All the same it was a trying life owing to the
difficulty of getting a normal amount of sleep. We had to "stand to"
from about 3 A.M. till dawn, and then work till breakfast, and on
to about 9.30 A.M. By that time it was too hot to do any more, and the
rest of the day had to be spent in idleness. Few of us could sleep
during the day because of the heat, and the temperature seldom began
to get much cooler before 8.30 P.M., and sometimes later. There was
nothing doing in the way of warfare beyond continuous patrols at
night, sometimes small, sometimes up to twenty or more. The only
occasion during our first stay did anything in the nature of a
skirmish take place, and that was brought on by one of our patrols
having a narrow escape of being cut off at dawn near a place called
Two Tree Farm. One of the platoons in the line saw what was happening
and went out to support them, and managed to get them in all right. A
very small affair, but quite exciting for the onlookers, when there is
nothing more important doing. In this part there was about a mile of
No-Man's-Land, and the Turk was very completely wired in and was
seldom to be found outside his wire. Most of our patrols in
consequence came in without having seen a Turk at all, but it was not
a comfortable job, as machine guns were firing bursts all night.
[Illustration: DUG-OUTS IN THE FRONT LINE. SHEIKH ABBAS.
_To face page 54_]
[Illustration: A RESERVE WADI, SHEIKH ABBAS.
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