ty thousand
pounds if alive. His added value in the latter condition was due to the
benefit that the enemy expected to derive from his public execution. No
one who has not tried it can realize what a long ride on a camel means,
and although Lawrence was eager to take with him an Englishman who would
know the best methods of blowing up bridges and buildings, he could never
find any one who was able to stand the strain of a long journey on camel
back.

Lawrence told me that he couldn't last much longer, things had broken
altogether too well for him, and they could not continue to do so.
Scarcely more than thirty years of age, with a clean-shaven, boyish face,
short and slender in build, if one met him casually among a lot of other
officers it would not have been easy to single him out as the great power
among the Arabs that he on every occasion proved himself to be. Lawrence
always greatly admired the Arabs--appreciating their many-sidedness--their
virility--their ferocity--their intellect and their sensitiveness. I
remember well one of the stories which he told me. It was, I believe, when
he was on a long raid in the course of which he went right into the
outskirts of Damascus--then miles behind the Turkish lines. They halted at
a ruined palace in the desert. The Arabs led him through the various
rooms, explaining that each was scented with a different perfume. Although
Lawrence could smell nothing, they claimed that one room had the odor of
ambergris--another of roses--and a third of jasmine;--at length they came
to a large and particularly ruinous room. "This," they said, "has the
finest scent of all--the smell of the wind and the sun." I last saw
Colonel Lawrence in Paris, whither he had brought the son of the King of
the Hedjaz to attend the Peace Conference.

When I got back to Alexandria I found that the sailing of the convoy had
been still further delayed. Three vessels out of the last one to leave had
been sunk, involving a considerable loss of life. The channel leading from
the harbor out to sea is narrow and must be followed well beyond the
entrance, so that the submarines had an excellent chance to lay in wait
for outgoing boats. The greatest secrecy was observed with regard to the
date of leaving and destination--and of course troops were embarked and
held in the harbor for several days so as to avoid as far as possible any
notice being given to the lurking enemy by spies on shore.

The transports were fill