Part 24

Then came the bombshell; they ordered me to return whence I came, and, to make my departure certain, conducted me away from the camps and told me not to let them see me wandering about again.

I do not like to dwell upon my feelings at that awful moment. Here had I risked my life to escape, and spent many weary, anxious days in crossing the desert, only to be turned back when actually in sight of my goal, and almost within hail of British soldiers! It was heart-breaking, maddening. I could hardly control myself as I went slowly back into the desert, and I dared not think of what lay in store for me. I might perish miserably in the sand-wastes, or I might stagger on till I fell once more into the hands of my late keepers, who would punish me savagely for my abortive escape.

There is a bright lining to the darkest cloud, however, and so I discovered. I had not proceeded very far on my return journey when I came across a party of Bedouins who, as luck would have it, were travelling in the same direction. I promptly made friends with them, and for a small sum of money they allowed me to ride on camel-back with their wives, the journey to Ber Sheba taking about six days. Never once did any of them suspect me. Undoubtedly my disguise was well-nigh perfect, but it must also be remembered that the Bedouins are a simple people, and the reverse of cultured, so that my task was tolerably easy.

Arrived at Ber Sheba once again, I bade good-bye to my new friends and sought out my old Bedouin acquaintance at the place where he lived. He was amazed to see me back so soon, and told me that the Turkish authorities had been greatly perturbed over my escape, and were still searching for me. It would be unsafe to remain, he told me, so I only stopped with him a very short time.

It was obvious to me that it would be of no use to try the desert route again, so I evolved a new plan. Leaving Ber Sheba, I made for a place called Gaza, some thirty miles away, proceeding immediately after to Jaffa, where I managed to exchange my Bedouin dress for that of a European lady. I should here explain that I have found it necessary at several points in my story not to go into details, and I must also suppress the names of the kind friends who provided me with the disguise. Sundry good people who helped me are still in Palestine, and it might go hard with them if I gave any clue to their identity.

VIII--THE RESCUE--ON AN ITALIAN STEAMER TO EGYPT

When I reached Jaffa the Italian steamer _Catania_ had just arrived at the port, and I promptly embarked upon her, despite the strict scrutiny of a German female Customs official. She looked over all the women who boarded the steamer, but she never dreamed for one moment that I was a disguised man, and I passed on to the boat without question.

On the voyage I made friends with a lady refugee, and, finding that she was to be trusted, confided my secret to her. This good woman helped me out of my last difficulty by lending me a suit belonging to her husband, to don directly I landed in Egypt. Oh! the delight of once more resuming a man's attire and a man's ways of life!

Arrived in Egypt, and once more in my own proper person, I visited the British military authorities at Alexandria, who referred me to No. 5 Indian General Hospital at St. Stephano. Here, being a medical student, I secured employment and remained for some time doing Red Cross work under Colonel Pridmore, the officer commanding that institution, to whom, and to Mrs. Pridmore, I am much indebted for many kindnesses. Later I went to No. 2 Australian General Hospital at Cairo. Subsequently I was transferred, at my own request, to London, where I enlisted in the Army Service Corps and became a British soldier. Since then I have had the pleasure of appearing before many thousands of my soldier comrades as a female impersonator, amusing them with my songs and the story of my adventures.

It is one thing to act the part of a woman for the sake of amusement; it is quite another to do it in an attempt to secure one's liberty, with death as the price of discovery.

TALES OF GERMAN AIR RAIDERS OVER LONDON AND PARIS

"_How We Drop Bombs on the Enemies' Cities_"

_Told by the Air Raiders Themselves_

The first stirring sensations of the Great War, which aroused the imaginations of the people, were the sailing of the fleets of ships in the air and under the seas. The world was indeed startled when the squadrons of Zeppelins rose from Germany, crossed the seas, and hovered over England, dropping bombs on ports and cities, and hurling death from the clouds. Here are two stories of German raiders in which they tell how it feels to drop bombs from the skies on European capitals. The German authorities permitted the publication in a Hamburg newspaper of a very exciting and detailed account of a Zeppelin raid upon London by one of the crew of the airship. This account was designed to arouse the enthusiasm of the German nation for the daring and difficult work done by the Zeppelins, and to make them realize the havoc and terror they created in England. A translation of the narrative follows:

I--"HOW WE ZEPPELINED THE HEART OF LONDON"

_Told by Commander of a German Air Fleet_

Our Zeppelin received orders at 6 o'clock in the evening to fly from our hangar in Belgium for an attack on London.

The giant airship slipped easily out of the long shed with noiseless motors, and after rising to 8,000 feet, the altitude most suited for steady flying, our captain steered by compass straight for London.

Our true German hearts beat high this night with the hope of doing some great and irreparable damage to London....

Perhaps we should destroy their House of Parliament ... or their War Office ... or the Foreign Office ... or the official dwellings of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.... Well did I know the location of all these places from my long residence in London.

Our commander said that a bomb dropped in a certain space of half a square mile in London could hardly fail to destroy some person of great importance in the official or wealthy classes of England.

Perhaps we might strike a school or a hospital or a party of women. We should regret such accidents, but it is impossible to modify our splendid and effective aerial warfare simply because innocent combatants place themselves in the way of legitimate objects of attack.... We know that London is a fortified city, and non-combatants who remain there do so at their own peril.

The way had for months been prepared by previous aerial attacks and reconnoissances for a more accurate and effective blow at the heart of London. All lights, both street lamps and those in dwellings, have been lowered by order of the English Government to a point that causes the busiest thoroughfare at night to present only a dull glow a few hundred yards away.

On the other hand, powerful searchlights operated in connection with anti-aircraft guns, and other military works are kept constantly playing on the sky in the search for our airships. If we can discover the topographical position of these searchlights and batteries we can establish the other principal centres of the city from them and throw our bombs with some approach to accuracy--that is to say, we can at least drop them on a quarter where we know that there are public buildings or where important officials reside.

To establish the location of these points has been the work of our earlier air reconnoissances, and as a result of this system our work must become more and more deadly every day. We have, for instance, found that powerful searchlights and batteries are operated at Woolwich on the extreme eastern outskirts of London, at St. James's Park, which is in the centre of the metropolis, at Hampstead Heath on the north, and at the Crystal Palace, south of the Thames. The English are not likely to move all these defensive points, and if one is moved and not the others, the captain of the Zeppelin can discover the change by reference to the other points.

As our Zeppelin can travel seventy miles an hour at its maximum, the journey of a little more than two hundred miles from Belgium could be performed in a few hours. Darkness was falling as we passed over the stormy North Sea for we did not wish to be seen and reported by patrol ships.

The cold was intense and could be felt through the fleece-lined clothes and heavy felt shoes with which we were provided. Our Zeppelin carried four tons of the most destructive explosives ever created by science--sufficient to annihilate the heart of London, the greatest city in the world. The amount was divided into forty bombs of 100 pounds each, and eighty of fifty pounds each. The larger bombs are designed to destroy fortifications and heavy buildings. The smaller ones are for the purpose of setting fire to houses, and contain an explosive that develops a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

We made out the mouth of the Thames from certain lightships and shore lights that have been maintained. At about 10 o'clock we found a powerful searchlight playing on us. This we knew from our information to be Woolwich, the important English arsenal. As we no longer desired to conceal our presence, we discharged ten of the larger bombs in the vicinity of the searchlight.

The bombs are discharged from tubes pointing downward from a steel plate in the floor of the airship. The bomb is furnished with a steel handle, and by means of this it is lowered into the tube. A bolt fitting into a hole in the bomb holds it in the tube. The marksman presses his foot on an electric button in the plate in the floor of the car and this withdraws the bolt, releasing the bombs. He can drop two bombs at once if he wishes, and the third two seconds later.

The height at which the airship flies, its speed and the effects of wind at present render impossible scientific aim in the sense that an artillerist would use the term. Nevertheless a considerable degree of effectiveness is attained by Zeppelin marksmen, while a poor marksman may entirely waste his ammunition. To hit a mark half an acre in extent is good marksmanship from a Zeppelin. In practice a regiment of wooden dummies was set up in a field and one of our aerial marksmen succeeded in wiping out the whole regiment.

If Zeppelin marksmanship is still rudimentary, the destructive power of our bombs, on the other hand, is terrible beyond anything dreamed of before this war. One of our 100-pound bombs striking fairly will destroy any existing building not constructed purely as a fortification. Even if it strikes in a street, it will dig a hole a hundred feet deep, destroying gas pipes, electric wire conduits, subways and any subterranean constructions that may be beneath the surface. Thus the destruction and paralyzing of all life in a city can be practically assured if we use sufficient bombs. Our bombardment of Woolwich was followed by the extinction of the searchlight, and we had reason to believe that we had inflicted serious damage at this important centre.

We knew that in a few minutes we should be over the heart of London. Our daring commander decided to sail very low, following the course of the Thames which he knew would take him near all the objects he wished to reach.

Suddenly the huge outline of a building loomed under our noses. Seen against the dull, cloudy sky, it appeared colossal. We almost struck it. It was a church! It was St. Paul's Cathedral! An instantaneous turn of the elevating rudder saved us from a collision with the monstrous dome. A few seconds more straight to the westward and we knew that we were over the centre of official and fashionable London.

Our commander ordered the bombs discharged as fast as we could throw them. The ship circled slowly round and round, peppering death on the solar plexus of the British Empire.

Beneath us was the Strand, with its theatres and hotels, the House of Parliament, the Government offices in Whitehall and Parliament street, the residences of the aristocracy in Mayfair, the fashionable clubs in Pall Mall, Buckingham Palace, the War Office, the Admiralty and Westminster Abbey.

It was a night of terror for London! The searchlights and the guns played upon us constantly. At night the anti-aircraft fighters use shells that spread a long trail of luminous red smoke through the darkness in order to mark the position of the airship for the other gunners firing shrapnel. It was a grand and inconceivably weird spectacle to watch the electric beams and the long red trails playing about in the air, while shrapnel burst about us and our great bombs exploded on the earth below with a glow that we could faintly discern.

It is exceedingly difficult for a gunner to hit an airship at a height of 8,000 feet, or even lower. We enjoyed a feeling of tremendous power and security. Our daring commander ordered our craft to circle lower and lower in his determination to inflict the greatest possible injury on the enemy.

At last we could see the outlines of buildings on the ground. Below us was a great open square and in the centre a very high slender column. It was the ... British monument to their noted Admiral Nelson standing in the centre of Trafalgar Square.

"Give old Nelson a bomb!" roared our brave commander.

Down went a bomb aimed straight at the head of the one-eyed admiral. The fervent wishes of every man in our crew went with it. Whether it struck the mark time alone will show.

We had ventured too near the earth, and an unusually well-aimed shot struck the forward part of our vessel. One of our mechanical experts, in his anxiety to ascertain the nature of the damage, climbed out on a stay, fell and was, of course, lost. That was our only casualty. We found later that the shot had only penetrated one "ballonnet" and had not interfered with our stability in any important degree.

Our commander threw the elevating rudders to their extreme upward angle, and in a few minutes we were practically out of danger once more. We threw all our supply of bombs upon London and then turned for home again. Steering by compass and the stars for Belgium, we made the return journey without mishap. The dawn was just breaking when we came in sight of certain landmarks which guided us to our hangar.

There are certain details of the raid which I should not wish to reveal, and could not reveal without making myself liable to the death penalty. An attack by a Zeppelin is always accompanied by other air craft, both dirigibles and aeroplanes, in order to give protection to our capital airships and create confusion among the enemy. The English never know whether they are firing at a Zeppelin or a semi-rigid dirigible of similar shape, but comparatively small importance. These are the scouting cruisers of the air. Moreover our raiding forces split up in the darkness according to prearranged plans, thus causing hopeless confusion among our terrestrial opponents, even if the approaching attack has been reported to them in advance.

II--HOW IT FEELS TO DROP BOMBS ON PARIS

_Told by a Young German Aeronaut in a Letter to His Mother_

Dear Mother:

Thank God! After a veritable Odyssey, to-day at noon I again reached my division. With much joy I was greeted on all sides, for, after a four days' absence I was given up for lost. Dear little mother, I shall tell you the story from the beginning. During the forenoon I went up at D---- for the purpose of ascertaining the enemy's position at L---- and F----, and to take notes on their movements. Ober-Lieutenant K---- went along as observer, and my biplane soon carried us to a height of about 800 metres above the enemy's position, which was sketched and photographed time and again. As expected, we were soon the object of a lively firing, and several times I felt a well-known trembling in the machine--a sign that a shot had hit one of the wings. After a three-hour flight we were able to give our reports to General Herringen at headquarters. He praised us warmly and ordered that we be served a roast chicken and he gave us some fine Havana cigars.

As I was again preparing my aeroplane in the afternoon, with the help of several chauffeurs, who filled the benzine tank, and as I was patching the four bullet holes with linen, a Bavarian officer told me that he would like to observe the retreat of the English from the large pike toward M----. I prepared my machine immediately, and around 4 o'clock, with Major G----, I went up. By following the streets it was soon evident that the English retreat was without plan or order, but to all appearances the troops wanted to reach fortified positions as fast as they could. Perhaps they would flee all the way to Paris.

Paris! The Bavarian officer shrieking something to me. Though the motor almost drowned, I understood what he meant. I glanced at the benzine indicator. I possessed sufficient oil. Paris it would be!

Steering toward the south, we journeyed for half an hour, and then out of the distance, far, far below, the gray stone housetops of the French capital took shape. Something impelled me to increase our speed, and we raced toward the city at seventy miles an hour. Incredibly fast Paris becomes clearer and more distinct.

The chain of the forts St. Denis! Montmartre stands out through the mist! The iron pillars of the Eifel Tower!... We are directly above Paris. The major points below with his finger; then he slowly turns to me, raises himself from his seat and shouts, "Hurrah!"

And I? From sheer joy, mother, I nearly went out of my mind. I began to make the wildest circles in the air. I felt I could do anything. There the white Sacred Heart Church, here the Gare du Nord, there Notre Dame, there the old "Boul Mich," where as a student I had so often caroused and which now, as conqueror, I soared above.

The heart of the enemy seemed defenseless; the proud, gleaming Seine lay below me. Everything horrible which I always thought of Paris as possessing vanished--only an impression of the wonderful and the great remained; and I loved Paris more as a conqueror.

Over the housetops I swung in great circles. Little dots in the streets showed me that crowds were gathering. They could not understand how a German could handle the French invention more skilfully and advantageously than the French themselves. They began to shoot at us. It was fine. They were very bad shots. I felt like dropping a bomb--not to kill them, but simply to see something blown up. Then from the direction of Juvisy came a French monoplane. As it was more swift than my biplane, I had to turn and try to escape. My Bavarian comrade prepared my rifle and seized his pistol. The Frenchman approached closer and closer. I attempted to reach the protecting clouds at 6,000 feet, but my pursuer flew swifter than we, ever nearer and nearer. Suddenly I became aware of a second monoplane only 500 yards away. It attempted to block my path. We had to act. I shot at the airman ahead of us. Then a turn and the Major took aim. He shot once, twice, three times. The enemy's machine, which was now next to us only 100 yards away, toppled, tilted upward, and then fell to the ground like a stone. But our other pursuer was almost on top of us and shot at us with pistols. Close to the gas lever a bullet hit the fuselage. Then impenetrable fog concealed us from the enemy. I could hear the buzz of his motor grow fainter and fainter.

When we again emerged from this gray ocean of clouds it was twilight. But suddenly, before, behind and on the sides, white smoke clouds appeared bursting shrapnel. Still flying above the enemy's position, we were directly exposed to their artillery fire. Devil with it! The fire grew worse. I knew from the little trembles that the machine was getting blow upon blow, but it never entered my mind that those shrapnel balls meant death to me. Something in man remains unmoved by logic and knowledge--especially when you're in the air. There, of a sudden, a white-yellow fire in front of me. The machine reared up. The major seemed to reel to his feet. Blood was pouring from his shoulder. The covering of the wings was tattered. The motor buzzed and roared as before, but the screw was missing. A grenat shattered our propellor, but, thank heaven, did no worse. My machine began sinking to earth. I succeeded in gliding and threw the biplane down into the woods. The branches and tree tops crashed to splinters. I struck the steering gear and then was no longer aware of what went on around me. When I again became conscious I was lying next to Major G. on the forest ground surrounded by a group of German reservists. Recognizing the machine, they had forced themselves into the forest in small numbers to save us. Major G. had to be removed to the nearest hospital. I only received a crushed leg.

YOUR AFFECTIONATE SON.

(The two foregoing stories are here retold by permission of the _New York American_, to whom they were sent from Germany.)

TALES FROM SIBERIA--WHEN THE PRISON DOORS OPENED

_Journey Home of a Hundred Thousand Exiles_

_Told by (name withheld), an Eye-Witness_

I--"RUSSIA IS A REPUBLIC--YOU ARE FREE"

The exiles in the Irkutsk prisons were watching eight fellow prisoners who were being flogged. Suddenly, in the doorway, an official appeared. It was the Provincial State Attorney. There was a look of great tidings in his face.

"Russia is a republic," he cried. "You are free."

The news of the revolution had reached across the vast stretches of Siberia. It was a moment of tense excitement. Bewilderment and then jubilation beset the exiles. An hour later began one of the strangest spectacles in modern history--the exodus from Siberia. It is estimated that a hundred thousand political exiles began their race back to Russia.

Traveling from the most inaccessible mines and settlements, they journeyed by sledge or trudged on foot to the nearest point on the Trans-Siberian railway. It was a race against time. The Spring thaw was approaching. If the exiles did not reach the railroad within two weeks the roads would be impassable. The wilderness would become a sea of mud. Far in the north, in the coldest settlements of the lower Lena, it would be impossible to move forward until the ice breaks on the river two months later.

The first large party consisted of one hundred and fifty political convicts and administrative exiles, including twenty members of the Jewish revolutionary band. The exiles were traveling in special cars and had been on the road continuously from March 24, five days after they first heard of the revolution.