terribly anxious. Disappointed not to see Stopford
nor Reed. They were to have been there. Besides the men on the beetles
there are men packed like herrings upon the decks of the destroyers. I
had half a mind to cruise round in the motor launch and say a few words
to them Elandslaagte fashion, but was held back by feeling that the rank
and file don't know me and that there was too long an interval before
the entry into the danger zone.

The sea was like glass--melted; blue green with a dull red glow in it:
the air seemed to have been boiled. Officers and men gave me the "feel"
of being "for it" though over serious for British soldiers who always,
in my previous experience, have been extraordinarily animated and gay
when they are advancing "on a Koppje day." These new men seem subdued
when I recall the blaze of enthusiasm in which the old lot started out
of Mudros harbour on that April afternoon.

The _moral_ of troops about to enter into battle supplies a splendid
field of research for students of the human soul, for then the blind
wall set in everyday intercourse between Commander and commanded seems
to become brittle as crystal and as transparent. Only for a few
moments--last moments for so many? But, during those moments, the
gesture of the General means so much--it strikes the attitude of his
troops. It is up to Stopford and Hammersley to make those gestures.
Stopford was not there, and is not the type; Hammersley is not that type
either. How true it is that age, experience, wisdom count for less than
youth, magnetism and love of danger when inexperience has to be
heartened for the struggle.

Strolled back slowly along the beach, and, at 8.30, in the gathering
dusk, saw the whole flotilla glide away and disappear ghostlike to the
Northwards. The empty harbour frightens me. Nothing in legend stranger
or more terrible than the silent departure of this silent Army, K.'s new
Corps, every mother's son of them, face to face with their fate.

But it will never do to begin the night's vigil in this low key. Capital
news from the aeroplanes. Samson has sent in photographs taken
yesterday, showing the Suvla Bay area. Not more than 100 to 150 yards
of trenches in all; half a dozen gun emplacements and, the attached
report adds, no Turks anywhere on the move.

[Illustration: SUVLA FROM CHUNUK BAIR]

_7th August, 1915. Imbros._ Sitting in my hut after a night in the G.S.
tent. One A.D.C. remains over there. As the cables