the motorman to start his car, but in
many cases commandeered it for the time being. Things moved quite
warmly for an hour or two: ladies of low degree scuttled like rats and
panders dashed for safety, while "owners" in princely motorcars turned
almost as white as their livers as they saw their "warehouses of
virtue" going up in flame. Two incidents are very vivid--the sight of
a grand piano tumbling out of a five-story window and one of the
aforesaid "owners" trying to remonstrate with the avengers, and having
his car run into the fire. The military police tried to interfere
early in the game, but only made matters worse, as they were pretty
well hated by the boys as being mostly slackers. The attitude of many
of the officers may be judged from Jerry. He was looking on smoking a
pipe when an English major dashed up to him, very apoplectic. "Are you
an Australian officer?" "Ye--es!" drawled Jerry. "Well, why don't you
take your men in hand?" "Can't see they are doing any harm!" said
Jerry. In the end strong-armed guards were brought in from the camps,
and as the boys were just about tired anyway of their self-appointed
policemanship, things soon quieted down. There were rumors that it
cost the Australian Government a tidy sum of money, but the burning of
those pest-houses must have risen like incense to heaven, and one very
good effect it had, about which there will be no dispute--it put the
fear of God into the Gyppo, and Australian soldiers after that even
singly and in small groups received nothing worse than black looks.

After this Cairo was very thoroughly picketed--the streets were
patrolled all night by parties of ten or a dozen under an N. C. O. I
was in charge of one of these parties for a couple of months and had a
good deal of fun playing "policeman" among the cosmopolitan crowds that
infest Cairo. We were only armed with the handles of our intrenching
tools, which were sticks of hardwood about twelve inches long with an
iron band at the upper end, but they made very effective batons. I
remember once we had to settle a dispute at a wedding-feast. I suppose
there must have been a lack of room in the house, for the meal was
spread in the street--long tables with a couple of hundred guests
seated at them right in the way of the traffic. We strolled past a
couple of times, but as we had no instructions to prevent folk using
the public street for their domestic affairs, we saw no call to
interfere