JULY 195 



Officer Commanding answered. "I can 

 indent only for twenty-three men the 

 number in camp besides myself." He 

 added that, as the men had preferred 

 Lord Kitchener's friendship to his own, 

 any further communications that might 

 be deemed necessary should be addressed 

 to the Commander-in-Chief. 



Next day the court-martial was to 

 begin. The Officer Commanding had 

 provided himself with much " blue paper," 

 including many quires of foolscap, en- 

 velopes of great length, and apparently 

 all the ominous books he could lay hands 

 on. At sight of him thus equipped, 

 one man intimated a desire to back out 

 of the strike ; but the men generally 

 were not yet overawed. The C.O.'s 

 bark was much worse than his bite 

 would be, they seemed to feel. At 

 any rate, many of them practically in- 

 sisted that, besides being Prosecutor, he 

 should be witness as to character and, 

 one might almost say, Counsel for 

 the Defence. Man after man sought 



