came out of the stillness as if to remind
us that help and salvation could come only from the sea, the sea upon
which scores of the warships of the Allies were sailing back and forth.
We had argued into the small hours before I yielded to his persuasion.

[ILLUSTRATION: THE BAZAAR OF JAFFA ON A MARKET DAY]

CHAPTER X

A RASH ADVENTURE

It was all very well to decide to leave the country; to get safely away
was a different matter. There were two ways out. One of these--the land
route by Constantinople--could not be considered. The other way was to
board one of the American cruisers which, by order of Ambassador
Morgenthau, were empowered to assist citizens of neutral countries to
leave the Ottoman Empire. These cruisers had already done wonderful
rescue work for the Russian Jews in Palestine, who, when war was
declared, were to have been sent to the Mesopotamian town of Urfa--there
to suffer massacre and outrage like the Armenians. This was prevented by
Mr. Morgenthau's strenuous representations, with the result that these
Russian Jews were gathered together as in a great drag-net and herded to
Jaffa, amidst suffering unspeakable. There they were met by the American
cruisers which were to transport them to Egypt. Up to the very moment
when they set foot on the friendly warships they were robbed and
horribly abused by the Jaffa boatmen. The eternal curse of the
Wandering Jew! Driven from Russia, they come to seek shelter in Turkey;
Turkey then casts them from her under pretext that they are loyal to
Russia. Truly, the Jew lifts his eyes to the mountains, asking the
ancient and still unanswered question, "Whence shall come my help?"

The Turkish Government later repented of its leniency in allowing these
Russian Jews to escape, and gave orders that only neutrals should leave
the country--and then only under certain conditions. I was not a
neutral; my first papers of American citizenship were valueless to
further my escape. I had heard, however, that the United States cruiser
Tennessee was to call at Jaffa, and I determined to get aboard her by
hook or by crook. One evening, as soon as darkness had fallen, I bade a
sorrowful farewell to my people, and set off for Jaffa, traveling only
by night and taking out-of-the-way paths to avoid the pickets, for now
that the locust campaign was over, my _boyouroulton_ was useless. At
dawn, two days later, I slipped into Jaffa by way of the sand-dunes and
went to the house