CHAPTER I 



WITH THE E.A.M.R. 



It was in the hope of getting to Mesopotamia that 

 Lewis and I left Cape Town for Bombay, thence 

 to headquarters at Delhi. But at Delhi we were 

 told that there was little doing in Mesopotamia, 

 and that only men able to navigate river-boats 

 and motor-launches were wanted. We were 

 offered employment in East Africa instead, and 

 knowing that B.E.A. would probably mean a 

 speedy death for our horses, it was with regret 

 that we gave up the thought of the Euphrates 

 Valley. 



Bearing in mind the old stoic teaching, " If you 

 can't get what you like, like what you get," in a 

 short time we duly found ourselves landing at Mom- 

 bassa. From Mombassa we were immediately 

 railed up to Kagiado, and from there we had 

 three days' ride to join our unit, the East African 

 Mounted Rifles, at Longido. For three whole days 

 we rode through beautiful cattle country — a 

 country clothed with fine-looking blue grasses : 

 a heavy stocking country too. But beautiful 

 though it appeared, there was " death in the pot," 

 for horse sickness was prevalent. Game of all 



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