could not stop the War and wait till one
recalcitrant camel was ready to allow six hundred of his fellows to pass
on their lawful occasions.

I speak not without some small personal experience of the vagaries of the
camel, though fortunately I was never driven to the extreme measures
described above, for some time before the operations about Jerusalem began
I retired to "another place" _via_ a cacolet-camel and the hospital train;
and when I again emerged it was in another guise and under the aegis of the
"Camels."

This must also be my excuse for omitting further details of the fall of
Jerusalem; but as this part of the campaign at least attained the fullest
publicity and has already been described by many more capable pens than
mine, the omission need cause the reader no loss of rest. I would say,
however, that the deliverance of the Holy City after four centuries of
Turkish tyranny and oppression was the signal for extraordinary rejoicing
amongst the Jews not only in Jerusalem but all over Egypt. General
Allenby's unassuming entry, on foot, into the Holy City and his assurance
that every man might worship without let or hindrance according to the
tenets of the religion in which he believed, whether Christian or
Mussulman, profoundly impressed the inhabitants and made the whole
proceedings a triumph for British diplomacy and love of freedom. Moreover,
our prestige, which for three years had been at a very low ebb, by the
capture of Jerusalem leapt at one bound to a height never before attained
in Egypt, always a country of sedition and intrigue.

Finally, to the notice of those interested in prophecy, I would commend the
following: "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three
hundred and thirty-five days" (Book of Daniel, chap, xii., verse 12).

Jerusalem fell in the year 1335 of the Hegira, which is 1917 in the
Christian Era.

CHAPTER XVII

OU L'ON S'AMUSE

If I set out to make a categorical list of the things that existed or were
made for our amusement in Palestine, it would, I think, consist of no more
than four items, viz.: sea-bathing, military sports, sight-seeing, and
concert parties; and I am not sure that the last-named ought to be
included, for it was not until the final year of the campaign that they
played any considerable part. Certainly Palestine was a difficult country
in which to set up any of the more usual forms of relaxation. There were no
neat little towns just behin