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He came out in a minute or two and then we were marched out of the barrack in the dimming light, with Tugendheim in full marching order falling into step behind us and the senior German officer smoking a cigar beside Ranjoor Singh. A Kurdish soldier carried Tugendheim's bag of belongings, and Tugendheim kicked him savagely when he dropped it in a pool of mud.
But what Tugendheim had told were almost truths compared to this man's stories; in place of Tugendheim's studied vagueness there was detail in such profusion that I can not recall now the hundredth part of it. He told us the British fleet had long been rusting at the bottom of the sea, and that all the British generals and half the army were prisoners in Berlin.
But what with Tugendheim's familiarity with German military custom, and Ranjoor Singh's swift thought, an address was devised that served the purpose, judging by results. Then came the problem of delivering the letter.
I shot him with the repeating pistol that had once been Tugendheim's this one, see, sahib and believing the camp was now ours and the fighting over, I lay down and dragged his body over me to save me from hailstones, that had made me ache already in every inch of my body.
"Tugendheim," he said at last, "has driven the Turkish officer to seek refuge in seclusion! I used the word 'Wassmuss, and that had effect; but Tugendheim's insolence was our real passport. Nobody here doubts that we are in full favor at Stamboul. Wassmuss can keep for later on." "Sahib," said I, seeing he was in good humor now, "tell me of this Wassmuss." "All in good time!" he answered.
Rise!" he ordered. "Rise and fall in! Havildars, make all ready to resume the march!" "Shoot him, sahib!" I urged, taking out my pistol, that had once been Tugendheim's. "Shoot him, or let me do it!" "Nay, nay!" he said, laughing in my face, though not unkindly. "I am not afraid of him." "But I, sahib," I said. "I fear him greatly!" "Yet thou and I be two men, and I command," he answered gently.
I say this for Tugendheim, that he knew and respected resolution when he saw it. When I had pointed out what I could see of the lay of the land, Ranjoor Singh left me in charge and marched away with Tugendheim and Tugendheim's four guards. I looked about for shelter, but there was none. We stood shivering, the rain making pools at our feet that spread and became one.
"Bring them along," said the message. "Don't halt again until you overtake me." So I made every one of the mounted men take up a man behind, and the rest of the unmounted men I ordered into the carts, including Tugendheim's Syrians, judging it better to overtax the animals than to be too long on the road.
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