f them. Then I returned
to my spade and worked till 12.30.

I returned to our new base for lunch and am now sitting on the edge of
a dug-out in the setting sun, which has annoyed us all day. It is a
most glorious evening, not a breath of wind, and deep down below me
the Aegean glistens without a ripple; all is at peace, except the big
guns, and they are very busy, the ships having fired incessantly for
the last two or three hours at the Sari Bair ridge. The Anzac guns are
also very active. But the Turks are at present lying low and not
making a single reply.

I was explaining the position of our collecting station to the
A.D.M.S. to-day, telling him about the proposed battery in front of
us, and the preparations to build a bridge over the gully just beside
us. He had not heard of either of these, and he now thinks our site
will have to be given up for one further back. To-morrow the C.O. and
I go over to inspect the ground on this side and report.

Our magnificent dressing station, over which I have taken no end of
trouble, is to be given over to the 88th F.A. Their Colonel jokingly
thanked me for all we have done preparing for him--we give it up with
regret.

_October 4th._--The day opened with a violent bombardment about Anzac
and the adjoining end of Sari Bair, this spreading gradually along the
ridge to our right centre. The C.O. and I should have started for the
centre of the line after breakfast but this journey had to be
postponed till eleven, when there was again quietness, and before
lunch we surveyed the ground already occupied by our men in digging,
and other probable sites behind that in case we should have to retire
further back. The position we do not consider good, but we can find
nothing more suitable, and we examined the ground all the way back to
Hill 10. The work must therefore go on as arranged. We passed Azmak
Dere, the warm spot we held so long, and Col. Fraser had a look at it
for the first time.

Col. Riley, D.D.M.S., to-day says we are to retain our present
dressing station, and being Divisional and not Brigade troops, it does
not matter which Brigade we serve. Still we hope in our present
position to be able to attend the sick and wounded of our 86th
Brigade, and are willing to take all others who come our way. The 86th
have moved from our extreme left--where we are--to our right centre,
hence the re-arrangement of Ambulances.

_October 8th._--Daily writing of these notes gets monot