TURN, SAVES THE HUNT CLUB, AND WRITES A SPEECH
In the interval between the treasure séances we interfered as much as possible with the administration of the camp, the Spook butting in wherever an occasion offered with suggestions for the amelioration of the lot of our comrades. Our most successful effort was in connection with the Hunt Club.
Shortly before we had got ourselves locked up, some fifteen or twenty officers had decided to form a Hunt Club. The idea was to purchase greyhounds, and, with Kiazim’s permission, to hunt once or twice a week over the hills in the neighbourhood. The membership of the Club was strictly limited, for it was thought that Kiazim would not allow more than a few officers to be out at the same time, as the number of spare sentries at his disposal was small.
Hill and I knew no more of the matter than that the idea was being entertained by a select few, and was being kept secret. A few days after we had been imprisoned the Pimple informed us that the Commandant had granted permission for the Club to be formed, that a couple of long dogs had been bought, and that there was a good deal of ill-feeling in the camp amongst the eighty odd officers who had been left out in the cold and were not members of the combine which had made this “corner” in cross-country exercise. We decided to try to get Kiazim to extend his permission not only to members but to anyone who wanted to hunt. But we could not see how to interfere.
On the 15th March we were informed by the Pimple, in the course of his usual daily visit, that the Commandant was “what you say in a hole.” It appeared that, when he gave permission for the formation of a Hunt Club, he had overlooked a standing order which strictly forbade such organizations. Communications had now been received from Constantinople drawing his attention to the order and reiterating the prohibition of all hunting for prisoners.
Constantinople orders must be obeyed, so Kiazim was going to the camp next day to withdraw his permission and close down the Club. That night Hill and I discussed the matter and formed our plans. We must interfere to save the Hunt Club. We decided to pit the authority of the Spook against that of the Turkish War Office.
On the 16th we sent the Cook with a note to the Pimple telling him that the spook-board had been rapping and tapping and making curious noises all night, and we thought the Spook wanted to communicate something. The Pimple came at once, and we began our sitting.
The Spook began by warning Moïse not to tell the mediums what the glass was writing, because if he did so the mediums would refuse to go on, as the information concerned their fellow-officers. If Jones or Hill questioned him afterwards about the séance, he was to say that the Spook had been arranging for him an introduction to a certain beautiful lady, and that the matter was private.
Then we settled down to it. The glass wrote steadily, Moïse getting more and more excited, but keeping silent except for an occasional studiously innocent ejaculation. He thought, of course, that we did not know what was being written.
The Spook said It wanted to save the Commandant from disgrace. He had made a bad mistake in giving permission for a Hunt Club, but he would make a much worse one if he carried out his intention of prohibiting it. Such action would make the camp exceedingly angry with Kiazim Bey, and the thought-waves they generated against him would be of the greatest assistance to OOO and the opposition. They would “block” the treasure messages! Further, at present the prisoners were happy and contented. Nobody wanted to escape. But, as sure as Kiazim lived, his one hope of preventing escape (which would disgrace him) lay in keeping his promise. The best way of angering an Englishman was to break your promise to him, and if the breaking of the promise touched his pocket[[31]] as well as his comfort, the Englishman became quite madly unreasonable, while the Scotsmen (and the camp was full of them) turned into wild beasts. They could no more stop the prisoners from breaking out than they could stop the sea. Therefore it behoved Kiazim Bey to be careful. If he riled the camp many would run away, not so much with the idea of reaching England, which was hopeless, as in order to secure the removal of the Commandant from his post; and the most likely of all to do this was Colonel Maule, who—as he knew from experience—was a nasty, vicious, spiteful fellow where his physical exercise was concerned.