u found the sappers,
there, too, you would see the khaki galabeahs and hear the eternal chant:
"Kam leila, kam yom?" of the E.L.C. Under their hands Kantara took shape.

Supervised and directed by the Engineers, gangs of them made roads,
workmanlike affairs calculated to stand the strain shortly to be imposed on
them by the daily passage of thousands of lorries and waggons. Eastward
from the Canal what had been a mere track, fetlock deep in sand, became a
broad road macadamised for ten kilos, from which radiated similar roads in
all directions, and on which abutted presently the great camps that seemed
to spring up like mushrooms in a night.

Alongside the roads other gangs laid watermains connected directly with
Port Said, for it soon became utterly impossible to bring an adequate daily
supply of water by boat. At certain points stand-pipes were erected so that
working-parties and other troops could fill their water-bottles without
having to go far to do so; in the hot weather every extra yard tells.

This was the beginning of the pipe-line laid stage by stage as the army
advanced, across the desert and far into Palestine. We shall see more of it
later.

Then the A.D.W. collected his carpenters and bricklayers and bade them
instruct their dusky labourers in the building of gigantic mess-huts, in
size and shape not unlike a hangar, capable of providing meal accommodation
for hundreds of men at a time; ration and store-huts for the numerous
camps; brick enclosures for the kitchens; incinerators, and a thousand and
one things necessary for the troops.

It was a liberal education to watch a British N.C.O. working with the gang
of natives under his command. Usually his entire vocabulary of Arabic
consisted of about ten words, of which the following are a fair sample:--

Aiwa--Yes.
La--No.
Quais--Good.
Mush quais--No good.
Igri!--Quickly!
Imshi!--Clear out!
Ta-ala henna--Come here.

With these, comically interpolated with English expletives, he performed
marvels, from stone-breaking to bridge-building.

Presumably he gave his instruction by some process of thought-transmission,
an art that seems peculiarly suited to the genius of the British soldier.
"Quais!" he would say, when a man had done a job to his liking, and the
man's comrades crowded round carefully to examine the work, after which
they went away and copied it faithfully. If on the other hand, the man
failed to do what was required of him, there would b