yond. For thirty-six hours there was hardly a break in the procession
shambling towards the great hill on which stand the ruins of Herod's
Castle, where Salome danced for the head of John the Baptist, and where now
the prisoners were caged. There was a marked difference between the
condition of the Turkish prisoners and that of the Germans: the former were
ragged, half-starved, and yellow with privation and fatigue, but all the
Germans I saw were sleek, well-clad, and bearing every sign of good living.
It was impossible to cage them together, for they fought like cats with
each other on every possible occasion, and caused endless trouble to the
guards, who had to go amongst them with the bayonet in order to separate
them.

[Illustration: A WATER CONVOY.]

[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF CHAOS--BEFORE THE TURKISH RETREAT. [_To
face p. 256._]

Meanwhile, what of the cavalry whose business it had been to cut the
Turkish lines of communication with Damascus and the north? Their chief
objectives were El Afule, which might briefly be described as a place where
all roads meet, Nazareth, a few miles farther north, the headquarters of
the German General, Liman von Sanders, the Commander-in-Chief of the Turks,
and Jenin, the headquarters of the enemy Air Force. They met with
practically no opposition until they reached the entrance to the Esdraelon
Plain, which is approached through a narrow pass, where a weak garrison was
easily overwhelmed and captured. Had the Turks had time to fortify this
pass it is possible that the whole course of events might have been
changed, for it commanded the way to the main arteries in the Turkish
communications, upon the capture of which everything depended. But the
surprise was complete; the fine work of the British airmen had prevented
news of the destruction of the front line from reaching enemy headquarters,
and their first intimation of our success was the sight of the cavalry
streaming over the Esdraelon Plain towards Afule.

Most of the small garrisons on the way were literally taken in their beds,
and when the few stragglers who escaped brought the tidings to Afule it was
too late to make any great show of resistance. Thousands of Turks
surrendered here, without attempting to fight, and when the Germans also
had been roped in, the number of prisoners far exceeded that of the
attacking cavalry. The loot was prodigious, for Afule was one of the main
depots of the enemy, and every house occup