They were nine British Tommies with three Lewis guns under
Captain Savage. They had come ahead from the main body that had moved
up from Baghdad in order to defend the rear of the great procession.
The little company of soldiers passed on and the procession moved
forward. That tiny company of nine British Tommies ten miles farther
on was attacked by hundreds of Turks. All day they held the road, like
Horatius on the bridge, till at night the Cavalry came up and drove
off the enemy, and at last the Shedds reached the British camp.
"Why are you right at the tail end of the retreat?" asked one of the
Syrian young men who had hurried forward into safety.
"I would much rather be there," said Dr. Shedd with some scorn in
his voice, "than like you, leave the unarmed, the sick, the weak, the
women and the children to the mercy of the enemy."
He was rejoiced that the British had come.
"There was," said Mrs. Shedd, "a ring in his voice, a light in his
eyes, a buoyancy in his step that I had not seen for months."
He had shepherded his thousands and thousands of boys and girls, and
men and women through the mountains into the protection of the British
squadron of troops.
IV
Later that day Dr. Shedd began to feel the frightful heat of the
August day so exhausting that he had to lie down in the cart, which
had a canvas cover open at both ends and was therefore much cooler
than a tent.
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