ON  AND  OFF THE  ROAD	55
them, dogged and watchful to strike as occasion served, the Turks held on to the ridge with all the stubborn courage of their race. For weeks the garrison never knew what it was to have a peaceful night, for when the mountain mist crept up at the gathering twilight the enemy came with it, and stabbed the gloom with rifle-fire that seemed to come from all directions.
It is curious to note that the villagers of the upper heights, and even those who lived below Menakha, on the main spurs of Shibam, remained loyal to their liege-lord the Sultan. But all the tribesmen, whose towers and villages lie low down the ravines, were up in arms against the Turk, as were also the lawless denizens of the foot-hills Sanaa-wards, who made common cause with the Imam for the sake of loot.
In fact, the main massif of Shibam stood firm for Turkish rule, while all the surrounding country was seething with revolt.
The same thing happened in 1910, when the Imam's men swarmed over the heights of Masar, and even Hajrah village had declared in favour of the rising.
Yet Turkey has always held her own at Menakha since the ill-starred rising of '91, and well it is for her that she has, for, if Menakha fell, her rule in Yamen would be over. Every post and garrison throughout the vilayet would be stormed or compelled to capitulate for lack of support, leaving her the barren occupation of a few littoral towns.
Menakha can well stand a siege, even when the road is closed and the country up in arms, for fat crops and fertile gardens overhang the precipices that guard her, and orchards, in fields of fodder, grow up the slopes of Shibam above the town.