burial. This reminds me of a
Turk on the top of whose grave I lunched with Pirie up in the firing
line last Sunday. A man the day before was digging a funk hole, and
coming on something soft he plunged his spade into it. The smell was
so terrific that he threw his spade and bolted, and the Turk had to be
covered up by sand thrown from a distance of several yards. Then the
night before one of our men, when it was getting dark, saw a
suspicious object slipping down the side of The Gully, as he thought,
so he proceeded to stalk it through the dense shrubs that clothe all
the slopes of The Gully, and, on getting close enough to get a view of
it through the bushes he recognised the Turkish uniform and sprang on
the man like a tiger driving his bayonet clean through him. The Turk
had been dead for nearly a month, and his assailant, like the other
man, had to make a hasty retreat.

We are to have a very lively night, that is evident. The Turks usually
cease firing their big guns by this time of night, but their shells
are still flying thick. The British guns are at present quiet, but the
French 75's are barking furiously. It is a delight to hear their
sharp, clean bark. The enemy's machine-guns have also been very active
this afternoon, the crack, crack, crack, of the Turkish one being
easily distinguishable from the noise made by ours. The day of our
landing taught me this.

_May 27th._--I must have slept three or four hours last night, but not
soundly. There was constant rifle fire beside us with one big
fusillade before midnight. But what annoyed me was the smell of the
thyme and other sweet-smelling herbs I had made a bed of, covering all
over with a new rubber ground sheet which was very odoriferous. The
mixture of odours was not pleasant. I had trampled the plants with my
boots to produce as strong a smell as possible, and succeeded so well
that it actually made my eyes smart all night. I rose early and was
over near Gully Beach about 6 o'clock. Since then shells have been
flying on our four sides and high in the air, and I hear of
considerable damage.

We are much upset by the news which reached us at 7.45 that at 7
another of our ships had been torpedoed, lying just off our Beach in
full view of all there. It is rumoured that it is the "Majestic," but
her name we are not yet sure of. The men who brought this news out to
us say they saw the men on board line up before she went down, and
dive into the sea. Terrible