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[Page 10]
returned to a position known as Hod-el-Khirba, where a supply depot, left by the enemy during his hasty retreat, was commandeered by the boys. The stores therein were very useful as there were hundreds of bushels of barley, meal & rice, besides their iron rations & preserved olives & dates, which we hungry troops soon "hit to leg", & gave our horses a fine feed of barley & they earned it, as the poor beasts had been without water for two days & nights. We camped here till August 12th in case any of the enemy may come to light, but nothing occured & we pushed on to the Turks late base at Bir-el-Abd, reaching there at 3 p.m. the same day. Here we struck water melons & figs, which were a luxury after bully & biscuits & they were not long in existence I tell you. In the wells here our Medicos found traces of cholera germs so we were extremely short of water, having had only a quart in twenty eight hours & over 109 in the whisky bottle. The Turks were seen by our patrols six miles east of Bir-el-Abd making in the direction of El Arish it was decided to withdraw all troops to Romani, which camp we reached at 4 p.m. on the 13th, the following afternoon.