, as
they were rather wet." Passenger steamers were allowed to proceed,
because they were "full of people of both sexes," which is an
unkultured way of doing business.

Here is another instance of our insular type of mind. An empty dhow is
passed which E14 was going to leave alone, but it occurs to her that
the boat looks "rather deserted," and she fancies she sees two heads
in the water. So she goes back half a mile, picks up a couple of badly
exhausted men, frightened out of their wits, gives them food and
drink, and puts them aboard their property. Crews that jump overboard
have to be picked up, even if, as happened in one case, there are
twenty of them and one of them is a German bank manager taking a
quantity of money to the Chanak Bank. Hospital ships are carefully
looked over as they come and go, and are left to their own devices;
but they are rather a nuisance because they force E14 and others to
dive for them when engaged in stalking warrantable game. There were a
good many hospital ships, and as far as we can make out they all
played fair. E11 boarded one and "reported everything satisfactory."

STRANGE MESSMATES

A layman cannot tell from the reports which of the duties demanded the
most work--whether the continuous clearing out of transports, dhows,
and sailing ships, generally found close to the well-gunned and
attentive beach, or the equally continuous attacks on armed vessels of
every kind. Whatever else might be going on, there was always the
problem how to arrange for the crews of sunk ships. If a dhow has no
small boats, and you cannot find one handy, you have to take the crew
aboard, where they are horribly in the way, and add to the
oppressiveness of the atmosphere--like "the nine people, including two
very old men," whom E14 made honorary members of her mess for several
hours till she could put them ashore after dark. Oddly enough she
"could not get anything out of them." Imagine nine bewildered Moslems
suddenly decanted into the reeking clamorous bowels of a fabric
obviously built by Shaitan himself, and surrounded by--but our people
are people of the Book and not dog-eating Kaffirs, and I will wager a
great deal that that little company went ashore in better heart and
stomach than when they were passed down the conning-tower hatch.

Then there were queer amphibious battles with troops who had to be
shelled as they marched towards Gallipoli along the coast roads. E14
went out with E11 on thi