er our feet.
It was hard going, but every man had a gleam of hope, and trudged
along heavy-laden with rolled overcoat, haversack and water-bottle and
stretcher, but with a light heart.

The advanced party from Chocolate Hill met us at Lala Baba. Here
everything was bustle and hurry.

Every unit of the Xth Division was packed up and ready for embarkation.
Lighters and tugs puffed and grated by the shore. Horses stamped and
snorted; sergeants swore continually; officers nagged and shouted.

Men got mixed up and lost their units, sections lost their way in the
great crowd of companies assembled.

Once Hawk loomed out of the darkness and a strong whiff of rum came
with him... he disappeared again: "See you later, Sar'nt--lookin' after
things--important--practically everythink----"

He was full of drink, and in his hurry to look after "things" (mostly
bottles) he lost some of his own kit and my field-glasses. He worked
hard at getting the equipment into the lighters, notwithstanding the
fact that he was "three-parts canned."

Every now and then he loomed up like some great khaki-clad gorilla, only
to fade away again to the secret hiding-place of a bottle.

And so at last we got aboard. It was still a profound secret. No one
knew whither we were going, or why we were leaving the desolation of
Suvla Bay.

But every one was glad. Anything would be better than this barren waste
of sand and flies and dead men.

That was the last we saw of the bay. A sheet of gray water, a moving
mob on the slope of Lala Baba, the trailing smoke of the tug, and a
pitch-black sky--and Hawk lurching round and swearing at the loss of his
bottle and his kit.

An old sea-song was running in my mind:--

"But two men of her crew alive--
What put to sea with seventy-five!"

Only three months ago we had landed 25,000 strong; and now we numbered
about 6000. A fearful loss--a smashed Division.

We transferred to a troop-ship standing out in the bay with all possible
speed.

Still with the gloom hanging over everything we steamed out and every
man was dead tired.

However, I found Hawk, and we decided not to sleep down below with the
others, all crowded together and stinking in the dirty interior of the
ship.

We took our hammocks up on deck and slung them forward from the handrail
near one of the great anchors.

I had a purpose in doing this. I had no intention of going to sleep. By
taking note of a certain star which had ap