ittle chance
of retaliation, one of the men shook his fist at Ali Muntar and, almost
choking with rage, cried out: "Damn ye! We'll hae ye yet!"

In the late afternoon the order to withdraw came to the mounted divisions
and, pivoting on the centre, we swung back some five miles in order to come
into line with the infantry, who themselves retired a very short distance.
It was no question of a sudden, urgent retreat to avoid capture, for the
Turks had had far too severe a gruelling to attempt pursuit. It was the
reluctant withdrawal of stubborn, angry, and above all, superlatively brave
men from positions too strong and well-organised to be taken by the means
that had been adopted.

As it afterwards transpired, we had the meagre consolation of knowing that,
though Gaza was still intact, we had achieved some small measure of success
east and west of the town. The gains on the east were unfortunately
neutralised by the deadlock in the centre; those on the west were
consolidated and held.

CHAPTER XI

TEL EL JEMMI AND THE CAMELS

In reporting our second attempt on Gaza the newspapers, no doubt officially
inspired, gave us half a dozen lines all to ourselves. One of them
described it, I think, as a "minor engagement"; from another we learnt to
our surprise that we had been "in touch" with the Turks. As our casualties
for the day were officially estimated to be between seven thousand and
eight thousand, by far the bulk of which were from the Lowland and Welsh
Divisions--who went into action possibly twenty thousand bayonets
strong--one may perhaps be excused for thinking that the above descriptions
err on the modest side. Secrecy is a very necessary thing in war--we learnt
the bitter lesson in South Africa--but it ought not to drive bereaved
mothers and sisters and sweethearts to riot and to demand the truth, as
they did in Glasgow when, months later, the fateful telegrams announcing
that their men had been killed or wounded in this "minor engagement" began
to arrive in hundreds.

[Illustration: CAMOUFLAGING A TENT WITH DESERT SCRUB (see p. 29).]

[Illustration: A CAMEL CONVOY. [_To face p. 144._]

We used to wonder sometimes whether the people at home knew there was an
army at all in Egypt and Palestine; an army, moreover, longing wistfully
for the merest crumb from the table of appreciation, just to show that our
"bit" was known and recognised. Even the rugged Scotsmen and the
independent men from Australia a