and was at Leland-Stanford University.

PART IV

THE WESTERN FRONT

CHAPTER XVII

FERRY POST AND THE SUEZ CANAL DEFENSES

The first attack on the Suez Canal caused the authorities to realize
the need of protecting the canal by having a line of defense in Arabia
far enough east to prevent the enemy reaching the waterway itself. For
if the Turks should again appear on the banks of the canal, they might
easily put enough explosives in it to blow it up. So vital is this
artery of the British Empire that a German general stated that if they
struck a blow there they would sever the empire's neck. The Turkish
attempt to cross the canal was easily frustrated, and of the Anzacs
only a few New Zealanders had a part in the scrap; but the iron boats
that they carried across the desert are in the museum in Cairo and will
be for generations "souvenirs" of this enterprise.

After the evacuation of Gallipoli there were constant rumors of another
attack being contemplated, and for several months the Australians and
New Zealanders were kept in Egypt for the defense of the canal. Before
we dug the trenches in Arabia (which were about ten miles east of the
canal) passengers on steamers passing through it had some lively
experiences, as the Bedouins of the desert would sometimes amuse
themselves by sniping at those on board, and the wheel-house and bridge
had to be protected by sand-bags.

We were camped first at Tel-el-Kebir and then at Ferry Post, near
Ismailia (where the canal enters the Bitter Lake). Those who took part
in the march from Tel-el-Kebir will not forget it in a hurry. The
camels bolted with our water and we only had our water-bottles in a
hundred miles across the desert. By the time we reached the Sweet
Water Canal we were panting like dogs, our tongues swollen and hanging
out, our lips cracked and bleeding. There were many poor fellows just
crazed for need of a drink, under that awful sun that was like the open
furnace-door of hell, with the sand filling every orifice in our faces
and parching our throats till they were inflamed. We were warned that
the Sweet (or fresh) Water Canal was full of germs and that to drink it
might possibly mean death, but most of us were too far gone in the
agony of thirst to care whether the drink were our last, and we threw
ourselves down at the water's edge and lapped it up like dogs.
Fortunately, there were few ill effects, and the medical staff was not
overwor