I emptied a Ford van and set out to do
some prospecting. First I went up-stream, which was toward the mountains,
but I could not go far, for there was an ancient fort situated at the
mouth of the gorge, and it had not been evacuated. Finding a likely
looking place a little below, I made a cast and just succeeded in getting
through. It was easy to see that it would not be possible for the
low-swung Rolls to cross under their own power, for the fly-wheel would
throw the water up into the motor. There was nothing to do but send back
for artillery horses to pull the armored cars across.
Meanwhile, as our artillery had practically ceased firing on the town and
the Turks seemed to have entirely evacuated it, I thought that I would go
up and take over and see whether there had not been some valuable
documents left behind. I drove along past some abandoned artillery into
the main street. A number of Turkish soldiers came up to surrender and I
told them to have the Reis Beledia--the town mayor--report to me. When he
came I directed him to take me to the quarters of the Turkish commanding
general. As we drove through the covered bazaar everything was closed.
Scarcely anybody was in the streets--but I could see the inhabitants
peeping out from behind lattices. It was a good thing to have the old
mayor along, for he served as an excellent hostage, and I kept close watch
upon him.
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