snakes! Where was there ever mud like that! We certainly did a good
deal in mixing the soil of those paddocks, for we would carry an acre
of it from around the tents onto the drill-ground, where we would
carefully scrape it off, and when we marched back we would bring
another acre on our boots to form a hillock at our tent door. If there
had been but an inch of rain we would lift up on the soles of our boots
all the wet earth, uncovering a surface of dust to pepper our evening
meal.

Large sums of money have been spent on this camp since those days and
it is now a _nursery_ for the recruits who have volunteered three years
late and need the enticement of feather beds to induce them to leave
mother. It has been thoroughly drained and terraced, and comfortable
huts have been erected, but _we_ simply rolled in blankets on bare
Mother Earth and sheltered from sun and rain in tents that were
supposed to be water-proof, and generally _were_ unless you happened to
touch them when wet. If you did accidentally happen to rub against the
sides, there would be a stream of water pouring down on you all night.
There was no escaping this, for there was not an inch of ground inside
the tent that was not covered by man. In fact, with ten in a tent, one
of us had to lie three-quarters outside, anyway, which was the chief
reason why I was never last in. Dressing was a problem, for every one
must needs dress at the same time, and from the outside the tent must
have looked something like a camel whose hump was constantly slipping.
Perhaps that is why every one used safety-razors after a while, for
although our faces would frequently look as though they had been mixed
up in barbed wire, there was really not much danger of cutting one's
throat, for even though you received a forty-horse-power jolt at a
critical moment, the razor-guard prevented your life being actually
imperilled.