he General's car and put into ours, and with
the heavier load we started off again for Junction Station. This was
not difficult to pick up, for there were many flares burning to enable
working parties to repair engines, rolling stock, and permanent way.
We got on to the road ultimately, carrying more mud on our feet than I
imagined human legs could lift. Leaving a driver and all spare gear at
the station, we thrashed our way along a road metalled with a soft,
friable limestone which had been cut into by the iron-shod wheels of
German lorries until the ruts were fully a foot deep, and the soft
earth foundation was oozing through to the surface. It was desperately
hard to steer a course on this treacherous highway, and a number of
lorries we passed had gone temporarily out of action in ditches. The
Germans with the Turks had blown up most of the culverts, and the road
bridges which had been destroyed had only been lightly repaired with
planks and trestles, no safety rails being in position. To negotiate
these dangerous paths in the dark the driver had to put on all
possible speed and make a dash for it, and he usually got to the other
side before a skid became serious. Most of the lorry drivers put out
no light because they thought no car would be able to move on such a
night, and we had several narrow escapes of finishing our career on a
half-sunken supply motor vehicle.

Reinforcements for infantry battalions moved up the road as we came
down it. They were going to the front to take the place of casualties,
for weather and mud are not considered when bayonets are wanted in the
line. So the stolid British infantryman splashed and slipped his way
towards the enemy, and he would probably have been sleeping that night
if there had not been a risk of his drowning in the mud. The Camel
Transport Corps fought the elements with a courage which deserved
better luck. The camel dislikes many things and is afraid of some. But
if he is capable of thinking at all he regards mud as his greatest
enemy. He cannot stand up in it, and if he slips he has not an
understanding capable of realising that if all his feet do not go
the same way he must spread-eagle and split up. This is what often
happens, but if by good luck a camel should go down sideways he seems
quite content to stay there, and he is so refractory that he prefers
to die rather than help himself to his feet again. On this wild night
I had a good opportunity of seeing white of