At Belah there was a native village of sorts, a mere hotch-potch of
mud-huts, whose inhabitants scratched a precarious living by tending sheep
belonging to other people. Ancient and withered Bedouins--or Turks
disguised as such--used to come into the camps and supply dumps and pester
the troops for empty kerosene or biscuit tins, to be used ostensibly for
carrying water. As these are the native receptacles all over the East they
were readily handed over without question.
One morning, however, a gunner, casually looking round, observed the
remarkable phenomenon of a kerosene tin perched on the top of one of
several trees near which his battery was placed, and glinting in the bright
sunlight. Continuing the movement he noticed another tree similarly
crowned, and yet another. Some queer accident might have accounted for the
presence of one tin, but three...! He reported the phenomenon to his
commanding officer, who, pausing not to reason why, immediately moved his
battery from what he thought was likely to be an extremely unhealthy spot.
He was right; he had barely got the guns under cover elsewhere when the
Turks, flying low, came over and heavily bombed the place he had just left!
Of course the kerosene tins had been almost as useful as a heliograph, and
who would dream of looking for such a thing at the top of tree?
Another accident led to the discovery of a much more elaborate means of
sending information.
One night a trooper of the Light Horse was returning to his bivouac from a
visit to a friend in another squadron. Standing by a little mound was a
figure which he took to be the sentry, which gentleman he was rather
anxious to avoid, the hour being somewhat late. To his astonishment the
figure suddenly disappeared into thin air; the trooper rubbed his eyes and
advanced cautiously towards the spot: not a trace. He was just beginning
sorrowfully to think of the quantity of liquor he had consumed that
evening, and to ask himself: "Do I sleep, do I dream, or is wisions about?"
when he was challenged lustily from behind by the real sentry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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