s during the hot weather
were now nothing like so numerous, which made it possible to enjoy
what food we had.

Rumour as to our future movements meantime was rife. Lord Kitchener
had come and gone, and all sorts of stories came from the beach. It
was not till 26th November that we knew definitely that evacuation had
been decided on, and that we had to make arrangements to get rid of
all surplus kit and all our "lame ducks."

Meantime, we were busy improving our trenches and digging South Lane
and Peyton Avenue communication trenches, and generally making
ourselves more comfortable.

On 26th November we got orders to pack all surplus stores which were
dumped, along with officers' valises, ready to be taken off that night
by the Sikh muleteers. We parted with great reluctance from our
tarpaulins and cart covers which provided the only shelters we had,
but that night even they would have been of little use. At five
o'clock the downpour started, accompanied by thunder and lightning,
such as you only can see in the tropics. Thunder-clap merged into
thunder-clap, each one noisier than the last--sheet lightning lit up
the sky, north, south, and east at the same time--and the rain came
down in torrents. It was a wonderful and awful sight. Trenches and
dug-outs were quite uninhabitable and a foot deep in water.
Fortunately by this time it was dark, so we climbed out of the
trenches and prepared to spend the night on the top, where the water
was only lying in places. Then came down the water from the hills. The
Azmac Dere came down in spate, washing away the Turkish and the
Highland barricades, carrying horses, mules, and men, dead and alive,
down with it. Peyton Avenue and South Lane were culs-de-sac and soon
filled, and the overflow flooded our trenches. The 2nd Lovat Scouts
were completely washed out, and had to retire and dig in down near the
beach. By this time the rain had stopped, and by next morning we saw
the water subsiding gradually. Fortunately it was a misty morning, and
we could wander about on top, though we did have one or two shrapnel
bursts over us. We then discovered that our valises and stores were
still floating in the water-cart emplacement--the Sikhs having turned
tail when the storm broke. It was six weeks later when we opened our
valises.

We had hoped the relief would have been cancelled, but not so, and at
5 P.M. we started off for the front line. The Turks evidently
anticipated something of the s