III—"I WAS TAKEN PRISONER TO AN ARAB HUT AT BEERSHEBA"
After breakfast our journey was continued until the afternoon, when we halted until eight o'clock. Then we started off again, reaching a place called Ber Sheba, or Beersheba, about sixty miles from Jaffa, by the following morning. Here we were all separated, and I was taken to an Arab hut and given a straw mattress to lie on and a filthy blanket to cover me. The same meagre fare—native bread and a small piece of cheese—was again served out to me, and I was left alone. After spending two days and nights in this wretched shelter I was removed to another, which I fully made up my mind was to be the last ere I attempted my escape, which I was continually thinking about.
The stretch of ground allotted to the prisoners-of-war camps was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence some twelve feet high, having only one gateway. The camp consisted of about twenty-five huts, the bulk of these being for the accommodation of the prisoners, and the remainder for the soldiers. Posted to every four of these buildings was a guard consisting of several sentries, stationed at a distance of from twenty to thirty yards from the buildings. Every Friday it was the custom for the soldiers—who were, of course, Mohammedans—to attend the mosque, and on these occasions but few sentries were left to guard the camp; the gate was also allowed to stand open. I therefore decided that, when I had worked out a plan of escape, I would choose a Friday on which to attempt it.
In the camp I had the good fortune to come in contact with other prisoners of war, who generously gave me some of their money, of which I stood in great need, for I knew that money would be absolutely necessary to aid my escape. After a short time, having received various small amounts in this way, I accumulated quite a useful sum.
Although the food was wretched and the accommodation miserable, I must state in fairness that I received much kindness from different Turkish officers, who, perceiving that I was sad and anxious, had compassion on me and tried to console me. When the German officers, however, with their renowned kultur, came to know this, they became enraged, and forbade the officers to have anything to do with me. There was much bad feeling, by the way, between the Turks and the Germans, because while the latter enjoyed plenty of luxuries, the former entirely lacked them, and received pay which was totally inadequate to their needs.
About this time many wounded soldiers began to arrive at Ber Sheba from the Egyptian frontier, where, it was very evident, there was "something doing." They were conveyed to our camp in large baskets—each capable of holding ten wounded—slung upon the backs of camels. On arrival at the village, half of the unfortunate occupants were usually dead or dying as the result of the shaking and jostling occasioned by this crude method of transport. As it became known that I was a medical student, my services were utilized, and I attended to the wounded in the hospital. One might have thought this would have secured me better treatment, but as a matter of fact I was brutally ill-used, somebody whom I had offended reporting to the officer commanding that I knocked the wounded about! This ended my hospital career, and I was at once placed under arrest and confined to my hut again. The food provided now consisted of rice, meat, and bread, all served together in a bowl. This latter turned out to be the bowl of fortune for me, for it occurred to me that it would make an excellent improvised implement for removing the earth beneath the wall of my hut, thus providing me with a means of exit when the time came for my "flitting."