On the same day another wanderer returned, whose Odyssey was even more remarkable. When the headquarters of the Australian Mounted Division had been at Khurbet Jeladiyeh on the 13th, the divisional interpreter, a Greek named Theodore, had overheard certain remarks made by a man in the village, who was dressed as a native. The man was arrested, and proved to be a Turkish spy. Terrified at finding himself discovered, the miserable wretch begged for his life, and promised, if he was spared, to put us on the track of the man who, he said, was the head of the native spy organisation of the Turkish Army. He was told to say what he knew, and we would consider whether his information was worth his life. He then gave particulars of the man, who, it appeared, was his own father, and said that he believed him to be at Beit Jibrin.
Accordingly the A.P.M. of the division set off next day with two cars of a light car patrol[13] and the interpreter, to try and surprise the arch spy at Beit Jibrin. The party arrived at the village about nine o'clock in the morning, to find the bird flown. On making inquiries, they learnt that he had gone on—to quote the report of the A.P.M.—'to a place called Ram Allah Rakhman, which we took to be somewhere near Bethlehem, but subsequently discovered to be the same place!' The enemy's right group was at this time in the neighbourhood of Hebron, and his left group was west of Junction Station, so that Bethlehem was a good fifteen miles behind his line. But this trifling fact did not in any way deter the pursuers. What could the Turkish Army do against two Ford cars and two machine guns? They blithely took the track to Bethlehem.
Shortly afterwards they came suddenly upon a patrol of six Turkish cavalrymen. 'We opened fire at once,' so runs the A.P.M.'s report, 'and killed the men and five of the horses. The sixth horse unluckily escaped, but we came up with it later on and destroyed it, thus leaving no trace of the enemy patrol!' A few miles farther on, they encountered another, and larger, body of enemy cavalry. 'This time,' says the report, 'there were about thirty of them, but, as we came upon them unawares, we had no difficulty in driving them off, after killing a good few, and we then proceeded on our way.'
Late in the afternoon the cars drove into Bethlehem, where our men were received with transports of joy by the inhabitants, nearly all of whom are Christians. The poor people crowded round their deliverers to kiss their hands, shouting and weeping, and pressing offerings of food on them, much to their embarrassment.
As it was getting late, and they found that their quarry had again moved on, the hunters consented to stay and eat with some of the notables of the town, after which they got under way again, and drove a short distance along the Beersheba road, to a place where they could hide the cars for the night.
At dawn next morning they resumed their journey, and motored right through the enemy force, at Hebron, without being detected. Fortunately the Turks had no post actually on the road, and it is probable that a couple of cars coming from behind their lines attracted little attention. The party drove quietly on to Beersheba, where they found a canteen, and, having loaded up with stores, returned in triumph to Junction Station.
In the meantime Corps Headquarters had become seriously alarmed at their long absence, and had despatched another patrol of two cars to try and find them. These cars got to Beit Jibrin, where they found, and captured, the spy who was the cause of all the trouble, and who had doubled back on his tracks from Bethlehem. Then, hearing that the cars had started off with the intention of going to Bethlehem, they gave them up for lost, and returned to headquarters to report.
Meanwhile an aeroplane, that had also been sent to look for the first patrol, came upon the second one returning from Beit Jibrin, and at once flew back to Corps Headquarters and reported that the lost sheep were found, and were on their way back. The second patrol came in a few hours afterwards, and reported that there were no signs of the missing cars, which must have been captured by the enemy.
By now the Corps was thoroughly puzzled, and not a little angry. The result was that, when the blushing Ulysses did finally arrive, instead of receiving a 'few kind words of praise' for carrying out an exceedingly daring reconnaissance, he got an unmerciful dressing down for giving headquarters such a fright!