CHAPTER VIII
ACROSS THE EUPHRATES
The chase had extended over several miles, and it appeared to Burnetthat he was not far from the spot where he had been captured on theprevious day, when he was considering how best to cross the Euphrates.He had lost a day; it was now doubtful whether he could reach the_tell_ by the appointed time, even with the aid of the horse. CaptainEllingford could not be expected to wait long for him at such a remoteand desolate place, and since it would be a long and hazardousundertaking to cross the Turkish lines except in an aeroplane theprospect was not at all cheering.
The first necessity was to give his horse rest after the long gallop.He reined up at a shallow pool, and while the animal drank he carefullyscanned the surrounding country. It was a flat and almost bare plain,a few straggling bushes here and there making a struggle for existence.The river was not in sight, and he knew that between it and himstretched miles of swamp, through which it would be difficult for oneunfamiliar with the locality to find a way. It seemed that his bestcourse would be to ride on, as soon as the horse was sufficientlyrested, until he came to one of the mounds that rose slightly above thegeneral level: this would give him a wider outlook. As he waited hereflected on the almost entire absence of signs of war. In Meshed Alihe had heard scarcely any mention of the great conflict in which morethan half the world was engaged; yet on the other side of theEuphrates, comparatively few miles away, a great Turkish army underGerman taskmasters was holding far-flung entrenchments which not allthe valour of seasoned British troops and their gallant Indian comradeshad availed to pierce after months of effort. The chances that Bagdadwould fall to British arms appeared small indeed.
After half an hour's rest he put his horse to a smart trot, ridingsouthward with a slight eastward trend in order to make gradualapproach to the swampy region. In some twenty minutes he espied, somedistance away to the left, a mound that would give him the look-out hedesired. Riding towards it, and beyond, he dismounted, retraced hissteps, and leading the horse, left it at the foot of the mound,screened from the north, and cautiously made his way on foot to thesummit, where he found good cover behind a pile of ruins. And then hehad a shock. To the north, probably two miles away, a small party ofhorsemen in extended order was riding towards him. They were too faraway for him to distinguish their costume, but he had no doubt thatthey were some of the men who had pursued him from the bivouac. He hadhoped and believed that the Turks, finding that he had the heels ofthem, had abandoned the idea of chasing him farther; but he was nowforced to conclude that a few of the better-mounted men had been sentto follow him up, trusting perhaps to accident to deliver him intotheir hands. The order in which they rode seemed to show that theywere following his trail on the sandy soil, with precautions againstits possible disappearance in stony patches.
Burnet had no fear of their catching him if it came to another raceover the plain, but he had already come so far out of his truedirection that the prospect of further loss of time was annoying. Hethrew a hasty glance eastwards. Far off he descried the irregular lineof reeds that marked the course of the Euphrates. The middle distancewas almost unbroken swamp, except in one quarter, the north-east,towards that bend to which he had been proceeding when he was captured.A rapid calculation determined him to make a dash in that direction.It would mean doubling on his tracks, and if the enemy caught sight ofhim as he rode off at an acute angle with their own course they wouldcertainly strike off to their left and try to intercept him before hereached the river. But he could not afford further delay. He had nofodder for the horse; for himself he had only a few dates left, and nowater, for his waterskin was leaky and useless; and the farther southhe went, the worse would be his chances of making a safe passage of theriver.
Some distance to the south-east of the mound was an extensive area ofmarsh grass. Remounting, and keeping the mound between himself and thepursuers, he started in this direction, gained the shelter of thegrass, which rose nearly to the horse's shoulders, and rode through itas rapidly as he could on the soft ground due eastward. He guessedthat the pursuers would use the mound as he had done, as a post ofobservation, and when he judged that they must be approaching it, heplunged into the tallest patch of grass he could find, and dismounted.Through the grass he could still see the top of the mound, but he feltconfident that neither himself nor the horse would be visible to theenemy when they arrived there. His hope was that, failing to discoverhim, they would continue their ride southward, leaving him to make offin the opposite direction without further danger.
Time passed. There was no sign of the Turks, and Burnet was beginningto surmise that they had either given up the chase or passed the moundwhen he saw figures appear above the summit. Four horsemen haltedthere. Where were the others? Surely he had counted six before? Theabsence of two made him uneasy. Had he been seen in spite of all hiscaution?
The four men remained motionless on the mound for several minutes.Then there was a faint shout in the distance. Instantly the four Turksdashed down the side of the mound, and galloped towards the patch ofgrass in which Burnet was concealed. It was only too clear that themissing men, whose movements he had been unable to see, had sought andfound his trail at the base of the mound: the hunt was up.
It was no time for further finessing. He vaulted into the saddle, androde off at full speed, as nearly as he could judge towards the narrowstretch of dry land through the swamp which he had previously marked.He was no longer in danger of being cut off, for he was between hispursuers and the river. Would they be able to ride him down?
Disappointment awaited him. The irregular space of open ground thathad seemed to him, on his distant view from the mound, dry and firm,turned out to have many soft patches which it was impossible to avoid.There was no time to pick his way: he could only plunge into the swampyplaces as they occurred, chancing his luck. He soon found, however,that his horse had extraordinary judgment, bred, no doubt, of formerexperience in the marshes. It seemed to distinguish by instinct thefirm ground from the soft, and being given its head, sprang from onehard patch to another unerringly.
As Burnet drew nearer to the river, the grasses and reed-like plants ofthe marsh grew taller and thicker. Immense white lilies and otherflowering plants showed their blossoms here and there; water-birds ofall kinds, disturbed by the passage of the horse, flew out in alldirections, among them a stately pelican or two, indignant at beingmolested in their solitary retreats. Encompassed by these dense massesof vegetation, Burnet was effectually hidden from his pursuers, whocould only follow his trail; and he felt a joyous confidence that theirhorses were not likely to be so clever as his own.
At last, the river came suddenly into view--or rather, the remains ofan ancient embankment a few feet above the surface of the marsh,covered thick with creeping plants. A touch on the horse's flank sentthe animal bounding up the embankment, and then Burnet reined up andlooked back over the waving sea of grass and reeds. He was just ableto descry the heads of the pursuers, at least a mile away.
Burnet looked to right and left, seeking a convenient place forcrossing the river, here about two hundred yards wide. There was therisk that if he descended the embankment too hastily, he might findhimself embogged in the thick mud that bordered the stream. Ridingalong southward, he came at length to a deep wady or channel runninginto the marsh, where the descent seemed fairly easy. He gave thehorse a minute or two to recover breath, then rode into the river atthe spot where the wady left it. The animal took the water readilyenough, but showed a disinclination to go beyond its depth, untilBurnet slipped from the saddle and swam along with his hand on thebridle.
He struck out obliquely, hoping to gain the spot on the opposite bankwhich he had marked as offering an easy landing. Progress was slow,but he was three-fourths of the way across when shouts behind apprisedhim that the pursuers had reached the embankment. By this time thecurrent had carried him fully two hundred yards below the place wherehe had entered the water, and some
little distance below his chosenlanding-place. The pursuers rode along the embankment in the samedirection, with the idea, no doubt, of gaining on him by shorteningtheir swim. But the wady brought them to an unexpected check. Hishorse's tracks showed that it was there he had entered the river; theymust either enter it at the same spot, or lose time by crossing thewady first. Two of them chose the former course, and dashed down thebank into the water. The rest dismounted and opened fire on theirquarry, now within a few yards of the further bank. The range was fiveor six hundred yards; the Turks were weary, Turkish irregular cavalryare at no time very good shots, and only the heads of man and horsewere above water. Burnet heard the bullets singing past him on eitherside. The landing-place he had chosen was far to his left. There wasno time to seek another convenient spot. With encouraging words to hisgallant horse, he led it straight towards the bank, which looked likean impenetrable green wall. The horse found his feet, but at firstrefused to drive his head at the apparently solid vegetation. Burnet,still holding the bridle, scrambled first into the midst of the plants,and drew the animal slowly up after him. In another half minute bothhe and the horse had disappeared from the sight of the Turks on theopposite bank.
Burnet hitched the bridle to a bamboo-like stalk, and returned to theedge of the bank, where he could watch the pursuers through the densemass of reeds. The two swimmers had already turned their horses'heads; the men on the bank were evidently debating the question oftheir next move. They were presently rejoined by their comrades; thediscussion was continued for a little; then they all turned their backsupon the river and disappeared behind the embankment.