ay grew steadily as the forenoon advanced. They
scratched up a meal in the depths of the ship, worked again, and then,
in the middle of the afternoon, unshipped the horses. One by one they
led them up the gangways from the holds, and then, sliding and slipping
on their weak legs, down a steep gangway to the low quay. Once on firm
ground, the horses threw up their heels, bucked and neighed in sheer
delight. But they overestimated their strength and came sprawling to
earth and soon, for lack of breath, quieted down. The squadron led its
horses to a piece of waste sandy ground, removed their covers, and let
them roll to their hearts' content. They were in excellent condition
after so long a voyage in warm seas, and Mac was grateful to the
fellows who had looked after them. His had been a pleasure voyage, but
they had had no such luck. From 5 a.m. till 9 p.m. it had been groom,
clean decks, feed, water and exercise; and then, more often than not,
it was horse-picket for part of the night. The temperature of the
horse-holes had for a long space never fallen below 110 deg. F.; and five
horses had been each man's charge.

* * * * *

"Where are we going, d'you know, Bill?" asked Mac.

"Sure I don't know. Some fellers say it's Cairo. Others say it's a
place called Zeitoun, and God only knows where that is. Anyhow I hope
it's Cairo. Cobber of mine, who'd bin there, told me it was just a bit
of all right. Said it was a reg'lar hot shop."

"No such luck, Bill," chipped in Jock. "You don't find the heads
sending us anywhere decent like that. Afraid of givin' us too good a
time."

"Yes. And the dear old wowser boys at home in N.Z. would get up on
their hind legs an' say, 'Is it right that our dear boys should be let
go free in such a dreadful city, what with the awful drink, and
gamblin' and worse than that, dear brethren. No, we will petition the
Minister of Defence to stop the dwedful catastrophe, to put the pubs
outer bounds, an' ter never have any wet canteens in the camps. Oh,
our poor innocent boys!'"

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed Mac. "Anyway, it'll be a bit of a change.
Wonder how long we'll be here?"

"Gawd only knows," answered Bill. "Mare looks well, Mac. Legs a bit
puffed, that's all."

They wandered off in due course to water and feed. They rugged the
horses, and at six o'clock entrained them, packing them tightly in the
trucks. The men had a bit of a meal then thems