y
cavalry, which would probably fall back without contesting our advance.
The cars had been out on reconnaissance near the town for the last two
days, and had come in for artillery and machine-gun fire; but it was
believed that the Turks had everything ready to withdraw their guns on our
approach.

In the gray light that preceded dawn we saw shadowy columns of infantry
and artillery and cavalry passing by our camp. The costumes of the
different regiments made a break in the drab monotony. The Mesopotamian
Expeditionary Force was composed of varied components. Steel helmets could
be worn only in winter. In many of the native regiments the British
officers wore tasselled pugrees, and long tunics that were really shirts,
and an adaption of the native custom of wearing the shirt-tails outside
the trousers. The Gurkhas were supplied with pith helmets. It was
generally claimed that this was unnecessary, but the authorities felt that
coming from a cold, high climate they would be as much affected by the
Mesopotamian sun as were Europeans. The presence of the Indian troops
brought about unusual additions to the dry "General Routine Orders" issued
by general headquarters. One of them, referring to a religious festival of
the Sikhs, ran:

"The following cable message received from Sunder Signh Hagetha,
Amritsar, addressed to Sikhs in Mesopotamian force:

"To our most Dear Brothers now serving the Benign King-Emperor oversea,
the chief Khalsa Dewan tenders hearty and sincere greetings on the
auspicious Gurpurb of First Guru. You are upholding the name and fame of
Gurupurb. Our hearts are with you and our prayers are that Satguru and
Akalpurkh may ever be with you and lead you to victory and return home
safe, after vanquishing the King-Emperor's foes, with honor and flying
colors."

The British Empire was well and loyally served by her Indian subjects, and
by none more faithfully than the Sikhs.

We let the column get well started before we shoved off in our cars. The
trail was wide enough to pass without interfering; and long before we were
in sight of Taza we had taken our place ahead. As was foreseen, the enemy
evacuated the town with scarce a show of resistance. I set off to
interview the local head man. In the spring all the upper Mesopotamian
towns are inundated by flocks of storks, but I have never seen them in
greater force than in Taza. On almost every housetop were a couple,
throwing their heads back and clattering