of his presence in the
bitterness of defeat. _On this same day_, 2082 years before, another race
of conquerors, equally detested, were looking their last on the city which
they could not hold, and, inasmuch as the liberation of Jerusalem in 1917
will probably ameliorate the lot of the Jews more than that of any other
community in Palestine, it was fitting that the flight of the Turks should
have coincided with the national festival of the Hanukah, which
commemorates the re-capture of the Temple from the heathen Seleucids by
Judas Maccabaeus in 165 B.C.

PART III.

AFTER JERUSALEM--A REST!

During the last-mentioned operations, the Squadron had lost three officers
and 67 men (out of the total of seven officers and 182 men, with which it
started from Amr), and had only received one officer and three men as
reinforcements. The losses in animals were: 50 riding horses, 15 draught
and pack animals and one donkey. Of these animals, 25 had been killed at
Tahta alone, and, considering that the Squadron had covered nearly 300
miles in five weeks, the losses due to fatigue, etc., were remarkably
small. It was now necessary that the Squadron be re-equipped and
re-organised, but reinforcements and remounts had first to be obtained,
when training could be re-commenced. At length on December 5th Sergt.
Knowles and Sergt. Lewis, with 10 reinforcements, arrived from the base;
Sergt. Knowles being posted to "D" Sub-section and Sergt. Lewis to "E".
Both these Sergeants did excellent work. Unfortunately, Sergt. Lewis went
to hospital shortly after he arrived, and was not able to return for a long
time; owing to ill-health and bad luck, neither of them was able to go into
action with the sub-sections they did so much towards making efficient. A
fortnight was spent at Akir in complete rest, after which the Brigade
moved, via El Mughar and Beshshit, to the sand hills north-east of Esdud
and about 1-1/2 miles from the coast.

"RE-GROUPING" AT ESDUD.[9]

Conditions were not too pleasant here, but they might, perhaps, have been a
great deal worse! The weather was very wet and cold and the sudden change
from summer to winter was trying, even for the strongest constitutions.
Being upon sand, the camp and district was certainly free from mud, but in
order to water the horses a great sea of mud had to be gone through twice a
day in order to reach the troughs that were erected at the Wadi Sukereir,
two miles away. Warm clothing was i