ength found, although there
were some readjustments to be made the next day.

That night we learned that our commanding officer, Colonel Morrison, had
died in hospital at Alexandria. He had not been feeling very well after
our sojourn in the hills, and while we were at Selmeh had taken a chill,
and the medical officer had persuaded him on 12th December to go to the
Field Ambulance at Jaffa for a short rest. All who knew him know how
unwillingly he would go, and it was only after innumerable promises that
he would not be sent farther than Jaffa that he consented. He got no
better, however, at Jaffa, and was finally persuaded to go to
Alexandria, where he died on the night of 22nd December of a slight
attack of dysentery accompanied by pneumonia. It was hard to believe the
Colonel had died: he was the outstanding figure in our Division, a
Colonel under whom it was an honour to serve. He had trained us in
Scotland before and after the outbreak of war; he had commanded us in
Gallipoli and in the desert. His love of his Battalion had kept him from
going on home leave, and now, after having brought us through the never
to be forgotten advance from Gaza to the Auja, and having been in the
last engagement of any consequence we had in Palestine, the rigours of
the campaign had killed him. One lost many friends and gallant soldiers
in the course of the campaign, but the blank left by the death of our
honoured Colonel seemed different to all others.

CHAPTER XIV

LAST DAYS IN PALESTINE. NORTH OF JAFFA.

The operations of 22nd December brought to an end our fighting in
Palestine. Jaffa was now well protected from everything, except perhaps
aeroplanes, and we now settled down to enjoy a rest after our labours.
In any case the force of our blow was spent. In little over a month the
entire army had moved forward nearly 100 miles. Beersheba, Jaffa, and
above all Jerusalem, were in our hands.

The cost had been heavy to us, but considerably heavier to the enemy. We
were still full of fight, technically known as the "offensive spirit,"
and could have gone on considerably farther, but our communications were
becoming precarious. The railway was being pushed on as fast as
possible, and by this time was near Mejdel, though Deir Sineid was still
railhead. A narrow gauge railway ran from Deir Sineid to Ludd, and this
we had put in order and were working with captured engines and rolling
stock. Neither line, however, was entirely