_12th August._—Thoughts recall the grouse moor, and this day of days at home, but again it passes with but memories. All porters have gone back to bring forward rations, while we halt here near Narunyu. From 13th August to 18th August we remained closely in one area, where low hills and ridges encompassed us on all sides. West of us the enemy had established a line defending the approach to Narunyu, and our line dug in before them, while engagements daily occurred here and in the neighbourhood, and we were fitfully subjected to shelling by the enemy’s artillery. The weather at this time broke down, and we had five consecutive days of heavy rain, which, as we had no blankets or grass-hut shelters, made us very cold, wet, and miserable, while during the nights we slept lying in rain-soaked mud—a condition of things that brought out even more fever than usual. [Sidenote: FIERCE FIGHTING] _18th August._—Overnight, under cover of darkness, part of our forces evacuated camp and travelled northerly, and then westerly, until we drew in to the trolley line: then we lay down and waited until early morning. At 3 a.m. we were moving again, and the column had crossed the open avenue of the trolley line, and were lost again in the bush, before daybreak. All morning we moved, through truly terrible thorn-bush country, in a south-westerly direction, thereby widely circling round to attack the Narunyu position from the west, while our other forces, at the camp we had left, would hold the enemy’s attention on the east. About 11 a.m., when drawing in to the hill-crest overlooking Narunyu, which is situated in a valley bottom, the first-second King’s African Rifles, in the lead, encountered large forces of the enemy, and entered into action. On their establishing a firing line, the rear of the column was drawn in, and a perimeter was formed, for, in the thick bush we were then in, attack might threaten from any direction. This was a wonderfully wise and fortunate precaution, for no sooner were our lines on all sides established than the enemy opened a determined attack on our right flank; and, as the fight continued, fierce and sustained attacks developed later, even in our rear and on our left. In other words, the enemy were all around us and trying to break through our “square” in the bush. It was a day of tremendous battle. There were, within the circle, the first-second King’s African Rifles, 25th Royal Fusiliers, and Stoke’s Guns, and back to back they fought, without one minute’s cease in the deafening fusillade, until long after dark. It was here that one saw, and realised, the full fighting courage to which well-trained native African troops can rise. The first-second King’s African Rifles was one of the original pre-war regular battalions, and magnificently they fought here; and we, who were an Imperial unit, felt that we could not have wished for a stouter, nor a more faithful, regiment to fight alongside of. About 8 p.m.