Greenmantle - John Buchan

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'They may not understand it,' said the man. 'Then send it any way you like. I trust you, for we are brothers.' After ten minutes the man ceased and listened. From far away came the sound of a trench-gong, the kind of thing they used on the Western Front to give the gas-alarm. 'They say they will be ready,' he said. 'I cannot take down messages in the darkness, but they have given me the signal which means "Consent".' 'Come, that is pretty good,' said Peter. 'And now I must be moving. You take a hint from me. When you hear big firing up to the north get ready to beat a quick retreat, for it will be all up with that city of yours. And tell your folk, too, that they're making a bad mistake letting those fool Germans rule their land. Let them hang Enver and his little friends, and we'll be happy once more.' 'May Satan receive his soul!' said the Turk. 'There is wire before us, but I will show you a way through. The guns this evening made many rents in it. But haste, for a working party may be here presently to repair it. Remember there is much wire before the other lines.' Peter, with certain directions, found it pretty easy to make his way through the entanglement. There was one bit which scraped a hole in his back, but very soon he had come to the last posts and found himself in open country. The place, he said, was a graveyard of the unburied dead that smelt horribly as he crawled among them. He had no inducements to delay, for he thought he could hear behind him the movement of the Turkish working party, and was in terror that a flare might reveal him and a volley accompany his retreat. From one shell-hole to another he wormed his way, till he struck an old ruinous communication trench which led in the right direction. The Turks must have been forced back in the past week, and the Russians were now in the evacuated trenches. The thing was half full of water, but it gave Peter a feeling of safety, for it enabled him to get his head below the level of the ground. Then it came to an end and he found before him a forest of wire. The Turk in his signal had mentioned half an hour, but Peter thought it was nearer two hours before he got through that noxious entanglement. Shelling had made little difference to it. The uprights were all there, and the barbed strands
seemed to touch the ground. Remember, he had no wire-cutter; nothing but his bare hands. Once again fear got hold of him. He felt caught in a net, with monstrous vultures waiting to pounce on him from above. At any moment a flare might go up and a dozen rifles find their mark. He had altogether forgotten about the message which had been sent, for no message could dissuade the everpresent death he felt around him. It was, he said, like following an old lion into bush when there was but one narrow way in, and no road out. The guns began again—the Turkish guns from behind the ridge—and a shell tore up the wire a short way before him. Under cover of the burst he made good a few yards, leaving large portions of his clothing in the strands. Then, quite suddenly, when hope had almost died in his heart, he felt the ground rise steeply. He lay very still, a star-rocket from the Turkish side lit up the place, and there in front was a rampart with the points of bayonets showing beyond it. It was the Russian hour for stand-to. He raised his cramped limbs from the ground and shouted 'Friend! English!' A face looked down at him, and then the darkness again descended. 'Friend,' he said hoarsely. 'English.' He heard speech behind the parapet. An electric torch was flashed on him for a second. A voice spoke, a friendly voice, and the sound of it seemed to be telling him to come over. He was now standing up, and as he got his hands on the parapet he seemed to feel bayonets very near him. But the voice that spoke was kindly, so with a heave he scrambled over and flopped into the trench. Once more the electric torch was flashed, and revealed to the eyes of the onlookers an indescribably dirty, lean, middle-aged man with a bloody head, and scarcely a rag of shirt on his back. The said man, seeing friendly faces around him, grinned cheerfully. 'That was a rough trek, friends,' he said; 'I want to see your general pretty quick, for I've got a present for him.' He was taken to an officer in a dug-out, who addressed him in French, which he did not understand. But the sight of Stumm's plan worked wonders. After that he was fairly bundled down communication trenches and then over swampy fields to a farm among trees. There he found staff officers, who looked at him
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GREENMANTLE by
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Flying Corps.
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I had just finished breakfast and w
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He laughed. 'You do yourself an inj
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Sir Walter lay back in an arm-chair
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if a man has a special knowledge to
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years—mostly young officers of th
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and premeditated, and I didn't seem
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advantageous position to take a han
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provide food and service. I kept th
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'V. I,' I read. 'There you have me.
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'I should add that it's about as sa
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lack the larger vision. They can be
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CHAPTER THREE Peter Pienaar Our var
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summer. The hills of Portugal were
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Beyers would have hanged him if he
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the predikant used to preach about
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ar-keeper, with a lot of Shangaan w
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Peter grunted a deep approval. 'Tha
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I had expected a big barricade with
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men with heavy eyes. No wonder, poo
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factory look like a house, though y
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'Maybe he wasn't,' said the giant i
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'You need men, and the men are wait
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As I walked dizzily away the big ma
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convalescent room, where people wer
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I did as I was bid, he followed, an
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a portfolio, and flung me a few sen
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shiver. But how can we strike? They
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had only heard a gurgle of somethin
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in about a quart of water, when Stu
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abominating the English and burning
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The door opened and Stumm entered.
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'There are thousands, sire,' I said
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veld ... Not but what,' he added, '
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German Crown.' I took the card and
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helpless. The man had a gorilla's r
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'The village is five minutes off at
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my idiot had been absorbed into the
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paling of rough stakes plaited with
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village. There were one or two peop
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Hampshire. The bouts had been short
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'Gruss Gott,' I replied. I leaned a
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danced through my head in a crazy f
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your stocking-foot and use it only
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my passport inside Germany, to join
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shoulder. The others wore thick jer
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Stumm's cordon had got busy at last
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dry crackle of wild geese going ove
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Peter was in the middle of the conv
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others, for I was not a prisoner of
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elieved it. I was a poor Dutchman t
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I did not pay much attention to the
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him short. 'Come along to the comma
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The Turk swaggered up and addressed
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clearly not approving of this wet a
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here for their pleasure, and but la
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Then Peter fired over their heads.
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for any trouble with demoniacs. Up
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I had had the good fortune to colle
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have been. Sandy had said that the
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passage and the empty shop, and out
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'But I don't understand,' I stammer
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statesmen don't figure enough on. S
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understood a word of. "Maister Tamm
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'I know,' I said; 'he is called Gre
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mine. Meantime, I've got to clear,
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sailor, Blenkiron flung him three o
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Petrograd and Mr Y. in London, or,
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He tore up the papers and enlarged
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fellow engineer, and translated par
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dwelling in my intestines. I'm like
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made me sick for the burning veld.
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top of them, and the three were off
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I told him in a hectic sentence, fo
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She led me through a long corridor
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Stumm and Rasta and the whole Germa
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passports. Say, do you come from En
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out to find my visitor in a brown s
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for the open country.' This confoun
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lacker one. Do you think that woman
Page 164 and 165: 'There was a time when the papers w
Page 166 and 167: I picked up the map and pocketed it
Page 168 and 169: different members of our gang. Pete
Page 170 and 171: swung along at a great pace with a
Page 172 and 173: It proved to be a wretched tumble-d
Page 174 and 175: About midday we descended on a wide
Page 176 and 177: CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Trouble by The Wa
Page 178 and 179: glittering like jewels. The arches
Page 180 and 181: wretched horses. It is vitally impo
Page 182 and 183: was difficult driving. On both side
Page 184 and 185: With an effort Stumm recovered hims
Page 186 and 187: Sandy's somewhere outside, and he's
Page 188 and 189: I guessed he had gone to have a loo
Page 190 and 191: with the impetus right on our heads
Page 192 and 193: The Deve Boyun lines seemed to me m
Page 194 and 195: I had learned what I needed. We wer
Page 196 and 197: much that he broke open a wound in
Page 198 and 199: 'Drugged,' he cried, with a weary l
Page 200 and 201: Sandy's figure seemed to shrink and
Page 202 and 203: 'That's all right,' I cried. 'It is
Page 204 and 205: The outbuilding we were lodged in a
Page 206 and 207: On the road itself he would soon be
Page 208 and 209: the howitzers, and was thankful whe
Page 210 and 211: seemed to be a kind of cup between
Page 212 and 213: dislodge one ounce of snow. Still t
Page 216 and 217: and looked at his map, and then put
Page 218 and 219: von Einem was getting ready for her
Page 220 and 221: Beside him rode a tall figure swath
Page 222 and 223: We stared blankly for a second, til
Page 224 and 225: sides to prevent them getting us in
Page 226 and 227: It was a woman's voice, high, penet
Page 228 and 229: woman had singled me out above the
Page 230 and 231: Blenkiron's field-glasses and had a
Page 232 and 233: ange for his whizz-bangs. We've got
Page 234 and 235: 'Feeling good?' I asked. 'Fine. I'm
Page 236 and 237: The choice fell on one of the Compa
Page 238 and 239: deaf to the sound. Stumm had seen u
Page 240 and 241: for the rear of the fugitives, but
Page 242 and 243: *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG E
Page 244 and 245: 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perfor
Page 246 and 247: Section 2. Information about the Mi
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