h and east and south,
and now the Muscovite is sitting down outside the forts of Erzerum. I
can tell you they're pretty miserable about the situation in the
highest quarters ... Enver is sweating blood to get fresh divisions to
Erzerum from Gally-poly, but it's a long road and it looks as if they
would be too late for the fair ... You and I, Major, start for
Mesopotamy tomorrow, and that's about the meanest bit of bad luck that
ever happened to John S. We're missing the chance of seeing the goriest
fight of this campaign.'

I picked up the map and pocketed it. Maps were my business, and I had
been looking for one.

'We're not going to Mesopotamia,' I said. 'Our orders have been
cancelled.'

'But I've just seen Enver, and he said he had sent round our passports.'

'They're in the fire,' I said. 'The right ones will come along
tomorrow morning.'

Sandy broke in, his eyes bright with excitement.

'The great hills! ... We're going to Erzerum ... Don't you see that
the Germans are playing their big card? They're sending Greenmantle to
the point of danger in the hope that his coming will rally the Turkish
defence. Things are beginning to move, Dick, old man. No more kicking
the heels for us. We're going to be in it up to the neck, and Heaven
help the best man ... I must be off now, for I've a lot to do. _Au
revoir_. We meet some time in the hills.'

Blenkiron still looked puzzled, till I told him the story of that
night's doings. As he listened, all the satisfaction went out of his
face, and that funny, childish air of bewilderment crept in.

'It's not for me to complain, for it's in the straight line of our
dooty, but I reckon there's going to be big trouble ahead of this
caravan. It's Kismet, and we've got to bow. But I won't pretend that
I'm not considerable scared at the prospect.'

'Oh, so am I,' I said. 'The woman frightens me into fits. We're up
against it this time all right. All the same I'm glad we're to be let
into the real star metropolitan performance. I didn't relish the idea
of touring the provinces.'

'I guess that's correct. But I could wish that the good God would see
fit to take that lovely lady to Himself. She's too much for a quiet
man at my time of life. When she invites us to go in on the
ground-floor I feel like taking the elevator to the roof-garden.'

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The Battered Caravanserai

Two days later, in the evening, we came to Angora, the first