At first I was rather upset by this sort of table manners, and for some time I ate with my eyes fixed on my own portion, to avoid seeing the Arabs, who fill the palms of their hands with rice, pat it into a ball and cram it into their mouths just so, the bolus making a great lump in their lean throats as it reluctantly descends.My case arthur w pink was different, for I was already enrolled but everything is possible in Turkey.We were divided into groups of fifty, each of which was put in charge of a young non commissioned officer from the Military School of Constantinople or Damascus, or of some Arab who had seen several years' service.They were absolutely destitute, no wages being paid them by the Turks their clothes were dropping off them in rags arthur w pink many were sick.German engineers appeared in force, surveying, sounding, noting.The officer, scenting the chance arthur w pink for a little private profit, gave his consent.He agreed with me and issued an order that the men were to provide their own oil to lubricate the wheels! I shall not dwell on the physical sufferings we underwent while working on this road, for the reason that the conditions I have described were prevalent over the whole country and later, when I had the opportunity to visit some construction camps in Samaria and Judaea found that in comparison our lot had been a happy one.Whenever the Turkish authorities wished, the horrors of the Armenian massacres would live again in Zicron Jacob, and we should be powerless to raise a hand arthur w pink to protect ourselves.As I lay by and watched the moon riding serenely above these frantic men and their twisting black shadows, I reflected that they were just in the condition when one word from a holy man would suffice to send them off to wholesale murder and rapine.Beersheba, a prosperous town of the ancient province of Idumea, was the southern base of operations for the arthur w pink advance on Suez.German hotels have been opened in places seldom frequented by tourists.The second night, as I lay sleepless and desperate on the strip of dirty matting that served as bed, I heard a scratch scratching arthur w pink at the grated slit of a window, and presently a slender stick was inserted into the cell.CHAPTER III THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA So passed the days of our training, swiftly, monotonously, until the fateful December morning when the news came like a thunderbolt that Turkey was about to join hands with Germany.