ttle, extra ammunition,
cooking utensils, haversack, a stove, the day's rations, a bundle of
fire-wood, and half a dozen odds and ends had to find space about his
person; the Q.M.S., too, usually had something to add to this load. A
heavy summer shower did not improve matters, and made the descent of
the steep clay paths one of speed rather than elegance. Once started
with so heavy a load, it was impossible to pull up. So the descent of
his regiment that afternoon from the plateau above was a weird and
wonderful sight, and resembled nothing more than a mixed avalanche of
perspiring troopers, mud and gear.

They took up their new abode on a steep northerly slope above the sea.
Instructions were that all habitations were to be made shrapnel proof,
but this was a matter of difficulty on so steep a face. Nightfall
found Mac and his section with an awninged platform, six feet square
and three feet high and partially walled, but far from shrapnel proof
and never likely to be. They were not inclined to meet trouble
half-way, so each disposed his equipment in its rightful spot. The
four partook heartily of a most sociable evening meal, and then
wandered off for a good long bathe in the pleasantly cool water of the
AEgean.

* * * * *

The bivouac on the steep slope north of Anzac Cove was hardly the
safest, and domestic life there was not the most unruffled. Just when
five more seconds would have seen the bacon done to a T, the whistle of
the look-out up above would go. That meant that the Turkish battery on
the W Hills had delivered itself of a missile, which might, or might
not, be directed at this bivouac. Then Mac would find himself in a
dilemma. Would he trust to luck that the shell was not for him, and
save the bacon, or would he crouch for safety under the protection
wall? More often the bacon had the benefit of the decision for
meal-time was Abdul's favourite hour for action, and, if Mac took heed
of every warning, the section would never get through its meals. He
knew that the warning whistle gave him seventeen seconds before the
arrival of the shell, and, if he waited for the sound of the discharge,
he had about four seconds left. Still they didn't worry much until,
after a few opening rounds, Abdul's practice got too good and there was
no mistaking his malevolent attentions. Mac, if he were not near his
own bivouac, would dive into the nearest one, irrespective of owner,
and