y Station in Cairo.
Nine-thirty was the time fixed for our entraining, and we were there
on the minute--and it was as well that such was the case, for General
Williams stood at the gate to watch proceedings.

The waggons with four horses (drivers mounted, of course) were taken
at a trot up an incline, through a narrow gateway on to the platform.
The horses were then taken out and to the rear, and the waggons placed
on the trucks by Egyptian porters.

We had 16 vehicles, 69 horses, 10 officers and 245 men. The whole were
entrained in 35 minutes. The General was very pleased with the
performance, and asked me to convey his approbation to the men.
Certainly they did well.

TO GALLIPOLI

At midnight we left Cairo and arrived at daybreak at Alexandria, the
train running right on to the wharf, alongside which was the transport
to convey us to Gallipoli--the Dardanelles we called it then. Loading
started almost immediately, and I found that I--who in ordinary life
am a peaceful citizen and a surgeon by profession--had to direct
operations by which our waggons were to be removed from the railway
trucks on to the wharf and thence to the ship's hold. Men with some
knowledge of the mysteries of steam winches had to be specially
selected and instructed in these duties, and I--well, beyond at times
watching a ship being loaded at Newcastle, I was as innocent of their
details as the unborn babe. However, everyone went at it, and the
transport was loaded soon after dinner. We had the New Zealand Battery
of Artillery, Battery Ammunition Column, 14th Battalion Transport and
Army Service Corps with us, the whole numbering 560 men and 480
horses. At 4 p.m. the ship cast off, and we went to the outer harbour
and began to shake down. The same hour the next day saw us under weigh
for the front. The voyage was quite uneventful, the sea beautifully
calm, and the various islands in the Egean Sea most picturesque. Three
days later we arrived at Lemnos, and found the harbour (which is of
considerable size) packed with warships and transports. I counted 20
warships of various sizes and nationalities. The _Agamemnon_ was just
opposite us, showing signs of the damage she had received in the
bombardment of the Turkish forts a couple of months before. We stayed
here a week, and every day practised going ashore in boats, each man
in full marching order leaving the ship by the pilot ladder.

It is extraordinary how one adapts oneself to ci