to gain
entrance to the camp. Some townsboys could get passes till midnight
about once a week, and instead of handing these to the guard, as they
hurried past, they would substitute a piece of blank paper. If they
got past it was good for another occasion, as the date was easily
altered. If they were pulled up they would apologize profusely and
hand up the right pass. Sometimes we would wait until there were a
score of us, and while the sentry was examining the first pass the
others would rush the gate. Rarely could more than one or two be
identified, and the odds were in our favor.

Soon the guard was doubled, and only a small wicket was opened, where
but one man could pass through at a time. Then we scraped holes under
the galvanized-iron fence that surrounded the show-ground, concealing
them carefully with bushes and watching out for the pickets who
patrolled the outside of the camp.

I think I got my best training in scouting dodging these pickets. I
have climbed trees, crawled into hollow logs, and played 'possum in
gullies to escape them. Being caught meant not only several days in
the guard-tent, but the loss of the chance of "stripes."

There was really not much excitement in the town and many of us just
stayed late for the excitement of breaking the law without being
caught. It was the outbreak of our personality after being mere cogs
in a drill-machine all day. I never was guilty of returning except
after hours, and I never was caught, even when extraordinary
precautions were taken to get the delinquents. Sometimes a check-roll
would be called, at some uncertain hour, but it was always a point of
honor for the boys in camp to answer "present" for any absent mates.

Evidently I was destined to be a scout. From this camp I was drafted
into the intelligence section for specialized training. That has been
my work all the time overseas, and I never had harder work dodging
Fritz's sentries than those pickets round Bendigo show-ground.

CHAPTER V

CONCENTRATED FOR EMBARKATION

One morning there was great excitement in the Bendigo camp. An
announcement was made that members of rifle-clubs would be tried out on
the range and all qualifying with ninety per cent of marks would be
sent overseas in the earliest draft. All who had ever fired a gun, and
some who hadn't, stepped forward for trial, but on the range the
eligibles were found to be only fifty, of whom I was lucky enough to be
one.