y the comely nurses of the Australian and Canadian services, could
only have one result. On the following sick parade the attendance was
trebled. But disappointment followed. The A.D.M.S. was not about, and a
far-seeing regimental medical officer pronounced his verdict--"Medicine
and duty"--on all but a few.

The drill exercises commenced with the squad formations, and here arose
the rather ludicrous situation of N.C.Os. not being able to describe the
movements required. This was brought about by the promotion on the
Peninsula of men who fulfilled the requirements there and got things
done by giving orders in a few terse phrases of their own coining, but
had never handled a section on parade or seen inside the cover of a
text-book. The position was aggravated by many of the officers being
"rusty" themselves and not having books of reference handy. However, the
difficulty was got over by forming a class of instruction in each
company, and the desired result was obtained in a few days. Five hours
daily were given to parades and a half-holiday observed on Wednesdays
and Saturdays.

[Illustration: THE CAMP AT SARPI,
Lemnos Island.
_Photo. lent by Lieut. H. V. Woods._]

[Illustration: THE SHIPPING IN MUDROS BAY, 1915.
_Photo. lent by M. Rene de Marigny, Paris._]

Although cold winds blew occasionally, and rain fell intermittently, the
climate of the island was not unpleasant at this time of the year.
Members of the Battalion, in their leisure hours, visited the
neighbouring villages of Portianos, Mudros, and Kondia, although this
latter place was subsequently placed out of bounds owing to an outbreak
of typhoid fever amongst the inhabitants. At Portianos occurred one of
those incidents the like of which is not altogether foreign to army
life--even in peace time. A solitary Australian encountered a "Tommy"
town picquet commanded by a tyrannical corporal. For a breach of certain
orders, of the existence of which he was unaware, the Australian was
rather roughly abused and handled by the picquet. Retiring discomfited
from the scene he met several of his countrymen. A brief conference was
followed by a return to the village and resulted in a very successful
"clean-up" of the original aggressors.

Some men walked considerable distances and penetrated to the western
side where is situated the principal town, Kastro--a place of some 3,000
inhabitants. Here they were able to inspect the Genoese fortress which
stands on a rock