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
After being wrongly directed three times by people who, if questioned
further, would probably have said they were strangers to the place,
the party entered a shop, and Grunt requested the owner to allow his
small boy to show them the way. They were taken to a two-storied
timber-built house, against the door of which lolled a Turkish private
soldier. The conventional greetings passed, and the man asked in
Turkish if they were Germans. The reply was in the affirmative. To
their immense surprise this "simple soldat" in an out-of-the-way
village started talking a very fluent German. It was the limit. The
rank and file now came to the fore, and one suggested that the man
had misunderstood them. They were not Germans: they were Magyars
(Hungarians), and did not understand a word of German. The last part of
the statement was untrue by two words, for the three of them compared
notes that evening and counted the German words they knew--"Verboten,
Schweinfleisch, and Bier" were the sum total.
Stepping by the soldier, Grunt led the way into a small hall furnished
with some harness and a few carpet saddle-bags. On the left was an
open door, which they entered. Here was a long narrow room with a low
ceiling. On three sides of it carpets were spread, with a few cushions
on the floor. Reclining against the cushions on one side were two
grey-bearded Turks, and a young Greek in a straw hat, blue suit, and
brown boots. As they came in, the Greek said in English, "Come on,
come along,"--the limit was surpassed! Later it was found that the
Greek knew only a few words of English, but it was very unpleasant at
the time. Grunt gave the Turkish salutation and sat down. Nobby and
Johnny stayed strictly at attention. Grunt motioned with his hand, and
received a smart salute and heel-click from his two subordinates, who
then dared to seat themselves.
The old Turk, who received Grunt's salutation, was obviously the
headman. His jacket was gaudy, his pantaloons were very voluminous, and
many daggers graced his highly-coloured belt.
To our party's disgust the German scholar now appeared and sat
down beside Johnny. People began to flock in, and the questioning
started--thousands of questions. The three answered as best they could
and gave their story. The soldier now explained that he had served
many years in Austria and knew a great deal about it. The actors did
not. Where had they come from in Austria? Oh, Pruth! This opened the
flood-gates once more. Did they know such and such a place? At some
names they nodded and looked intelligent: at others they shook their
heads. Fortunately the headman here broke in. Had they rifles and
revolvers? Revolvers, yes! but the rifles had been left in the carts.
Would they show him the revolvers? Grunt refused, saying there was an
army order against it. So it went on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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