The second battle of Gaza was, of course, a terrible fiasco, in which we were repulsed and lost thousands of men to no purpose. On another occasion I motored, with Colonel Croll, R.A.M.C., of the Anzacs, to Beersheba. It was at this point that General Allenby made a successful thrust when he first took command in Palestine, and from that day to this he has never looked back. The Anzacs and the Australian Mounted Division in this attack made a wide turning movement, outflanked Beersheba, burst suddenly in upon Tel el Saba, some three miles to the east of it, galloped the Turkish trenches, and poured into Beersheba at one end in a whirlwind of dust and storm while the Turks skedaddled out of it as fast as ever they could run from the other end, and made for the shelter of the foothills towards Hebron. The New Zealanders say that they were responsible for the capture of Tel el Saba, for it was they who outflanked it; while the Australians assured me that it was they who had stormed it at a mad gallop. At all events it was a decisive victory for the Australians and New Zealanders (for both took part in it), and as fine a piece of mounted work as had been done so far during the war. Dash, energy, and initiative were shown in a very high degree by all ranks engaged. In the little cemetery at Beersheba I visited the grave of Major Markwell, one of the bravest officers who fell that day. We also paid a visit to the site of Old Beersheba, and were greatly interested in peering down into the well dug at this celebrated place by the Patriarch Abraham. From Beersheba we motored to Gaza along the former Turkish front; every inch of the way had been fortified and turned into a maze of trenches, with formidable redoubts here and there throughout the line. Once Beersheba was captured, the heart was taken out of the Turkish resistance, though they put up some stiff fighting before they were dislodged, especially at Atawineh, a strong redoubt near the centre of the position. After the capture of Beersheba, Lieutenant-Colonel S. F. Newcombe, D.S.O., R.E., dashed northwards with part of the Camel Corps, to cut off the Turks retreating on the Beersheba-Hebron Road. He reached a point within a few miles of the latter place, but was surrounded by six battalions of the enemy. He held out gallantly for three days; but at last, when he had exhausted all his ammunition and suffered heavy casualties, he was obliged to surrender. Fate holds in its lap many surprises. If Colonel Newcombe had not been captured that day he would undoubtedly, with ordinary luck, have won distinction and rank, but there was another and better prize awaiting him at Constantinople, for, while he was a prisoner and convalescing in that city, he met a charming young lady who, at great personal risk, helped him to escape from the clutches of the Turk, and afterwards became his wife. CHAPTER XXIV. A RED-LETTER DAY.