same time that the Turks opened fire. By
breaking down an irrigation ditch the enemy succeeded in further flooding
the locality where the automobile was trapped. The Turks made it hot for
the men when they tried to dig out the car. The bullets spattered about
them. It was difficult to tell how many Turks we accounted for. As dark
came on, the occupants of the disabled car abandoned it and joined the
other one, which was standing off the enemy but had lost all four tires
and was running on its rims. We held a consultation and decided to stay
where we were until dawn. We had scarcely made the decision when one of
our cyclists arrived with orders from the brigade commander to return
immediately. Although exceedingly loath to leave the armored car, we had
no other course than to obey.

It was after midnight by the time we made back to camp. We were told that
a small attack had been planned for the morning, and that then we could go
out with the troops and recover our car, using some artillery horses to
drag it free. The troops soon began filing past, but we didn't pull out
till three o'clock, by which time we were reinforced by an armored car
from another battery. We were held back behind the advanced cavalry until
daylight, and felt certain that the Turks would have either destroyed or
succeeded in removing our car. Nor were we wrong, for just as we breasted
the hill that brought the scene of yesterday's engagement into view, we
saw the smoke of an explosion and the men running back into the village.
We cleared the village with the help of a squadron of the Twenty-First
cavalry, and found that the car had been almost freed during the night. It
was a bad wreck, but we were able to tow it. I wished to have a reckoning
with the village head man, and walked to an isolated group of houses a few
hundred yards to the left of the village. As I neared them a lively
fusillade opened and I had to take refuge in a convenient irrigation
ditch. The country was so broken that it was impossible for us to operate,
so we towed the car back to camp.

[Illustration: Hauling out a badly bogged fighting car]

[Illustration: A Mesopotamian garage]

Our section from Deli Abbas was moved up to take the place of the one that
had been engaged, which now returned to Baghdad. We were camped at
Mirjana, a few miles north of Kizil Robat, on the Diyala River. A pontoon
bridge was thrown across and the cars were taken over to the right bank,
where we