These contained much information about the Arab situation, and
through them it was all but proved that the German was the direct
instigator of the murder of the political officer at Nejef. An amusing
sidelight was thrown in the letters addressed by Arab sheiks through this
agent to the Kaiser thanking him for the iron crosses they had been
awarded. There must have been an underlying grim humor in distributing
crosses to the Mohammedan Arabs in recognition of their efforts to
withstand the advance into the Holy Land of the Christian invaders.
On our arrival at Ana we were told that orders had come through that the
town be evacuated on the following morning. Preparations were made to
blow up the ammunition dump, which was fortunately concentrated in a
series of buildings that joined each other. We warned the inhabitants and
advised them to hide in the caves along the hillsides. We ourselves went
back to the camp which we had occupied near the bridge the night before
entering Ana. During the afternoon Major Edye, a political officer, turned
up, travelling alone with an Arab attendant. He pitched his camp,
consisting of a saddle and blanket, close beside us. He was an
extraordinarily interesting man, with a great gift for languages. In the
course of a year or so's wandering in Abyssinia he had learned both
ancient and modern Abyssinian. There was a famous German Orientalist with
whom he corresponded in the pre-war days.
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