ir S. Scott and Colonel Whitburn of the
West Kent Yeomanry, Colonel Lord Guilford, East Kent Yeomanry. A
cheerier crowd no one could wish to meet. If these are the type of men
who spin black yarns for home wear, I can only say that not the most
finished actors could better disguise their despair. General King, R.A.,
rode part of the way back with us.

After all this hard exercise, got back to the _Arno_ in a lather of
sweat about 6 o'clock carrying Davies with me. Leslie Wilson, commanding
the Hawke Battalion, had gone sick to-day, so sent him a telegram after
dinner to the Hospital ship _Somali_, telling him his trenches had been
found in apple-pie order.

_11th October, 1915._ Bad night with this beastly complaint. De Robeck
came up at 11 o'clock to see me. He has had a message from the Admiralty
asking him what number of extra troops could be maintained on the
Peninsula if the units there now were brought up to strength. The
Admiral asked me for the figures and the A.G. brought them over. My
force as a whole is as near as may be to half strength. Half of that
half are sick men. We have 100,000 men on the Peninsula, 50,000 of whom
are unfit: if the unfits were up to strength there would be 200,000 men
on the Peninsula as well as excitement and movement which would greatly
reduce the disease. Bearing in mind that the Anzacs have been well
supported by their Governments and that their units are fairly strong,
these figures show what wait-and-see-sickness has meant to British
Regiments.

The tone of this Admiralty question had seemed cheerful: almost as if
the Higher Direction were thinking of putting us on our legs but, in
the evening, another cable from K. gave a different and a very ominous
complexion to the future:--

"From Earl Kitchener to General Sir Ian Hamilton. What is your estimate
of the probable losses which would be entailed to your force if the
evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula was decided on and carried out in
the most careful manner?

"No decision has been arrived at yet on this question of evacuation, but
I feel that I ought to have your views.

"In your reply you need not consider the possible future danger to the
Empire that might be thus caused."[15]

If they do this they make the Dardanelles into the bloodiest tragedy of
the world! Even if we were to escape without a scratch, they would stamp
our enterprise as the bloodiest of all tragedies! K. has always sworn by
all his Gods he would