the old ship, and there were no fond farewells taken of the crew, for
they were as unpatriotic a set of scoundrels as ever sailed under the
British flag. They robbed us right and left. They stole our ration
jam, selling it to us in the form of a drink. A penny a glass would
buy "pineapple cordial," which was merely a tin of pineapple jam mixed
up in a ship's bucket of iced water. "Orangeade" was marmalade jam and
water. Strange to say, there were always enough "boobs" among us
soldiers to fall for it. On board ship we were not allowed to wear
boots, as the hobnails in our military footwear could cut up the deck,
so those that hadn't shoes went barefoot, but at the end of the voyage
when we began to search for our boots there was the deuce to pay. Only
half the men could find them at all, and it was only through a search
of the whole ship that many of us did not have to walk in the sands of
Egypt barefooted. The missing pairs were found among the sailors, of
course, one of them even having six. It is a wonder those sailors
didn't cut our hair when we were asleep to stuff their pillows--they
certainly skinned us as close as they could.




PART II

EGYPT




CHAPTER VII