a lovely little spinney of fig-trees and
almond-trees in full bloom, under which we concealed the guns and beneath
whose sheltering branches we slept. Preparations for sleeping in those days
were very simple: you dug a hole for the hip-bone with a jack-knife and you
were ready. The army authorities had not yet adopted the Turkish idea of
bivouac-sheets, two of which, buttoned together and propped up with a
couple of poles, made an admirable shelter accommodating two persons. There
are many worse things, however, than dropping gently to sleep in the open
air with the faint scent from the almond-blossom titillating the nostrils.

El Chauth at first sight appeared to be the kind of spot where every
prospect pleases and only man is vile; and as we had not had a really
comprehensive wash for some considerable time and were very hairy withal,
the adjective was aptly descriptive. Apart from this trifling handicap and
the fact that we should have to travel fourteen miles a day for water, the
place seemed an ideal one for a rest-cure. Considering that we had been
incessantly on the move for the past five months the time for a
"stand-easy" was about due.

We prepared everything to that desirable end. The cooks built a
cunningly-contrived kitchen in a section of one of the old Turkish trenches
and firmly announced their intention of cooking for us every kind of
delicacy that could be made--out of army beef, onions, and potatoes!--for
which pleasant piece of optimism we were duly grateful. Then we heard that
an E.F. canteen had set up house about a day's trek to the south-west,
whereupon a limber went forth and returned on the third day heavily laden
with tins of fruit, biscuits, various meats, and something in bottles that
maketh glad the heart of man, especially if he has a Palestine thirst. Most
of us had one from Egypt in addition.

After about four days of comparative peace and quietness the blow fell--in
fact, two blows. As a trooper in the Yeomanry said, when he found a frog in
his boot: "There's allus summat in this dam country." He spoke a great
truth. It is unsafe to trust Palestine very far, fair of aspect though she
be. The first blow fell, literally, while we were having dinner one
evening, when a Turkish aeroplane arrived and dropped bombs first on the
horse-lines and then on us. Fortunately his aim was as bad as his taste was
deplorable in coming at a time when decent folk were having a meal. Neither
men nor horses