fe in the camp and the troopers were nervy. The
proprietors of the camp picture theatre had offended the fellows, who
showed their displeasure by partially burning the building. One
evening, to break the monotony, some of the men surreptitiously
extracted a couple of casks of unwatered beer from the brigade canteen.
They rolled the barrels some distance across the sand, and proceeded to
enjoy themselves. The excited Greek barmen, early discovering the
loss, turned out the guard. Following the tracks in the sand, they
soon found the merrymakers, routed them, and recovered a little beer.
The guard took their toll, and returned the balance to the outraged
Greeks. A small Armenian general goods shop chose to over-charge, with
the result that the vainly-expostulating merchant found his lean-to
razed to the ground before his eyes.

Mac himself suffered from a severe overdose of C.B. So did his cobber
Smoky. They had had the awful misfortune to be detected at an early
hour one morning making their way to their lines. It had been sheer
bad luck that had done it. If Smoky had not insisted on appropriating
from the supply depot some "tinned cow" and a few small jars of beef
extract, all would have gone well. Creaking boards had started the
trouble, and a conscientious sentry had put the tin hat on it. Ten
days was the sentence--not that it mattered so much, for C.B. meant
little beyond having to go out without passes by back ways--rather a
nuisance if one were in a hurry for the train. But it was the
conscientious sentry which annoyed them. Why should the fool be so
bally unreasonable as to report? They, the trooper and Smoky, were not
so beastly particular when they did guard. In fact, such occasions
offered unique opportunities for replenishing the private larders of
their respective tents. New Zealand social theory held that one man
was as good as another, so why should not they, as well as the
officers, live upon the fat of the land, or such of it as could be got
at Zeitoun Camp. Those were the days before army discipline was fully
appreciated.

Other troubles were also theirs. C.B. was indeed a very minor ailment
compared with their piastreless condition. The trip to Alexandria had
absorbed all their available capital, earned and borrowed. Some coon,
also, had stolen the trooper's washing from the line between the tents,
and his wrathful mutterings against the miserable perpetrator of this
horrible crim