_August 9th._--Fiddes and I came to Aberdeen Gully last night with most of the men, leaving twelve and an N.C.O. to act as bearers in the Zigzag track, these to be relieved every twelve hours. A few wounded stragglers reached us, but there was little doing to-day. We had one cowardly chap, who had had his fill of fighting and tried to do away with himself by taking a draught from a cresol tin. He is now under close arrest and will be handed over to the tender mercies of a court-martial.
_August 10th._--Walked up to our advanced dressing station at the Zigzag, and found some unknown persons had dumped there, during the night, a body in an advanced state of decomposition. I managed to unearth his recent history. He had been killed on the 7th, being wounded by the Turks, and when crawling back to our lines, along with some others in the same condition, he shouted in the dark, "Don't fire, we are English". Thinking this was a ruse so often practised by the Turks an officer ordered his men to fire, and this poor fellow was killed.
In the afternoon a well-known lion hunter looked in and had a shrapnel bullet removed from his shoulder. He was a most interesting man, and gave us all his views about the conduct of the war. Every mistake that it is possible to make has been made, he thinks. Once more we are hung up for want of ammunition. He is no optimist with regard to the duration of the war. Unless the new landing pushes on and keeps hitting he fails to see how they will do much. Even though Austria and Turkey are knocked out, Germany is one vast fort, with everything within herself, and will hold out for long. He condemns our statesmen for even now not initiating conscription, and making every unmarried man serve. He severely criticises the quality of our shells, half per cent. of which burst prematurely. The fuses of all those available, where this has happened, have been picked up and examined and all have been correctly set. A French battery of 75's is stationed behind this man's battery, firing its shells just 8 feet above his head, and since it took up its position it has only had two premature bursts, and one of these was caused by the shell striking the branch of a tree. We have been buying shells everywhere, and he says those supplied by America are far and away the worst.