[Page 25]
Patrolling the Desert (censored lines & verses)
2nd verse.
5th line Small straggling groups of horsemen were also making back,
6th [line] The Turks had caught 'em napping & they'd taken to the track.
3rd verse (entirely)
They were poor old British Tommies, who been camped way out near Hell
In the silent-blazing desert, 'longside some brackish well.
They'd been there to watch old Jacko, & keep him out of bounds
But in tiresome dull existence they'd "forgot" their daily rounds.
So he came in force & caught 'em, unprepared, & taking rest
He smashed 'em up & drove them, in disorder, from their nest.
7th verse (entirely)
First found, a thin old Bedouin sat underneath a palm,
So fetched him under guard behind to see he did no harm.
At noon we struck a Tommies Camp, abandoned but intact,
They'd all cleared out & left it, strange thing but still a fact,
They'd made things pretty comfy here, had beer & wine galore,
No sign of Turk or any fight, or what they'd "squibbed" it for.
15th verse
7th line A poor old Tommy Sergeant who'd been fleeing from his foe,
8th [line] Had stopped there just because it was as far as he could go.
These lines & verses were censored in compliance with an act passed in 1915, on all matter from the front to be printed.
H. G.