CAMPFIRE YARNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18216, 9 October 1922, Page 8

CAMPFIRE YARNS.

STORIES FROM PALESTINE.

The lighter sido of war has not been overlooked by Lieutenant-Colonel C. Ouy Powles in " Tlie New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine." He quotes a newspaper correspondent,'who, at the battle of Rafa, spoke of having seen a padre trying to die himself in with a spoon and a man trying to put an ammuniton camel down under fire, while he himself discreetly first adopted a kneeling, and then a prone position.

Thero is a story about one Charlie Cox, who appears to have been no leas than the commander of a Light Horse Brigade*. At tho village of Sheikh Zowaijd, Charlie purchased from the shiekh a dozen young healthy hens, "all laying," and these birds were added to his establishment. They journeyed onward aboard a camel, and the riding did not stop them laying evidently, for Charlie and his famous chickens were always able to add the usual adjunct to the breakfast bacon.

At the first battle of Gaza, the Light Horse captured a Turkish divisional commander, but missed his servant, who was leading a pack horse with his master's kit. The Turk earnestly begged the Light Horse to capture the servant, but he got away. Three weeks later an unarmed Turk gave himself up to an outpost. He was the missing servant, who had come in quest of his master, but without the packhorsn.

At Gaza the Wellingtons, after cutting their way through cactus hedges with their bayonets, captured twq guus and ammunition. Further progress was held up by several houses filled with Turk 3. The Wellington men decided to use one of the gnns. By looking down the barrel they trained it on one of the houses and in this way fired three shots with splendid results. One corporal was heard to remark that tho New ZeaJanders had made, at any rate, a new street in Gaza.

At Shellnl a mosaic, the remains of a Umstian chapel, was discovered. " The padre had always been of the opinion that the chapel had been built to the memory of some saint, and for a long time he was inclined to believe that our Saint George was buried there. He became greatly excited when, during the removal of the mosaic, it became apparent that there was a chamber under the floor; and his enthusiasm rose to bursting point when in a small cavity there were found the bones of a skeleton. His brother officers in the division had always viewed sceptically the idea of anyone having been buried under the floor, and so the padre, hot with his discovery, rushed to the nearest telegraph station and sent the following wire to D. J.Q. : ' Have found the bones of saint.' By a strange coincidence the .telegram went to Cairo, where it was sent to the records office without alteration or explanation. In due course the padre received the following: 4 Send full name, No., and regiment of Trooper Saint.' " Touching upon those insects which made a disinfecting plant necessary the author quotes the following, sung to the tune of " John Peel" :— I went down the lines the other day, When I heard » fellow in the Waikr.tos say I ve c*u«ht 22, which is 30 less than you, ■tsut.l hope to get some sleep before morning."

" General Allenby was a strong forceful man and as such waa beloved by our men. He was impulsive but. just, and was known far and wide as the 'Bull.' One day," so runs a story, '* during a Turkish attack upon our outposts, he appeared and went forward with tho divisional commander to see what was going on. Immediately in front of- him was one of a series of posts of light horsemen. While the C.-in-C. was standing there he noticed a man at the post waving his arma frantically and persistently. After a while he asked what the man was doing, \ and was told that he was only signalling to the next post. But the man kept on, and at length the C.-in-C. sent an officer across to inquire what the urgent message was. The answer was given after much hedging, '8.8.L..' and the embarrassed officer had to explain to the C.-in-C. that ' 8.8.L.' meant. ' BuC broken loose.' "