Greeenmantle (Kara Gubek)

 

    Kara Gubek was the point of interest.  It stood on a rib ofland between two peaks, which from the contour lines rose verysteep.   So long as it was held it was clear that no invader couldmove down the Euphrates glen.  Stumm had appended a note to the peaks—“not fortified”; and about two miles tothe north-east there was a red cross and the name “Prjevalsky.”  I assumed that to be thefarthest point yet reached by the right wing of the Russian attack.

     Then I turned to the paper from which Stumm had copied the jottings onto his map.  It was typewritten, and consisted of notes on differentpoints.  One was headed “Kara Gubek” and read: “No time to fortify adjacent peaks.  Difficult for enemy toget batteries there, but not impossible. This is the real point of danger, forif Prjevalsky wins the peaks Kara Gubek and Tafta must fall, and enemy will beon the left rear of Deve Boyun main position.”

 

     I was soldier enough to seethe tremendous importance of this note.  On Kara Gubek depended thedefence of Erzerum, and it was a broken reed if one knew where the weaknesslay.  Yet, searching the map again, I could not believe that any mortal commanderwould see any chance in the adjacent peaks, even if he thought themunfortified.  That was information confined to the Turkish and Germanstaffs.

NOTE:  


I haven't read Greenmantle in a long time, but I remember first turning its pages under LosCabos, Baja Sur, sun with hawks wheeling overhead and whales breaking the Seaof Cortez surface and spouting very close offshore.


The paragraphs quoted above are atmospheric, but don’t convey thebreadth, sweep, and moral depth and focus of John Buchan's trans-Caucasian WorldWar I espionage-adventure novel.


I'm not the world's biggest Steven Spielberg fan, but I can'tunderstand why he hasn't yet attacked Greenmantle.  It is tailor-made for him. I think hecould make a commanding and moving success of it and The Three Hostages also (since sequel-itis seems to be a disease with no knowncure).  He could transfer Mr Standfast to the care of PeterJackson.

 

 John Buchan(1875-1940)