"
These reports hoodwinked the ignorant natives for a little while, but
when the stream of haggard soldiers, wounded and exhausted, began
pouring back from the south, they guessed what had happened, and a
fierce revulsion against the Germano-Turkish regime set in. A few weeks
before the advance on Suez, I was in Jaffa, where the enthusiasm and
excitement had been at fever-pitch. Parades and celebrations of all
kinds in anticipation of the triumphal march into Egypt were taking
place, and one day a camel, a dog, and a bull, decorated respectively
with the flags of Russia, France, and England, were driven through the
streets. The poor animals were horribly maltreated by the natives, who
rained blows and flung filth upon them by way of giving concrete
expression to their contempt for the Allies. Mr. Glazebrook, the
American Consul at Jerusalem, happened to be with me in Jaffa that day;
and never shall I forget the expression of pain and disgust on his face
as he watched this melancholy little procession of scapegoats hurrying
along the street.
Now, however, all was changed. The Arabs, who take defeat badly, turned
against the authorities who had got them into such trouble. Rumors
circulated that Djemal Pasha had been bought by the English and that the
defeat at Suez had been planned by him, and persons keeping an ear close
to the ground began to hear mutterings of a general massacre of Germans.
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