or Allah and Mohammed, and standing high in their
stirrups they wave their sticks madly in the air, yelling at each
other with all the frenzy of the faithful followers of El Islam! A
dead heat they reach the post and gallop wildly on, to end up
somewhere on the banks of the Kuwaik Su!

"Now, the bugle goes again, and the start has really begun this
time, the field getting away something like a compact lump. But
soon they string out, and we notice our two orthodox men well in
rear. This time the race is even more exciting, and as the post is
neared the yells of defiance, the flowing robes, the waving arms
and the bump, bump, bump of the riders brings pictures to the mind
of the fiery followers of Saladin, or an attack by the Arabs in the
'Tragedy of the Korosko'.

"HOME AGAIN!

"Well, it's over at last, and our 'choice' and the other smartly
dressed jockey are miles behind. But that doesn't matter as I hear
the winner is only paying out 5 pt. Oh! that 'Tote'! Six races are
the usual number run; and then the sun sinks behind the Taurus
Mountains, the shadows fall long and blue, and the high-up Citadel,
flanked by mosques and minarets, becomes bathed in the orange light
of the setting rays. As the last horse is led in, the crowd flows
back towards the town, and then the arabiyehs crack their whips,
the camels grunt, the staff start up their motor cars, and the
combatant officers with light hearts and lighter pockets mount
their chargers, and wend their way back to camp.

"Such is an Aleppo Race Meeting, and so do we attempt to pass the
monotony of an enforced exile in a barren and a dreamy land.

"Very soon the rain will come, and then the mud, and then we shall
look for the Christmas parcels, British books, local papers, and
more than all--that long-promised holiday for the
Army-of-Occupation-Volunteer!!".

[Illustration]

PART VII.

Epilogue.

The following extract from a letter from an officer at Aleppo to a former
"O.C." of the Squadron (now demobilized) will perhaps serve as a fitting
close to the record of the service of the 20TH MACHINE-GUN SQUADRON.

"Aleppo.
"4-10-19.

"Dear.....

"Just a line to let you know how we are getting on. The 14th B'de
has been abolished and several Units disbanded. The Cadre of the
Sherwoods a