Evan's Gallipoli (2 page)
Today started out so ordinary, I would never have guessed how it would end. We came down into Apollo Bay in the afternoon, me, Father and our donkey, Diligence, after we had delivered all our orders and sold out. We do this every couple of weeks. My great-grandfather set up Warrender's Superfine Spices. We sell the best spices, herbs, medicines and necessities. The things a lonely station owner or lone housewife cannot get in the main shipment of flour, sugar, oats, and so on. Around here those usually come in on a ship every three months. The roads in the interior are unmade and either muddy or sandy. And steep. So we supply the small things which make life sweeter and nicer: ginger for gingerbread, mace and nutmeg for junket, cloves for baked apples, custard powder and mustard powder and curry powder and flea powder and citronella oil to repel bugs. At very reasonable prices.
We don't need to do this, of course. Father is very wealthy. But after my mother died he wanted to get away and continue to talk to God. He talks to God a lot. And in the bush and near the sea there aren't many people to interrupt him. Since I was seven, I have gone with him. I look after the donkey, mend and repair the cart, and speak for Father when he doesn't want to talk. Aunt Euphemia, my mother's sister, does not approve. She wants me to live with her. But I will never leave Father. He needs me.
It was Aunt Euphie who met us as we came in today. She hugged meâAunt Euphie always smells of lavender water and bakingâand said, âIt's your birthday, Evan, come in, I've made a cake, are you frozen, child? And terrible news in the paper, terrible.' She always talks like that, as though she is going to run out of time. Or breath. I had already stabled Diligence with the hotel's two horses, who like her. Father took the newspaper, though usually he never reads them. We went inside. There was a big fire in the hearth and the little table all laid. And a cake, a sponge with cream and toffee, my favourite. Father read the paper very carefully while Aunt Euphie and I made tea. Then he looked up with those wise far-seeing eyes and said, âI must go to the Dardanelles at once.'
And so it was settled. And I was fourteen.
Once Father has decided that God wants him to do something, nothing will stop him. He told me to choose only one book. I chose Homer. From what the paper said we were going to Gallipoli, near the Greek Islands. Homer would be my friend. Because I miss so much school travelling with him, Father has made sure that I am educated. I can read Latin pretty easily and Greek fairly well. I picked up some other languages from the other travellers. I love words. Father went to see some important army man in Melbourne. He wouldn't take me with him. He says that cities are wicked. I don't like staying with Aunt Euphie because she makes me wear different clothes. Aunt Euphie says that I will have to stop travelling with Father soon. I never will.
Father is home with permission for us to travel with the army medical corps. We have uniforms. Khaki trousers and a tunic. I look very odd in them. So does Father. He usually wears a black suit and a soft shirt. In uniform he looks like a stranger. But his dark eyes are the same. He said that God requires him to take comforts to the soldiers dying on the hot cliffs at Cape Hellas and the beaches of Anzac Cove. Even though he is a pacifist. He asked me if I would come with him. He didn't need to ask.
Aunt Euphie was so upset by Father's resolve and by his taking me that we had to creep out this morning to go into the city. That wicked place. I didn't notice much wickedness. It was early in the morning. We just went to the pier to board a ship called the
Rose
. There were many soldiers. I was a little scared. Not of people but
so many
people. We lead a very quiet life in the bush. This place was very noisy with men yelling and slings of cargo swinging. But Father just walked up to the man at the top of the gangplank and showed him our papers. And he let us in, and said that the crates of comforts had been properly loaded. We have a little cabin to ourselves. All the soldiers sleep together in one big room. I suppose that Father paid for our cabin. I'm glad he did. This is the first time I have ever been on the sea. It's so exciting.
We have a tiny little wash place and two bunks. There is just room to pile up all our belongings. I'm using my own bag of necessities as a pillow. I can feel the ship beginning to move. Father is asleep. I can't sleep. It's really early in the morning or maybe late at night. I got out my book but the light from the dock through the porthole is too dim and I dare not turn on the cabin light and wake Father. It's moving, we're moving! I'm with Father, no matter what Aunt Euphie said. And we're leaving Australia. I can see out the porthole if I kneel up on my bunk. It is falling away into the dark, all those lights. I'm going on an adventure.
Ships are not as interesting as I thought they would be. Father is seasick. He sends me out to meals but wants nothing for himself, except for me to go away and not watch him being sick. So I go. I am not bothered by the ship's motion. The big holds are full of soldiers. I am not allowed in there. But the main cabins are for the medical staff and I can go there. In the dining room there are chairs and lights so I sit there to read my
Iliad
between meals. One doctor is kind. His name is Major Western. He took me up to the main deck and all there was to see was ocean. Miles and miles of ocean. Then a line of dolphins came leaping and dancing alongside the ship. They made me feel more at home. There are always dolphins at Apollo Bay. Major Western has been telling me that we are going to the Great War. I said it was like the ships setting off with Agamemnon and all the heroes but he has not read Homer. He said the Australian soldiers were heroes all right. The way they attacked the cliffs was magnificent. And the way they died. Like flies, he said, and broke off. I did not understand why he stopped speaking. But he is a nice man and asked me to sit with some of the officers at night. I am going to ask leave from Father. We had a nice talk about various methods of killing lice. Warrender's Superfine Insect Powder is the best. It is made of ground-up pyrethrum daisies. Other powders have dangerous ingredients, like arsenic, which certainly kill the lice but might also poison the patient.
Father gave me leave to sit with the officers at night. He is still very seasick and there is nothing I can do for him. I've managed to get him mint tea to drink and tomorrow perhaps he will get his sea legsâthat's what the steward, Mr Walls, calls it. Father says he is dedicating his suffering to God. Captain Smith and Lieutenant Jones were talking about the Great War when I got my lemon squash and came to sit with them. Major Western welcomed me. They asked me about being a pacifist and I explained that all wars were wrong and contrary to the law of God, and instead of being cross as people often were they almost agreed. This one at least will be the last one, they said. They thought that the Gallipoli campaign was a great mistake, though, and many men were being sacrificed to no purpose. I was taken aback. Heroes would not mind dying in what they thought was their country's cause. I said so. Major Western patted my shoulder and they started talking about something else. It is getting very hot in the Dardanelles, they say, and Father's lice powder is very much needed. They say that the army made no provision for so many casualties and that one shipload of 600 wounded men was sent on a four-day voyage to Alexandria with only a veterinary surgeon to care for them. He was the only medical person they could find. Major Western and his staff are hoping that they can prevent this happening again.
I drank my squash then went back to our cabin but could not sleep. It is very stuffy. I thought about Diligence and hoped that Aunt Euphie was treating her well. I wonder if she misses me. I miss her soft nose snuffling into my neck. How could they leave 600 injured men in the charge of a vet? What was happening in this war? Agamemnon would never have allowed it.
We are at Alexandria and there are parties going to Cairo to see the pyramids. At first Father refused to allow me to go but I told him this was the scene of the Exodus and would be very educational. So he agreed. He is still a little shaky but he came along in a rather nice big car with the other officers.
Alexandria is a wicked town. It is full of drunken soldiers, which is disgusting. And ladies whom my father says are âof light repute', which sounds bad, but they are pretty and dressed in bright colours and they smile. No one else does. Several of them caught me by the sleeve and said things to me. I did not translate. I am picking up a lot of Arabic, but Father doesn't know much of the language and I don't want to upset him, he has been so sick. I told Major Western this and he laughed. I do not think it is funny.
The pyramids are just like the lantern show but so big, much much bigger than I could imagine, as big as mountains. They offered to take us inside. I went with the Major. It was scary. The stone pressed down so close. When we were in the King's Chamber the guide put out his torch and asked for more
baksheesh
âmoneyâbefore he would relight it. But Major Western chuckled and produced a small electric torch from his pocket. So we got out again and the guide didn't get any
baksheesh
. He followed us out, wailing that we had cheated him. Served him right.
We had lunch at the Officers' Club. I was hoping for Arab food but it was very nice but Englishâchicken soup, roast meat, gravy, potatoes, strawberries and cream. The talk was all about the war. It seems that while the Belgian war is going well, the Dardanelles was bad from the beginning and getting worse.
âIt would have been different, perhaps,' said Major Western, âif we had landed on the right beach and we hadn't given the Turks three months to prepare. Remember this, son,' he said to me. âThe lights and the comfort and the cleanliness. It's the last you'll see of such things for as long as your tour of duty lasts.'
That didn't sound hopeful. When we got back to the ship, I tried wearing my tin helmet. It is very heavy and makes my head ache. Father gave me some Warrender painkiller and read psalms to me to soothe me. He says that God will not lay on me a burden too heavy for me to carry. I hope he is right.
Father was sick againâhe just hasn't got any sea legs, whatever Mr Walls saysâbut at dawn we came into the green harbour of Mudros, which the crew call Muddy Ross, the port of the Greek island of Lemnos. We let the soldiers go first. They poured off the ship like marching ants, and I understood why they called Achilles' soldiers MyrmidonsâAnt Warriors. Khaki and pack and rifle, they all marched the same. I could hear a crashing in the sky. I asked Major Western if there was going to be a thunderstorm. He chuckled.
âAh, they are opening up,' he said. âIt's the artillery, boy, the heavy guns. You will get used to the sound.'