I had a very good Intelligence Officer in Lieutenant Simon Abrahams, who explored "no man's land" very methodically, and who earned a high measure of praise from our Brigade Commander. Abrahams would go out with a daring scout like Pte. Angel (who afterwards won the M.C.) and sketch roads, routes, tracks, etc., right under the very noses of the Turks, and so careful was he, and so secretive, that his presence on the debatable ground was never even suspected by the enemy. It might be thought that when the men had finished their night's vigil they would be allowed to rest, but instead of this, as soon as a hasty breakfast had been swallowed, they immediately had to fix up barbed wire entanglements, build stonework redoubts, gun emplacements, make railways down the hills, or bury animals which had died or been killed in somebody else's camp. Anything and everything was demanded from the battalion, and every call, no matter how distasteful, was responded to with readiness, if not with cheerfulness. All the time we were holding this bit of the Nablus front, from the Wadi Jib to the Wadi Gharib, the men were constantly running about on arduous jobs and as busy as bees. About this time there was a rumour that we were soon to take the offensive, and I was especially pleased when I got a confidential communication from our Brigade Commander ordering me to prepare a careful reconnaissance of the country to our left front, where the surprise attack on the Turks was to be made. A good track up to the enemy wire, concealed as much as possible from his view, had to be found, the general idea being that once there we would make a sweep to the right along the Turkish front opposed to our lines. I detailed Captain T. B. Brown for this important task, which he carried out admirably. A suitable route by which to return with the expected prisoners and loot had also to be discovered and sketched, and Lieutenant Simon Abrahams was in his element when I selected him for this adventure. The hope of coming to grips with the Turks buoyed us up considerably, and the prospect of a battle in which we felt sure we would do well helped us through the trying and weary round of daily routine. Our Brigadier was a soldier whom we all liked, but he had a mania for putting up barbed-wire fences, and at last we erected so much on our front that we caused a serious shortage of this material in the E.E.F., and further wiring was prohibited. On the 10th July our Transport was shelled. Luckily only one mule was killed and one wounded. We were heavily bombarded by guns of various calibres at 2.30 in the morning on July 14th, but it was an absolute waste on the part of the Turks, for not a single casualty of any kind was sustained. On this day the Turks and Germans attacked in the Jordan Valley and got severely mauled by the Anzac Mounted Division. We, too, expected an attack, but soon after dawn the shelling ceased and the situation became normal.