I was marched through the tall fence into a compound set about with many huts and a few buildings. We passed to a mud room, outside which was an earth platform, whereon sat a fleshy Turkish officer, one leg tucked under him. He hardly glanced at me when the sergeant brought me up and made a long report in Turkish. He asked my name: I told him Ahmed ibn Bagr, a Circassian from Kuneitra. “A deserter?” “But we Circassians have no military service.” He turned, stared at me, and said very slowly “You are a liar. Enrol him in your section, Hassan Chowish, and do what is necessary till the Bey sends for him.”