were thrown in and
distributed thinly over the ground. Then ensued a wild stampede to
secure a place beneath the canvas, a rabble of several hundreds fighting
frantically among themselves to seek a couch in the absurdly inadequate
temporary canvas dwelling. The men stowed themselves in so tightly in
close serried rows that when lying down they were unable to turn over.
Once a position had been seized the tenant never dared to leave it for
an instant for fear it would be seized by some one else. The guards
demanded and succeeded in maintaining for a time a narrow gangway
between the rows, but the crush became so terrible that even this space
was soon occupied and the soldiers were prevented from moving within the
tent.

The marquee was packed to suffocation, and the fact that the greater
part of the seething mass of humanity was filthy dirty and thickly
infested with lice and other vermin from causes over which they had no
control caused the atmosphere within to become so hot and foetid as to
make one's stomach jump into one's throat.

One glance at the packed marquee sufficed to make up my mind for me.
Come what might it would never see me within its walls. Were a light
carelessly dropped among the loose straw a fearful holocaust must ensue.
Few if any could have got out alive. This thought haunted me so
persistently that I moved as far away from the tent as I could.

We received no further rations that day until the evening, when another
small dole of watery greasy coffee was handed round as in the morning.
But we never glanced at this noisome liquid. The terror which we had
been dreading so fearfully had burst upon us. It was raining hard! At
first only a gentle refreshing shower, it developed into a torrential
downpour, and gave every indication of lasting for an indefinite period.
Consider the situation--approximately two thousand human beings stranded
upon a bleak exposed field, absolutely devoid of any shelter, except the
solitary paltry marquee. Little wonder that our faces blanched at the
prospect before us. How should we be able to sleep? What horrors would
the dawn reveal? God only knew.

CHAPTER XIII

"THE BLOODY NIGHT OF SEPTEMBER 11"

By ten o'clock in the evening the rain was falling in sheets and the
water coursing down the slope to collect in the depression speedily
formed a shallow lake at the bottom end of "the field." No one can form
the slightest impression of the wretchedness of those