And all the time we had no letters from home. We were actually
marooned on Lemnos Island: as literally marooned on a barren desert
isle as any buccaneer of the old Spanish galleon days. We went
suddenly back to a savage life. We went down to bathe stark naked,
with the sunset glowing orange on our sunburnt limbs. Here it was that
Hawk proved himself a wonderfully good swimmer. He was lithe and
supple and well-made--an extraordinary specimen of virile manhood--and
he spent his fiftieth birthday on Lemnos!

One day came the order to pack up and man-handle all our stuff down to
the beach ready for re-embarkation. At last we were on the move. We
worked with a will now. The great day would soon dawn. Some of us
would get "put out of mess," no doubt, but this waiting about to get
killed was much worse than plunging into the thick of it.

August the 6th saw us steaming out at night towards the great unknown
climax--the New Landing.




CHAPTER X


THE NEW LANDING


A pale pink sunrise burst across the eastern sky as our transport came
steaming into the bay. The haze of early morning dusk still held,
blurring the mainland and water in misty outlines.