ches with the bayonet, and then sat down in
them. At dawn to-day the enemy counter-attacked in overwhelming
strength. The healthy part of the story lies herein, that our field guns
were standing by in action, and as the enemy came on they let them have
it hot with shrapnel over a space of 300 yards. Terrible as this fire
was, it failed to beat off the Turks. They retook the trenches, but they
have paid far more than their price, for Birdwood assures me that their
corpses lie piled up so thick one on top of the other that our snipers
can take cover behind them.

A curious incident: during the night a Fleet-sweeper tied up alongside,
full of wounded, chiefly Australians. They had been sent off from the
beach; had been hawked about from ship to ship and every ship they
hailed had the same reply--"full up"--until, in the end, they received
orders to return to the shore and disembark their wounded to wait there
until next day. The Officers, amongst them an Australian Brigadier of my
acquaintance, protested; and so, the Fleet-sweeper crew, not knowing
what to do, came and lashed on to us.[17] No one told me anything of
this last night, but the ship's Captain and his Officers and my own
Staff Officers have been up on watches serving out soup, etc., and
tending these wounded to the best of their power. As soon as I heard
what had happened I first signalled the hospital ship _Guildford Castle_
to prepare to take the men in (she had just cast anchor); then I went on
board the Fleet-sweeper myself and told the wounded how sorry I was for
the delay in getting them to bed. They declared one and all they had
been very well done but "the boys" never complain; my A.G. is the
responsible official; I have told him the _band-o-bast_ has been bad;
also that a Court of Enquiry must be called to adjudicate on the whole
matter.

Were an example to be sought of the almighty influence of "Time" none
better could be found than in the fact that, to-day, I have almost
forgotten to chronicle a passage in K.'s cable aforesaid that might well
have been worth the world and the glories thereof only forty-eight short
hours ago. K. says, "More ammunition is being pushed out to you _via_
Marseilles." I am glad. I am deeply grateful. Our anxieties will be
lessened, but _that same message, had it only reached us on Saturday
morning, would have enabled us to fire 5,000 more shrapnel and 500 more
4.5 howitzer H.E. to cover our last assault!_

CHAPTER