d also some crack shots from the A.B.'s
of the monitor, turned out somewhat noisily, all armed to the teeth with
rifles, shot guns, blue flares, revolvers and clubs and dispersed into
the surrounding gloom. The bund was about four hundred yards long, and
we lay at intervals of five yards or so, leaving a big gap at one end.
But strategy went by the board. The great idea was to strafe Arabs.
There was a murdered officer to avenge and some Tommies. The officer, by
the way, was killed on the other side of the water. To revenge him, his
brother officers turned out next night and lined the periphery of the
camp towards the plain. It is said that Arabs, knowing of this, landed
by boat behind them, crept into their deserted lines, looted everything
and departed. The tale may or may not be true.

That bund was remarkably uncomfortable. One lay against its sloping
side, scrambling to get a foothold and peering over the edge into the
dim regions beyond. It was a moonless night, but clear and brilliant
with stars.

The hours went slowly by. At last the Higher Command became weary and
ordered a flare to be fired, and everyone to shoot at anything he saw on
the plain. The flare was a prearranged signal for the monitor to turn on
the searchlight. The flare went off and burst high above us. In a moment
all was dark again. We waited for the searchlight to shine on the scene
from over the fringe of river-side palms. At last it came, ghostly,
fitful and strange, a sudden radiance in the dark plain, reaching far
out of the shadows on the horizon.

There was a pause. Nothing resembling an Arab was to be seen. Firing
began in a desultory way, as a flat celebration of people determined to
do something. Then everyone went home leaving, no doubt, a dozen Arabs
chuckling in some nullah lower down.

The looting continued. It culminated in our area in some big thefts
from the officers' tents. We had arranged patrols among ourselves. It is
eerie work. In the groves the shadows are thick and black. You crook
your finger round the trigger and wonder.... On the occasion of the Arab
raid on our quarters we had for the moment abandoned the patrols, partly
because it was at a time when, owing to sickness, there were few
officers fit for it, and partly because the moon was bright. One woke up
in the dawn light to find one's tent ransacked, and every bit of
clothing gone. Footprints in the dust at the head of the bed gave an
unpleasant sensation. It w