LEFT BEHIND.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13793, 14 June 1915, Page 8

LEFT BEHIND.

SICK MEN IN EGYPT.

BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT,

In a description of tho departure of the Australian troops from Alena camp for the Dardanelles, Captain Beau, the official Commonwealth correspondent with tho force, relc-rn to ihe eugoi aa^. of the men to get into action, in his account for iho husti-j «i tiie last i'uw hours in the camp, when everything was- being cleared a\--"ji\,- ln> dosenbos;a batch of men who had not parsed the medical examination, and who consequently would havo to stay behind.

In one corner, ho writes, vrere 10 or 12 standing in their full kit, with thtir black kit-bags containing ail their worldly belongings piled behind them. They wore unaccountably dismal, the only dismal participants in all that briskness. Sorae were sitting on their kit-bags, eibmvs oii kv.u.-es, chin on hands, staring dismally into the sand. | Away to the lei'i,, near tho earnp road, a, huge boufire was ijiirniiig, into which men were pitching the rubbish of tho camp. Trie distant light of it flickered faintly on tho faces of this particular group of men. They showed up, faded, showed up again, and then flickered tor a while into darkness. Beforo them stood tlie tall, straight figure of the regimental medical officer, with his broad shoulders and straight back, and wide-brimmed helmet. He had a difficult job. All day long he had been examining men. He had examined about a thousand, and these were the result, the ten or twelve to whom that inspection had narrowed itself down. He had to tell them that they would he unable to go with the battalion to the front, and they would be grievously disappointed. "Poor chaps," he said. "There are a couple there that I'm doubtful about even now. I'm rather inclined to let them go, and chance it. They might pull through, and thoy are awfully set on going. If only we get a few good days' rest on Uie boat, I almost think we might risk it. There are two fellows worse than any of these. They ought to be here, but" I can't find the'rn. They "have been dodging me all day. I know jolly well they ar'o trying to'keep away until we have started^ because they think that once they start with us they'll be allowed to come on. Of course, it won't work, but it just shows you what a willing lot they are." A? a matter of fact, a hundred men [ got cut of hospital that day, and a j hundred more tried to. j