He had not time to tell
me he says. The General Staff thought we ought certainly to have these
and he and Wolfe Murray went in and made a personal appeal to the A.G.
But he was obdurate. This seems hard luck. Why should we not have our
losses quickly replaced--supposing we do lose men? I doubt though, if I
should have been able to do very much even if I had known. To press K.
would have been difficult. Like insisting on an extra half-crown when
you've just been given Fortunatus' purse. Still, fair play's a jewel,
and surely if formations destined for the French front cross the Channel
with 10 per cent. extra, over and above their establishment, troops
bound for Constantinople ought to have a 25 per cent. margin over
establishment?

_17th March, 1915. H.M.S. "Phaeton." At sea._ Last night we raced past
Corfu--my birthplace--at thirty knots an hour. My first baby breath was
drawn from these thyme scented breezes. This crimson in the Eastern sky,
these waves of liquid opal are natal, vital.

Thirty miles an hour through Paradise! Since the 16th January, 1853, we
have learnt to go the pace and as a result the world shrinks; the
horizons close in upon us; the spacious days are gone!

Thoughts of my Mother, who died when I was but three. Thoughts of her
refusal as she lay dying--gasping in mortal pain--her refusal to touch
an opiate, because the Minister, Norman Macleod, had told her she so
might dim the clearness of her spiritual insight--of her thoughts
ascending heavenwards. What pluck--what grit--what faith--what an
example to a soldier.

Exquisite, exquisite air; sea like an undulating carpet of blue velvet
outspread for Aphrodite. Have been in the Aegean since dawn. At noon
passed a cruiser taking back Admiral Carden invalided to Malta. One week
ago the thunder of his guns shook the firm foundations of the world. Now
a sheer hulk lies poor old Carden. _Vanitas vanitatum_.

Have got into touch with my staff. They are all General Staff: no
Administrative Staff. The Adjutant-General-to-be (I don't know him) and
the Chief Medico (I don't know who he is to be) could not get ready in
time to come off with us, and the Q.M.G., too, was undecided when I
left. There are nine of the General Staff. I like the looks of them.
Quite characteristic of K., though, that barring Braithwaite, not one of
the associates he has told off to work hand in glove with me in this
enterprise should ever have served with me before.

Only two s