until September 11th, when we marched due west
and took over a camp from the 4th R.S.F. north of Romani and close to
the great landmark Katib Gannit. This was a vast pile of sand, its top
240 feet above sea level and rising a good 150 feet at a wonderfully
steep angle from the minor sand dunes around it. It was visible for many
miles to eastward, and had been used as an observation post in August
and consequently heavily shelled. Our camp was in among the sand hills,
which are unrelieved by scrub and of an almost incredible yellowness.
"B" Company took over Redoubt No. 2, one of the chain with which we had
already become familiar at the northern extremity. The rest of the
Battalion were employed in training and route marching, while ranges
were established for rifle and Lewis guns. Parties of officers and men
were now allowed to go to Port Said for three days' leave, a privilege
of which we were glad to avail ourselves. Port Said has few attractions,
but hard roads and iced drinks are a great lure after months in the
desert. The journeys to and fro were naturally not devoid of incident.
The leave parties marched up to Mahamdiya in the early morning, over
some miles of bad going, and Headquarters are to be congratulated on the
fact that no party of ours at any rate ever left on an empty stomach. At
Mahamdiya they reported to the R.T.O., a versatile officer of the 5th,
whose administrative career was almost cut short by an untoward incident
about this time. A great one, owning a private trolley for railway
"scooting," 'phoned the R.T.O. office, Mahamdiya, to enquire whether the
line from that place to Romani was clear. He received an answer in the
affirmative and set off gaily. At about the same moment a large ration
train left Romani for Mahamdiya. They met about half-way, and the engine
driver, whose career had not taught him a proper reverence for red tabs,
blew his whistle and carried on. The superhuman agility of the trolley's
crew just succeeded in getting their vehicle off the line before the
train reached it, but the R.T.O.'s office at Mahamdiya stank in official
nostrils for many days.

The line to Port Said, however, was a metre gauge one, laid down on the
beach which runs as a narrow strip between the sea and the lagoons. The
aforesaid R.T.O., sitting equably among a cloud of flies, would inform
you on arrival (1) that the train which should have been the 8.30 from
Mahamdiya had only just left Port Said, and cou