Although
Lawrence could smell nothing, they claimed that one room had the odor of
ambergris--another of roses--and a third of jasmine;--at length they came
to a large and particularly ruinous room. "This," they said, "has the
finest scent of all--the smell of the wind and the sun." I last saw
Colonel Lawrence in Paris, whither he had brought the son of the King of
the Hedjaz to attend the Peace Conference.
When I got back to Alexandria I found that the sailing of the convoy had
been still further delayed. Three vessels out of the last one to leave had
been sunk, involving a considerable loss of life. The channel leading from
the harbor out to sea is narrow and must be followed well beyond the
entrance, so that the submarines had an excellent chance to lay in wait
for outgoing boats. The greatest secrecy was observed with regard to the
date of leaving and destination--and of course troops were embarked and
held in the harbor for several days so as to avoid as far as possible any
notice being given to the lurking enemy by spies on shore.
The transports were filled with units that were being hurried off to stem
the German tide in France, so casual officers were placed on the
accompanying destroyers and cruisers. I was allotted to a little Japanese
destroyer, the _Umi_. She was of only about six hundred and fifty tons
burden, for this class of boat in the Japanese navy is far smaller than in
ours.
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