content with one dose, the silly blanks came on
again, and we had a bloomin' encore. Well, old man, I suppose the poor
devils 'll have sorrowing harems. 'Spose my poor old mater'd drop on
me if she knew I was rejoicin' over the fallen. Anyhow it's what we're
here for, and they oughter keep out of our way if they don't want to
get dinged, eh, cobber?"

"Anyhow, good luck to the blighters when they reach their bloomin'
heaven," answered Mac. "It's about kai-time. I'm off for some
brekker. Kia Ora, old man."

And, so saying, he awakened his sleeping cobbers, left them admiring
the night's catch, and trundled off homewards. Passing down the track
he stopped for a moment by a ledge, and gazed with respect and sadness
at half a dozen fine stalwart forms of Light Horsemen, wrapped each in
his grey blanket, who had taken the long trail in the night's encounter.

The Regiment was getting tired of continually sapping without any
excitement to break the monotony, other than the more or less frequent
arrival of shells in their vicinity, and the attentions of snipers on
the beach. Moreover, the flies increased in their countless millions,
the ground was getting very dirty, the stench in parts was almost
unendurable, and practically every one was more or less affected by
stomach trouble. The troops grew daily thinner, until, had he not
followed their increasing slimness, Mac could hardly have recognized
some of his old friends. With dark olive skins, cadaverous faces and
often a good growth of beard, they were a hard-looking lot.

CHAPTER XIX

MAC TAKES A CHANGE

The behaviour of Mac's stomach was not all that it might have been,
besides which rheumatism began to develop, so he contemplated a short
spell on the Island of Lemnos. It was a place truly to be desired.
There the distant reverberation of the Cape Helles artillery could only
just be heard, one might walk in the open and bathe without having to
worry about snipers or shrapnel, and, moreover, there were ships with
canteens and, perhaps, a good meal. So, one evening, ticketed and
labelled, and with the combined financial assets of his section in his
pocket, he waited for embarkation at the Cove. Many others were there,
about half wounded and the rest medical.

Night-time at the Cove was always beautiful. The starry brightness
above the blackness of the sea, the steep rising face of the hill, with
the twinkling lights and flickering fires of the biv