CHAPTER 26 - The Story is Out, a Beloved Guard Dog and an Empty Sea
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| Feathers & Blood |
The Research Station, Atlit. The dovecot - feathers and blood everywhere - Joe has slit the throats of all the pigeons.
Abu Farrid ploughing over the earth where he has buried the dead birds.
Sara digging with a spade, burying documents, reports, the leather purse and a bag with gold in it.
****
The cave on the cliff top, Atlit. Sara and Joe throw all the stored supplies from the last ship - flour, sugar, quinine, over the cliff into the sea.
Sara, Joe and Abu Farrid hurriedly pack as many of Aron’s books and precious botanical specimens, as they can, into crates.
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| Abu Farrid Loads Books into the Station Carriage |
They load the boxes into the Station carriage and Goliath jumps inside with Abu Farrid.
Abu Farrid drives off with his load through the gates which proudly proclaim the now almost deserted: ‘Jewish Agricultural Experiment Station, Haifa Palestine - Managing Director, Aron Aronson’.
Sara and Joe remain behind to look after the prisoner.
****
Meeting Room, Synagogue, Zikhron Ya’akov. The town elders, Mayor Meir, the Rabbi and others with Dr. Yaffe and his overwrought wife.
“You must hand them over! Before we are all murdered!” says a hysterical Dr. Yaffe’s wife, before falling to the floor in a dead faint.
While the Doctor, who is used to such swoons, which he blames as much on his wife’s corsets as her delicate nerves, takes out his bag and administers a particularly hearty dose of ammonia.
“She’s right. Or they’ll slaughter us all!” Mayor Meir is apoplectic.
Dr. Yaffe remembering his Hippocratic oath, is less certain: “We can’t just hand them to the Turks. It’s certain death.”
“The Doctor is right - we are men not monsters. We must pray and God will answer our prayers,” says Rabbi Kornfeld with the absolute certainty of a man of faith - but not a shred of evidence of that wrathful God's intention to intervene in such mundane matters as a single human being's life or death.
****
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| Efraim & Sara at Home in Zikhron |
The Aronson House, Zikhron Ya’akov. Sara has come home for a day to see her father who she knows is beside himself with worry, leaving unwilling Joe with Felix.
Sara with Efraim on the bench in the courtyard that has seen so many gatherings, both happy and sad.
“Where will you go, my daughter?” asks Efraim.
“I’ll stay here until tomorrow,” Sara answers. She knows she has to return to check whether the ship is coming to fetch Felix, though she knows in her heart, it is a vain hope.
“Then there’s plenty to do,” says the father, with an urgency he has not shown in years.
****
Sara and Efraim take piles of Aron’s books from his home library, his records, his botanical collection and any incriminating reports, and hide them in the deep cellar that runs beneath the house.
The old man moves with creaky alacrity: “So Aron will find them here safely, when he returns,” he says with the hope that until the final hour, never dies.
****
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| Nissim and Izi Bury Guns at the Stone Tower |
Nissim and Izi bury guns in the orchard near the stone tower, from which many a ship has been sighted in the heady days of Nili espionage.
****
The main road leading to Haifa, Carmel Mountains.
Abu Farrid reins in the horses as a Turkish Patrol, on mounted horses with Captain Aziz at its head, accompanied by a barred prison truck, halts the carriage filled with Aron’s precious books.
Goliath barks furiously as the soldiers burn a pile of his master’s books at the side of the road. Abu Farrid tries to stop them.
One of the patrol members kicks Abu Farrid violently out of the way.
“Traitor! Zionist spy!” he declares with another powerful kick of his boot.
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| Abu Farrid & Goliath Confronted by a Turkish Patrol |
Loyal Goliath tries to bite the man who yells, quite accurately, “Son of a dog!” and immediately shoots him dead.
The faithful Nili companion and beloved guard dog, lies in the road, a pool of blood trickling from his mouth.
Abu Farrid, badly wounded in the leg is thrown into the locked van.
****
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| HaShomer Watchmen Concealing arms |
The Watchman Settlement at Tel Adas. A cowshed, filled with lowing cows and the strong stench of manure.
Shochat and his HaShomer Watchmen hastily concealing their arms under bales of straw.
A Watchman bursts in to confirm the worst: “The story’s out! They’ve heard that gold and arms are being smuggled into the country! They’re searching everywhere!”
“Damn the Turks, damn Lishansky, damn the Aronsons! We’ll have to move the stuff,” growls Shochat.
****
The Turkish Patrol gallops down the main street.
Townspeople move out of their path as hooves thunder across the cobbles and the prison van disgorges its prisoners outside the jail: a number of Zikhronites, and injured Abu Farrid - who will remain disabled until the end of his life.
****
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| Watchmen Gallop into the Hills |
Night time. Shochat and his HaShomer Watchmen, galloping into the hills to hide their arms.
Jackals screech and a new moon glows like an eerie, prescient, crescent face, as they go.
****
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| Sara and Joe Wait Expectantly on the Shore |
The coast at Atlit. The new moon hovers high in the sky. A stormy sea. Sara and Joe, wait expectantly on the shore.
Nothing, an empty sea.
“What in God’s name’s keeping them?!” Joe mutters.
“Tomorrow. They’ll come tomorrow - ” says ever hopeful Sara.
“It’ll be very interesting, if the Turks also come tomorrow - and see what we’re hiding!” Joe says, too loudly.
At that moment, they glimpse the distant lights of a ship, followed closely by thick, black smoke issuing like a secret, Sioux signal, from the closely awaited Monegam.
****
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| The Fugitive |
The cellar, Atlit. The trap door opens - a beam of light illuminates the bowed figure of the fugitive, reading one of Aron’s books, by the diminishing light of the kerosene lantern.
Joe with a torch, impatiently beckons him up: “Hurry! For God’s sake, hurry!”
****
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| An Apocalyptic Scene |
An apocalyptic scene - rain lashes the coast, lightning illuminates the black rocks.
Joe and Naaman lead a blind-folded, stumbling Felix to the shore.
Abdullah rows Leibel in the little boat on a heavy sea. Leibel shouts above the noise of the waves:
“Too dangerous - we can’t land - We’ll be back tomorrow to fetch him!”
The little boat disappears into a trough of high waves.
****
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| Leo Prays on Deck |
On board the Monegam. Pouring rain and heavy sea. Leo on deck, prays for the forthcoming holiday of Rosh Hashanah, as gusts of wind and spray threaten to blow him and his prayers, overboard.
****
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| The Muftir Hassan Bey & Captain Aziz with the Wayward Pigeon |
Turkish Government office, Haifa. The Muftir Hassan Bey and Captain Aziz with the wayward pigeon in its covered basket.
“We’ve got the driver. An Arab. But he won’t talk,” says Aziz.
“Why haven’t you gone straight to the Station?” the Muftir asks.
“We are the cat, they are the mouse. I want them to suspect nothing - ” says the Captain, who is quite certain he has got the cream.
Hassan Bey, who will later be called ‘The Tyrant of Jaffa’, for very good reasons, takes the pigeon and quickly twists its neck, and hands the still twitching pigeon to his deputy.
“Have my cook, stew it with lemon peel and eggs. We will eat this British bird for lunch - ”
****
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| Farewell to Felix |
Research Station. Rain pours down, huge puddles fall through the roof into tin buckets. Sara, Naaman and Joe with a very downcast, Felix wrapped in a blanket.
“Now what do we do with him?” Joe says, as if poor Felix is invisible.
“If the ship doesn’t return tomorrow, the Station is the first place they’ll look!” continues frantic Joe, besides himself with fear and anger.
“You must go, Miss Sara. Get out while you can!” implores Naaman.
“Why would I want to save my soul, while you risk yours?” says our lady Musketeer: “Only when we can all go, will I go.”
“Well I’m going home for the New Year - ” says Joe, heartily sick of everybody and everything - and having a sudden desire to see his children and maybe even have a bowl of his wife's delicious chicken soup.
“You must take him with you, then,” says Sara.
Joe is about to explode with frustration, at this disruption of his plans and furious at being made into the fugitive's keeper, when Felix looks out from under the blanket and says in a grateful and emotional voice:
“Thank you Miss Sara. May the Lord, we all share, bless and keep you forever.”
“It’s you we should thank, dear Felix for your bravery,” says Sara.
Then she turns to the rest of the downcast company.
“It's Erev Rosh Hashanah tomorrow and the rest of us should take a rest for the High Holidays and enjoy the break.”
“Well Chag Sameach,” then, says Joe, with what can only be called derision.
Naaman looks thoughtful: “I’m going to my sister’s,” he says, “She does very good chicken soup.”
Joe decides to lie low with his charge for another day and then go on his way.
****
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| Sara Prays for her People |
The Jewish New Year - the holy day of Rosh Hashanah. The whole community has gathered in the Synagogue. Downstairs, the men, Meir, his grandson Izi, Dr. Yaffe, Zvi, Efraim, in prayer shawls and skull caps, pray in unison with the Rabbi.
“We beseech thee, oh God for our redemption and safety, and for the redemption and security of our Land.”
Upstairs in the women’s gallery, ladies, among them, the Doctor’s wife, the Gossips, Tsipporah, Adele, Gita and Perl and Toba, rocking her baby, pray fervently, many with frightened tears in their eyes.
At the back, Sara, her head covered by the black shawl, that was her mother’s, eyes shut in supplication, prays too for her people and her family.
****
In the late afternoon, Sara and her father, take a slow walk, the old man, leaning heavily on his stick. Sheep move through the vineyards behind the Aronson house, munching as they go.
But the vineyards and its plump grapes are not their destination.
They hurry to the stone tower, where Izi, with a pair of binoculars, keeps constant watch on the distant sea, from the open windows of the stone tower, shakes his head.
Sara and Efraim at the base of the tower.
“Have faith, my daughter. Young Izi will help you now,” says Efraim.
Izi climbs down from the spiral stair of the stone tower. In his hands two white doves cooing softly.
“I’ve trained them myself, Miss Sara,” he says.
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| Izi & Two Little Love Birds |
“Two little love birds,” says Sara.
Izi smiles broadly: “And you will come to our wedding, dearest Sara, won’t you?”
“Of course,” says Sara: “Only death would prevent me.”
****
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| Sara Prepares for the Festival |
The Aronson house kitchen. Sara is preparing a honey cake for the festival. A jar of honey and some apples from the orchard on the table, as she pares and cuts slices of apple.
The door bursts open. Toba’s husband, Nissim Rutman his face full of alarm, rushes in.
“They’ve got him, Sara - He went looking for Avshalom!”
Sara’s face pales as she prepares herself for the blow. She puts the knife down.
“Naaman - he’s been caught trying to find Avshalom! He’s in Be’er Sheva Jail. And the Bey wants two hundred pounds to get him out!” says Nissim Rutman breathlessly.
With the ruse of going to his sister's for the holidays, Naaman had instead set off on a foolhardy journey trying to trace his cousin’s last movements. All this expressly against Sara’s wishes and predictably, Naaman, was caught. When he told his captors he was visiting Bedouin friends, this was not believed and they were convinced he was spying.
“Well, we shall have to find the money, then,” Sara declares.
And offering her plate of cut apples and a little dish of honey, she wishes Nissim:
“A sweet year for all of us and may the redemption come soon”.
****
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| Two Hundred Gold Sovereigns |
The clinic in Zikhron Ya’akov. Sara and Dr. Yaffe - he unlocks a small safe and takes out the purse of money that Sara gave him for her own release.
“Dear Sara, are you quite certain?” says the worried Doctor, counting out the money - exactly two hundred gold British sovereigns.
“Don’t the Sages say, it is better to save a man’s life, than live oneself, in dishonour?” Sara smiles back at him.
As it turns out, it is too late for poor Naaman and the vacillating and increasingly blood thirsty Kaimakam Hasan Bey, pockets that glittering hoard to fuel his ego and his pipe.
****
Sara receives another message, this time from Naaman’s family, via Itzkak Halperin, confirming her own worst fears. The family was in turmoil and had sent out another bribe to free him. This time it was Naaman’s aunt, the famous baby deliverer, Dr. Sonya Belkind, who found the money and went directly to the prison with Halperin, her handbag stuffed full, her face veiled. The bribe was pocketed but was not considered sufficient and disappointed aunt Sonya went home empty handed - her purse lighter, her veil tighter, and Naaman still behind bars. Sara wanted to return with another bribe, but Joe, who hearing the news had gone straight to Sara before heading for Beit Gan, wanted to get Naaman out of the jail by force and proposed all kinds of foolhardy plans to arrange a jail break including taking six men dressed as Turkish gendarmes to say they were moving the prisoner to another jail. Sara vetoes the plan and sends Joe and Felix on their way.
Another messenger arrives at the Station from the south with more news of Naaman’s capture. Bad news. Naaman unable to rest until he found Absa’s grave had become ill on his quest and rested in a Bedouin tent, advised by his guide in order to recover. The Sheikh of the tribe, feared that suspicion would fall on them for sheltering their Jewish guest, and so by now, very sick Naaman and his guide were caught. The guide escaped and weakened and delirious Naaman was handed over to the Turkish in Be’er Sheva. It is possible he had typhoid from a toxic well. Naaman remained faithful to his initial story - he had gone south to visit his good friend Ali Faud Bey who commanded the 25th Division at Huj. For three days the captive was kept in chains, with neither food nor water. This being the first step in the doctrine of torture favoured by the Turks. Wave a fresh pita in front of a hungry man and he will give up all his secrets. If that fails, hang him in order to send a warning to other spies.
In this case, however, it is the Germans who intervene. Stop the torture immediately. Better to keep the spy alive in order to extract the information they require, by other means.
****
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| A Filthy Cell |
Turkish Prison Cell, Be’er Sheva. A filthy cell stinking of urine. Flies buzz over a pile of faeces. Naaman in chains, beaten and bloody, lying on the floor, groaning and clutching his nether parts. A Turkish Prison Captain with large moustache and whip, stands over his prone body. German Commander, Von Kressenstein looms behind him.
“Wake up Mr. Belkind, we’ve come to let you go home,” announces the Prison Captain, giving him a kick.
Naaman opens one black eye, then the other - the news is too good to be true, but the pain and humiliation are still very real.
“But first, we have a little celebration for you - Your friend Ali Faud Bey is waiting to entertain you with all the honour you deserve” declares the Prison Captain, doing up his flies.
Von Kressenstein looks on, his face an implacable mask.
As well as commanding the 25th Division at Huj, Ali Faud is Chief of Staff of the Palestinian-Syrian Front, under the direct orders of Djemal Pasha. An astute and unsentimental strategist he is renowned for his unusual interrogation techniques. A devout Muslim, he is well acquainted with Naaman's wine bar.
****
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| Hashish & Wine |
The Winery Bar. Rishon-Le-Zion. Night. Clouds of hashish and a chanting, all male audience of off duty German soldiers, with among them, Ottoman Commander Ali Faud Bey. A cross-dressing, belly dancer with a beard, tasseled bra and hareem pants, gyrates across the stage, to the lewd cheers and guffaws of the audience.
Naaman, bruised and befuddled, at a table, as Turkish Officers ply him with wine and hashish.
“Now, my friend, you can tell us who you are working with?” asks Ali Faud.
“Then you’ll let me go?” Naaman scarcely knows whether to believe his ears.
“Of course, of course,” says the duplicitous Commander, gesturing for more doped wine for the captive.
His instructions are quite clear. Soften up the prisoner, then tighten the screws.
Naaman sends a garbled report to Sara saying that his is with ‘friends’ and that they will not let him leave.
Sara is filled with fear at her dapper friend's fate but even she cannot imagine the horrors about to descend upon him.
****
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| A Circle of Black Hills |
Beit Gan, Night, the tiny farming community of Joe’s home set in a circle of black hills. Joe and a draped figure, tiptoe in the dark towards the outhouse where Joe drops Felix behind the usual barnyard clutter, and leaves quickly saying he needs the privy, after getting Felix to bolt the door from the inside.
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| Beit Gan Sleeping Children |
A light glows from inside the house. Joe peers through the window. Through the curtains Joe sees the angelic figures of his sleeping children Ivriya and Tuvia. A woman’s hand draws the curtain shut.
Brother in law, Avram, comes outside with a lantern and gun.
“Who’s there?” he growls into the darkness.
But Joe has ducked into the shadows, and disappeared.
****
Turkish Prison Cell, Be’er Sheva. The clang of a cell door as Naaman is thrown back inside the filthy cell. On the other side of the door, the Turkish Prison Captain stands with Von Kressenstein.
“Money is flowing like water, so is information,” affirms the Turkish Prison Captain.
“Soon blood will be flowing like water!” responds Von Kressenstein.
“There is a whole group working with him - when you’ve got the names, we’ll hang him. The others we’ll weed out, one by one.”
****
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| Felix's Death |
Beit Gan, early hours of the morning.
The sound of horses approaching the tiny farming community. Joe hiding
in the shadows, flat against the wall of the small outhouse as:
Captain Aziz with Turkish Soldiers kick down the door and haul out Felix.
“Zionist Spy! British collaborator!” the Captain yells.
One of the Soldiers shoots - Felix falls down dead, blood pouring from a terrible wound in his chest.
From the doorway of the house, Avram watches the action without moving a muscle.
****
When the news of Turkish and German action against the cell, reaches Aron, he is already ensconced in a flat in Swiss Cottage, London. He quickly picks up the telephone to Alex in Cairo and looking at the wrist watch Sara gave him, orders:
“You must get her out immediately!”
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| Alex at Aron’s desk in Cairo, with Leo and Raphael |
Alex at Aron’s desk in Cairo, General Headquarters, anxious Leo and Raphael in the background.
“I can’t get them to do anything until new moon. It’s the equivalent of going in broad daylight!” Alex exclaims, having tried but failed on a number of occasions, to change the opinion of his British superiors who have much else on their minds.
We cut back to Aron still holding the phone at his desk in that dingy little Swiss Cottage flat.
“It’ll be too late then! Are we to sacrifice our sister for our country!?”
In Aron’s office on another continent, Alex knows that his tardiness has placed his sister in mortal danger and slowly replaces the receiver.
He drops his eyes to the locked draw in his desk where a number of letters from Sara lie in dusty neglect; ones he has not forwarded to Aron, for fear of his brother’s disapproval at his non action.
Leo dashes tears from his eyes, knocking those owlish glasses to the floor.
“The British must get her out! There's no other way!”
****
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