le and unsubstantial, was outlined fitfully
in the hurrying gloom. A kind of lividity spread over the picture,
bleaching it of all colour. Everything in the wards became silted over
with fine powder, and the big yellow and black hornets and the
long-legged wasps that seem to have two or three pendant abdomens and
are the hue of Burgundy marigolds, came hurtling through the unglazed
windows to crawl, half-stunned, about the mud floors. How the ward
Sisters anathematised these days! The storms provoked a feeling not
unlike east winds at home. They brought out small aches and pains and
one got irritable. A thunderstorm would have cleared away the effect,
but the sky remained cloudless and brazen.

IX

ARABIAN COMEDY

Nothing was happening at the front. Occasionally there was spasmodic
shelling and bomb dropping, but the heat prevented any general activity.
Headquarters was under howitzer fire at times. One shell landed in the
mess waiter's tent and damaged nine men.

There was a tale told at the time concerning a powerful Sheik near the
front who was neutral. His son becoming ill, he sent to the Turks, and
also to us, for a doctor. The Turks, or rather the Germans, sent a
German doctor, and a German lady as well, the latter as a bribe. We sent
a medical officer, unattended. The Sheik kept them all. So far as I
know he may still be keeping them, and remaining strictly neutral. It
must be remembered that the Arabs--as well as many Indians--have been
led to believe that not only the Kaiser is a Mohammedan, but the German
people in general.

Towards the end of July there were day temperatures of 124 degrees in
the shade, and the wind, when it blew, seemed as if it had passed over a
burning city. It was impossible to do anything save what was absolutely
necessary. The sickness amongst the medical staff became rather serious,
and at times we had to look after far more cases than we could treat
adequately. But in these moments of temporary dislocation, the presence
of nurses made all the difference and that state of confusion that had
existed in Basra never occurred.

The day's programme was unvarying. After a somewhat exhausting night we
rose at seven. The best hours of sleep were usually after sunrise, for
then the sand-flies vanished. After breakfast of tea, eggs and bread,
the ward work started. This lasted until about midday. Then came lunch,
accompanied by many flies, and afterwards a long siesta, during whic