r of dust!

High, high soared our hopes. Jerusalem--Constantinople? No limit to what
these soldiers may achieve. The thought passed through the massed
spectators and set enthusiasm coursing through their veins. Loudly they
cheered; hats off; and hurrah for the Infantry! Hurrah, hurrah for the
Cavalry!! Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for the 75s!!!

At the end I said a few farewell words to the French Minister and then
galloped off with d'Amade. The bystanders gave us, too, the warmest
greetings, the bulk of them (French and Greek) calling out "d'Amade!"
and the Britishers also shouting all sorts of things at the pitch of
their voices.

Almost lost my temper with Woodward, my new A.G., and this was the
thusness thereof:--

Time presses: K. prods us from the rear: the Admiral from the front. To
their eyes we seem to be dallying amidst the fleshpots of Egypt whereas,
really, we are struggling like drowning mariners in a sea of chaos;
chaos in the offices; chaos on the ships; chaos in the camps; chaos
along the wharves; chaos half seas over rolling down the Seven Sisters
Road. The powers of Maxwell as C.-in-C., Egypt; of the Sultan and
McMahon, High Commissioner of Egypt, and of myself, C.-in-C., M.E.F.,
not to speak of the powers of our police civil and military, have all to
be defined and wheeled into line. We cannot go rushing off into space
leaving Pandemonium behind us as our Base! I know these things from a
very long experience. Braithwaite believes in the principle as a student
and ex-teacher of students. And yet that call to the front!

We've _got_ to tackle the landing scheme on the spot and quick. Luckily
the problems at Alexandria are _all_ non-tactical; pure A.G. and Q.M.G.
Staff questions; whereas, at present, the problems awaiting me at the
Dardanelles are mainly tactical; G.S. questions. So I am going to treat
G.H.Q. as Solomon threatened to treat the baby; i.e., leave the
Administrative Staff here until they knock their pidgin more or less
into shape and send off the G.S. to pluck _their_ pidgin at the Straits.
The Q. people have still to commandeer offices for Woodward's men, three
quarters of whom stay here permanently to do the casualty work; they
have to formulate a local code of discipline; take up buildings for base
hospitals and arrange for their personnel and equipment; outline their
schemes for getting sick and wounded back from the front; finish up the
loading of the ships, etc., etc., etc., _ad infin