Four-Fifty Miles to FreedomJohnston, Maurice Andrew Brackenreed
History
Four-Fifty Miles to Freedom
Johnston, Maurice Andrew Brackenreed
Prisoner-of-war escapes; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, Turkish
Possibly she made daily trips, carrying working parties and material to
some scene of activity, so the two decided to try to overlook the head
of the bay in which she had appeared, in order to discover something
definite about the anchorage. To reduce the risk of detection, they
first withdrew out of sight of the road and worked their way more to
the north before cutting down again towards the shore. On the way
out from the ravine they had passed near some ruins, and these they
now took in their course to see if there might be a well there with
water in it. It was unfortunate that there was not, for in this dead
city there was one enormous and very deep amphitheatre, into which it
was possible to descend by a path cut in the rocky side. Here shade
from the sun would have been obtainable at all hours of the day, and
altogether it would have been a better hiding-place than the ravine, if
only it had contained a water supply. But though they found the remains
of one well, it was absolutely dry.
The two now made their way cautiously towards the place whence the
boats had been seen to emerge. The slope of the ground, however, became
more and more pronounced as they approached the coast, so that they
were able to see little more of the bay than had been visible from
their earlier observation point; although by this time they were within
sight of the tents seen on the previous day. These stood a little way
out on a small cape. Dodging from cover to cover amongst the patches
of scrub, sometimes on hands and knees, they finally found themselves
close to the coast road itself.
Leaving Looney screened from view, Johnny now went on alone. He was not
twenty yards from the road when a Turkish soldier passed along it. A
moment later four or five others were seen skirting the seaward edge
of a rocky headland to the south, apparently engaged in looking for
mussels. It was now obvious that opposite the head of the bay which
they sought, the coast rose so sheer, that to obtain a view of the
whole would entail going forward across the road to the edge of the
cliff beyond. With so many people moving about, this, by daylight, was
out of the question, and after seven hours' reconnaissance in the hot
sun the two had to be satisfied with bringing back the information that
they knew which bay the boats had entered the day before, but that they
were there no longer.
Meanwhile another party of two--to wit, the Old Man and Perce--had gone
forth from the ravine in a last search for food. Without a further
supply of this we should be compelled to give ourselves up unless we
at once discovered a boat. Of inhabited villages there appeared to be
none, even should we have dared to attempt another entry after the
experiences of "the three Huns." The Circassian encampments, too, had
ceased.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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