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Updated: June 28, 2025
I had scarcely begun my long deferred meal when Sandy entered. He was before his time, and he looked as solemn as a sick owl. I seized on him as a drowning man clutches a spar. He heard my story of Rasta with a lengthening face. 'That's bad, he said. 'You say he spotted you, and your subsequent doings of course would not disillusion him.
There is only one white man's land, and that is South Africa. At the time I heartily agreed with him. I remember that, sitting on the edge of my bed, I took stock of our position. It was not very cheering. We seemed to have been amassing enemies at a furious pace. First of all, there was Rasta, whom I had insulted and who wouldn't forget it in a hurry.
If Rasta had started wiring I was prepared to put up the brazenest bluff, for we were still eighty miles from Erzerum, and at all costs we were going to be landed there before night. A fussy staff-officer met us at the door. At the sight of us he cried to a friend to come and look. 'Here are the birds safe. A fat man and two lean ones and a savage who looks like a Kurd.
My friend Rasta was standing by the table, on which he had laid an envelope. He looked round at my entrance and saluted. 'I come from the Minister of War, sir, he said, 'and bring you your passports for tomorrow. You will travel by ... And then his voice tailed away and his black eyes narrowed to slits. He had seen something which switched him off the metals. At that moment I saw it too.
We stopped at a station and were stretching our legs on the platform when I saw a familiar figure approaching. It was Rasta, with half a dozen Turkish gendarmes. I called Peter, and we clambered into the truck next our horse-box. I had been half expecting some move like this and had made a plan. The Turk swaggered up and addressed us. 'You can get back to Rustchuk, he said.
I couldn't make sense of it, but one thing was clear. These maniacs had delivered us for the moment from Rasta and his friends. Then I did a dashed silly thing. I pulled out a sovereign and offered it to the leader. I had some kind of notion of showing gratitude, and as I had no words I had to show it by deed. He brought his stick down on my wrist and sent the coin spinning in the gutter.
You've picked an awkward fellow to make an enemy of. I did not smile but laughed. 'Rasta! I cried. 'He's one of Enver's satellites. That explains many things. I should like a word with you alone, Sir. He nodded to the staff-officer, and when he had gone I put on my most Bible face and looked as important as a provincial mayor at a royal visit.
At all costs we had to keep Rasta safe, but I was very determined that he should not be handed over to the lady. I was going to be no party to cold-blooded murder, which I judged to be her expedient. It was a pretty kettle of fish, but in the meantime I must have food, for I had eaten nothing for nine hours. So I went in search of Peter.
'Is he dead? she asked calmly. 'By no means, I said, 'but he's fixed so he can't speak, and I guess he can't hear much. 'He was the man who brought you this? she asked, pointing to the envelope on the table which bore the big blue stamp of the Ministry of War. 'The same, I said. 'I'm not perfectly sure of his name, but I think they call him Rasta.
They may hold you up all the same. I can't help you once you are past the frontier, but I'll send a wire to Oesterzee and he'll make trouble if anything goes wrong. I still think you would have been wiser to humour Rasta Bey. As I was leaving he gave me a telegram. 'Here's a wire for your Captain Schenk. I slipped the envelope in my pocket and went Out.
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