ALEXANDRIA. 7 RHG (Blues), 5L (5th Lancers), and so on ; these

were sewn on the right arm.

Our evenings were enlivened by concerts of all

sorts, but no incident worthy of remark occurred till

we were passing Malta, and signalled for the latest

news. " Defend cook gone Cairo," was all we got,

and this unravelled meant seemingly

: " Guards' cook,"

etc., referring to a Maitee who had been wired for

to act in that capacity. There was no word " Guards

"

in the signal code, so they used the nearest approach

to it. No further news of any sort did we get till

we reached Alexandria harbour on the 7th October,

early, when the first report was that we were pro-

bably to go back to England in two days, as the

Mahdi and all his sheikhs had caved in ! The

whole battalion, however, while awaiting definite

orders, went ashore to stretch their legs for a march

round the town, and there we first met our future

steeds, sloping along under their loads of corn and

stuffs.

They looked rather meagre beasts to carry us,

but we^ were consoled by

" one who knew "

telling