LAND AND .WATER. 
April 24, 1915, 
A GLIMPSE OF WAR 
WATER. 
By W. L. GEORGE. 
THE battalion had started long before dawn. At 
first it bad boon night, blue, mysterious night, 
pale and fugitive and hung with little golden 
stars, the night of the East, made for while 
courts and the spinning of Scheherazade's tales, 
a night like blue silk flecked with gems. And then it had 
passed away hurriedly, as if afraid of the day, of the 
thunderous sun, like a nyniph surprised, leaving beliind her 
as a trail the rose and the mauve of dawn, sweet heralds of 
a fiercer air. 
Private Norley raised his head towards the dawn. He 
had grown tired of the night, for it had been long, and after 
a while had thought of nothing save the sand which had 
mysteriously penetrated between his sock and his foot. But 
he loved the familiar dawn, for it was not as the brooding 
night; it was passing. For a moment Private Norlcy thought 
of dawn as he had often seen it before, when he had gone of 
nights to feed some calving cow. It had come up sometimes 
just like that on Winchelsea marshes, making their grey into 
opal, and little Rye, upon its tiny hill, into a rosebud. He 
thought of the marshes for a little while, of the fresh, cold 
wind full of Channel salt. It hurt his mouth to think of the 
feel of that wet wind, for his tongue was so dry. The heat 
was coming; he knew that, for already the dawn was dying, 
Bun-.=laught«red, and on the eastern hori-^on a ball of fire, 
zoned in flame, soared into the Egyptian sky. 
He felt very hot suddenly. And he was afraid. He 
looked at his wrist- watch; he tried to re.iiember the time- 
table which the sergeant-major had discussed with the ser- 
geant the night before. They were late evidently; already 
they should be in sight of El Arish. And for a moment 
Private Norley wondered what it all was for, why they were 
going east of the canal, why they had gone so far and seen 
nothing, neither Englishman nor Turk, what there was be- 
yond the oasis. The bewilderment of the private who can 
range through empires, ignorant as a horse in blinkers, was 
upon him. But Private Norley did not long wonder; he was 
a good-tempered, healthy young animal, who had never be- 
fore thought of life in general: eating, drinking, sleeping, 
making love and dying as late as possible, that was the sum- 
total of him. And he was ready enough to do it all decently. 
So at once he abandoned speculation, searched the horizon for 
the palm trees which promised water and shade. 
Then he remem.bered : a full two hours had been wasted 
at a dry oued. The ammunition carts had, one after the 
other, stuck in the river-bed, and it had been endless, helping 
the little oxen, half unloading the carts, shoring up the 
wheels, so that the beasts might struggle up the crumblinc 
bank of pebble and sand. As the battalion turned towards 
the south Private Norley caught a glimpse of the carts, 
massed between the second and third platoon, ammunition 
wagons, provision carts, ambulances, oflicers' wagons, can- 
teen, the vast impedimenta of armies. Reflective and im- 
partial, he damned everything on wheels. 
The strap of his rifle hurt him a little now as it cut into 
his moist shoulder. He changed it to the right, and for a 
long time thought of nothing. There was hardly anything 
to arouse a thought, for the desert unrolled to the right and 
to the left, to the front and to the back, without beginning, 
without end, not quite flat, just like a dirty blanket, with 
crumples here and there. Sticking out, it seemed, of the 
horizon a few rocks that looked black against the felty sand; 
near the track sometimes a few gleaming wliite bones, camels'^ 
no doubt. Notable only, upon the right and left of the bat- 
talion, were the flanking parties, watchful little patrols of 
the camel corps, so far away that even through a field glass 
they looked like little brown toys. Private Norley was too 
used to them to notice that they were there. Besides, there 
was something else to help the silence that had now come 
upon the marching troops; they had left their bivouac at 
'Abu Dara singing the inevitable " Tipperary," but, little by 
little, the song had died down long before the order came 
that there must be no talking now. For the heat had come 
and was growing round them. 
He rialised it, and suddenly there was nothing but heat. 
The pith helmet made a ring about his forehead; this was 
wet, and yet hard and hot, as if his head were bound in metal. 
He felt the sun upon his cheek, a steady burn, and a sting as 
of a pm-prick upon his upper lip. He brushed it an^rrily as 
12* 
if to remove an insect. There was no insect, but tha 
movement, so different from the steady tramping, brought 
him out into a heavy sweat. Private Norley called himself a 
fool, but it v/as too late. Water seemed to rush from his head 
into his hair and under his helmet to steam. He found his 
fingers so clammy that the wooden butt of his rifle slipped 
away; he dared not touch the burning steel. For a long time 
he thought of nothing, but just went on with the water run- 
ning down from that metal ring about his forehead, hot 
water that .soaked his mou.stache, soaked his eyelashes until 
he had to blink them free. And even then there was a veil as 
of ste.am before his eyeballs. One thouglit only came to him 
then : water. As he went he slipped liis hand under his coat, 
touching as he did so his neighbour, who shrank away a 
little without speaking, knowing that any contact would 
increase his heat. C-irefully Private Norley drew forward 
the bottle, raised it to his mouth. He could have spat the 
liquid out, so great was his disgust, for, osier-covered and then 
felt-covered, and then sheltered by his coat, it was hot. And 
yet as he swallowed, hating the tiiini.^h taste, tlie disgusting 
suggestion of weak soup, he was gluttonous. 
Suddenly he thought of water, real cold water, as it 
flows out betwocn two stones from the spring by Udimore 
Hill. He remembered that place v/hore in April there always 
grew so many primro-sss, and a spasm of rage shook him as ha 
thought that this very minute c-xon and horses were drinkin" 
their fill of that water, so clear, so cold. 
His pal upon the left had seen him drink : 
"Pretty fair muck, ain't it?" he remarked. 
Private Norley spat without replying. He heard behind 
him another man making a feeble joke about lining up at the 
bar when they got to El Arish. Somebody said something 
Private Norley did not catch, but it awakened an immediata 
echo, and a preci.se private, a schoolmaster in civil life, said 
they ought to have some water from the wat«r cart. In a 
minute the whole battalion was talking of water, and Private 
Norley could think of nothing but the water carts between 
the two platoons, that looked so queer, swaddled up ia 
canvas, like fat old men, to keep off the sun. 
In front of Private Norley marched his lieutenant. He 
was a slender young man, and hs went with an air alert and 
disdainful, as if he did not hear the growing murmurs among 
the men. Private Norley did not remember that this was one 
of the popular officers, a good fellow who never punished a 
man without making him feel in the wrong: he thought of 
that way of his and hated him therefor; his persuasiveness, 
added to his rare severity, became an insult. For it was hot' 
so hot, that Private Norley thought only of feeling liot. He 
found himself cursing quietly, and then g'rumbling half-aloud, 
with five hundred others who grumbled also: 
"We must have water. We must have water off the 
cart. . . ." 
The battalion was halted, faced to the right. The Major 
came to quell the mutiny, trotting along the line on his little 
black horse, whose sweating flanks shone bluish. He stopped, 
and upon the yellow sand the shadow was blacker than the 
horse. 
" I hear murmurs in the ranks. They must stop. The 
next man who complains will be shot." The voice was quiet, 
not very loud, and yet, so light was the air, every syllable 
came clean and audible. Then the tone softened: "But, 
boys, I don't want it to come to that. You've got to under- 
stand. W^e're two hours late, we may be attacked any 
minute. We may not get to El Arish at all, and if we don'fe 
we'll need our water. So I must ask you to be patient." 
The Major added, with an am.iable smile: "I'm feeling 
pretty dry myself, you know!" " 
The last words were human and the batlaHon laughed 
They went on. But it was still hotter now, nearly half-past 
ten and the sun above invisible, for all the sky was as the 
blue flame of a gas-fire and as burning. Upon the sky-line 
Private Norley could see four or five palm trees. The oasis I 
Yes, but he had seen those palms an hour before and they 
looked no nearer. His tongue was thick and large in his 
mouth; he parted his lips to breathe and his ton^rue tried to 
come out, while he panted like a dog. The sweat upon hii 
eyelashes had caught the dust. Ids eyes were full of grit, and 
he wondered vaguely, when ha moved hia evelids, why' they 
