but when it is impossible to get cases away for forty
hours the condition of the men is very miserable. However, we got the
cooks going, and had plenty of Bovril and Oxo, which we boiled up with
biscuits broken small. It made a very sustaining meal, but caused
thirst, which was troublesome, as it was particularly difficult to
obtain water. Shelter from the sun, too, was hard to get; the day was
exceedingly hot, and there were only a few trees about. As many as
could be got into the shade were put there, but we had to keep moving
them round to avoid the sun. Many of the cases were desperate, but
they uttered not a word of complaint--they all seemed to understand
that it was not our fault that they were kept here.

As the cases were treated by us, they were taken down towards the
beach and kept under cover as much as possible. At one time we had
nearly four hundred waiting for removal to the ship. Then came a
message asking for more stretchers to be sent to the firing line, and
none were to be obtained; so we just had to remove the wounded from
those we had, lay them on the ground, and send the stretchers up.
Thank goodness, we had plenty of morphia, and the hypodermic syringe
relieved many who would otherwise have suffered great agony.

Going through the cases, I found one man who had his arm shattered and
a large wound in his chest. Amputation at the shoulder-joint was the
only way of saving his life. Major Clayton gave the anaesthetic, and
we got him through.

Quite a number of Ghurkas and Sikhs were amongst the wounded, and they
all seemed to think that it was part of the game; patience loomed
large among their virtues. Turkish wounded were also on our hands,
and, though they could not speak our language, still they expressed
gratitude with their eyes. One of the Turks was interrogated, first by
the Turkish interpreter with no result; the Frenchman then had a go at
him, and still nothing could be got out of him. After these two had
finished, Captain Jefferies went over to the man and said, "Would you
like a drink of water?" "Yes, please," was the reply.

During one afternoon, after we had been in this place for three days,
a battalion crossed the ground between us and the beach. This brought
the Turkish guns into action immediately, and we got the time of our
lives. We had reached a stage when we regarded ourselves as fair
judges of decent shell-fire, and could give an unbiassed opinion on
the point, but--to parap