e the horses in deep
content poked their muzzles down into the feed and blew showers of
chaff into the air. For a time the satisfied munching went on quietly;
but at length the horses which had finished first stamped their feet,
and tugged at their halter chains, in attempts to get at their
neighbours' feeds.

Mac finished his watch, and went below for a salt shower, and after
that the evening meal, which was never much to boast about. He went up
to the bridge again to investigate Aden from the best standpoint. The
evening lights were colouring splendidly the rocky heights of the range
above the port. The anchored fleet spread far across the bay, the
_Tahiti_ being close to the desert shore several miles from the port.
It was an evening of perfect calm. The last glow faded from the
topmost pinnacles, the stars came out with the brightness of the
desert, Morse signals winked from the mastheads, and the mooring lights
cast reflections on the calm water. For a time Mac joined a four for a
rubber or so in the cool night air, and then, collecting his blankets
from below, went away forward to sleep on top of the horse-boxes with
nothing but stars overhead.

In the early morning, before the fresh charm of the desert dawn had
fled before the tropic day, the fleet weighed anchor, and, with a great
deal of signalling and manoeuvring, took steaming station again. Soon
after midday Perim lay on the starboard, its desolate sands shimmering
in the noon sun, shortly to disappear astern, veiled by the trailing
smoke. It took the fleet five days to steam the length of the Red Sea;
good days too, with cooling northerly breezes to air the stuffy horse
decks, though the chill nights made the signallers shiver on watch.
But, the day before they were due at Suez, the whole peaceful running
of things was upset by wild rumours, and then by definite fact.

In late weeks it had been generally accepted by every one that England
would be the destination of the Expeditionary Force, and they had
settled comfortably to that point of view, and to the prospect of
having nothing to worry them for three or four more weeks. Turkey,
however, had declared war; and now, they heard, they were disembarking
immediately in Egypt. The troops were undecided whether or not to be
pleased. Most of them had hoped to see the Old Country and their
relatives there. Mac did not care a straw, for he saw no delights in
an English winter camp, and Egypt was sa