were issued, so, perforce, he was a member of the ship's company and
went with us to Egypt.

It's marvellous what quantities of men a troop-ship can swallow. There
were a thousand men on our ship and we wondered how we would possibly
move about, for we were marched 'tween decks, and seated on benches
ranged alongside deal tables, and when all were aboard there was not
room for a man more. It was explained to us that these were our
quarters. We could understand them as eating quarters, but where were
we to sleep? It was soon evident; above our heads were rows of black
iron hooks; these were for our hammocks, which, with a blanket apiece,
were in bins at the end of each deck. Hammock sleeping was not new to
me, so I got a good deal of fun seeing the early-to-bedders climb in
one side of their hammock, only to fall out the other, and very few
could manipulate their blankets. One could see that nearly every one
was nervous for fear of turning over in his sleep, but there was really
no danger of falling out, for when all the hammocks were up they were
packed so closely that if you did roll over, you would only roll into
the next hammock on top of some fellow who would, no doubt, think the
mast had fallen. There were a good number of men to whom life would
have been much pleasanter the next few days if they could have stayed
in their hammocks all day, as, no matter how the ship rolls, a hammock,
being swung, always keeps level. Unfortunately, all hammocks had to be
taken down at 6 A. M. so we could sit at the tables for breakfast, and
to most of the boys that first morning getting out of their hammocks
was like stepping onto a razzle-dazzle. We were now well at sea and
the general cry was in the words of the song: "Sea, sea, why are you
angry with me?" Discipline had to be relaxed those first days, for a
seasick man is quite willing to be shot and has no interest in the war,
and doesn't care which horse wins the boat-race. Seasickness never