of the right shade, however, so we added some 
 yellow paint to a pot of blue, which we hap- 
 pened to have on board, until the desired 
 shade of green was produced, and then dipped 
 the green part of the flag into it. 
 
Chapter IX 
 FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 
 
 January 7th, 191 5, found us in the vicinity 
 of the Straits of Perim. Nothing worthy of 
 note had happened on the way. A number of 
 steamers had been sighted, but always in time 
 to change the course of our vessel toward the 
 coast of Africa. We kept this course until the 
 steamer had disappeared, when we promptly 
 retumed to the right one. 
 
 Christmas was a very quiet day with us, 
 but our New Year's festivities were all the 
 more hilarious, and we made the most of what 
 little remained of beer and wine aboard the 
 "Choising." 
 
 It had been my Intention to arrive in the 
 Perim Straits immediately after sundown. In 
 this we were not quite successful, however, and 
 again for the reason that we had no marine 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 99 
 
 Charts. Just as once before we had to draw a 
 Chart for ourselves when ruiming into Padang, 
 so now we had been obliged to make one of 
 the Red Sea, and, naturally, our knowledge of 
 the "Choising's" position was not quite ac- 
 curate. As a consequence, we arrived at the 
 Straits of Perim a few hours too early. I 
 therefore gave Orders to turn about and cruise 
 back and forth a while. A large steamer Com- 
 ing from Dachibuti gave us some anxious 
 moments, for we took her to be a man-of-war. 
 She turned out to be a French mail steamer, 
 however. As soon as darkness set in, we steered 
 for the Straits of Perim again, and proceeded at 
 high speed. 
 
 I had counted with certainty upon meeting 
 with some sort of patrol in the Straits. In 
 that event we would have been quite helpless, 
 for with the "Choising" we could not face even 
 the smallest hostile war vessel. We could not 
 so much as run away, for any steam launch 
 could have overtaken us. As my chief pur- 
 
loo THE "AYESHA" 
 
 pose was to conduct my men to where they 
 could again serve in defence of their coimtry, 
 I determined, if necessary, to sacrifice the 
 " Choising." 
 
 In case we should meet a hostile ship dose 
 to the African coast, I intended to Strand our 
 vessel and leave her there, taking the men with 
 me in the long boats. We should then be 
 ashore in the enemy's territory, and free to do 
 as we might deem best. Should we be over- 
 taken on the northerly side of the Straits, it 
 was my Intention to nm boldly into the Perim 
 harbor, trusting in Heaven for the outcome, er, 
 if I failed in this, I proposed to run the steamer 
 aground, and venture a bold attack upon the 
 telegraph Station which we knew was located 
 in this vicinity. To be prepared for any emer- 
 gency, the " Choising's" three largest long boats 
 were swimg out, lowered to the bulwarks, and 
 made fast. Water, provisions for eight weeks, 
 arms and ammunition, besides a few personal 
 belongings, were stowed away in the boats. 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA loi 
 
 An officer was placed in command of each 
 one of them, and a particular crew designated 
 for duty in it. The only Orders given to the 
 boats' crews were, once for all: "Obey your 
 ofl&cer." 
 
 And again, as darkness came on, we were in 
 much uncertainty with regard to our ship's 
 Position. Ahead of us we saw a group of small 
 islands which, we concluded, must be the 
 "Seven Brothers" lying just at the entrance of 
 the Straits. In truth, however, these were the 
 Arabian mountains, whose highest peaks rose 
 into view just above the horizon, a fact which 
 we did not discover untü we came in sight of 
 the Perim revolving light. This gave us a good 
 fixed point from which to direct our further 
 course. 
 
 Naturally, as we approached the Straits, 
 all hands were on deck. Everyone was keep- 
 ing a Sharp lookout, for our only hope of safety 
 lay in the keenness of our Observation. The 
 ship's lights were closely screened. The officers 
 
I02 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 and petty officers were given orders to make 
 continual roiinds through the vessel to see to 
 it that not a single ray of light escaped to reveal 
 our presence, for the Chinese crew of the 
 "Choising" had little appreciation of the im- 
 portance of this precaution. 
 
 Whether I should sail with or without lights 
 had been a question to which I had given much 
 careful thought. If I cahnly proceeded with 
 all Hghts showing, just as any ordinary mer- 
 chantman would, it might chance.that none of 
 the English patrol ships would hold me up, as 
 it was not at all likely that so small a merchant 
 ship as the "Choising" would be regarded with 
 suspicion. A ship sailing with screened lights 
 would, on the contrary, become an object of 
 suspicion to any one who should discover her. 
 Nevertheless, in the end, I decided to have the 
 lights screened. 
 
 The Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb is a very nar- 
 row water-way. I hugged the African shore as 
 closely as possible, to take advantage of the 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 103 
 
 darker horizon there, and also because the shore 
 afforded a dark background for the ship. But 
 in spite of all this exercise of caution, we got 
 so near to the revolving light at Perim that its 
 intermittent ray feil upon us like a searchlight, 
 illuminating us for seconds at a time. More- 
 over, we could see two English warships lying 
 just outside of Perim, and they were signaling 
 to each other in Morse code. During that 
 night's most anxious half hour we muttered 
 many a bitter imprecation upon our engine 
 that at best could make no more than seven 
 and a half miles. But fortune favored us; the 
 Englishmen did not discover us. Perhaps none 
 of the small patrol boats upon which I had 
 reckoned were abroad, for there was a stiff 
 breeze blowing, and the sea was running high. 
 At the end of two trying hours we had got to 
 where we could consider ourselves as safely 
 "through." 
 
 In the broader expanse of the Red Sea I 
 kept well without the regulär steamship course. 
 
I04 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 and on the eighth of January, just after dark, 
 we lay with the "Choising" close to Hodeida. 
 The only book that we had from which to in- 
 form ourselves with regard to Arabian ways 
 and customs was a "round the world'' guide 
 book that would have answered the purpose of 
 directing a wedding joumey very well. From 
 it we learned that Hodeida is a large commer- 
 cial city, and that the Hejaz raiboad to 
 Hodeida was in course of construction. As 
 the book was some years old, and as one of 
 my officers remembered that years ago he had 
 met a French engineer who told him that he 
 had been engaged in the construction of a rail- 
 road to Hodeida, we took it for granted that 
 the railroad was completed by this time. Even 
 should we be wrong in our supposition, we 
 would still, in all likelihood, be able to get some 
 news of the war, and, in case we should have 
 to continue our joumey on the "Choising," 
 we would at least be able to secure Charts of 
 the Red Sea. 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 105 
 
 As we approached Hodeida, or more accu- 
 rately speaking, as we approached the locality 
 where we expected to find Hodeida — because 
 of our constant lack of marine charts we were 
 never certain of just where we were — we sud- 
 denly beheld a long line of electric lights along 
 the shore. Great was our joy at this first sign 
 of a return to civilization. That Hodeida would 
 be provided with electric lights had not entered 
 into our most hopeful expectations. 
 
 "It appears to be a very respectable kind of 
 place after all/' was the opinion expressed on 
 the bridge. "There even are electric lights. 
 Then surely the railroad will be running. I can 
 see ourselves Walking into the central railroad 
 Station of Hodeida to-morrow morning, and 
 boarding the special express. In a fortnight we 
 shall be on the North Sea again." 
 
 We supposed the row of lights we saw to be 
 on the Hodeida dock, for our "round the world" 
 guide book had told us that Hodeida is a sea- 
 port. As we came closer to this dock, my joy 
 
io6 THE "AYESHA 
 
 gave way to apprehension, for, as I looked, the 
 lights of the dock seemed suddenly and strangely 
 to move closer together, an eccentricity which 
 is not usual with lights on a dock. As we were 
 quite sober, we decided that it must be the 
 dock that was at fault. I therefore gave Orders 
 to stop the "Choising," so that soundings might 
 be taken, from which to leam how far we were 
 from the shore. A depth of forty meters was 
 reported. Now we were evidently only a few 
 thousand meters off from the supposed dock, 
 while, according to the soundings, there must 
 be a distance of several nautical miles between 
 US and the shore. As we realized this, the 
 dock lost much of its attractiveness in our eyes. 
 It must be something eise. I gave Orders: 
 "Course, to the south!" and ran off a few 
 nautical miles. 
 
 I then ordered the four long boats that had 
 been kept in readiness ever since our ap- 
 proach to Perim, to be lowered, and my men 
 got into them. The Captain of the " Choising " 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 107 
 
 received written Orders to take his ship farther 
 out to sea, to spend the next two days in the 
 vicinity of a given point outside of the usual 
 steamship course, and on each of the succeeding 
 nights to return to the place where my men and 
 I had left the ship, and await us there. If we 
 did not return, he was to proceed to Massowa. 
 My reason for wishing the "Choising" to re- 
 turn during the next two nights, was our total 
 lack of any definite knowledge as to who was 
 in control in South Arabia. Our latest informa- 
 tion in regard to the war was over three months 
 old, and although it had told of battles between 
 the Turks and the English, the outcome of 
 these battles was unknown to us. It was there- 
 fore quite possible that Hodeida was now in 
 the hands of the English. In that event, it 
 was my Intention to return to the "Choising" 
 on one of the following nights, and to con- 
 tinue our journey aboard her. The days, I 
 meant to spend somewhere in the desert, in 
 hiding. 
 
io8 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 At the same time, I arranged for signals by 
 rockets to be given the "Choising" in case I 
 should leam of the proximity of hostile ships 
 that might prove dangerous to her. There was 
 one special signal that meant: "Enemy's ships 
 near. Proceed at once to^Massowa/' I wanted 
 to avoid exposing the ship unnecessarily to the 
 danger of capture while returning for us. 
 
 Soon the "Choising had vanished in the 
 darkness of the night, and my little flotilla of 
 long boats was being vigorously rowed toward 
 the shore. The ship's boats, like all boats that 
 have been out of the water for some time, leaked 
 badly, although days before we left the " Choi- 
 sing" they had been wet both inside and out, 
 had been freshly painted, and kept half filled 
 with water. Our chief ejffort for the time being 
 was therefore directed toward bailing out the 
 boats. As soon as the day dawned, all sails 
 were set in the boats of our flotilla, and a 
 goodly regatta in the direction of the shore 
 developed. 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 109 
 
 On OUT supposed dock the lights were ex- 
 tinguished, and at sunrise we discovered that 
 it had two masts and three smoke Stacks, car- 
 ried guns, and bore the name of "Desaix." It 
 was a French armored cruiser. The other part 
 of the dock revealed itself to be an Italian 
 ship called "Juliana." We had little desire 
 to tie up at this dock, and so directed our 
 course toward land. 
 
 Our Chief concern now was that we might be 
 discovered by the armored cruiser that was 
 not far distant. The rigging of one of my boats 
 was Chinese, of the other three, German. Four 
 gray boats rigged in this extraordinary fashion 
 could not fail to attract attention. When we 
 had come close enough to the shore, I anchored, 
 and had the other three boats come alongside 
 and made fast. Quickly our masts and rigging 
 disappeared, and we held a consultation with 
 regard to what it was now best to do. The 
 "Choising" was gone. Behind us lay the 
 French armored cruiser and the ItaHan vessel. 
 
HO THE "AYESHA" 
 
 What attitude Italy had assumed toward the 
 war by this time was wholly unknown to me. 
 Before us lay the land with the surf beating 
 between us and it. The indications were that 
 this part of Arabia was now in the hands of 
 the French. To remain in the boats was not 
 possible, as, in the course of the day, we would 
 surely be seen by the Frenchmen who were now 
 enjoying an early moming nap aboard the 
 armored cruiser. My Orders therefore were: 
 "PuU for the shore." 
 
 Fortunately our heavily laden boats got 
 through the siurf without either capsizing or 
 filling. On our way to the shore we met a 
 small Arabian boat whose sole occupant, an 
 Arab, was engaged in fishing, and who in re- 
 sponse to our questions gave us the comforting 
 inf ormation that Hodeida was now in the hands 
 of the French. The mistake may be ascribed 
 to the fact that although we spoke excellent 
 German, and the Arab had a fluent command 
 of Arabic, we nevertheiess failed to under- 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA iii 
 
 Stand each other. Just after our boats had 
 passed through the surf and were about 800 
 meters off shore, they ran aground. All our 
 belongings had therefore to be carried all 
 this distance to land, and through water that 
 was knee deep. Rafts were quickly put to- 
 gether out of the masts, a few boards, some 
 Straps, Kfe preservers, and the like. On them 
 we placed our machine guns, the ammunition, 
 etc., so that the transportation might be made 
 as rapidly as possible. 
 
 First of all, the machine guns were sent ashore. 
 I waded to land along with them. On the beach 
 an Arab was splashing about in the water. Un- 
 armed, and with every expression of amiability 
 and friendliness of which I am capable, I ap- 
 proached him to off er the hand of friendship. 
 He misunderstood me, however, and departed. 
 A second Arab, who had appeared in the mean- 
 time, was quite as unresponsive to my offers 
 of friendship. 
 
 While I was employed in having the rest of 
 
112 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 OUT things put ashore, a man in uniform, and 
 mounted on a hedjin, or riding camel, came 
 toward me. The uniform was blue and red. 
 Around his head a cloth was wound. To what 
 country the uniform belonged, I had not the 
 least idea. It might easily have been a French 
 one. This man had the unpleasant distinction 
 of being armed. When he had come to within 
 600 meters of us, he stopped, cocked his rifle, 
 and stood watching us at our work. Carrying 
 no arms of any kind, I went toward him, beck- 
 oned to him, called to him, and tried in every 
 way possible to make him understand that I 
 wished to speak with him. He remained im- 
 movable imtil I had come to within two hun- 
 dred meters of him; then he raised his rifle and 
 aimed it at me. I stood still. He lowered his 
 rifle, whereupon I moved a few Steps nearer. 
 Again he pointed his rifle at me. Again I 
 stopped, and he dropped his rifle. Again I 
 took a few Steps forward, and again he aimed 
 at me. I stopped again, and so the teasing 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 113 
 
 Performance went on for several minutes, until 
 I had reached a point not more than fif ty meters 
 distant from him. Then his rifle was not again 
 lowered. Consequently I remained Standing 
 for some time. An understanding by way of 
 conversation was out of the question with him. 
 He had not understood one of my efforts at 
 speech. He made a sign, however, which 
 could not be misinterpreted, and by which he 
 gave me to understand that I was to remain 
 with my men where we were. After I had 
 assured him, as best I could, that we had no 
 thought of leaving, and that we were dehghted 
 to be there, I returned to my men. He mounted 
 his camel and disappeared at a rapid pace in the 
 direction of Hodeida, the white houses of which 
 we could but just distinguish in the far distance. 
 It now behooved us to make all haste pos- 
 sible, for in three or four hours the French garri- 
 son might be upon us. So we worked with all 
 our might to get the things ashore, and so be 
 able to Start upon our march into the desert. 
 
114 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 It was my intention to remain in the desert 
 during the day, and then at night to send one 
 of my oflScers to Hodeida to get information. 
 Should this prove unfavorable, I purposed to 
 spend the following day also in the desert, and 
 then, on the next night, to get back to where 
 the "Choising" would pick us up, and to pro- 
 ceed with her, trusting to luck for the future. 
 Just as we were about to set off on onr 
 march, there poured forth from behind the low 
 sand hüls of the desert a swarm of Bedouins, — 
 at first about eighty in number, then a hundred 
 or more, all armed. They spread out into a 
 sort of skirmishing line, and then disappeared 
 behind the sand dunes along the beach. Upon 
 seeing this, we; too, formed a skirmishing line, 
 and made ready for a fight. I waited for the 
 first shot to come from the other side. After 
 a few moments there came out from among our 
 opponents twelve imarmed men. They ap- 
 proached us slowly, all the while beckoning with 
 their arms. Laying aside my sword and pistol, 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 115 
 
 I went toward them. Midway between the 
 two lines we met. Immediately a lively con- 
 versation developed, with the unfortunate dis- 
 advantage, however, that neither party under- 
 stood the other. The Bedouins shouted at me, 
 gesticulated violently with the vehemence pe- 
 culiar to southern races, and made the most 
 remarkable signs, all of which I failed to under- 
 stand. My own attempt to speak to them in 
 German, English, French, and Malay was of 
 as little avail. 
 
 I then had our war flag, which we had with us, 
 brought out, and I called attention in the most 
 explicit manner to the red, white, and black, to 
 the iron cross, to the eagle. They did not 
 understand this either. As I had thought it 
 quite likely that the people of some of the 
 coast regions where we might be forced to land 
 would be unacquainted with the German war 
 flag, I had taken the flag of our merchant 
 marine with me also. It was now produced 
 and displayed to the Arabs, but this, too, they 
 
ii6 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 did not recognize. Then we pointed to the 
 French armored cruiser lying at anchor in the 
 roadstead, shook our fists at it with the most 
 extravagant gestures, and all together roared, 
 "Boom! Boom! Boom!" 
 
 The only response we received was a retum 
 to their crazy signs. One of these was to hold 
 one hand to the forehead, as though to shade 
 the eyes, and then wag the head violently 
 from side to side. Another was to pass two 
 fingers over the face, either up or down. A 
 third consisted in rubbing the two extended 
 forefingers together, and staring at us idiot- 
 ically the while. This last one we thought we 
 understood. We interpreted it in this way: 
 Two are rubbing against each other, which 
 means, " We are enemies." With all the means 
 in our power we tried to assure them that 
 quite the reverse was true. Had we been 
 understood, our Situation would hardly have 
 been improved by this assurance, for it de- 
 veloped later that this sign meant, "We are 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 117 
 
 friends," instead of, "We are enemies." As a 
 last resort, we produced a gold piece. To this 
 means of intercourse the Arabians were very 
 susceptible from the outset. We pointed at 
 the eagle, but it did not seem to suggest any- 
 thing to them. Then I pointed at the head of 
 the Kaiser. This met with instant response, 
 and aroused the liveliest interest. Among 
 their ejaculations we distinguished the word, 
 "Aleman." This was understood on our part, 
 for it could mean nothing other than "Ger- 
 man." Instantly, and with ready adaptability 
 to the customs of the country, we all shouted 
 at the top of our voices, "Alemanl Aleman!" 
 And with this, the way to a mutual iinder- 
 standing was opened. 
 
 A tremendous and enthusiastic roar of re- 
 sponse instantly arose among the Arabs. Their 
 rifles were stacked, and the whole Company 
 gathered about us, screaming and shouting, 
 and tumbling over one another in a wild 
 scramble to carry our luggage for us, to drag 
 
ii8 THE ^'AYESHA" 
 
 the machine giins, and to do us other like 
 Service. In a tumult of noise the procession 
 set out in the direction of Hodeida. One of 
 our newly acquired brethren could even speak 
 a few words of English, and from him I leamed 
 that Hodeida was in the hands of the Turks. 
 
 Our onward march was the occasion for still 
 further excitement. As destitute of people as 
 the desert through which we were passing 
 seemed to be, it nevertheless harbored a 
 countless number of people. In this land, 
 where every boy of twelve carries a rifle and is 
 regarded as a warrior, it did not take long for 
 another crowd of about a hundred Bedouins 
 to gather and come out to meet us, aU eager, 
 in the assumption that we were enemies, to 
 have a shot at us. With much excited yelling, 
 our hundred attendants endeavored to con- 
 vince their approaching hundred colleagues 
 that we were friends. When they had been 
 persuaded that such was the case, we continued 
 on our march with a retinue of two hundred, 
 
FROM PERIM TO HODEIDA 119 
 
 only to be met, a half hour later, by two hiin- 
 dred more who were Coming to attack us, and 
 who, in turn, had to be convinced by our escort 
 of two hundred, that we were friends. 
 
 These explanations always entailed a con- 
 siderable loss of time, and so it had got to be 
 midday, and we were still on the way. We 
 had had nothing to eat since the evening be- 
 fore, had worked hard and continuously, and 
 had taken a long tramp through the burning 
 sand at a time of day when, under ordinary 
 circumstances, even to ride abroad is avoided. 
 All told, there were probably eight hundred 
 Bedouins moving along with us. They had at 
 last understood that we were Germans, and 
 now carried on quite a variety show as they 
 went along with us, dancing and singing, 
 yelling and shooting off their rifles, and carry- 
 ing on all sorts of fantastic Performances. 
 
 In the meantime, the first Turkish offi- 
 cers from Hodeida had arrived, among them 
 several who could speak German. Our mutual 
 
I20 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 joy at meeting comrades in arms was great. 
 The whole Turkish garrison of Hodeida was 
 marching out against us in the belief that a 
 detachment of the enemy was attempting a 
 landing. Cannons even had been dragged along 
 to assail us. 
 
 Surrounded by the Turkish troops, and with 
 banners flying, we made our entry into Hodeida. 
 The people filled the streets and shouted their 
 welcome at us, and flattered us with loud cries 
 of approval and a vigorous clapping of hands 
 at the dose of every marching song we sang as 
 we moved along. 
 
 Hastily prepared barracks were soon made 
 ready for my men. For the officers, a house in 
 the town was provided. And so, for the pres- 
 ent, we were comfortable. From the Windows 
 of our house we could see the French armored 
 cruiser peacefully and dreamily rocking upon 
 the blue water a few miles off. 
 
Chapter X 
 ON TO SANAA 
 
 At 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the ninth of 
 January, my men were all settled in their 
 quarters, and I found myself free to consult 
 with the heads of the civil and military au- 
 thorities at Hodeida with regard to my future 
 course. There were two ways of getting back 
 to Germany open to me: the one, overland, 
 and the other, to continue on my way by sea. 
 Marine charts I could obtain in Hodeida. His 
 Excellency, the Mutessarif of Hodeida, whose 
 name was Raghib, and the colonel of the regi- 
 ment, also named Raghib, sat together in con- 
 sultation with me that afternoon. 
 
 I leamed at once, and much to my regret, 
 that the railroad did not exist. At the same 
 time I received information with regard to the 
 English warships then in the Red Sea. These 
 
122 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 consisted chiefly of a number of gunboats and 
 auxiliary cruisers, that could be seen almost 
 daily to the northward of Hodeida, and that 
 were maintaining a sort of blockade line. To 
 continue on the "Choismg" iinder these cir- 
 ciunstances was very nearly a hopeless under- 
 taking, especially so in consideration of the 
 probability that spies would very soon make 
 cur presence in Hodeida known abroad. The 
 French iron-clad would surely hear of it, and 
 could at once participate in the search for our 
 ship, while her wireless apparatus could flash 
 Information of us to all the English and French 
 war vessels in the vicinity. In waters as nar- 
 row as the Red Sea is, it would then be quite 
 impossible for the "Choising/* with a speed of 
 but seven miles, to elude her pursuers. 
 
 The Turkish authorities assured me, more- 
 over, that I would find the overland route to 
 the north both safe and unobstructed, although 
 it would necessarily entail some loss of time. 
 Preparations for the journey by land would re- 
 
ON TO SANAA 123 
 
 quire about a fortnight; then we could start on 
 our march, and, in all likelihood, would reach 
 the railroad in about two months. 
 
 Wben this was fully settled, I waited for the 
 darkness to come, and then, from the roof of 
 our house, three times I sent off the signal 
 with fire balls, as agreed upon, to the waiting 
 "Choising": "Caution! Hostile ships! Pro- 
 ceed at once to Massowa." Later we learned 
 that the "Choising" had reached her destina- 
 tion in safety. 
 
 Whereas the health of my men had been 
 excellent up to this time, they now began to 
 show the effects of the extreme climate. In 
 Hodeida the days were terribly hot, the nights 
 very cool. The men of our crew slept in the 
 Turkish barracks along with the soldiers of the 
 Turkish garrison. 
 
 In Arabia houses and barracks are con- 
 structed very differently from those in our 
 own climate. The barracks provided for my 
 men consisted of a framework of thin boards 
 
124 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 covered with matting and straw. They slept 
 side by side on a sort of divan, the cushions 
 of which were stuffed with straw. The water 
 especially was unwholesome, and had to be 
 boiled to make it fit to drink. As a preventive 
 measure against malarial infection, we had to 
 take quinine continuously. But in spite of all 
 our precaution, cases of dysentery and malaria 
 soon began to develop among us. I therefore 
 decided to take my men into the mountains. 
 Sanaa, which is the chief city of Yemen, was 
 recommended to me as being a very healthful 
 place, the water conditions good, and the cli- 
 mate closely resembling that of Europe. Since 
 our journey overland lay by way of Sanaa, it 
 was quite as well to await the completion of 
 our preparations for it at that place as at Ho- 
 deida. I decided therefore to Start on our 
 march to Sanaa on the Kaiser^s birthday. 
 
 Before leaving Hodeida we celebrated the 
 anniversary of our Emperor^s birth by cere- 
 monies in which the entire Turkish garrison 
 
ON TO SANAA 125 
 
 participated, as did also the entire Turko- 
 Arabian populace, in their own peculiarly 
 enthusiastic fashion. I had in the meantime 
 succeeded in procuring new clothes for my men. 
 Although this, their latest uniform, did not ex- 
 actly conform to home regulations,— especially 
 the tropical hat designed by myself after the 
 pattern of the hats worn by the colonial troops, 
 and decorated with a large cockade in red, white, 
 and black, the like of which, it is safe to say, 
 had never before been seen in the navy, — 
 nevertheless the men presented a very trim 
 appearance, and made an excellent impression. 
 The entire garrison marched to the parade 
 Square for the ceremony. My little Company 
 of men stood in the middle, surrounded by the 
 Turkish troops. Together with the Turkish 
 Commander, I passed the combined troops in 
 review; I then made a speech in German in 
 honor of the Kaiser, and ended with three 
 cheers for him, in which our Turkish comrades 
 in arms joined with enthusiasm. After the 
 
126 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 cheers for oiir Emperor had been given, the 
 Turkish Commander called for three cheers for 
 the Sultan. A parade march by the combined 
 troops closed the ceremonies. With band play- 
 ing and banners flying, my men then marched 
 off to a f east — mutton and rice — spread for 
 them in the barracks. The officers were in- 
 vited by the heads of the local authorities to 
 a banquet — mutton and rice — at the palace 
 of the mayor of Hodeida. Here, also, the 
 heartiest good will was expressed in the toasts 
 that were exchanged. At five o'clock in the 
 aftemoon we started on our march to Sanaa. 
 
 In the Arabian desert it is only possible to 
 travel at night, as the heat of the day is too 
 intense to be bome by either man or beast. 
 Marching on foot is out of the question even 
 at night. Everybody rides. We also had to 
 follow this custom until we reached the foot 
 of the moimtains. 
 
 The animals placed at our disposal were 
 horses, mules, and donkeys. Our baggage was 
 
ON TO SANAA 127 
 
 transported by means of a special caravan of 
 cameis. It was no light task to keep this newly 
 organized Company together at the Start, for 
 this was the first time that some of my blue- 
 jackets had ever been astride of a four-footed 
 creature. The fun began at once, with the 
 mounting, and there were some very ludicrous 
 scenes. Some of the men took advantage of 
 the time before we started on the march, to 
 practise rapid dismounting, many of them tak- 
 ing their saddles along with them in the 
 attempt. However, relations of friendship suf- 
 ficient to insure against the occurrence of any 
 serious misunderstanding had soon been estab- 
 lished between each rider and his mount, and 
 the caravan was ready to Start. We were 
 escorted for some distance by the Turkish 
 officers and garrison. 
 
 Soon Hodeida was left behind us in the dis- 
 tance, and we were in the heart of the desert. 
 As far as the eye conld reach, there was nothing 
 but sand, — low flat sand hills grown over with 
 
128 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 dry grass. Roads, of course, there were none; 
 tracks in the sand, made by the passing of 
 other Caravans, — that was all. Our march 
 was frequently intermpted by a halt, for in 
 the beginning especially, it happened every 
 httle while that one of the men devoted an 
 over-amount of energy to guiding and master- 
 ing his steed, and the ensuing duel usually 
 came off to the humiliation of the rider. The 
 next thing to be done then, was to catch the 
 riderless beast that was making the most of its 
 freedom, a duty which usually devolved upon 
 the officers, as they were the only ones who 
 could ride. With the donkeys and the mules 
 this was no small undertaking. Hardly had we 
 come up to one of these animals when it would 
 tum and kick out vigorously with its hind legs, 
 and it would then require a resort to all the 
 diplomacy and cunning at our command to get 
 hold of it again. That these diversions should 
 not cause us too great a loss of time, one of the 
 officers always rode at the rear end of the cara- 
 
ON TO SANAA 129 
 
 van to round up the riderless steeds, and the 
 steedless riders, and form them into a sort of 
 rear guard. 
 
 As the nights were clear and bright with 
 moonlight, we found our way very easily. We 
 rode the whole night through, stopping only 
 occasionally for a half hour's rest. Then we 
 all flung ourselves down in the sand, just where 
 we happened to be, slung our reins around one 
 arm, or tied them to one of our legs, and so 
 found rest for our weary bodies, weary from 
 the strain of the long continued ride. 
 
 The region through which we were traveling 
 was not considered a wholly safe one. Robbery 
 and attacks upon small caravans were the order 
 of the day. As early as the second night out, we 
 had an experience of this kind ourselves. Sud- 
 denly, in the moonlight, there appeared to one 
 side of our road a dozen or more men mounted 
 on cameis. The Turkish gendarmes that had 
 been sent with us as an escort and to guide 
 US on the way, declared them to be robbers, 
 
I30 THE "AYESHA'^ 
 
 and immediately got their rifles ready to shoot. 
 When the men on the cameis saw the size of 
 our Caravan, they vanished among the sand hüls 
 quite as suddenly as they had appeared. 
 
 On the third day we had completed the 
 joumey across the broad strip of desert which 
 lies at the foot of the mountains, and we were 
 now at the entrance into the mountain region. 
 Qnite abruptly, almost perpendicularly, the 
 mountains rise from out the flat desert country, 
 and attain a height of some 3600 meters. The 
 route now became more difficult. Over loose 
 stones, through dr^ beds of rivers and brooks, 
 we climbed slowly upward. At last we were 
 again surrounded by trees and bushes, and the 
 Vegetation became quite luxuriant. On many 
 of the highest peaks of the mountains Arab 
 Castles were to be seen. The Arabs of this 
 region seem to delight in placing their dwell- 
 ings on as great and inaccessible a height as 
 possible. At every point where a steep cliff 
 or a narrow defile makes the upward way a 
 
ON TO SANAA 131 
 
 difficult one, some Arab had built him a Castle, 
 frequently large and imposing in appearance, 
 a veritable little fortress in itself. It was al- 
 most as though we had suddenly been trans- 
 ported back into the Middle Ages. 
 
 The people were very friendly, and we met 
 with a pleasant greeting everywhere. Our 
 periods of rest were usually spent in the cara- 
 vansaries provided for the Turkish troops. For 
 some days our road lay through a picturesque 
 mountain region, and then brought us directly 
 in front of a lofty mountain ridge that seemed 
 to block our way completely, so that we did 
 not know which way to turn. It was a steep, 
 well nigh perpendicular wall of rock. A Serpen- 
 tine path, most difficult to climb, brought us 
 to the summit of the ridge, after hours of exer- 
 tion. It was a road by no means free from 
 danger. On the one side of us the wall of rock 
 rose straight up; on the other side it dropped 
 straight down. A road, in the ordinary sense 
 of the Word, it really was not. It was no 
 
132 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 more than a bridle path wom into the rock by 
 many long years of travel, often blocked by a 
 great boulder, and made dangerous with many 
 rolling stones. 
 
 The pack animals showed a wonderfnl ability 
 and power of endurance. Often we came to 
 places so dangerous that I gave orders to dis- 
 mount, and lead the animals. As a whole, 
 however, the men had come to be quite good 
 riders by this time. We bought eggs and milk 
 on the way whenever we had an opportunity to 
 do so. We carried our cooking Utensils with 
 US on one of the animals. An officer, the cook, 
 and another man always preceded the caravan, 
 as a small number of men can travel faster than 
 a larger Company. In this way our meals were 
 always ready for us when we arrived at the ap- 
 pointed place. This was a distinct advantage 
 for the men, for the joumey was a very 
 fatiguing one, and every hoiu: of sleep was of 
 importance. 
 
 I had arranged for a longer halt to be made 
 
VIEW OF HODEIDA 
 
 
 CROSSING THE DESERT 
 
ON TO SANAA 133 
 
 at Menakha. This is a small town situated on 
 the highest point of the principal mountain 
 ridge. From thence the road winds gradually 
 downward until it reaches an extensive plateau 
 on which Sanaa is located. In Menakha we 
 were given a pleasant welcome by both the 
 Turkish troops and the people. At a point 
 some hours distant from the little town, we 
 foimd the commandant, together with his corps 
 of_officers and the troops, awaiting us. A 
 crowd of several hundred people had come with 
 them. Together with the Turkish soldiery, we 
 covered the last part of the way to Menakha, 
 while before us went the great crowd of pic- 
 turesquely dressed Arabs carrying on a sort of 
 Performance, and dancing to the accompani- 
 ment of a peculiar kind of song. 
 
 Excellent provision had been made for us at 
 Menakha. On account of the weather condi- 
 tions here, the buildings are all of stone. My 
 men found large barracks awaiting them in 
 which every comfort had been provided, and 
 
134 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 where an abundant and appetizing meal was 
 in readiness. For the officers, accommodations 
 had been prepared in the hotel of the town, the 
 only hotel that I ever saw in Arabia. It could 
 even boast of real beds. So far we had slept 
 on "cursis," which consist of a wooden frame- 
 work filled in with a matting of bast. Menakha 
 lies at a height of about 3400 meters, and we 
 often saw the clouds below us. The days were 
 cool, and the nights were bitterly cold. 
 
 We remained in Menakha for two days. I 
 took advantage of this time to visit a number 
 of the Arab dignitaries in their homes. The 
 rooms in all Arab houses are white throughout, 
 while the Windows are set with bright colored 
 glass — blue, red, and yellow. Along the walls 
 are low comfortable divans and cushions. On 
 the carpet, in the middle of the room, Stands 
 a large brass table on which are the nargilehs.^ 
 According to the customs of the country, we 
 were always offered a cup of Mocha on these 
 ^ Oriental water pipes. 
 
ON TO SANAA 135 
 
 occasions, and we spent many a pleasant hour 
 Smoking and chatting as best we could with 
 our Arab hosts. 
 
 From Menakha our way lay downward again. 
 The Turks were improving the condition of 
 their roadways here, and for some distance from 
 the town we followed a fine, broad and newly 
 made road leading down into the Valley, a 
 highway that compared favorably with any in 
 Europe. Our journey now took us through 
 some wonderful mountain scenery. To see 
 cameis grazing by the wayside, nibbling at the 
 tops of low trees, never ceased to be a marvelous 
 sight to US. Occasionally, too, we caught a 
 glimpse of a lot of baboons, but never got a 
 shot at one of them, as often as we tried it. 
 By this time the horsemanship of my troop 
 had improved to such a degree that we could 
 maintain a very respectable formation, and 
 now and again could even ride at an easy 
 trot. 
 
 The seventh day of cur journey found us 
 
136 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 approaching the capital city. From the heights, 
 on our way through the passes, we could look 
 down upon a wide and fruitful plateau, sprinkled 
 with many villages and towns, among which 
 Sanaa could readily be distinguished by its 
 size. Turkish officers had ridden out to meet 
 US. Just outside of the city the whole garrison 
 stood Hned up, and received us with bands 
 playing gaily. "Deutschland, Deutschland 
 ueber Alles" greeted our ears. The heads of 
 the civil and military authorities came on 
 horseback or in carriages. The people also 
 showed a lively interest in our arrival. Even 
 the French consul, who was being detained in 
 the city as a measure of retaUation, appeared 
 on the balcony of his house. We had come in 
 contact with his English colleague on our way 
 hither, although without meeting him face to 
 face. It must have given him a shock of sur- 
 prise suddenly to hear "The Watch on the 
 Rhine'' sung in his home in the heart of the 
 Arabian mountains. 
 
ON TO SANAA 137 
 
 Unfortunately Sanaa was not as healthful 
 a place as we had hoped to find it. Owing 
 to its great altitude it is very cold there 
 even during the daytime. It takes some 
 time to get accustomed to the climate. 
 A few days after our arrival, eighty per 
 Cent of my men were sick with the fever, 
 and unfit to continue on the march. We 
 suffered especially with sudden and severe 
 attacks of cramps in the stomach, and with 
 colds. 
 
 The city of Sanaa is a most interesting one. 
 It is divided into three sections, — the Jewish, 
 the Arab, and the Turkish quarters. The city 
 is entirely surrounded by brick walls, and is so 
 built as to form a fortress. Within this for- 
 tress the three quarters of the town constitute 
 three distinct fortresses, each enclosed within 
 its own wall, and within each of these, every 
 individual home is itself a distinct little fortress. 
 All the streets and roads are enclosed within 
 high walls, and are so laid out that, like our 
 
138 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 trenches, they can be swept throughout their 
 entire length by rifle fire from certain vantage 
 points. The reason for building the towns in 
 this peculiar f ashion is to be found in the very 
 unsafe conditions that prevail. Yemen has 
 always had the reputation of being the most 
 turbulent of the Turkish provinces, and in 
 past years violent encounters between the 
 Arabs and the Turks were the order of the day. 
 Frequently these were of so serious a nature 
 that the towns were besieged by garrisons. 
 Sanaa, also, had been starved into surrender 
 to the Arabs only a decade ago. Since that 
 time, however, peace and quiet have reigned in 
 the land. 
 
 After a fortnight spent in Sanaa, we learned 
 that the difficulties of the joumey overland 
 were so great, that, after all, it would be im- 
 possible for me to get my men safely through 
 by this route. The sickness among them com- 
 pelled me to remain another fortnight in idle- 
 ness. By that time, though still weak, the 
 
ON TO SANAA 139 
 
 sick had so far recovered as to be able to ride 
 their animals. 
 
 So we Started on our retum joumey to 
 Hodeida, there again to entrust ourselves to the 
 sea. 
 
Chapter XI 
 SEIPWRECK 
 
 OuR return to Sanaa was accomplished in 
 the same manner as we had traveled thither, 
 and without hindrance of any kind. In order 
 to make arrangements for onr onward joumey 
 by sea, I had taken a few of my men with me 
 and hurried on ahead of the caravan. In this 
 way I succeded in getting to Hodeida a day 
 and a half ahead of the others. It took the 
 caravan eight days to get there. To be sure, 
 our Httle advance guard had spent both day 
 and night in the saddle, the only halts being 
 made when we changed animals. 
 
 As the "Choising'' had been sent on, and 
 there was nothing in the way of steamboats to 
 be had at Hodeida, there was but one thing 
 left for US to do, — to continue our joumey in 
 zambuks. A zambxik is a small sailboat much 
 
SfflPWRECK 141 
 
 in use all along the Arabian coast, and is pro- 
 vided with a dhow sail. 
 
 I procured two such boats in Hodeida, 
 each about fourteen meters long and four 
 meters wide. These two zambuks I sent to 
 Yabana, a little bay to the north of Hodeida. 
 Because of the French armored cruiser, still 
 sleepily rocking at anchor, a departure from 
 the harbor of Hodeida was out of the question 
 for me. The Frenchman might accidentally 
 have a spell of wakefulness. As I was aware 
 that the country was swarming with English 
 and French spies, I took pains to spread abroad 
 the report that it was our intention to sail 
 from Isa Bay on the thirteenth of March. It 
 happened just as I had foreseen. On the after- 
 noon of the twelfth of March the little and 
 out-of-the-way Isa Bay, where no house, nor 
 tree, nor bush is to be seen, and where there is 
 hardly any water, was honored for the first 
 tune since the beginning of the war by the 
 presence of an English gunboat, which hunted 
 
142 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 for US with its searchlight all up and down the 
 shore. The poor fellows! How they must 
 have wondered where we were! 
 
 On the fourteenth of March, at five o'clock 
 in the aftemoon, my fleet sailed from Yabana. 
 The Imperial war flag flew proudly at the 
 mast-head of my flagship, and with three 
 cheers for his Majesty, the Emperor, we began 
 our onward journey. The flagship of the 
 second admiral was in command of Lieutenant 
 Gerdts. We made up for the total lack of any 
 further ships in the fleet by our absolutely 
 correct discipline. As the second zambuk was 
 somewhat larger than mine, the sick were put 
 aboard of it. Malaria, dysentery, and typhus 
 were still prevalent among the men, of whom 
 there were always one or two so ill as to cause 
 US the gravest anxiety. Under no circum- 
 stances, however, would I have been willing to 
 leave any of them behind, for their only hope 
 of improvement lay in a change of climate. 
 
 With regard to the English I had kept my- 
 
SHIPWRECK 143 
 
 seif posted up to the last minute as best I 
 could, and I was aware that an English block- 
 ade was being maintained by two gunboats 
 together with the auxiliary cruiser "Empress 
 of Russia," in a line extending from Loheia 
 across Kamaran, Jebel Sebejir to Jebel Soghair. 
 My Problem now was how I could run this 
 blockade with my sailboats. To avoid the 
 possibility of both boats being captured at the 
 same time, I gave Lieutenant Gerdts Orders to 
 separate from me. A meeting place farther 
 to the north was appointed, where we were to 
 wait a while for each other. 
 
 Soon the other zambuk was lost to sight in 
 the darkness of the approaching night. Now, 
 for the first time, our lucky star forsook us, for, 
 as the day dawned, the wind died away en- 
 tirely, and, after the sun had risen, we dis- 
 covered to our extreme discomfiture that we 
 were exactly where we had no wish to be, 
 namely, right in the middle of the English 
 blockade line. We expected at any moment 
 
144 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 to See the mast-head of an English ship appear 
 above the horizon. Our frame of mind was 
 not of the happiest. The absence of wind de- 
 tained us more surely than the most superior 
 of foes could have held us. But it had not been 
 without a good reason that I had delayed our 
 departure to the end of the week. I was suffi- 
 ciently familiär with English customs to know 
 that the gentlemen are disinclined to work 
 during week ends, that is, on Saturdays and 
 Sundays. And nothing did, in fact, come in 
 sight during the entire day. 
 
 The breeze, which set in during the coiurse 
 of the aftemoon, helped us onward consider- 
 ably, and by evening, soon after sunset, we 
 could go to rest with the comf ortable assurance 
 that with two sailboats, and making but little 
 headway, we had succeeded in running the 
 English blockade. 
 
 With my flat-bottomed zambuks it was 
 possible for me to shape my further course so 
 as to keep within the coral reefs of the Farsan 
 
SHIPWRECK 145 
 
 Bank. This is a dangerous and very long coral 
 bank having an extent of about three hundred 
 and fifty nautical miles, and near which large 
 ships dare not venture. It is not wholly free 
 f rom danger even for small craft. In the course 
 of the foUowing day, my second zambuk came 
 in sight, and received Orders to keep by me. 
 
 Life on the zambuks was rather pleasant and 
 quite cozy. An abundance of room we did not 
 have, of course. Including the interpreter, the 
 pilot, and the Arabs we had taken with us for 
 Service with the sails and the ships, we num- 
 bered thirty-five men to each zambuk. With a 
 length of fourteen meters, and a width of four, 
 it can be readily seen that but Httle space 
 could be allotted to each man. Moreover, a 
 large part of each boat had to be devoted to the 
 storing of provisions, water, ammunition, and 
 the machine guns. To protect ourselves, in a 
 measure at least, from the buming rays of the 
 sun, we stretched woolen blankets across the 
 ship so as to be able to keep our heads in 
 
146 THE *'AYESHA 
 
 the shade. Our culinary department was not 
 run on a lavish scale. In each zambuk there 
 was a small open fireplace lined with tin. Here 
 the meals for thirty persons had to be cooked. 
 We tried to make our meals as varied as possi- 
 ble with the Hmited means at our disposal. 
 Thus, for instance, if we had tough mutton 
 with rice and gravy on one day, we would have 
 rice with gravy and tough mutton on the next, 
 and on the third day, there would be gravy 
 with tough mutton and rice, and so on. 
 
 Our boats made but very slow progress. 
 Oftentimes we were becalmed, and there 
 were frequent struggles with head winds and 
 opposing currents. Nor were these troubles 
 from without our only ones, for there were con- 
 flicts within our boat as well. These raged 
 most fiercely at night, for then the cockroaches, 
 bedbugs, and lice were especially active. All 
 articles of clothing that were not in use had 
 to be tied fast to something for fear they might 
 run away. In the moming, as soon as the 
 
SHIPWRECK 147 
 
 sun was up, every man of us puUed off his 
 Shirt, and the general "early louse hunt" was 
 begun. The record number for one shirt was 
 seventy-four. 
 
 On the seventeenth of March I signalled to 
 my fleet: "I intend to anchor in the evening." 
 According to our pilot, we were getting into a 
 vicinity where the reefs made it unsafe even 
 for our small craft to sail at night. By six 
 o'clock in the evening we were drawing near 
 to the island of Marka, where we were to 
 anchor. Our pilot was conducting us to our 
 anchorage. My zambuk led the way. The 
 second one followed at a distance of two hun- 
 dred meters. There was a pretty stiff breeze 
 blowing, with correspondingly high seas, and 
 we were looking forward with eagerness to 
 getting a little rest in the lee of the sheltering 
 island. But we had made our reckoning with- 
 out our host in the person of our capable Arab 
 pilot. He directed our course so skilfuUy that 
 my boat suddenly Struck a coral reef . A second 
 
148 THE "AYESHA 
 
 and a third time she pounded so hard that I 
 had grave fears for the safety of the boat. 
 The next moment we were free of the reef, 
 however, and in deeper water. I dropped an- 
 chor at once. Then, in order to keep the boat 
 behind us from running aground upon the 
 same reef, I quickly gave her captain Orders 
 by signs and shouts to hold off. This he did, 
 but his boat was ahready so in the midst of the 
 reefs that, in the endeavor to avoid one reef, 
 he Struck another. In a moment more I saw 
 a flag nm up, a sign that something had hap- 
 pened. The next instant the boat dipped 
 slowly. From the motion of the mast, I knew 
 that the boat was pounding. Suddenly it dis- 
 appeared, — only the top of the mast could be 
 Seen rising on a slant out of the water. It was 
 now just before sundown. 
 
 Night sets in very suddenly in these South- 
 ern latitudes. Ten minutes after the sim has 
 set, it is absolutely dark. There was no moon 
 at the time. Instant help was therefore neces- 
 
SHIPWRECK 149 
 
 sary. Up went the sail on our zambuk. All 
 hands set to work. The anchor was puUed up, 
 and by a dfficult manoeuvre in which we 
 came near running aground again, we got away, 
 and hastened to the relief of our comrades. 
 I took my boat as close to the submerged zam- 
 buk as possible, and cast anchor again. But 
 on account of the reef I was obliged to keep 
 at a distance of four hundred meters. We had 
 no small boats that we could send back and 
 forth. Each zambuk carries but a single dug- 
 out, — a very small and narrow paddle boat, 
 made from a single tree trunk, and capable of 
 carrying no more than two men at the most. 
 With the high seas running at the time, their 
 usefulness was a matter of doubt. Neverthe- 
 less I sent mine out at once. 
 
 In the meantime it had grown dark. We 
 had a lantern aboard our zambuk, but all the 
 many attempts we made to light it, in order 
 to show our ship's position, failed, as the strong 
 wind that was blowing extinguished the light 
 
ISO THE "AYESHA 
 
 again and again. "Torchlights!" was my next 
 Order. We had taken with us a few torches 
 from both the "Emden'' and the "Choising" 
 for possible cases of emergency. These were 
 now brought out and nailed up. The fuses 
 worked all right, but the torches refused to 
 bum. They had grown too damp in the many 
 months that we had carried them about with 
 
 US. 
 
 Suddenly, out of the darkness of the night, 
 I heard voices rising from the water just be- 
 hind US. The first men from the foundered 
 zambuk had reached us, and, unable to see us 
 in the darkness, they were swimming past us. 
 By shouting, by whistling with the boatswain's 
 whistle, we tried to call them back, and, 
 after some anxious moments, we succeeded in 
 doing so. The men had swum away from the 
 other zambuk, and, having nothing eise to 
 guide them, they had followed a star that 
 shone down from the direction of our boat. 
 How many of the men were in the water we 
 
SfflPWRECK 151 
 
 had, of course, no means of knowing. My 
 anxiety for them was great, knowing, as I did, 
 that the water in this vicinity is fnll of sharks. 
 My greatest concem, however, was for the sick, 
 and I wondered what had been done for them, 
 for many of them were too weak to help them- 
 selves. That which was needed above all eise 
 now, was for us to show a light. As every other 
 means had failed us, I had the men bring 
 wood, pile it together, pour petroleimi on it, 
 and, with little care for the danger we ran of 
 setting our boat afire, we set it in a blaze. In 
 the fire thus kindled, we held our torches imtil 
 they were dry enough to bum. At the same 
 time we set off a f ew white fire balls that we had 
 with US, and which, thank God, were still in 
 good condition, although by firing off these 
 rockets, we revealed our presence to other 
 ships for miles about. 
 
 At last the two dugouts retumed. They 
 were rowed by one man, and in each one lay 
 one of the sick. The others who were too ill 
 
152 THE "AYESHA 
 
 to do anything for themselves were either 
 brought aboard our boat in the same way, or 
 eise they were tied to one of the dugouts, and 
 towed along in the water. Meanwhile, all those 
 who could swim were arriving from every side. 
 The men who could not swim — and there 
 were a number such — had put on life-preser- 
 vers, and were paddling along as best they 
 could. One after another they came aboard. 
 Soon there were fifty of us in my little zam- 
 buk, and then it settled so low in the water 
 that it was evident it would hold no more. 
 I theref ore ordered everything that could possi- 
 bly be spared, including provisions and water, 
 to be thrown overboard, in order to lighten 
 the boat sufficiently to carry us all. Finally, 
 all that was left us was our arms, ammuni- 
 tion, and food and water sufficient for three 
 days. 
 
 In the meantime our torches had bumed low, 
 and I was filled with anxiety lest their light 
 would not hold out until the last man from 
 
SHIPWRECK 153 
 
 the wrecked zambuk had come aboard. At 
 last all were accounted for except the ofläcers, 
 and, with the arrival of the last one of these, 
 the last torch died out. So, for the present 
 at least, all were safe. The wrecked zambuk, 
 according to the reports of the officers in com- 
 mand of it, lay hard aground on an abruptly 
 descending coral reef , and we had reason to be 
 grateful that at least the mast had remained 
 above water. It might have happened quite 
 as well that the zambuk had slipped down the 
 side of the reef, and vanished in the deep. In 
 that case all the sick would surely have been 
 lost, and most likely some of the men who 
 could not swim would also have been drowned. 
 Near us lay another zambuk, which belonged 
 to the Idriss tribe. The Idriss are an Arab 
 race that is not very friendly to the Turks, and 
 is especially averse to European influence of 
 any kind. From this zambuk a canoe had 
 been sent to the rescue when my second zam- 
 buk stranded. But as soon as it was dis- 
 
154 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 covered that we were Europeans — a circiim- 
 stance which was revealed by the tropical hat 
 wom by our doctor — the canoe tumed back, 
 and left our men to their fate. To continue 
 our journey m my one greatly overladen boat 
 was a very precarious undertaking, — there 
 were now some seventy persons aboard of her 
 — and especially so in consideration of the 
 very meager supply of provisions we had with 
 US. Therefore, just before sunrise, I sent our 
 Arab Interpreter to the Idriss zambuk to offer 
 those in charge of it a large sum of money for 
 the use of their boat for a few days. They 
 refused my offer flatly, however, saying that, 
 should I offer them a hundred thousand pounds, 
 they would do nothing for dogs of Christians. 
 It would, of course, have been an easy matter 
 for me to have made myself master of the 
 desired zambuk by force, and, indeed, it had 
 been my intention to do so as soon as it should 
 be fully day. I was very averse to such a pro- 
 ceeding, however. It might have had some 
 
SHIPWRECK ISS 
 
 very unpleasant consequences politically, for 
 it involved the use of armed force against allies, 
 even though these allies were but a race of 
 wild and uncivilized people. 
 
 But the day brought us better fortune; our 
 lucky Star was once more in the ascendant. A 
 stiff southerly breeze was blowing, which made 
 it possible for me to sail even with my over- 
 loaded boat, as I could run before the wind. 
 It gave US the promise of rapid progress dur- 
 ing the day. So I left the Idriss boat in peace. 
 
 We now hurried to save what we could 
 from the wrecked zambuk. We wanted most 
 of all to recover our arms. The zambuk had 
 sunk still lower during the night. The mast 
 was broken off, and the ship lay on the bottom, 
 tilted downward. By diving, we succeeded in 
 recovering the two machine guns, a few pistols, 
 and a part of the ammunition. Everything 
 eise, our provisions, our clothing, and the like, 
 was lost, and, unfortunately, our entire medi- 
 cal outfit as well. 
 
iS6 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 The stiff breeze from the south carried us in 
 a Single aftemoon over a distance which it 
 would have taken us about six days to cover 
 linder the previously existing conditions. 
 
 By evening we had arrived at Coonfidah. 
 Here we were given a most friendly welcome. 
 As there had been no opportunity to make 
 special preparation for our Coming, a genuine 
 Turkish meal was quickly made ready for us, 
 and we ate it according to the local custom, 
 without the use of plates, forks, or knives. A 
 whole sheep, boiled and stuffed with rice, was 
 placed on the table. With eager hands we 
 set to work to denude the bones of the meat 
 that was on them, and with our fingers we put 
 the rice into our mouths. At Coonfidah we 
 met a Turkish government official and his wife, 
 who were also on their way to Constantinople, 
 and who became our traveling companions. In 
 the further course of our journey this official 
 rendered me good Service as dragoman, that is, 
 as interpreter. 
 
SHIPWRECK 157 
 
 It was our good fortune to find a large zam- 
 buk while we were in Coonfidah. We chartered 
 it, and so were enabled to continue our journey 
 all together in one boat. Without meeting with 
 further difficulties of any kind, we reached Leet 
 on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth day of 
 March. This town marks the northern extrem- 
 ity of the Farisan Bank, between the coral 
 reefs of which we had so far found safety from 
 pursuit by our English foes. Our further 
 course by water would now take us out into 
 the open sea. It was evident that the English 
 would do all in their power to capture us there. 
 While in Leet, chance placed in my hands 
 a letter that had come from a merchant in 
 Djidda. He wrote that Djidda was closely 
 blockaded by English warships, and that not 
 even a zambuk was allowed to enter the harbor 
 without inspection by the English. 
 
 This prohibited our further journey by sea. 
 There was therefore but one way open to us, 
 and that lay overland. We remained in Leet 
 
158 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 two days, just long enough to get together the 
 animals needed for our caravan, to provide 
 ourselves with the required amount of water, 
 and to make all other necessary preparations 
 for our onward march. 
 
 In Leet occurred the first death in our num- 
 ber. One of our seamen, Keil, had been suffer- 
 ing from a severe attack of typhus ever since 
 our sojoum at Hodeida. The hardships of the 
 shipwreck had proved too much for his already 
 exhausted body, and, as our medical stores had 
 all been lost, we could not even give him medi- 
 cal aid as we joumeyed on. He died on the 
 twenty-seventh of March, at three o'clock in 
 the morning. Two of his comrades watched at 
 his bier, as they had at his bedside throughout 
 his illness. We made a row-boat ready, sewed 
 the body in sailcloth, and weighted it with 
 stones. The war flag was then draped over it, 
 and on this was laid the hat and bared sword 
 of the dead. After a brief reUgious Service, 
 we laid the body of our comrade in the boat. 
 
SHIPWRECK 159 
 
 and, taking it out to where the water was 
 deep, we committed it to its last resting place. 
 Three voUeys resounded over his watery grave. 
 We did not deem it wise to give our dead a 
 burial on land, as, in all likelihood, the wild 
 and fanatical people of the country would 
 have disturbed his last sleep. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of March we began 
 our onward joumey. 
 
Chapter XII 
 THE ATTACK 
 
 It did not prove an altogether easy task to 
 collect in Leet all the cameis that we needed 
 for OUT joumey. Leet is a very small town 
 with a popnlation numbering only a few hiin- 
 dred, and with no commercial connections 
 whatever. To facilitate matters with regard 
 to our joumey I thought it advisable to pay 
 my respects to the Sheikh of Leet. Never 
 before had a Christian entered his home. 
 
 The medium of our conversation was my 
 dragoman. After the customary felicitations 
 had been exchanged, the Sheikh invited me to 
 dine with him. His house was a hut put to- 
 gether of boards and matting, and without 
 Windows of any kind. Along two sides of the 
 room stood divans covered with skins. The 
 walls were hung with weapons. The rest of 
 
THE ATTACK i6i 
 
 the fumiture of the room consisted of smoking 
 apparatus. Throughout the entire time before 
 dinner, cups of Mocha and of a sort of lemonade 
 were passed around. The coffee was of the 
 Arabian variety, viz., in its preparation the 
 husks of the coffee bean, and not the beans 
 themselves, are boiled. The result is a bitter 
 drink not at all palatable to Europeans, but 
 which, for the sake of politeness, must be 
 swallowed down imder any circumstances. 
 The preparations for the meal were begun while 
 we were sitting in the room. First of all, quite 
 a large round mat of woven straw was laid on 
 the bare earth in the middle of the room. 
 Then servants brought in rice, which was 
 heaped in a huge mound in the middle of the 
 mat. A few jars of mixed pickles completed 
 the course. Instead of sitting, we lay down 
 at the table. Spoons were provided, however. 
 Soon we were all cheerfully doing our best to 
 diminish the mountain of rice. Meanwhile 
 the meat course had arrived at the front of the 
 
i62 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 house. It consisted of a whole roast sheep, 
 which, as such, did not make its appearance on 
 the table however. Knives and f orks tiiere were 
 none. Two servants, detailed for this special 
 duty, tore the roast sheep into pieces with 
 their hands, and placed before each one of us, 
 on the mat, the piece that was intended for him. 
 In the conrse of the two days that we had 
 to spend in Leet, we succeeded ui getting to- 
 gether about ninety cameis. With this nmn- 
 ber we could begin our march. The Sheikh 
 assured us that we would meet with the others 
 en route on the following day. I purchased a 
 large number of straw mats and distributed 
 them among my men. Later, these mats 
 proved an excellent protection against the heat 
 of the sim. Our caravan left Leet in the even- 
 ing, and we began our march into the desert. 
 Most of the cameis carried only burdens, 
 especially water, ammunition, the machine 
 guns, and provisions. The water prospects for 
 our joumey were far from favorable. I had to 
 
THE ATTACK 163 
 
 reckon with the possibility of traveling for 
 days without being able to replenish our water 
 supply. 
 
 A journey on cameis is necessarily a slow 
 one. To begin with, the camel is not a speedy 
 traveler; furthermore, ours was a caravan of 
 ninety cameis at the Start, and later, of one 
 hundred and ten. The camels on which the 
 officers rode were the only ones that were 
 allowed to nm free. All the others were fas- 
 tened together by ropes, the muzzle of one 
 being tied by a rope of about four meters' 
 length to the tail of the one in front of it. 
 Naturally, the long line of camels thus formed 
 conld not move with the rapidity of a single 
 animal, since the rate of progress of the whole 
 line had to be kept down to the pace of the 
 slowest camel. Moreover, frequent halts had 
 to be made, to re-adjust packs that had slipped, 
 to mend a broken saddle girth, to recover a 
 saddle that had slipped off, and for other like 
 causes of delay. 
 
i64 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 We kept to a route that follows the coast, 
 close by the sea. This entire region is con- 
 sidered unsafe, robbery and attacks upon pass- 
 ing Caravans being the order of the day. From 
 the tune we lef t Leet, our rifles were therefore 
 kept loaded, and ready to shoot. We were 
 fortunate in that the nights were bright with 
 the light of a fnll moon. As a rule, we began 
 the day's march at four o'clock in the after- 
 noon, and arrived at nine or ten in the mom- 
 ing at the place where we were to rest. On an 
 average, we spent about fourteen to eighteen 
 hours a day in the saddle. As cameis are 
 pacers, it is very fatiguing to ride them. 
 
 The water places that we passed were mere 
 holes dug into the sand of the desert, and were 
 from fourteen to eighteen meters deep. With 
 leather bags, which we lowered into them, we 
 dipped up the water. The word water, in its Eu- 
 ropean sense, is a misnomer, however, for this 
 evil-smelling, brown or black, thick fluid, 
 swarming with insects. At the bottom of some 
 
THE ATTACK 165 
 
 of the water holes a dead dog or sheep could 
 be Seen. To use it unboiled was therefore 
 utterly out of the question. It frequently had 
 a brackish taste also. 
 
 From Leet out, we were escorted by a Turk- 
 ish ofl&cer and seven gendarmes. In addition, 
 we were always accompanied by the sheikh of 
 the district through which we happened to be 
 passing, for it is customary in these parts to 
 take with one, as hostage, the person who is 
 responsible for the safety of the country. Such 
 precautions are not looked upon as being any- 
 thing unusual here. In this way our march 
 proceeded without interruption of any kind 
 until the thirty-first day of March. 
 
 At about eleven o'clock on the moming of 
 this day, we arrived at a watering place which 
 is but a day's march distant from Djidda, our 
 next objective point. At this water hole we 
 found an officer and seventeen gendarmes, who 
 had been sent from Djidda to meet us and 
 to bring us the greetings of our Turkish allies 
 
i66 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 and of the civil authorities of Djidda. They 
 had also brought us a liberal supply of water. 
 We camped at the water hole as usual, stretched 
 cur straw mats and woolen blankets over the 
 low thomy desert growth, and crawled linder 
 them far enough to find protection for our 
 heads at least from the scorching heat of the 
 sun. 
 
 The cooking was always the first thing under- 
 taken after we had settled down. Dry wood 
 was gathered along the way by all of the men, 
 and so a fire was quickly started. On it our 
 usual meal of rice and, if we were lucky, of 
 mutton, was soon prepared. 
 
 When I saw the men who had been sent 
 out from Djidda to meet us, I supposed that 
 the most dangerous part of our joumey was 
 behind us. We were now getting into the 
 vicinity of a town in which there was stationed 
 a Turkish garrison of about three hundred men, 
 and I Said to myself that if seventeen men 
 could come through unmolested from Djidda 
 
ff c c 
 
THE ATTACK 167 
 
 to US, then surely we, a Company of fifty men, 
 would be able to travel the same road to 
 Djidda in safety. 
 
 i This district is inhabited by a tribe that is 
 composed wholly of direct descendants of the 
 Prophet, but which nevertheless is notorious 
 for its uncivilized ways, and its robberies. 
 "Father of the Wolf is the very appropriate 
 name by which this part of the coimtry is 
 known. 
 
 As usual, we began our onward march at 
 four o'clock in the afternoon. Our road now 
 led US somewhat away from the sea. The 
 country round about consists wholly of flat 
 sand drifts. Nowhere can one see farther 
 ahead than a distance of about four hundred 
 meters. Hardly has one sand hill been passed, 
 before another looms up to shut out the view. 
 The drifts are overgrown with tufts of grass 
 attaining a height of about two feet. We were 
 trotting slowly along in the moonlight when 
 suddenly, to our right, from beyond the usual 
 
i68 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 course followed by caravans, there appeared a 
 number of Bedouins, about twelve or fifteen, 
 riding in a quick trot, and then vanished in 
 the direction from which we had come. This 
 looked rather suspicious, for, as a rule, Cara- 
 vans do not depart from the routes that have 
 been trodden for thousands of years. Still 
 less is it customary to ride off into the desert 
 at a quick trot in the night-time. Our Turkish 
 escort also took these men to be robbers, and 
 told US that there had been talk in Djidda of 
 a band of robbers, numbering about forty, by 
 which this part of the coiintry was infested. 
 
 As from Leet I had notified the authorities 
 at Djidda, as well as those at Mecca, of our 
 Coming, I had reason to believe that the whole 
 country round about was aware of our approach. 
 Everybody knew, therefore, that our Company 
 was not one of the usual merchant caravans 
 with little armed protection, but that, on the 
 contrary, we were a Company of fifty well- 
 armed men, who were, moreover, carrying with 
 
THE ATTACK 169 
 
 them four machine guns. A rumor of forty 
 roaming bandits caused me little disturbance 
 of mind, therefore. Nevertheless, that I might 
 have my men better in band, and be prepared 
 for any emergency, I took the precaution to 
 divide our one long line of cameis into two 
 lines of fifty each. The men were given Orders 
 not to go to sleep on their cameis, the rifles 
 were all examined, and everything was in readi- 
 ness for prompt action. The orders to my men 
 were, once for all: "Rally to your Commander." 
 
 The officers were riding at the head of the 
 Caravan. When the first signs of the Coming 
 day began to appear behind the mountains 
 that rose on our right, from out the flat sur- 
 face of the desert, I supposed that all occasion 
 for anxiety was now passed, as Bedouins never 
 make their attacks by daylight. So I slung 
 my rifle across my saddle, unbuckled my heavy 
 cartridge belt, and rode slowly down the line 
 to See whether everything was in order. 
 
 I had got no farther than the middle of the 
 
lyo THE "AYESHA^' 
 
 Caravan when I suddenly heard a loud, shrill 
 whistle that was instantly followed by a volley 
 of rifle fire. From every side it rained lead into 
 our Caravan incessantly, and at close ränge. 
 The hum and whistle of the bullets made such 
 a noise that the commands I shouted could not 
 be heard. I grabbed my rifle, held it high, 
 jumped from my camel, and, followed by my 
 men, ran to the head of the caravan. Here the 
 firing from both sides was well under way. 
 From out the dusk of the early moming came 
 the flash of the enemy's shots at a distance of 
 about eighty meters. The riflemen themselves 
 we could not see, any more than they could 
 probably see us, when we lay on the ground. 
 The tall forms of the cameis, on the other band, 
 must have been quite visible to the enemy, and 
 it was at these, most likely, that their fire was 
 chiefly directed. The only guide to the position 
 of our foes was the flash of their shots. As we 
 were being fired at from every side, it was diffi- 
 cult to decide in which direction to tum first. 
 
THE ATTACK 171 
 
 The larger niunber of my men was with me 
 at the front. A few of them had been given 
 Orders to remain with the rear of the caravan. 
 
 The most important thing for us to do now 
 was to get our most effective weapons, the 
 machine guns, into play. Of these, two were 
 strapped on cameis at the head of the caravan, 
 and two at the rear. In a few minutes we had 
 the machine guns in action, and hardly had their 
 volleys rattled over the enemy's lines, when 
 silence reigned there. This turn in affairs had 
 evidently not been expected. We took advan- 
 tage of this lull in the enemy's fire to pull down 
 the cameis that were still standing, so that they 
 would not form so easy a target, to distribute 
 ammunition, and to get together. 
 
 The heaviest fire had poured down upon us 
 from forward to the left, and it was therefore 
 in this direction that I now led my men. Our 
 equipment of fire-arms consisted, all told, of 
 the four machine guns, thirteen German, and 
 three modern Turkish rifles, together with ten 
 
172 THE ^'AYESHA" 
 
 old Turkish rifles that I had secured in Coon- 
 fidah to replace those lost with the wrecked 
 zambuk. Of these, the three modern Turkish 
 rifles had been distributed among the ofl&cers. 
 In addition, we had twenty-four pistols among 
 US, which, however, could only be of Service 
 in an encoimter at close ränge. What the 
 strength of the enemy was, we could not teil 
 as yet. There might be from sixty to eighty 
 men firing rapidly, or there might be many 
 more who fired slowly. Their nimiber was 
 soon to be revealed to us by the Coming day. 
 When it was fully light, we could see that 
 within our immediate vicinity the sand hüls 
 were black with Bedouins. 
 
 My men behaved splendidly. Not one of 
 them showed the least perturbation in spite 
 of the overwhelming superiority in nimibers 
 shown by the enemy, of whom there must 
 have been at least three hundred. With one 
 accord the bayonets appeared on all the rifles, 
 although no order to that effect had been given. 
 
THE ATTACK 173 
 
 During a moment of hesitation at the very 
 outset of the firing, which had now begun in 
 good earnest, and before I had fully decided 
 what it was best to do, the answer to my 
 question came from the man at my right, who 
 called to me. 
 
 "WeU,whatisit?" I asked. 
 
 "How soon are we going at it, sir?" 
 
 "At what?" was my question in reply. 
 
 "Why, at storming the enemy," came the 
 answer from this eighteen-year-old boy. 
 ; "Exactly, my man! You're right. Up! 
 March, march!" 
 
 With a hearty cheer we were up, and rush- 
 ing the enemy's Hne. No doubt, such tactics 
 were a novelty to Bedouins used to attacking 
 a Caravan. At any rate,_the enemy's fire 
 ceased ahnost entirely. As our shining bayo- 
 nets came closer to our foes, they quickly took 
 to flight, followed by our rifle fire, which visibly 
 thinned their ranks. First, we stormed to our 
 left, then to the front, and then to the right. 
 
174 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 It was not necessary to follow the same tactics 
 to the rear, as there the enemy had disappeared 
 entirely. 
 
 As a result, the narrow circle within which 
 we had been hemmed in by the enemy, had 
 now been widened to one of about 1200 meters' 
 distance from us. The firing had stopped alto- 
 gether. I now assembled my men close by the 
 Caravan. The machine guns remained in Posi- 
 tion, in readiness to keep off the enemy, as 
 well as to attack them. 
 
 In spite of the close ränge at which the shots 
 had poured in upon us, we had, thank God, 
 only one man womided among the Germans of 
 my Company. A Httle surprise was in störe 
 for me, however, when I looked about me for 
 my friends of the Arab escort. There is a 
 German saying which nms, "He counts his 
 dear ones that are present, to find his six in- 
 creased to seven." In my case the Situation 
 was reversed. Instead of twenty-four gen- 
 darmes, we now had only seven. There were 
 
THE ATTACK 175 
 
 no dead. The missing were found when we 
 reached Djidda. Nearly all of the Arabs we 
 still had with us had been shot in the leg. This 
 was to be accoiinted for by the circumstance 
 that, instead of advancing toward the enemy, 
 they had nin to cover among the cameis. My 
 men, who had lain in the sand some thirty to 
 forty meters distant from the cameis, had 
 escaped the enemy's fire, which had passed 
 over them. Our foes had aimed at the cameis, 
 and so, before our Arabs could pull the animals 
 to their knees, to find complete shelter behind 
 them, the enemy's bullets, in passing between 
 the legs of the cameis, had found a mark in the 
 limbs of the heroes who had sought refuge there. 
 Of the enemy's losses we knew nothing at 
 all. But, as we stormed past the evacuated 
 positions where they had lain, we counted 
 fifteen dead. It is the custom with Bedouins 
 immediately to remove all weapons from the 
 bodies of their fallen comrades. As such had 
 been the case with all but one of the dead, 
 
176 THE "AYESHA'' 
 
 only one of their rifles feil into our hands. It 
 was a breech loader of the most modern English 
 construction, and was gratefully added to our 
 own equipment. All the distant sand hüls 
 were still fnll of Bedouins, as we could see. In 
 so far as possible, each one of those who showed 
 themselves within ränge of our rifle fire, re- 
 ceived his share of it, the moral effect produced 
 being the principal object in view for the time 
 being. 
 
 We could not very well remain lying in the 
 place where we were. I had at first thought 
 that we were dealing with a band of brigands, 
 whose purpose was the usual one, to capture 
 the valuables we had with us. I had therefore 
 come to the conclusion that our assailants, who 
 had suffered considerable loss, had now thought 
 better of their undertaking and had aban- 
 doned it. 
 
 Quite a number of our cameis had been shot. 
 We took from their packs everything that was 
 most necessary to us, water especially, and, 
 
THE ATTACK 177 
 
 discarding all the less useful things from the 
 burdens of the uninjured camels, replaced them 
 with the indispensables. 
 
 I decided to leave the road usually traveled, 
 and turn sharply to the left in the direction of 
 the sea, which I saw shimmering in the dis- 
 tance. If we could reach it, it would afford us 
 protection on one side, leaving us free to face 
 our foes in front and at our rear. It was un- 
 fortunate that I could not make use of the 
 machine guns while on the march. Having no 
 limbers with us, the guns had to be carried by 
 camels while we were on the march. To make 
 the Caravan more compact, it was divided into 
 from four to six lines, which traveled abreast. 
 The wounded were so placed on the camels that 
 they hung on one side of the animal, which thus 
 afforded them some protection against the fly- 
 ing bullets. Two of the four camels that car- 
 ried machine guns were placed at the head of 
 the Caravan, and the other two at the rear. An 
 advance guard of ten men in a widely extended 
 
178 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 skirmish line was sent out about one hundred 
 and fifty meters ahead of the caravan, while a 
 like nimiber of men formed a rear guard at the 
 same distance from it. As there were only nine 
 more men who carried rifles, these formed a pro- 
 tecting guard, as best they could, for the two 
 wings. The men who were armed with pistols 
 only, and so could take part in no engagement 
 except one at close ränge, remained near the 
 caravan. Lieutenant Gerdts was placed in com- 
 mand of the advance guard, Lieutenant Schmidt 
 of the rear guard, and Lieutenant Gyssling, of 
 the flanks. Lieutenant Wellmann had charge 
 of the caravan itself, where Dr. Lang was also 
 with the sick. 
 
 Slowly our Company set forth, our flag car- 
 ried before us. Our hope, that the enemy 
 would not trouble us again, was not to be 
 realized. We had hardly been ten minutes on 
 the march when shots again poured in upon us 
 from every side. There was scarce a sign of our 
 foes to be seen. Their every movement at any 
 
THE ATTACK 179 
 
 distance of more than four hundred meters was 
 completely hidden by the sand hüls. Ten to 
 twenty dark heads popping up with lightning 
 rapidity from behind a sand hill here or there, 
 was all that we could see. Their appearance 
 was always foUowed the next instant by a 
 volley of shot rattling about the caravan, and 
 before we could get the slightest opportunity 
 to retum the fire, the heads had disappeared, 
 and a shower of lead feil upon us from another 
 direction. 
 
 At first, Strange to say, not one of our num- 
 ber was hit, although the enemy's fire was so 
 incessant that shots were constantly falling 
 about US, little pillars of sand marking the spot 
 where they Struck, while sand and gravel was 
 constantly flying in our faces. In a short time 
 it became evident that the greatest pressure 
 was being brought to bear upon our rear guard. 
 At that end of the caravan the men had to tum 
 every few minutes to silence the enemy by a 
 vigorous retum of their fire. 
 
i8o THE "AYESHA^ 
 
 I was with the rear guard when a signal came 
 from the front, reporting that strong hostile 
 forces had come in sight in the direction toward 
 which the caravan was moving. When I ar- 
 rived at the front, I saw that the whole horizon 
 was black with Bedouins. At the same time 
 came the report from the rear that one of the 
 cameis carrying the machine guns had been 
 shot. The rear guard had halted, to protect 
 the gim, and Lieutenant Schmidt asked that 
 fresh cameis be sent to the rear, so that he 
 might shift the dead cameVs load. I now 
 heard the machine guns of the rear guard 
 firing. They had been unstrapped, set up, 
 and brought into action. 
 
 I now ordered the caravan to halt, an order 
 which was by no means easy to carry out, 
 however, as most of the camel drivers had 
 taken advantage of the darkness to disappear 
 along with the Arab gendarmes at the beginning 
 of the fight. While on my way back to the 
 rear guard, the report reached me that Seaman 
 
THE ATTACK i8i 
 
 Rademacher had fallen, and that Lieutenant 
 Schmidt was mortally wounded, shot through 
 the breast and abdomen. In the meantime the 
 command of the rear guard had devolved upon 
 Lieutenant Wellmann, who had brought with 
 him two cameis from the caravan, for the trans- 
 port of the machine guns. 
 
 During our halt, the enemy's fire increased 
 in severity, and a vigorous engagement was soon 
 in progress. Suddenly the firing ceased alto- 
 gether, and, as I looked about me for the cause, 
 I saw two of the Arab gendarmes, who had re- 
 mained with us, running toward^the enemy's 
 lines, waving large white cloths as they ran. At 
 the same time a third gendarme came to teil 
 me that his comrades wished to parley with the 
 other side. Although this txim in affairs was 
 in no way of my choosing, it was nevertheless a 
 welcome one, for it had now become evident 
 that this was no attack by a mere band of rob- 
 bers, but one that was thoroughly organized. As 
 our assailants outnumbered us by at least ten to 
 
i82 THE ^*AYESHA = 
 
 one, it would have been folly to continue our 
 maxch at the slow gait of a cameFs pace, on 
 an open plain, under continued fire from the 
 enemy. Moreover, my most effective weapon 
 of defence, the machine guns, could not be used 
 while on the march. Nor could our twenty- 
 nine rifles be employed to the best advantage, 
 as there were too few of us to make their fire 
 effective in all the directions from which we 
 would be attacked. In the long run, we would 
 have been shot down one af ter the other. 
 
 We therefore took advantage of the pause in 
 the battle, to fortify ourselves. Hastily we 
 constructed defence works out of camel saddles, 
 which we filled with sand, out of sacks of coffee, 
 rice and other provisions. We strengthened 
 the rampart thus formed by filling it about with 
 sand, as best we could. The cameis were placed 
 all together in the middle of the enclosed space, 
 and loop holes were quickly got ready. For 
 want of better material, they were put together 
 out of tin plates and side arms. As all this was 
 
THE ATTACK 183 
 
 done in great haste, our constructions were, of 
 course, but temporary and incomplete. Our 
 water bottles were quickly buried deep in the 
 sand, where they were least likely to be dam- 
 aged by the enemy's fire. Within our outer 
 rampart we raised another little fortress, the 
 walls of which were about one meter and a half 
 high, and constructed of empty petroleum cans 
 which we filled with sand. Here were placed 
 the sick who were unfit for duty, the wounded, 
 and the doctor. 
 
 As we had to reckon with the possibility of 
 being fired upon from all sides, and our rampart 
 afforded us protection in front only, the cameis 
 were so placed as to shelter us from the enemy's 
 fire at the flanks and rear. For our severely 
 wounded, Lieutenant Schmidt, we made a 
 stretcher of rifles and a woolen blanket, on 
 which he was carefully carried to the inner 
 fortress. The Seaman, who had fallen, we 
 buried where he feil. 
 
 The four machine guns were set up at the 
 
i84 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 four comers of our defence works, and protected 
 as best they could be by hastily thrown up ram- 
 parts of sand. The men armed with rifles were 
 distributed at equal distances along our forti- 
 fications. In the Spaces between, were sta- 
 tioned the men who were armed with pistols 
 only, and the ammunition was placed within 
 easy reach. Our preparations were hardly com- 
 pleted when the men bringing the enemy's con- 
 ditions, returned. The demands were that we 
 surrender all arms and ammunition, our cameis, 
 all our provisions and water. In addition we 
 were to pay eleven thousand pounds in gold. 
 Upon compliance with these conditions we were 
 to be allowed to proceed unmolested. Well 
 we might! 
 
 The parleying had at first been conducted 
 through the dragoman who, with his wife, had 
 joined us at Coonfidah. He also was among 
 the wounded. Shot in the leg! When he went 
 over to the enemy to negotiate, he did not for- 
 get to take his wife with him. We did not see 
 
THE ATTACK 185 
 
 either of them again until we met them in 
 Djidda. 
 
 My answer ran: "In the first place, we have 
 no money; in the second, we are guests of the 
 coimtry — get your money in Djidda; thirdly, 
 it is not customary with Germans to surrender 
 their arms." 
 
 Hereupon the firing began again. All the 
 camel drivers who had so far remained with us, 
 and a nrnnber of the Arab gendarmes also, took 
 advantage of the truce to follow the example 
 of the dragoman and his wife, and disappear. 
 The engagement lasted until darkness came on. 
 We lay very well protected behind our camel 
 saddles and cameis. We retumed the enemy's 
 fire but sparingly, as our störe of ammunition 
 was not large. Moreover, much of the ammu- 
 nition that had gone down with the wrecked 
 zambuk, and had lain in the water until we 
 fished it out on the foUowing moming, now 
 missed fire. For this reason, I had all the im- 
 damaged ammunition placed in readiness near 
 
i86 THE "AYESHA' 
 
 the machine guns, so that in a possible night 
 attack at dose ränge, I might feel sure of my 
 most effective weapons. The rest of the am- 
 munition was distributed among the rifles. We 
 suffered no furtber losses during the day's en- 
 gagement. Several of our cameis were shot, 
 but we were none the less protected for this, 
 as a dead camel is quite as good a shield against 
 rifle balls as is a live one. We had eaten nothing 
 during the entire day. Nor could we think of 
 doing so while the daylight lasted. No sooner 
 did one of us raise bis head above our rampart 
 of saddles, than the enemy's fire was redoubled. 
 But our most strenuous work began with the 
 Coming of the night. The moon did not rise 
 xmtil about an hour after sunset. During the 
 intervening hour the darkness was so intense 
 that we could see hardly forty or fifty meters 
 ahead. Within our rampart everything was 
 in readiness to withstand a night attack by 
 storm. All rifles and pistols were loaded, the 
 machine guns manned and ready for action, 
 
THE ATTACK 187 
 
 and the men, with their weapons in band, were 
 kneeling just behind tbe rampart. But notbing 
 bappened. 
 
 As soon as tbe moon bad risen, and we could 
 see as mucb as tbree bundred meters abead, we 
 set to work to improve our position. First of 
 all, water was served to tbe men, and bard tack 
 distributed. Wbile some of tbe officers and 
 men remained on guard ready for action, otbers 
 set to work at deepening tbe trencbes, an imder- 
 taking tbat proceeded but slowly, as we bad 
 no proper tools for tbe work. Still otbers were 
 engaged in removing tbe dead cameis from 
 witbin our enclosure. Tbe intense beat caused 
 putrefaction to set in very rapidly. Tbe car- 
 casses swelled up, tbe tense bides burst, and 
 tbe entrails exuded. As at tbis season of tbe 
 year tbe wind blows persistently from tbe 
 nortb, we took tbe dead cameis to tbe soutb- 
 ward of us, so tbat tbe stencb migbt not 
 sicken us. 
 
 It was well into tbe nigbt before we feit free 
 
i88 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 to take a little rest. The trenches were now 
 so deep tliat they afforded ample shelter for 
 the men lying in them. We had thrown up 
 mounds of sand on all sides, in addition to the 
 protection afforded us by the cameis. Our 
 rifles and pistols had suffered considerably 
 from the incessantly drifting sand. They were 
 now taken apart, a few at a time, cleaned 
 and tested. Then we wrapped our handker- 
 chiefs around the locks, and stuffed small bits 
 of cloth into the muzzles to keep out the sand. 
 All this care was necessary to insure the effi- 
 ciency of our weapons. That there might al- 
 ways be some one on guard within our forti- 
 fication, a part of the men remained awake at 
 their posts while the others slept with their 
 loaded rifles in their arms. There was always 
 one officer awake. But nothing of importance 
 occurred durmg the night. 
 
 At nine o'clock that evening, Lieutenant 
 Schmidt, the officer who had been so terribly 
 wounded, died. We dug a grave for him as 
 
THE ATTACK 189 
 
 deep as possible in the middle of our camping 
 place, and toward eleven o'clock in the night, 
 we four surviving officers ourselves bore our 
 fallen comrade to his grave. There could be 
 no Service at the burial. The volley over his 
 freshly made grave was fired by the enemy on 
 the Coming morning. 
 
 I had brought with me from Hodeida an 
 English-speaking Arab. During the course of 
 the night, as soon as the moon had risen, I 
 sent this man to Djidda, only a ten hours' 
 march by camel distant from us, and only eight 
 by foot. I had found him to be a very reli- 
 able and sensible man, and, as I learned later, 
 he succeeded in making his way through the 
 enemy's lines, and took the report of our 
 perilous Situation to the military authorities at 
 Djidda. 
 
 Half an hour before stmrise I had all hands 
 roused. If the enemy had remained, there 
 would, in all likelihood, be an attack made 
 upon US as soon as the day had fuUy come. For 
 
iQo THE "AYESHA" 
 
 the sake of the moral effect, it was my purpose 
 to retum their first fire with as heavy volleys as 
 possible. I wished to convince the enemy that 
 we were fully prepared for an attack, and that 
 our fighting strength was undiminished. 
 
 What I had expected, happened. As the 
 sun rose, our opponents opened a lively fire 
 upon US. We gave them a vigorous answer 
 with füll volleys, and every head that showed 
 itself received its share. This method of pro- 
 cedure perceptibly dampened the fighting spirit 
 of our opponents. Their fire became notice- 
 ably weaker and more cautious. Our purpose 
 was achieved. 
 
 Just before sunrise all hands were served with 
 a drink of water. During the entire course 
 of the day there was not another opportunity 
 to give them more. Not until after the sun 
 had set could another drink be given them. 
 As we did not find it possible to cook anything 
 even at night, our störe of hard tack was drawn 
 upon, and every man stuffed his pockets füll. 
 
THE ATTACK 191 
 
 The enemy fired upon us without intermission. 
 But, as we were pretty well protected, we re- 
 tumed their fire sparingly. That we were not 
 engaged in an ordinary encounter with rob- 
 bers, but were facing a thoroughly organized 
 attack, now became doubly evident. From 
 our fortified camp we could plainly see two 
 large zambuks lying at anchor near the shore 
 in the far distance. Between them and the 
 Arabs who were besieging us, a regulär relief 
 System was being carried on. A large nxmiber 
 of our foes must have come in these two ships. 
 Others had arrived by land, which was shown 
 by the fact that far off in the desert, near the 
 horizon, a large number of camcls could be 
 Seen grazing. On this day, unhappily, two 
 more of our men were severely wounded. Of 
 these, Lanig, a fireman, was shot through the 
 breast and abdomen, and died during the night. 
 Unfortunately, we could give our wounded but 
 little aid, as all our medical Stores were lost 
 together with the zambuk that foundered. All 
 
192 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 that we had left was the emergency bandage 
 packages that we had brought with us f rom the 
 "Emden," and a few bottles of brandy. 
 
 The day brought forth nothmg of special in- 
 terest. A camel that had escaped from our en- 
 closure was shot by a stray bullet to leeward of 
 US, and the intense odor of decay that the wind 
 brought with it was a source of annoyance. 
 Within our camp itself, some very unpleasant 
 guests had made their appearance. Hundreds 
 and thousands of nasty black beetles about the 
 length of a man's thumb ran about everywhere, 
 carrying the camel düng all over the camp. 
 Our trenches were alive with these insects, and 
 it mattered little how many we killed, for new 
 ones came to fill their places as fast as we killed 
 them. Sleep was impossible. They crawled 
 into our clothing, and ran over our faces. 
 Aside from the annoyance they caused us, they 
 brought a very real danger to our wounded. 
 The tetanus bacilli develop more readily in 
 horse and camel manure than in anything eise, 
 
THE ATTACK 193 
 
 aad the inevitable result of tliis infection is the 
 deadly lockjaw. 
 
 The buming heat of the sun made life in- 
 tolerable during the day. While firing, we 
 could not wear our light-colored head-cloths, as 
 they afforded the enemy too good a target. 
 The intense bright light dazzled our eyes, and 
 made our heads ache. Everything was so hot 
 that we burned our hands when, in firing, they 
 occasionally touched the barrel of our rifles. 
 The grease-soaked camel saddles began to smoul- 
 der in the heat, and a faint odor of smoke per- 
 vaded the whole camp. We got rid of this 
 annoyance, as best we could, by heaping sand 
 upon the saddles. The sand, carried by the 
 never-ceasing wind, drifted over us incessantly. 
 All day long some of us were kept busy digging 
 out the trenches that had been half refilled 
 with the drifting sand. It crept into our eyes, 
 our ears, our mouths, and our noses. Our eyes 
 became inflamed from its constant Irritation. 
 Dampened by sweat, it formed a thick coating 
 
194 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 on our faces by which they were disfigured be- 
 yond recognition. High in the air, just over 
 our camp, circled from twenty to thirty great 
 vultures. 
 
 With tlie approach of darkness everything 
 witibin our camp was put into a State of pre- 
 paredness again. And again I sent a message 
 to D jidda, — this time by two Arab gendarmes 
 disguised as Bedouins. As soon as the moon 
 had risen, those of us who were off duty lay 
 down to rest. The enemy ceased firing as it 
 grew dark. 
 
 In the middle of the night we were suddenly 
 wakened by shots fired by some of our sen- 
 tinels. In a twinkling everyone was at his 
 post, ready to repel the supposed attack. 
 "Whereare they?" I asked one of the sentries. 
 "Right here, at a distance of about forty meters 
 some of them were creeping along. There goes 
 one now!" And off sped another bullet. But 
 our supposed enemies were only hyenas and 
 jackals, which, scenting prey, were sneaking 
 
THE ATTACK 195 
 
 about the camp, and making a meal of the dead 
 cameis. 
 
 When that night was ended, the sun rose over 
 the horizon for the third time since the begin- 
 ning of the fight. Our condition was critical. 
 We had heard nothing from the Turkish garri- 
 son although, provided my messages had been 
 received, relief might have reached us in the 
 course of the preceding day. We could hold 
 out no longer than to the end of this one day. 
 By that time our supply of water would be 
 exhausted, although each man had been al- 
 lowed but one small cup füll each moming and 
 evening. Without water we were doomed. 
 Whatever final action I decided upon, must 
 therefore be undertaken at once, before my 
 men had lost their strength. On that morning, 
 I gave them Orders to force their way through 
 to Djidda as soon as the sun had set, if no re- 
 lief reached us during the day. In this way 
 I hoped that at least some of us would get 
 there. Whoever feil, must fall. The sick and 
 
196 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 the wounded could not be taken with us. But 
 it was not to come to that, thank Godl 
 
 Toward noon of the third day a man waving 
 a white cloth was seen Coming over to us from 
 the enemy, who had ceased firing. I had him 
 brought within our camp, and asked him what 
 he wanted. He repHed that the other side 
 would withdraw the demand for our arms, 
 ammunition, cameis, provisions, and water, if, 
 instead, we would pay them twenty-two thou- 
 sand pounds in gold. I conjectured that our 
 foes had leamed of the approach of the Turk- 
 ish garrison, and that, in the customary way 
 of the country, they were tr>4ng to get out of 
 us what they could. 
 
 I determined to draw out the interview as 
 long as possible, in the hope that the relief 
 expected would arrive in the meantime, and 
 the enemy would then be caught between two 
 fires. For this reason I pictured our Situation 
 in as rosy a light as possible, and as though 
 we could wish for notliing better than to spend 
 
THE ATTACK 197 
 
 a sununer vacation in the desert, entertained 
 by the music of whistling bullets about us. I 
 pointed to our empty water cans where they 
 lay buried in the sand, and gave the man to 
 understand that we had water enough to last 
 US four weeks easily, that there was there- 
 fore no reason why I should make special con- 
 cessions, and furthermore, that we had an 
 abundance of ammunition, as he himself had 
 reason to know. In fact the enemy ought to 
 be thankful that I had not come down upon 
 them with my machine guns. The medium 
 of our conversation was a native of Morocco, 
 a man who, at some former time, had been 
 made prisoner of war in Belgiimi, and, together 
 with a number of other Mohammedans, had 
 been sent back to Turkey. From there he had 
 joined an expedition to Arabia, and had come 
 to Coonfidah, where I ran across him and took 
 him with us. He imderstood a few words of 
 French. 
 The enemy's envoy did not seem especially 
 
198 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 elated by my representations. He withdrew, 
 only to retum again in about half an hour with 
 a repetition of the seifsame terms. To gain 
 time, I now told him that I considered it highly 
 important that I should confer with the leader 
 of our assailants in person, and I therefore be- 
 sought him to come to me, here in my camp. 
 His apprehensive Highness did not come, but 
 sent, instead, the fierce threat that if we did 
 not pay at once, we should have "beaucoup de 
 combat." I interpreted this to mean that for 
 him it was high time to get his train. So I 
 expressed my surprise that he did not regard 
 what had occnrred as "beaucoup de combat." 
 To me it had seemed to be such, I said. 
 
 Hereupon there blazed out from the enemy's 
 lines a few more furiously angry volleys, and 
 then silence feil. 
 
 A quarter of an hour passed, and then an- 
 other, and not a shot was heard. Slowly and 
 cautiously we raised our heads above our 
 camel saddle ramparts. Nothing to be seen! 
 
THE ATTACK 199 
 
 "Careful," I cautioned. "This is only a ruse. 
 Keep down! There is time enough. We can't 
 get away from here before evening in any 
 case." 
 
 But when nothing at all happened, we first 
 got up on our knees, then on our feet, and then 
 searched all about with our glasses. Nothing 
 to be Seen! Whither our foes had vanished, we 
 had not the least idea. The sand hills of the 
 desert, into which they had gone, concealed 
 them from our view. Apparently they had 
 departed. 
 
 For the present I meant under any circum- 
 stances to remain where we were. In the first 
 place, I did not feel at all certain that the 
 enemy had really withdrawn, and that this was 
 not merely a ruse to which they had resorted. 
 And secondly, we could not take up our march 
 before nightfall in any case. 
 
 About an hour after the firing had ceased, 
 two men on cameis appeared in the distance. 
 Their dress and richly caparisoned saddles pro- 
 
200 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 claimed them from afar to be no ordinary 
 Bedouins. Waving a white cloth, they came 
 riding toward our camp. As a sign that we 
 understood their purpose, we raised our war 
 flag. When the men had come to within fifty 
 meters of us, they dismounted. I sent my 
 man from Morocco out to them, to ask what 
 they wanted. The answer was that they 
 wished to speak with the Commander of the 
 German troop. They had been sent by the 
 Emir of Mecca, who had been informed of 
 the attack upon us, and was sending troops to 
 our relief. 
 
 This sounded very promising, but there was 
 after all no surety that it was really true. By 
 this time my sojourn in Arabia had taught me 
 to be suspicious of everything. When I went 
 out to meet the Arabs, it was with drawn sword 
 in hand, and behind me walked one of my men 
 with cocked rifle, ready to shoot. At the camp 
 I left Orders to stand ready to fire, and, in case 
 an attack upon me should be made, to shoot 
 
THE ATTACK 201 
 
 without regard for my person. But again 
 nothing happened. 
 
 The two Arabs assured me that Abdullah, the 
 second son of the Emir of Mecca, would soon 
 arrive with a Company of soldiers. And truly, 
 in about another half hour we could see in the 
 distance about seventy men riding toward us 
 on cameis, and carrying before them a dark red 
 banner emblazoned with verses from the Koran 
 in golden lettering. They were making a sort 
 of music by the beating of drums, and were 
 singing to it. I regarded this proceeding as 
 rather incautious, if, as I assumed, these sol- 
 diers were about to enter into an engagement. 
 
 Coming toward me, Abdullah saluted. He 
 brought me his father's greetings, and expressed 
 regret for what had occurred. He told me that 
 he had brought us water, and assured me that 
 we could now march on to Djidda in peace, 
 as our assailants had withdrawn. 
 
 After I had distributed the water among my 
 men, we proceeded to load the packs on the 
 
202 THE "AYESHA' 
 
 camels. This was a wearisome undertaking, 
 and one that was accompanied by many dffi- 
 oüties, as getting camels ready to march has 
 as yet not been included in the training for 
 Service in the Imperial navy. Quantities of 
 provisions had to be left behind, as forty of 
 our camels had been shot. 
 
 Accompanied by the Emir's troops we left 
 onr camp. It was, no doubt, a most imusual 
 occnrrence that a Christian should thus be 
 riding through the desert, side by side with the 
 son of the Emir of Mecca, and under the ban- 
 ner of the Prophet. A few minutes later we 
 passed the abandoned positions of our foes. 
 The rascals had actually dug out regulär 
 trenches for themselves. 
 
 We rode throughout the rest of the day. In 
 the evening we camped beside a spring. Here, 
 for the first time in four days, we could eat a 
 cooked meal, wash ourselves, and lie down to 
 rest. A circimistance of interest was that the 
 water was brought up from a well having a 
 
THE ATTACK 203 
 
 depth of about forty meters, and yet its tem- 
 
 perature was about thirty degrees Centigrade.^ 
 
 As we lay in our camp, dose by the shore of 
 
 the sea, we could see, in the darkness of the 
 
 night, the restless play of a searchlight flashing 
 
 over the surface of the water. Our friends, the 
 
 EngHshmen off Djidda! 
 
 ^ A depth of about 131 feet, and a temperature of 86 
 degrees Fahrenheit. Translator. 
 
Chapter XIII 
 TO THE RAILROAD 
 
 We were well cared for at Djidda. The 
 sick and wounded found shelter and attention 
 in a comparatively good military hospital. A 
 difficult point for me to settle now, was how it 
 was best to proceed on our way. I had leamed 
 that the Bedouins who had attacked us were in 
 the Service of the English, a fact to which the 
 modern English rifles with which they were 
 equipped, attested. The way out of Djidda by 
 sea was also closed to us. During the day we 
 could distinctly see the mast tops of the English 
 blockaders now and again. Nevertheless, I de- 
 cided to continue our joumey in zambuks. It 
 appeared to me that the way by water ofifered 
 greater possibilities of success than to travel by 
 land. 
 
 The first step to be taken was to spread 
 
TO THE RAILROAD 205 
 
 abroad the report that we intended to go over- 
 land. Meanwhile, very secretly, I provided 
 myself with a zambuk and a good pilot. On 
 account of the wounded it was necessary to 
 remain in Djidda for some days. The eighth 
 of April was the day set for our departure. In 
 the harbor at Djidda there was a motorboat 
 in which I made a trip of inspection as far out 
 to sea as possible. I saw no sign of the English. 
 Did they believe in the rumored land joumey? 
 On the night between the eighth and ninth 
 of April the wind was in our favor, and we ran 
 out. We met much better conditions than 
 when we ran the English blockade upon leav- 
 ing Hodeida. The wind held steady all through 
 the night, and when the sun rose, we were out 
 of sight of the blockading Englishmen. I 
 hugged the shore with my zambuk as well as I 
 could, and took advantage of every reef to creep 
 behind it, and so increase the difficulty of our 
 capture by any possible pursuers. Our progress 
 was slow but sure. We stopped for a short 
 
2o6 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 time, generally not more than a few hours, at 
 several little coast towns to inquire for news, 
 and to purchase fresh provisions. The pilot 
 we had taken with us from Djidda was 
 thorougMy familiär with the waters through 
 which he was conducting us, and spoke English 
 very well. We lay at anchor at night, as the 
 reefs rendered navigation impossible in the 
 dark. At Sherm Rabigh I had to change 
 zambuks, as the one I had procured at Djidda 
 proved to be too weak. Our new zambuk had 
 first of all to be ballasted with sand, as, with- 
 out either cargo or bailast, the ship could not 
 carry sail. 
 
 Our anchoring, in the evening, was always a 
 peculiar manoeuvre. In the proper sense of the 
 Word anchoring, it was not such at all. The 
 coral reefs between which we were sailing feil 
 o£f abruptly all round into a great depth of 
 water. The anchoring proceeded in this way: 
 We ran to within a few meters of the coral 
 reefs, where we took down all sails. Two 
 
TO THE RAILROAD 207 
 
 Arabs, standing ready at the bow, then jumped 
 overboard, each one carrying with him a light 
 rope to which iron hooks were attached. These 
 iron hooks were bored into the cavities of the 
 coral formation just below the surface of the 
 water. And so we lay for the night. This was 
 not always pleasant however, for when the 
 wind shifted, there was danger that it would 
 blow US onto the coral formation to which we 
 had made fast. 
 
 On our way to the north we passed several 
 boats sailing in the opposite direction. It is 
 the custom in Arabia for boatmen, in passing, 
 to greet each other with a sort of howl. The 
 Arabs in the boats we met were always amazed 
 to hear, as they sailed by us, the howling of 
 their countrymen in our zambuk energetically 
 supplemented by fifty vigorous voices. 
 
 We found practically no coast population 
 along the entire way, but occasionally we met, 
 far out at sea, a little dugout carrying an 
 Arab or two engaged in fishing. We always 
 
2o8 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 hailed these fishermen, and traded rice for 
 fish with them. 
 
 Out way northward took us past Mecca. 
 It is the custom with Arabs, when at their 
 prayers five times a day, to face toward their 
 Holy City, and to touch their foreheads to the 
 ground in that direction. So it came about that 
 during the first days of our sailing, the Arabs 
 in our zambuk would stand facing toward the 
 bows, then, later, to starboard, and finally 
 they faced aft. 
 
 Without meeting with any special difficulties 
 we reached Sherm Munnaiburra on the twenty- 
 eighth day of April. This is a little sheltered 
 bay about ten nautical miles south of our 
 intended point of destination, El Wegh. From 
 this bay onward our course lay without the 
 shelter of the reefs, and deep, water ran close 
 to the shore. We had now been fighting our 
 way onward for nearly six months, and there 
 prevailed among us a general disinclination to 
 trust ourselves to a sailboat over this last short 
 
TO THE RAILROAD 209 
 
 strjetch that might prove dangerous to us on 
 our journey. For this reason we cast anchor 
 at Sherm Munnaiburra, to go overland to El 
 Wegh. 
 
 Our Coming had been made known to the 
 local authorities by messengers despatched 
 overland, who had arrived before us. A few 
 gendarmes had therefore been sent to the coast 
 to meet us. We got hold of one of them while 
 we were still in the harbor, and sent him out 
 to find cameis for us. Before the night had 
 passed, we could see from where we lay, a 
 nimiber of little watch fires burning here and 
 there along the shore, an indication that the 
 animals for our caravan were assembling. 
 
 When we rode off on the following day, we 
 took with US nothing more than our arms, and 
 provisions sufficient for one day only. Every- 
 thing eise was left on the zambuk, to take its 
 chances by sea. Fortimately, the zambuk 
 reached its destination without sighting a 
 Single hostile ship. On the evening of the 
 
2IO THE "AYESHA" 
 
 twenty-ninth day of April we were in El 
 Wegh. 
 
 The first thing we did here was to get a good 
 bath, and a good sleep. Here, too, we at last 
 had an opportnnity to change onr under- 
 clothing and have it washed, for it required 
 two days to get the necessary cameis together 
 at El Wegh. 
 
 On the second of May, at eight o'clock in 
 the moming, we began our march. Here in 
 the north, the cameis traveled differently than 
 in the south, where, as has been described, 
 they were all tied together so as to form one 
 long line. This is not the custom in the north, 
 where every animal goes along by itseK, and 
 must be guided by its own rider. At first this 
 proved a difficult task for my men, but before 
 long they had their cameis so well in hand that 
 the Caravan could be kept together quite well. 
 We were conducted on our way by Suleiman, 
 Sheikh of El Wegh. 
 
 At first cur road lay through the desert 
 
TO THE RAILROAD 211 
 
 with which we were all too familiär. But very 
 soon we came to a mountain region, and passed 
 some charming scenery. The water conditions 
 also were far better than those we had found 
 in the desert. The wells were better kept, and 
 furnished water that was at least drinkable, 
 although not absolutely clean. That we should 
 See running water when we reached the moun- 
 tain ridge was announced to us by oiir Arab 
 escort, days before we got there, as a matter of 
 special interest and wonder. If any of us were 
 anticipating the pleasure of bathing in a moun- 
 tain torrent, our hopes were certainly doomed 
 to disappointment. To be sure, the water in 
 the tiny rivulet that we saw did move, but any 
 one of US could easily have stopped its flow for 
 some time, by stepping into it with both feet. 
 Up here in the mountains, where it was 
 cooler, we marched by day, and rested at 
 night. Because of our bitter experience in the 
 desert, we made it our habit to intrench our- 
 selves every evening before going to sleep, 
 
212 THE "AYESHA 
 
 much to the astonishment of our Arab escort. 
 But we had finally reached the point where we 
 doubted that anybody was to be trusted. Our 
 fortifications were usually very quickly thrown 
 up, as we had brought with us spades enough 
 for all. And so, each evening saw a small 
 fortified camp arise in the wilderness, and from 
 out its ramparts our four machine guns pro- 
 truded threateningly. Within our fortifications 
 no watch fire was allowed, but the im- 
 mediate region all roimd our camp was well 
 lighted by fires kept buming by our sentinels. 
 We slept, as usual, with loaded rifles in our 
 arms. Comfort was not a prominent feature 
 in this sort of camp. The nights were very 
 cold. The well men among us frequently gave 
 their blankets to the sick, that they might be 
 kept warm. But those of us who had none 
 did not mind it, but followed the old rule which 
 runs: "Lie down on your back and cover 
 yourself with your belly." 
 The domain of our conductor, Suleiman 
 
TO THE RAILROAD 213 
 
 Pasha, did not extend quite to El Ula, from 
 whence we expected to go by the Hejaz 
 Railroad. Just before reaching El Ula we had 
 to cross territory that was controUed by an- 
 other sheikh, one who was at enmity with our 
 friend, and who was illy disposed toward us 
 because we had not hired cameis of hitn for 
 the last four hours of our march, while passing 
 through his territory. 
 
 Under these circumstances it was quite 
 possible that we still might have to break our 
 way through by force of arms. Suleiman 
 Pasha also seemed to regard something of this 
 kind as probable. On each day, and from every 
 direction in the mountains, small bands of his 
 adherents joined him, until our caravan had 
 gradually attained a total strength of some 
 four hundred men. It was a most picturesque 
 scene we looked upon as these Bedouins 
 marched along, carrying long Arab flintlocks, 
 clad in their loosely flowing brown garments, 
 and with fluttering bright head-cloths, If, on 
 
214 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 the preceding days, we had been the only ones 
 to be cautious enough to intrench, it was now 
 Suleiman Pasha himself who adopted this 
 measure, an evidence to us that it might yet 
 be made pretty bot for us. That night we made 
 special efforts to be well prepared. But it 
 passed without disturbance of any kind. 
 
 We were now only one day's joumey distant 
 from a railroad Station. Our way lay over a 
 high moimtain region. We wound along 
 through narrow passes that seemed just fitted 
 for an attack. Through these defiles but one 
 camel could pass at a time, with the result, 
 that the caravan stretched away in so long a 
 line that it could hardly be kept together under 
 the command of one leader. To guard against 
 any possible surprise, Suleiman had organized 
 a regulär reconnoitering Service, which, in its 
 wonderful efficiency, was worthy of admiration. 
 Perhaps it was also an evidence that he had 
 frequent need of it. Little patrols, mounted 
 on cameis, rushed at a fuU gallop into every 
 
TO THE RAILROAD 215 
 
 monntain valley, emerged on the other side of 
 the mountain, made their observations, re- 
 ported, and retumed to their places in the 
 Caravan. 
 
 When we were but a few hours' march dis- 
 tant from El Ula, letters were brought to us. 
 They had been sent to inform us that the 
 angry sheikh who, we had supposed, would 
 attack US, was at the time embroiled in a fight 
 farther to the north, and that we could there- 
 fore continue on our way without fear of being 
 molested. 
 
 Upon receipt of this information I decided 
 to ride ahead of the caravan, so as to get to 
 the telegraph Station at El Ula as soon as pos- 
 sible, Order a special train, and make arrange- 
 ments for the comfort of my men. I was 
 accompanied by Suleiman Pasha, his two sons, 
 and several other dignitaries. We rode at a 
 Sharp trot, and covered the last Stretch of the 
 journey in a few hours. We had all come to be 
 on very f riendly terms with our Sheikh and his 
 
2i6 THE "AYESHA^ 
 
 two sons, although our means of conversation 
 were very limited. All three of them showed the 
 greatest interest when, on arriving at the sum- 
 mit of the moimtain ränge, from whence the 
 white houses of El Ula could be seen gleaming 
 out from among the palm trees, I took out 
 my binoculars to get sight at last of a tele- 
 graph wire and a railroad. Glasses of this kind 
 are as yet unknown in this region. Each of 
 my Arab friends wanted to get at least one 
 look through them, and so the glasses passed 
 from hand to hand. With every change of 
 hands, the glasses were given an^extra tum. 
 How much the last one could see, I can not 
 say. 
 
 In Order to impress our Arab escort at the 
 very outset with the efl&ciency of our weapons, 
 I had, some days previously, given Suleiman 
 Pasha, to his great astonishment, an Illustration 
 of what our machine guns were capable of in 
 the way of firing. He was eager to be allowed 
 himself to press the button, and manifested a 
 
TO THE RAILROAD 217 
 
 surprised delight when the gun, which we had 
 got ready for him beforehand, fired an unbroken 
 succession of shots, and brought down pieces 
 of stone from the cliffs at which it was aimed. 
 As all weapons are subjects of great interest 
 to Arabs, I presented Suleiman Pasha and each 
 of his sons with a revolver and the necessary 
 ammunition for it. In addition, I promised to 
 send them a binocular from Germany. 
 
 As we were riding across a wide plateau 
 which stretched beyond the limits of our vision, 
 I utilized this opportunity to impress upon the 
 Pasha an idea of Germany's greatness. To his 
 amazement he was told that German warships, 
 when engaged in battle, could fire upon the 
 enemy from a distance considerably greater 
 than the breadth of the piain we were then 
 traversing. Although this was a slight exag- 
 geration, for the tableland stretched from hori- 
 zon to horizon, it produced the desired effect. 
 The size of the guns from which these shots 
 were fired, I pictured to him by saying that a 
 
2i8 THE "AYESHA" 
 
 sheep could easily run through the barrel of 
 any one of them. 
 
 Toward noon we arrived at El Ula, and, 
 much to my surprise, everything was in readi- 
 ness for us. A special train stood waiting for 
 US, its angine all ready for the order to light 
 the fires. This order was not long delayed. 
 
 Two German gentlemen and a number of 
 Turkish officers had come to meet us; letters 
 and news from the colonies in Syria were 
 awaiting us. We were treated to chilled Rhine 
 wine, Champagne, peaches, and other delicacies 
 of which we had long been deprived. Being 
 given the choice between a glass of wine and a 
 bath, I chose the former. Why depart so sud- 
 dcnly from a familiär habit to which one had 
 faithfully adhered for weeks past? 
 
 A few hours later my men arrived. I rode 
 out a Short distance to meet them. With flag 
 flying, and cameras pointed at us from every 
 side, we marched together into the little town 
 where a railroad and a waiting room gave us the 
 
c c t 
 
 <■ "•< 
 
TO THE RAILROAD 219 
 
 first indication that we were retuming to civiliza- 
 tion. An abundant meal, a greater abundance 
 to drink, and a quick bath (after all!) occupied 
 the next few hours. Then the train moved 
 northward at the wonderful speed of thirty kilo- 
 meters an hour, and we could yield our weary 
 limbs to the comfort of red-cushioned seats, a 
 luxury long denied us. 
 
Chapter XIV 
 HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 Henceforth our joumey was free from dan- 
 ger of any kind. We traveled by rail over 
 Damascus and Aleppo through Asia Minor to 
 Constantinople. At two points on our joumey 
 we had to leave the railroad and travel by 
 wagon, or afoot, as the railroad had not been 
 completed at these places. 
 
 Everywhere we were entertained most cor- 
 dially and hospitably by our German country- 
 men and by the Turkish authorities. At the 
 railway stations large crowds were always as- 
 sembled to greet us. There were bands play- 
 ing and flags flying to welcome us, and roses 
 with which to decorate ourselves. Gifts were 
 showered upon us as we sat in our carriages. 
 New clothing was provided for us, and we shed 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND 221 
 
 no tears when we parted from öur old rags and 
 their numerous inhabitants. 
 
 My men enjoyed the imprecedented distinc- 
 tion of dining with great dignitaries and men 
 high in authority. Costly presents were be- 
 stowed upon us, and our baggage car, that at 
 one time had held nothing but rags and our 
 munitions, now filled up more and more. At 
 some of the way stations at which our train 
 stopped only on our account, large numbers of 
 Bedouins had gathered to see us. They raced 
 along beside our train, and when it stopped, 
 they gave us an exhibition of fancy riding. 
 Many a social glass was drained in the Com- 
 pany of our German compatriots. 
 
 At last, in Aleppo, we received news from 
 home, the first in ten months. Letters from 
 loved ones and the Iron Gross! What more 
 could the heart desire? There were two large 
 mail bags füll, and we devoted the next few 
 days to our mail from home, to reading the 
 many letters and verses that had been sent 
 
222 THE "AYESHA 
 
 US, to writing autographs, and to making away 
 with the cigars, chocolates, and other good 
 things that had been given us. 
 
 During the aftemoon of Whitsunday our 
 train pulled into the Station at Haider Pasha, 
 the Asiatic terminus of the railway< Here my 
 men received their long-wished-for Geraian 
 uniforms, which had been forwarded to them. 
 The officers also had succeeded in procur- 
 ing for themselves an outfit conforming, in 
 a measure at least, to the demands made 
 by the European civilization to which we were 
 retuming. 
 
 The Chief of our Mediterranean Division, 
 who was also chief of the Turkish fleet, Ad- 
 miral Souchon, had honored us by Coming with 
 his staff to meet us at Haider Pasha. My men 
 quickly feil in line. Our flag, which we had 
 followed for ten months, was flying at our right 
 wing. A few brief commands, the execution of 
 which proved that the brigand existence we had 
 led for months had not destroyed our military 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND 223 
 
 trim, and my sword was lowered before my 
 superior ofiicer: 
 
 "I report the landing squad from the * Em- 
 den/ five ofl&cers, seven petty officers, and 
 thirty men strong/* 
 
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