outing 'Allah!' they would
gain much _izzat_.[10] _Now mind_, if you see any chance of an Indian
contingent for Constantinople, do everyone a good turn by rubbing these
ideas into K."

Braithwaite has already picked up a number of useful hints from Roger
Keyes. His old friendship with the Commodore should be a help. Keyes is
a fine fellow; radiating resolve to do and vigour to carry
through--hereditary qualities. His Mother, of whom he is an ugly
likeness, was as high-spirited, fascinating, clever a creature as ever I
saw. Camel riding, hawking, dancing, making good _band-o-bast_ for a
picnic, she was always at the top of the hunt; the idol of the Punjab
Frontier Force. His Father, Sir Charles, grim old Paladin of the
Marshes, whose loss of several fingers from a sword cut earned him my
special boyish veneration, was really the devil of a fellow. My first
flutter out of the sheltered nest of safe England into the outer sphere
of battle, murder and sudden death, took place under the auspices of
that warrior so famoused in fight when I was aged twenty. Riding
together in the early morning from the mud fort of Dera Ismail Khan
towards the Mountain of Sheikh Budin, we suddenly barged into a mob of
wild Waziri tribesmen who jumped out of the ditch and held us up--hand
on bridle. The old General spoke Pushtu fluently, and there was a
parley, begun by him, ordinarily the most silent of mankind. Where were
they going to? To buy camels at Dera Ghazi Khan. How far had they come?
Three days' march; but they had no money. The General simulated
amazement--"You have come all that distance to buy camels without money?
Those are strange tales you tell me. I fear when you pass through Dera
Ismail you will have to raise the wind by selling your nice pistols and
knives: oh yes, I see them quite well; they are peeping at me from under
your poshteens." The Waziris laughed and took their hands off our reins.
Instantly, the General shouted to me, "Come on--gallop!" And in less
than no time we were going hell for leather along the lonely frontier
road towards our next relay of horses. "That was a narrow squeak," said
the General, "but _you may take liberties with a Waziri if only you can
make him laugh_."

_26th March, 1915. H.M.8. "Franconia." At Sea._ Inspected troops on
board. A keen, likely looking lot. All Naval Division; living monuments,
these fellows, to Winston Churchill's contempt for convention.

Reached Port Said about 3.30 p.m.