FROM LOXDOX TO AUSTRALIA BY AEROPLANE 



251 



© Kadel and Herbert 



THE PAPAL RESIDENCE AND GARDENS IN ROME 

 At the right can be seen the insignia of Pope Pius X and Pope Benedict XV 



well, and we had considerable difficulty 

 in arranging for petrol supplies to be de- 

 livered to the machine by next morning. 

 Sergeants Bennett and Shiers just had 

 time to look over the engines before the 

 winter darkness settled down. We all 

 turned into bed very early, very tired, 

 but very happy. 



On opening my personal kit that night 

 I found it, too, had suffered the rigors 

 of the sky journey. It was still frozen 

 stiff — my solitary tooth-brush ! 



THE SECOND DAY OPENS 



Next morning was November 13. I 

 always hold that such a date should be 

 banned from the months of the calendar. 

 Daylight 6.30, cold and frosty. The 

 petrol had not arrived at the machine, so 

 I sent my brother Keith in search of it ; 

 his French was even less eloquent than 

 mine. A couple of hours later he re- 

 turned, looking very grim, followed by 

 300 gallons of very servile spirit. 



I explained in execrable French to a 

 mechanic that I required 24 gallons of 

 hot water for our radiators. It had been 

 necessary to drain the water from the 

 radiators the night before, owing to the 

 low temperature ; otherwise the circulat- 

 ing water would have frozen into a solid 

 block and burst the radiators. Ten min- 

 utes later the mechanic returned bearing 

 a small jug of hot water. Our faces had 

 been too sore to shave that morning, so 

 I suppose he gathered from our appear- 

 ance that we wanted the hot water for 

 that purpose. 



My brother Keith then had a try in 

 that Australian tongue, famed alike fol- 

 ks potency and rhetoric, and universally 

 understood throughout the breadth of 

 the battlefields. That mechanic bowed 

 most politely and profusely and returned 

 in great haste, bearing triumphantly a 

 second jug of hot water. My brother's 

 growth, like his temper, is much more 

 bristly than mine. While we both were 



