e some one might notice that it seemed unusually short. Those who
only knew the line when officers could sleep in a cushioned sleeping
car, and be whirled from the Gaza railhead at Deir el Belah to Kantara
in eight or ten hours, have no idea what the line was capable of in its
palmy days, when passenger traffic was not its forte--of the hopeless
efforts to find out where any train or any truck was going to, and when
it would go there; the long halts and sudden unheralded departures, at
the moment when the passengers had at last dared to get out to stretch
their legs; the rending struggles to board mountainous trucks piled high
with rations; the starving quest for biscuits in forgotten canteens at
stations where no one ever lived. Let us try and remember these things
when next we are abusing the obscurities of Bradshaw or find our train
five minutes late.

About this time our Brigade commander, Brigadier General Casson, who had
been with us since the early days in Gallipoli, left us, to our great
regret. He was succeeded by Brigadier General Hamilton Moore.

[Illustration: BIVOUACS, EL RABAH.]

CHAPTER VIII

ACROSS THE SINAI DESERT TO EL ARISH.

Who can the desert's strength subdue?
Pipe, Rail and Road.
Pipe to carry your drink to you;
Rail to speed your rations through;
Road to march on firm and true
Past bir and hod.

So our gunner-poet--and in the main he speaks truth. But the "Road firm
and true!" at any rate lived only in his imagination. One does not think
that any infantryman would have written that line. Such as ride upon
horses can afford imagination. If you walk you come down to facts.

The second stage of our Crusade began on October 12th, when the
Battalion marched away from Katib Gannit, this time carrying packs.
Officers were allowed 30 lb. valises. And in general our possessions
were boiled down and the necessities of life became barer than ever. The
first march, an easy one, was to Rabah, and was over by midday--the
Battalion furnishing pickets for that night. At 6.30 the next morning we
moved off again, reaching Atchan at 11, where a halt was made and tea
issued. Off again at 1.15, we reached Abu Afein in a couple of hours,
having covered twelve miles of heavy going with the "loss" of eighteen
men, of whom ten had heat exhaustion and three colic. On the 14th we
reached Bir el Abd.

We have inserted a large number of place names in this narrative, not
because the name