The starting signal went, but only for us and the Ageyl. The other units of the army, standing3 each man by his couched camel, lined up beside our road, and, as Feisal came near, saluted4 him in silence. He called back cheerfully, ‘Peace upon you’, and each head sheikh returned the phrase. When we had passed they mounted, taking the time from their chiefs, and so the forces behind us swelled6 till there was a line of men and camels winding7 along the narrow pass towards the watershed8 for as far back as the eye reached.
Feisal’s greetings had been the only sounds before we reached the crest9 of the rise where the valley opened out and became a gentle forward slope of soft shingle10 and flint bedded in sand: but there ibn Dakhil, the keen sheikh of Russ, who had raised this contingent11 of Ageyl two years before to aid Turkey, and had brought it over with him intact to the Sherif when the revolt came, dropped back a pace or two, marshalled our following into a broad column of ordered ranks, and made the drums strike up. Everyone burst out singing a full-throated song in honour of Emir Feisal and his family.
The march became rather splendid and barbaric. First rode Feisal in white, then Sharraf at his right in red head-cloth and henna-dyed tunic12 and cloak, myself on his left in white and scarlet13, behind us three banners of faded crimson14 silk with gilt15 spikes16, behind them the drummers playing a march, and behind them again the wild mass of twelve hundred bouncing camels of the bodyguard17, packed as closely as they could move, the men in every variety of coloured clothes and the camels nearly as brilliant in their trappings. We filled the valley to its banks with our flashing stream.
At the mouth of Messarih, a messenger rode up with letters to Feisal from Abd el Kader, in Yenbo. Among them was one three days old for me from the Dufferin to say that she would not embark18 Zeid till she had seen me and heard details of the local situation. She was in the Sherm, a lonely creek19 eight miles up the coast from the port, where the officers could play cricket on the beach without the plague of flies pervading20 Yenbo. Of course, they cut themselves off from news by staying so far away: it was a point of old friction21 between us. Her well-meaning commander had not the breadth of Boyle, the fiery22 politician and revolutionary constitutionalist, nor the brain of Linberry, of the Hardinge, who filled himself with the shore gossip of every port he touched, and who took pains to understand the nature of all classes on his beat.
Apparently23 I had better race off to Dufferin and regulate affairs. Zeid was a nice fellow, but would assuredly do something quaint24 in his enforced holiday; and we needed peace just then. Feisal sent some Ageyl with me and we made speed for Yenbo: indeed, I got there in three hours, leaving my disgusted escort (who said they would wear out neither camels nor bottoms for my impatience) half way back on the road across the plain so wearily well known to me. The sun, which had been delightful25 overhead in the hills, now, in the evening, shone straight into our faces with a white fury, before which I had to press my hand as shield over my eyes. Feisal had given me a racing26 camel (a present from the Emir of Nejd to his father), the finest and roughest animal I had ridden. Later she died of overwork, mange, and necessary neglect on the road to Akaba.
On arrival in Yenbo things were not as expected. Zeid had been embarked27, and the Dufferin had started that morning for Rabegh. So I sat down to count what we needed of naval28 help on the way to Wejh, and to scheme out means of transport. Feisal had promised to wait at Owais till he got my report that everything was ready.
The first check was a conflict between the civil and military powers. Abd el Kader, the energetic but temperamental governor, had been cluttered29 up with duties as our base grew in size, till Feisal added to him a military commandant, Tewfik Bey, a Syrian from Horns, to care for ordnance30 stores. Unfortunately, there was no arbiter31 to define ordnance stores. That morning they fell out over empty arms-chests. Abd el Kadir locked the store and went to lunch. Tewfik came down to the quay32 with four men, a machine-gun and a sledge33 hammer, and opened the door. Abd el Kader got into a boat, rowed out to the British guardship — the tiny Espiegle— and told her embarrassed but hospitable34 captain that he had come to stay. His servant brought him food from the shore and he slept the night in a camp-bed on the quarter-deck.
I wanted to hurry, so began to solve the deadlock35 by making Abd el Kadir write to Feisal for his decision and by making Tewfik hand over the store to me. We brought the trawler Arethusa near the sloop36, that Abd el Kader might direct the loading of the disputed chests from his ship, and lastly brought Tewfik off to the Espiegle for a temporary reconciliation37. It was made easy by an accident, for, as Tewfik saluted his guard of honour at the gangway (not strictly38 regular, this guard, but politic), his face beamed and he said: This ship captured me at Kurna, pointing to the trophy39 of the nameplate of the Turkish gunboat Marmaris, which the Espiegle had sunk in action on the Tigris. Abd el Kadir was as interested in the tale as Tewfik, and the trouble ceased.
Sharraf came into Yenbo next day as Emir, in Feisal’s place. He was a powerful man, perhaps the most capable of all the Sherifs in the army, but devoid40 of ambition: acting41 out of duty, not from impulse. He was rich, and had been for years chief justice of the Sherifs court. He knew and handled tribesmen better than any man, and they feared him, for he was severe and impartial42, and his face was sinister43, with a left eyebrow44 which drooped45 (the effect of an old blow) and gave him an air of forbidding hardness. The surgeon of the Suva operated on the eye and repaired much of the damage, but the face remained one to rebuke46 liberties or weakness. I found him good to work with, very clear-headed, wise and kind, with a pleasant smile-his mouth became soft then, while his eyes remained terrible-and a determination to do fittingly, always.
We agreed that the risk of the fall of Yenbo while we hunted Wejh was great, and that it would be wise to empty it of stores. Boyle gave me an opportunity by signalling that either Dufferin or Hardinge would be made available for transport. I replied that as difficulties would be severe I preferred Hardinge! Captain Warren, whose ship intercepted47 the message, felt it superfluous48, but it brought along Hardinge in the best temper two days later. She was an Indian troop-ship, and her lowest troop-deck had great square ports along the water level. Linberry opened these for us, and we stuffed straight in eight thousand rifles, three million rounds of ammunition49, thousands of shells, quantities of rice and flour, a shed-full of uniforms, two tons of high explosive, and all our petrol, pell-mell. It was like posting letters in a box. In no time she had taken a thousand tons of stuff.
Boyle came in eager for news. He promised the Hardinge as depot50 ship throughout, to land food and water whenever needed, and this solved the main difficulty. The Navy were already collecting. Half the Red Sea Fleet would be present. The admiral was expected and landing parties were being drilled on every ship. Everyone was dyeing white duck khaki-coloured, or sharpening bayonets, or practising with rifles.
I hoped silently, in their despite, that there would be no fighting. Feisal had nearly ten thousand men, enough to fill the whole Billi country with armed parties and carry off everything not too heavy or too hot. The Billi knew it, and were now profuse51 in their loyalties52 to the Sherif, completely converted to Arab nationality.
It was sure that we would take Wejh: the fear was lest numbers of Feisal’s host die of hunger or thirst on the way. Supply was my business, and rather a responsibility. However, the country to Urn5 Lejj, half way, was friendly: nothing tragic53 could happen so far as that: therefore, we sent word to Feisal that all was ready, and he left Owais on the very day that Abdulla replied welcoming the Ais plan and promising54 an immediate55 start thither56. The same day came news of my relief. Newcombe, the regular colonel being sent to Hejaz as chief of our military mission, had arrived in Egypt, and his two staff officers, Cox and Vickery, were actually on their way down the Red Sea, to join this expedition.
Boyle took me to Um Lejj in the Suva, and we went ashore57 to get the news. The sheikh told us that Feisal would arrive to-day, at Bir el Waheidi, the water supply, four miles inland. We sent up a message for him and then walked over to the fort which Boyle had shelled some months before from the Fox. It was just a rubble58 barrack, and Boyle looked at the ruins and said: Tm rather ashamed of myself for smashing such a potty place.’ He was a very professional officer, alert, businesslike and official; sometimes a little intolerant of easy-going things and people. Red-haired men are seldom patient. ‘Ginger Boyle’, as they called him, was warm.
While we were looking over the ruins four grey ragged59 elders of the village came up and asked leave to speak. They said that some months before a sudden two-funnelled ship had come up and destroyed their fort. They were now required to re-build it for the police of the Arab Government. Might they ask the generous captain of this peaceable one-funnelled ship for a little timber, or for other material help towards the restoration? Boyle was restless at their long speech, and snapped at me, What is it? What do they want?’ I said, ‘Nothing; they were describing the terrible effect of the Fox’s bombardment.’ Boyle looked round him for a moment and smiled grimly, ‘It’s a fair mess’.
Next day Vickery arrived. He was a gunner, and in his ten years’ service in the Sudan had learned Arabic, both literary and colloquial60, so well that he would quit us of all need of an interpreter. We arranged to go up with Boyle to Feisal’s camp to make the timetable for the attack, and after lunch Englishmen and Arabs got to work and discussed the remaining march to Wejh.
We decided61 to break the army into sections: and that these should proceed independently to our concentration place of Abu Zereibat in Hamdh, after which there was no water before Wejh; but Boyle agreed that the Hardinge should take station for a single night in Sherm Habban — supposed to be a possible harbour — and land twenty tons of water for us on the beach. So that was settled.
For the attack on Wejh we offered Boyle an Arab landing party of several hundred Harb and Juheina peasantry and freed men, under Saleh ibn Shefia, a negroid boy of good courage (with the faculty62 of friendliness) who kept his men in reasonable order by conjurations and appeals, and never minded how much his own dignity was outraged63 by them or by us. Boyle accepted them and decided to put them on another deck of the many-stomached Hardinge. They, with the naval party, would land north of the town, where the Turks had no post to block a landing, and whence Wejh and its harbour were best turned.
Boyle would have at least six ships, with fifty guns to occupy the Turks’ minds, and a seaplane ship to direct the guns. We would be at Abu Zereibat on the twentieth of the month: at Habban for the Hardinge’s water on the twenty-second: and the landing party should go ashore at dawn on the twenty-third, by which time our mounted men would have closed all roads of escape from the town.
The news from Rabegh was good; and the Turks had made no attempt to profit by the nakedness of Yenbo. These were our hazards, and when Boyle’s wireless64 set them at rest we were mightily65 encouraged. Abdulla was almost in Ais: we were half-way to Wejh: the initiative had passed to the Arabs. I was so joyous66 that for a moment I forgot my self-control, and said exultingly67 that in a year we would be tapping on the gates of Damascus. A chill came over the feeling in the tent and my hopefulness died. Later, I heard that Vickery had gone to Boyle and vehemently68 condemned69 me as a braggart70 and visionary; but, though the outburst was foolish, it was not an impossible dream, for five months later I was in Damascus, and a year after that I was its de facto Governor.
Vickery had disappointed me, and I had angered him. He knew I was militarily incompetent71 and thought me politically absurd. I knew he was the trained soldier our cause needed, and yet he seemed blind to its power. The Arabs nearly made shipwreck72 through this blindness of European advisers73, who would not see that rebellion was not war: indeed, was more of the nature of peace — a national strike perhaps. The conjunction of Semites, an idea, and an armed prophet held illimitable possibilities; in skilled hands it would have been, not Damascus, but Constantinople which was reached in 1918.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
painstaking
|
|
| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
saluted
|
|
| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
urn
|
|
| n.（有座脚的）瓮；坟墓；骨灰瓮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
swelled
|
|
| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
watershed
|
|
| n.转折点，分水岭，分界线 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
crest
|
|
| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
shingle
|
|
| n.木瓦板；小招牌(尤指医生或律师挂的营业招牌)；v.用木瓦板盖（屋顶）；把（女子头发）剪短 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
contingent
|
|
| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
tunic
|
|
| n.束腰外衣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
gilt
|
|
| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
spikes
|
|
| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
bodyguard
|
|
| n.护卫，保镖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
embark
|
|
| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
creek
|
|
| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
pervading
|
|
| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
friction
|
|
| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
fiery
|
|
| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
quaint
|
|
| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
racing
|
|
| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
embarked
|
|
| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
naval
|
|
| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
cluttered
|
|
| v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满… | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
ordnance
|
|
| n.大炮，军械 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
arbiter
|
|
| n.仲裁人，公断人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
quay
|
|
| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
sledge
|
|
| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
hospitable
|
|
| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
deadlock
|
|
| n.僵局，僵持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
sloop
|
|
| n.单桅帆船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
reconciliation
|
|
| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
strictly
|
|
| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
trophy
|
|
| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
devoid
|
|
| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
acting
|
|
| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
impartial
|
|
| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
sinister
|
|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
eyebrow
|
|
| n.眉毛，眉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
drooped
|
|
| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
rebuke
|
|
| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
intercepted
|
|
| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
superfluous
|
|
| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
ammunition
|
|
| n.军火，弹药 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
depot
|
|
| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
profuse
|
|
| adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
loyalties
|
|
| n.忠诚( loyalty的名词复数 )；忠心；忠于…感情；要忠于…的强烈感情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
tragic
|
|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
promising
|
|
| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
thither
|
|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
rubble
|
|
| n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
ragged
|
|
| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
colloquial
|
|
| adj.口语的，会话的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
faculty
|
|
| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
outraged
|
|
| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
wireless
|
|
| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
mightily
|
|
| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
joyous
|
|
| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
exultingly
|
|
| 兴高采烈地，得意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
vehemently
|
|
| adv. 热烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
condemned
|
|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
braggart
|
|
| n.吹牛者；adj.吹牛的，自夸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
incompetent
|
|
| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
shipwreck
|
|
| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
advisers
|
|
| 顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |