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