adly beaten at the landing; he pulled himself
together; he met a thousand and one mishaps and delays, and when, at the
long last, he fell, he had the plum in his pocket.

The Turks lie close within a few yards of the water's edge on the
Peninsula. Matthews smiled sarcastically at the War Office idea that no
Turks can exist South of Achi Baba! At Sedd-el-Bahr, the first houses
are empty, being open to the fire of the Fleet, but the best part of the
other houses are defiladed by the ground and a month ago they were held.
Glad I did not lose a minute after seeing the ground in asking Maxwell
and Methuen to make me some trench mortars. Methuen says he can't help,
but Maxwell's Ordnance people have already fixed up a sample or
two--rough things, but better than nothing. We have too little shrapnel
to be able to spare any for cutting entanglements. Trench mortars may
help where the Fleet can't bring their guns to bear. The thought of all
that barbed wire tucked away into the folds of the ground by the shore
follows me about like my shadow.

Left Port Said for Kantara and got there in half an hour. General Cox,
an old Indian friend of the days when I was A.D.C. to Sir Fred., met me
at the station. He commands the Indian troops in Egypt. We nipped into a
launch on the Canal, and crossed over to inspect the Companies of the
Nelson, Drake, Howe and Anson Battalions in their Fort, whilst Cox
hurried off to fix up a parade of his own.

The Indian Brigade were drawn up under Brigadier-General Mercer. After
inspection, the troops marched past headed by the band of the 14th
Sikhs. No one not a soldier can understand what it means to an old
soldier who began fighting in the Afghan War under Roberts of Kandahar
to be in touch once again with Sikhs and Gurkhas, those splendid
knights-errant of India.

After about eighteen years' silence, I thought my Hindustani would fail
me, but the words seemed to drop down from Heaven on to my tongue. Am
able now to understand the astonishment of St. Paul when he found
himself jabbering nineteen to the dozen in lingo, Greek to him till
then. But he at least was exempt from my worst terror which was that at
any moment I might burst into German!

After our little _durbar_, the men were dismissed to their lines and I
walked back to the Fort. There I suddenly ordered the alarm to be
sounded (I had not told anyone of my intention) so the swift yet smooth
fall-in to danger posts was a feather in Cox's