ng-school one morning because the instructor considered that he did not
know how to ride! It would be interesting to know what standard of
attainment was required!

Wherever a meeting was held everybody who could beg, borrow, or steal a
horse, a mule, or a camel entered it, entirely indifferent of the feelings
of the animal in the matter or whether its best distance was five furlongs
or five miles.

The camel races, while not exactly regarded as a medium for speculation,
were the most amusing to watch. No course was too large for a camel. He
zig-zagged all over the countryside, and as often as not finished the race
with a fine burst into the midst of the spectators. The mules had their
moments too; and some of them were nearly as fast as a horse. There was a
great deal of speculation, in the literal sense of the word, over the
mules; some of them would start, others "dwelt," and others whipped round
and made for their stables.

One N.C.O. entered a mule whose chance was esteemed so lightly that the
owner-rider was the sole purchaser of a twenty-piastre (4s.) ticket at the
totalisator. In the race, however, the mule was on his best behaviour and
walked away with the prize; his courageous rider received L66 for his faith
and his one ticket! This glorious uncertainty was one of the features of
military racing and added not a little to the excitement. Army horses,
except officers' chargers, are notoriously gregarious by reason of their
training, and you could generally be sure of a close finish in any race
confined to horses belonging to "other ranks" of the cavalry and artillery.

I believe the infantry on the whole were a great deal worse off in the
matter of amusement than were the mounted troops; regimental sports formed
the staple joys of their leisure hours, except for boxing matches when they
could be arranged; and the latter ran racing very close in the matter of
popularity.

When all is said, however, there was singularly little beyond what we made
for ourselves which could legitimately be called amusements. The wonder is
not that there was actually so little but that there was so much. Our
nomadic existence hardly lent itself to the more permanent forms of
relaxation. Men occupying a portion of the Jordan Valley one week and the
next holding the line on the banks of the river Auja, had neither the time
nor the inclination for anything but sleep; we were nearly always on short
rations of both water and sleep.